Dying To Ask with Christy B.

Christy B.
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Most of us were never taught how to be with death and Christy's voice is just what the (hospice) doctor ordered. Hosted by death doula and end-of-life educator Christy Braun M.S., this podcast pulls back the curtain on all things end-of-life: hospice & palliative care, caregiver fatigue, advance directives, and what actually happens as someone is dying. Every conversation is honest and grounded, with no spiritual bypassing. Whether you are caring for someone you love or carrying grief of your own, you belong here. If there's something you're dying to ask, reach out: christy@christybraun.com

  1. 2d ago

    17. How to Make Peace Before You Make a Will with Sarah Cavanaugh, Author of Peaceful Exit

    Peaceful Exit: Starting the Death Conversation and Building Your Pexit Pod with Sarah CavanaghHost Christy B. (Founder, Compass Doula Academy) welcomes Sarah Cavanagh—writer, Peaceful Exit creator, and Peaceful Exit podcast host—whose mother’s 2002 cancer death and earlier family silence shaped her work helping people talk openly about death, dying, and grief. Sarah discusses reframing death from a “scary basement” into manageable steps, identifying your “death story,” and making peace through three lists (praise, patch, pardon) before moving to peace with possessions and with the body. Sarah explains the “Pexit Pod,” trusted people assigned end-of-life and after-death roles, and encourages going slowly with her book Peaceful Exit and using podcasts as conversation catalysts. 00:00 Meet Sarah Cavanagh 02:00 Basement Tour 03:16 Your Death Story 05:37 Praise Patch Pardon 08:24 Peace With Possessions 10:10 Peace With Your Body 14:35 Talking With Parents 21:03 A Peaceful Exit Question 21:56 Desires Rituals Options 23:44 Communication In Families 24:25 Family Death Talk Barriers 25:00 Speak Plainly About Death2 6:08 Binders Forms And Advocacy 27:46 Planning Eases Grief Doubt 30:04 Body Story And Aging 31:00 Use Stories To Start Talks 32:45 What Is The Pexit Pod 37:07 Whale Metaphors And Detours 40:41 New Death Story And Community 42:22 Book Advice And Resources 44:28 Called To Train As Doula? Help support independent bookstores and spark essential conversations with those you love. Peaceful Exit: A Guide to Reimagining Your Final Chapter by Sarah Cavanaugh and Lynya Floyd, is available through independent bookstores and online wherever you buy books! Bookshop.org → Shop online and support independent bookstores at the same time. Choose a favorite local bookstore when you order, so your purchase helps support the booksellers who make important third places in our communities Shop Independent Bookstores Prefer to shop in person? Visit one of the independent bookstores participating in Sarah’s Book Conversation Tour. You can purchase the book, meet Sarah at select events, and join the conversation. Elliott Bay Book Company — Seattle, WA elliottbaybook.com Wellesley Books — Wellesley, MA wellesleybooks.com BookWoman — Austin, TX ebookwoman.com/ Book Society — San Francisco & Bay Area, CA booksociety.social/ Village Well —Los Angeles, CA  villagewell.com/Shop Online The Peaceful Exit book will be available on all major online bookselling sites (including Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble. as well as all of the major ebook retailers including Amazon (Kindle), iBookstore (Apple), B&N (Nook), Sony (Connect), Google Editions, OverDrive, Kobo, and others.

  2. Sep 30

    16. You're Not Making This Up

    Website: https://www.johannamunson.com/ Start here- You’re Not Making It Up: https://www.johannamunson.com/begin Private Podcast- Still Here With You: https://www.johannamunson.com/offers/sJXo9gZE/checkout Book a session: https://calendly.com/johanna-psychicmedium/mediumship-session Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johanna_psychic_medium/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohannaMunsonPsychicMediumToday's guest, Johanna Munson, is an evidential Psychic Medium and Intuitive Teacher who helps people explore the connection they may still feel with someone they love after death - and recognize the intuitive capacity within themselves. Johanna came to mediumship later in life, though experiences from childhood make more sense in retrospect. After training with renowned medium Suzanne Giesemann, she began working with English-speaking clients around the world. What makes Johanna different is simple: she does not position herself as the rare bridge. She believes intuitive awareness is a capacity many of us possess - but have learned to dismiss, explain away, or call coincidence. 00:00 Uncle Charlie Moment 02:34 Loss Into Doula Work 04:48 Spirits At The Bedside 06:07 Clairaudience On Zoom 09:02 Energy Grief And Skeptics 12:08 Pivot To Mediumship 15:46 Evidential Proof Stories 17:24 Inside A Reading Session 20:46 When Loved Ones Don't Come 22:41 Guilt And Final Goodbyes 25:13 Healthy Timing For Grief 26:31 How To Start Connecting 29:32 Resources And Farewell 30:40 Closing Reflections

    16. You're Not Making This Up

  3. Sep 18

    15. What I Learned Watching My Mother Feed Her Friend

    This one is personal. It is one of the ways I came into Death Doula work without realizing the path I was on. I hope you like it and I hope you take a little something for yourself from it. XOXO, Christy

  4. Aug 26

    14. Nobody's Filming You: The Loneliness of Caregiving

    There is a documentary out right now called Caregiving, and famous people are finally talking about this work out loud. But nobody is filming you. This one is for the family caregivers doing the invisible, exhausting, sacred work with no camera crew and no applause. Christy talks about Bradley Cooper's documentary and the wave of celebrities going public with their own caregiving stories, from Rob Lowe to Queen Latifah to Seth and Lauren Rogen, and then turns to the person actually living it right now. If you are caring for someone who is aging, ill, or dying, this one is for you. We name the loneliness, the anticipatory grief, and the guilt and resentment and relief that come with it, and we talk about a few small things that can make the week a little lighter. It is honest, it is tender, and it does not hand you tidy answers. CHAPTERS 00:00 - The documentary that's really about you 00:40 - Welcome to Dying to Ask 01:20 - Bradley Cooper, and a loneliness money can't fix 02:05 - When famous caregivers say the quiet part out loud 02:55 - Nobody's filming you 03:35 - What caregiving actually looks like, and how common it is 04:50 - When the casseroles stop and the check-ins thin out 06:00 - Anticipatory grief, and the guilt, resentment, and relief it brings 07:45 - The work already matters, and it's okay to want to be seen 09:10 - Small moves that make the week lighter 11:15 - National Grief Awareness Day and the layers of grief 12:15 - This week's resource, and a word before you go www.ChristyBraun.com

  5. Aug 14

    13. Sideways...Grief is a Sneaky B!tch

    Episode description We tend to think grief only counts if someone died. Dr. Megan Rhoads is here to widen that. Grief is a whole-person response to losing anything that helped organize your life, your identity, or the future you were counting on. A death, yes. Also a move, a breakup, an empty nest, or letting go of who you used to be. In this conversation, Megan gets honest about the loss that undid everything she thought she knew about grief, even with all her training. She and Christy talk about what our culture keeps getting wrong, why grief comes out sideways when we push it down, and small, human ways to move through it without pretending we’re fine. It’s tender, it’s real, and it’s a lot warmer than a grief conversation has any right to be. 00:03 What people get wrong about grief 00:07 “It doesn’t mean you’re broken” 00:11 Grief has no timeline 00:14 Megan’s story: Mexico, a breakup, and a loss 00:18 Four takeaways from grieving in community 00:30 Inside the Lunar Grief Release 00:34 Coping strategies that don’t work 00:45 How hypnotherapy helps with grief 00:48 The dimmer switch and the wise adult 00:52 What happens when we push grief aside 00:56 What to hear if you’re grieving right now 01:00 What to say, and what not to say 01:05 What Megan knows for sure about grief Connect with Dr. Megan Rhoads Website: solpsychology.org Grief resources, the Lunar Grief Release, and a grief-and-depression questionnaire: www.solpsychology.org/grief - fill out the questionnaire to understand what you are carrying, work with Dr. Megan/her associates, attend grief group, or stay updated about future grief offerings Suggested Books It’s OK That You’re Not OK — Megan Devine Finding Meaning — David Kessler On Grief and Grieving — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler The Grieving Brain — Mary-Frances O’Connor

    13. Sideways...Grief is a Sneaky B!tch

  6. Aug 2

    12. The Steadiness Is the Skill

    Most of what we think we know about dying is wrong. And most of it is gentler than we fear. In this episode I take you to the bedside. To the last days and hours, and what actually happens there. I share what I've learned from sitting with people near the end. Why some people wait until the room is quiet to go. What the changed breathing really means, and why it isn't the suffering families fear. The window of clarity that sometimes comes near the end, and why you shouldn't wait to say the thing you've been carrying. And the life, and yes the laughter and the soup ladle, that still fills a dying room. I also talk about how I got here. More than twenty years in insurance, measuring risk, and then finding the work I was actually built for. Here's what nobody tells you. Being there at the end is not something you have to be born knowing how to do. It can be learned. The steadiness is the skill, and more people are needed who are willing to learn it. If you've felt that pull, our next live cohort of Compass Doula Academy starts August 6, 2026. We spend ten weeks together learning how to sit with the dying and the people who love them, and how to build a practice that can hold you up while you hold everyone else up. Come find us:Learn more and join the next cohort: www.christybraun.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033hP7XU8NMJ3aic5mLFqr?si=zm2AZuivQJyn1DQm4AC6WQInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/askchristyb/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AskChristyBLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/askchristyb/ Take good care of yourself. And if there's something you are dying to ask, I'm right here at christy@christybraun.com.

  7. Jul 24

    11. More Than A Memory

    This episode is dedicated to someone I love dearly. Don't worry my friend, I am holding our memories tightly; I carry them with me in this work and every day. I love you. ----- Christy sits down with Lori Rizzo of Compassionate Crossings, her go-to voice on dementia care, to say the hard things plainly. Dementia is terminal, and it is more than memory loss. Lori Rizzo shows up for the moments when everything feels uncertain ... as an end-of-life doula, dementia specialist, and grief companion. She supports people when a serious illness is diagnosed, dementia reshapes everything, death is close, and when families feel lost and overwhelmed. She offers steady guidance, education, and a grounded, calming presence. Lori is also a community lead for Dementia Friendly Montgomery County, a volunteer grassroots initiative on a mission to change how communities understand, talk about, and show up for people living with dementia. If you love someone living with dementia, this one is for you. In this episode 00:00 — The calling came first. Lori's slow path from corporate life into death work 06:00 — How a career in learning, leadership, and communication carries into the work 13:00 — How dementia became central to Lori's practice 16:30 — Three things Lori wishes people knew. 22:00 — What stigma and silence cost a family 25:30 — What becomes possible when you get ahead of it instead of waiting for a crisis 29:00 — Brain health, cognitive baselines, and the case for a dementia advance directive 34:00 — Dementia is not instinctive, and nobody hands you a roadmap 37:30 — Story time. Sundowning, folding the towels, and prayer 43:00 — The grief caregivers carry in private, and the guilt they rarely say out loud 47:00 — How to show up for a caregiver. Presence, not perfection 50:30 — A message for the person in the thick of it, plus placement guilt and support groups 54:00 — Hope that changes shape, and finding joy in what remains 57:00 — Where to find Lori Links Compassionate Crossings (Lori Rizzo): https://www.compassionatecrossingsdoula.comDaughterhood: https://daughterhood.orgDaughterhood Circle Leaders (Lori's page): https://daughterhood.org/meet-the-circle-leaders/

    11. More Than A Memory

  8. Jul 22

    10. Dear Lisa Frank, (a gentle grief suggestion)

    When you are grieving, people hand you a lot of gentle suggestions when even the small things feel like too much. This week I want to offer you one more, and it is smaller and lower stakes than almost anything else. Stickers. I know how that sounds. So we are going to sit with that together, and I am going to show you how a five-minute thing you did as a kid might be a small comfort on the days that feel impossible. In this episode, we talk about: Why a small, finishable act can steady you when nothing else feels doableHow being in the present moment is where grief tends to hurt the leastGiving yourself a break from the endless list of admin that comes with lossWhy distraction is not the same thing as avoidance, and why you can let go of the guiltHow a few quiet minutes is a way of telling yourself you still matterMaking your own grief version of a reminder sticker sheet, one small nudge at a time "On a hard day, one sticker is enough. There is no dose you are supposed to hit and no way to fall behind." This one is tender and low pressure, the same way the practice itself is. If you are in the thick of it right now, I hope it gives you permission to do one small kind thing for yourself today. Let's stay connected If something in this episode landed, or made you want to ask a question of your own, I would be honored to hear it. You can reach me at christy@christybraun.com.

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Most of us were never taught how to be with death and Christy's voice is just what the (hospice) doctor ordered. Hosted by death doula and end-of-life educator Christy Braun M.S., this podcast pulls back the curtain on all things end-of-life: hospice & palliative care, caregiver fatigue, advance directives, and what actually happens as someone is dying. Every conversation is honest and grounded, with no spiritual bypassing. Whether you are caring for someone you love or carrying grief of your own, you belong here. If there's something you're dying to ask, reach out: christy@christybraun.com

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