Complementary practices and end of life care: Bridging the divide and making placid teh turbulent waters

The rise and success of the hospice movement and palliative care specialty have done much to improve the quality of our end of life experiences. In the United States, however, the western paradigm still predominates and our 'treatment'of end of life 'symptoms' still emphasizes the pharmacological approach. One of the most common and troubling manifestations of the dying trajectory is terminal agitation. Too often well intentioned clinicians 'treat' the symptom by obliterating it through sedation, thus robbing the dying individual and loved ones of the last precious moments of lucidity. A large nonprofit hospice organization in metropolitan Chicago has collaborated with a community center offering complimentary practices. This partnership resulted in a protocol which combines meditative exercises, specifically the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Tonglen, with adapted touch therapy, namely that of shiatsu, a form of highly specialized acupressure. Designed to calm the clinicians so that they may become conduits of peace to the dying and their loved ones, this protocol has great potential for widespread application and replication.