Full Circle of Living and Dying
  • Home
    • Donate Here
  • About us/Contact
    • Symbolism of our LOGO
    • Board of Directors >
      • Akhila Murphy, Founding Director, End-of-Life Doula, Death Care Midwife
      • Rosie Mariani, Board Treasurer
      • Mary Good, End-of-Life Doula, Secretary of the Board
      • Amanda Kenney, Death-Care Midwife, Board Director
      • Mary Jo Curtin, Board Director
    • Sushila Mertens, End-of-Life Doula, Outstanding Volunteer of the Year!
    • FCLD Core Circle Team >
      • Bonnie McKeegan, LCSW, Vice President Board Director
      • Martha Turner, Midwifery, President of the Board
      • Linda More, End-of-Life Doula, Past Board Director
      • Donna Peizer, Past Treasurer
      • Nandi Szabo, Co-Founder
      • CMA Medeiros, End-of-Life Doula, Past Board Director
      • Nancy Parraz, Death Care Midwife
      • Sushila Mertens, End-of-Life Doula
      • Merdeka Van Wissekerke, Death Care
      • Rebecca Sengolu
    • Advocates for end-of-life choices and death-care rights
    • FAQ
    • What is an End-of-Life Doula or Death Midwife?
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    • Contact Us
    • Cuddle Cot 2021
    • Pregnancy and Infant Loss >
      • Cuddle Cot 2021
      • Support group: Pregnancy and Infant Loss
    • Gallery
    • Donate Here
    • JOIN OUR TEAM
    • Our Education >
      • Our Final Passages Death Midwifery Training
      • Home Funeral Article by Jerrigrace Lyons
  • Home Funeral Guidance
    • Know your rights. Home death care is legal.
    • Home Death Care in California >
      • Home Funeral Paperwork
    • CALIFORNIA DEATH CERTIFICATE Instructions
    • Death Care >
      • Sacred Death Care
    • What is "Lying in Honor?"
    • Donate Here
    • Pet Funeral >
      • Pet Euthanasia in the Home
    • Death Certificate Worksheet >
      • Nevada County-File Your Own Paperwork for Death Certificate - Vital Records Office
    • Video: A Conversation about After Death Care
  • End-of-Life Plan of Care
    • Pregnancy and Infant Loss
    • Advance Directives, Dementia, Covid-19
    • End-of-Life Doula
    • MAiD/California End of Life Option Act + Update SB 380
    • VSED: Voluntarily Stopping Eating & Drinking
    • Sacred Bridges, Local End-of-Life Caregivers
    • Remembrances
    • Contributions
    • Testimonials
    • Physician Support: Medical Aid in Dying
  • Green Burial
    • June 18, 2021 Register Field trip to Cherokee Cemetery
    • History of Natural Green Burial, Cherokee Cemetery, Nevada County >
      • Green Burial Santa Monica 2016
      • Green Burial Video from GBC
    • Natural Organic Reduction -Composting Human Remains >
      • Presentation: Natural Organic Reduction + YouTube link
    • Natural Organic Reduction Amigo Bob's story
    • Find A Grave (website)
    • Aquamation: Water Cremation >
      • Desmond Tutu: Aquamation
    • Cremation- Not so Environmentally Friendly!
  • Events/News
    • June 24, 2022 Presentation Organ and Tissue donation
    • Upcoming Event July 21, 2022 Death Conversations- Breaking the silence
    • Past Event Apr. 28, 2022 After-death Care presentation
    • PAST March 26, 2022 Cemetery Field Trip
    • Past Event March 17, 2022 Death Conversations- Breaking the silence
    • Past Event Jan 20, 2022 Death Conversations- Breaking the silence
    • Review: 2021 City of Hope, End:0f-Life Symposium December
    • Article: Pregnancy Loss Conversations Feb, 2022
    • Article: Death Doula Lawsuit Dec. 2021 >
      • California Death Doulas Fight
      • Death Doulas C&C Article Nov. 2021
    • PAST EVENTS 2021 >
      • Presentation Dec. 9th : "There's No Place Like Home." Home funeral Basics
      • Past Event: Nov. 2021- Medical Aid-in-Dying Update
      • Past Event: Natural Organic Reduction - Register
      • Past Events 2021 : June 18 -Field trip to Cherokee Cemetery
    • Newsletters
    • KVMR Podcasts: Featuring End-of-LIfe Doulas
    • PUBLISHED ARTICLES >
      • Article: California's End-of-LIfe Option Act
      • Article Amigo Bob -Natural Organic Reduction Human Composting
      • April 2020 Ventilators in times of COVID-19
      • Giving Back After Tragedy, September 2019 The Union
      • Article The Union May 2019 New nonprofit
      • Article The Union August 2019 HBO Documentary
      • Choosing When to Die
      • Home Funeral Visitation
    • PAST EVENTS 2019/20 >
      • Past Event Oct 7 & 8, 2020 Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss
      • Death & Grieving around Corona Virus March 26, 2020
      • Past Event: Jan 26, 2020 Your Life, Your Choice, Your Plan
      • End-of-Life Doula Training with Inspired Endings - Oct 2019
      • June 9, 2019 Short Film & Death Conversation
      • Mar, Apr, May 2019
      • SEPT 2019 EVENT: Advance Directives + Dementia Directive
    • 2018 Past Events >
      • A Matter of Life & Death: Workshop Series Sept. 22, 2018
      • Nandi's Cancer Support Group September-October 2018
      • Past Events: 2018
      • Event May 20, 2018- Creating a Death Care Plan: Exploring Unconventional Options
      • Event: July 22, 2018 Death Cafe
    • 2017 PAST Events: August 27th -Understanding California's End-of-LIfe Option Act >
      • Deathwalker Training with Zenith Virago Sept 2017
      • Past Event: Film screening: Zen & the Art of Dying August 13, 2017
      • PAST Event: Film screening: Zen and the Art of Dying June 11, 2017
      • Past Event: Death Salon, A Gathering of Community to Discuss Death -MAR 26
      • Past Event - Exploring After Death Options: What Happens to our Bodily Remains? Feb 19, 2017 2-4pm
      • Going Out Green: Learn about Eco-friendly Home Funerals and Green Burial Cemetery JAN. 8, 2017
      • International Death Doula Training 2017
    • 2016 Events Planning Your Own Send-off May 1, 2016 >
      • Stephen Jenkinson Comes to NC March 14, 2016
      • Education, Presentations, Death Cafe
      • Event: Sunday Aug 28 2-4pm Home Funerals & Green Burial
    • EARLY YEARS 2013-2015 EVENTS
  • Resources
    • MAiD/California End of Life Option Act + Update SB 380 >
      • Links for California's End-of-Life Option Act
    • Bereavement Support in Nevada County >
      • Bereavement support Hospice of the Foothills, Nevada County
      • Grief Support: Jemma Skye Champeau
    • Advance Directives California + Dementia
    • Hospice of the Foothills, Nevada County
    • Senior Outreach Services, Nevada County
    • One Source Empowering Caregivers
    • Pregnancy and Infant Loss >
      • Cuddle Cot 2021
      • Union Article Caring Cradle 2019
    • Support group: Pregnancy and Infant Loss
    • End-of-Life Plan of Care
    • American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying >
      • ACAMAID: Mixing medications
    • Physicians & Local Pharmacy >
      • Dr. Stephen Banister, Nevada County
    • VSED: Voluntarily Stopping Eating & Drinking >
      • Supporting a Loved One at End of Life
    • Body / Organ Donation
    • Threshold Choir
    • Resources and Links
    • People in the Death Trade & Training
    • Holding Space
  • FAQ
  • Companions for Pregnancy Loss
  • Blog
  • Suggested Reading
  • Death Related YouTube
  • Go Wish Cards Online
  • Beauty of EOL Study
  • JOIN OUR TEAM
  • Bardo, Buddhism and the Art of Dying
  • Accomplishments
  • Union Article Caring Cradle Sept 2019
  • volunteer profiles
  • Spotlight Sushila Mertens
  • Kids Sit Vigil with their Granny
  • Sharon's End-of-life days
  • Mary Jo Curtain, Board Member
  • New Page
  • Nearing Death Awareness
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Recent Article in The WIldwood Independent:
http://twi-news.com/akhila-murphy-on-a-mission-to-make-a-difference/

Akhila Murphy — On a Mission to Make a Difference  - April 13, 2015

By Gene Gillian

The journey known as our path of life is constantly adjusting, turning and changing. Akhila Murphy exemplifies this journey in her sense of self, her life and her ability and desire to make a difference. Akhila discovered yoga many years ago and integrated this activity into her life as a way to relax and focus while being married, working full time and raising two children. She became a certified yoga teacher in 2005.  She is the founder of Dragonfly Yoga & Wellness Studio, located on Penn Valley Drive in Penn Valley.

Several years ago Akhila found herself grieving for a death in her family. She felt the conventional funeral customs were not helpful in allowing her family to grieve their loss, wherein the deceased appeared like a wax decoration. After becoming a Hospice patient care volunteer, she became interested in alternative ways of caring for the dying. She therefore researched and gathered information regarding the “old-style tradition” of caring for the deceased and the family.

 Research shows that prior to the Civil War family funerals were held at home. The family prepared the body for viewing by family and friends and a wake was held at home, after which the body was buried in a cemetery or on family land. After the War, the more common funeral service was instated to deal with the vast number of deceased soldiers returning home to grieving, overwhelmed families. 

Akhila has had extensive death midwife training with Jerrigrace Lyons, founder of the non-profit organization Final Passages. This training compelled her to become co-founder of Full Circle Living & Dying collective. This organization assists families in direct end-of-life care, which includes traditional home death care and memorial services in a private, familial setting. When a loved one dies, the family, with the guidance of Full Circle, may attend to the body and prepare for viewing either at the care facility or at home. This guidance includes care for a dying loved one, filling out paperwork and overseeing death care for a loved one to lie in honor for one to three days. Home death care allows time for family and friends to gather and help process their grief in a loving, familiar setting while honoring the overall death process. As a death midwife, Akhila serves a role similar to that of a birth midwife who assists during delivery, prepares the environment and helps after birth. Akhila and Full Circle help in various aspects of home death care. They assist families with obtaining and preparing necessary paperwork, preparing the body (i.e., bathing, essential oils and clothing) and assisting in preservation of the body (i.e., delivery, placement, daily maintenance of dry ice). They assist in making arrangements for transportation (whether cremation or burial), help the family throughout their death-care time period and provide guidance pertaining to materials and services.

 Akhila and the team at Full Circle Living & Dying Collective are involved in advocating eco-friendly, “green” burials. This would include a cardboard casket that could be decorated and buried in the ground without the cement grave liners that are used in today’s cemeteries. She is working with our Nevada Cemetery District to establish cemeteries that will allow these burials to occur using newer, more eco-friendly caskets or shrouds. If you would like more information about Full Circle Living & Dying Collective or you are interested in preplanning traditional home care for a dying love one, please call Akhila Murphy (916) 397-5443, http://www.fullcirclelivingdyingcollective.com.


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