Judy Lief is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality (Shambhala Publications March 2001). She studied with the Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, and is an authorized Buddhist teacher. Ms. Lief has been presenting classes and workshops on a contemplative approach to death and dying, and on the teachings of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, since 1976. She worked with Florence Wald, a founding mother of the Hospice movement in the United States and former head of the Yale School of Nursing, on several conferences, workshops, and dialogues examining the role of spirituality in the care of the sick and dying. Ms. Lief was a keynote speaker at the 10th International Palliative Care Conference, held in Montreal in 1994. In 2000-2001 Ms Lief served as pastoral counselor for the Maitri Day Health Center (an adult day health center for people with AIDS) in Yonkers, NY. Recently, she was a plenary speaker at the Integrating Spirit and Care Giving Conference, hosted by Naropa University and Balfour Senior Care. Ms. Lief has offered workshops and presentations to pastoral counselors, hospice workers, care givers, and medical personnel at hospital settings in the United States and in Chile.
Currently Judy Lief divides her time between teaching, writing, and editing. She lives in Colchester, Vermont with her husband Chuck and her dog, Jasper.
Bios
Judy Lief is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality (Shambhala Publications March 2001). She studied with the Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, and is an authorized Buddhist teacher. Ms. Lief has been presenting classes and workshops on a contemplative approach to death and dying, and on the teachings of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, since 1976. She worked with Florence Wald, a founding mother of the Hospice movement in the United States and former head of the Yale School of Nursing, on several conferences, workshops, and dialogues examining the role of spirituality in the care of the sick and dying. Ms. Lief was a keynote speaker at the 10th International Palliative Care Conference, held in Montreal in 1994. In 2000-2001 Ms Lief served as pastoral counselor for the Maitri Day Health Center (an adult day health center for people with AIDS) in Yonkers, NY. Recently, she was a plenary speaker at the Integrating Spirit and Care Giving Conference, hosted by Naropa University and Balfour Senior Care. Ms. Lief has offered workshops and presentations to pastoral counselors, hospice workers, care givers, and medical personnel at hospital settings in the United States and in Chile.