‘Doing Death’ tackles a lot of heavy topics and ideas surrounding life and death in a way that is really accessible and hugely enlightening. Listening to ‘Doing Death’ really encouraged me to reflect and reconnect with the present, as a young person who can often feel clouded or distracted by the busyness of working life. Each unique episode, in different ways prompts listeners to really take a step back and think about the sacredness of life and death, embracing our present experience by working through emotional energy to let go of our ‘baggage’ and move forward more positively.
I found episode 7 with Anna Hunt in particular really interesting. As someone that knows very little about shamanic practises, Anna shed light on her work in a way that was really tangible, relatable and thought provoking. Anna drew on many relatable examples of how in British society we have the tendency to ignore death, ignore energy and emotion and deny the low points of life by shifting our attention and instead suppressing important feelings. Poignantly, Anna mentioned how her energy work seeks to help clients process emotions before they begin to manifest in the body, in the physical or vice versa treating the physical challenge that has manifested in a client by focusing on the root cause of built up emotional tension and letting that be released.
The main thing I’ve taken from the series as a whole is how positive it is to work through the past as a way to let go and move into the present, to embrace death by embracing life with all its ebbs and flows.
The conversations that Amanda creates a space and platform for in ‘Doing Death’, I believe, serves to normalise the expression of the natural, raw parts of human experience in a society which encourages us to disconnect from the natural and expressive parts of ourselves.
