Living and Dying: Navigating the Bardos

Prepare for endings. Live with joy.

An online course with Andrew Holecek

Prepare to live

What if you could face the future without anxiety? What if you could accept endings with greater ease? What if you could relate to death as an opportunity?


Join author and renowned guide Andrew Holecek for a six-part online course that will show you how to live with joy through spiritual preparation for life transitions, death, and beyond.





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Traditional artwork showing the Buddha on his deathbed

Study online, start today

Bardo is a Tibetan word that means "gap" or "transition." It can refer to any ending or change in life but often describes the journey that we make after death, before taking a new birth. This online course is about a Buddhist approach to the end of life but it will appeal to anyone interested in a non-materialistic understanding of what happens after we die.

It takes courage to explore the consequences of impermanence and our own mortality. However, more and more people are waking up to the possibilities opened up by the Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the bardos. Through Buddhist wisdom and meditation practices we can radically transform our relationship to death, and so live with greater ease and happiness. But this course is not just for you. It will also benefit those near to you by giving you the strength of mind to help others die, and to face any unwanted circumstance with confidence.

Group Rates

We offer discounted rates to groups of five or more. If you're interested in taking this course as a group or with your sangha, please fill out this form.


Tibetan monks at study
6+ hours of wisdom

Immerse yourself in videos filled with insight and curiosity and unravel the reductionistic views that feed fear and insecurity.


Andrew is an authority on the Tibetan Buddhist teachings on dying, bardo states, and lucid dreaming.

Chinese lanterns in the night sky
Guided meditations

Fully integrate the wisdom of emptiness and the three bodies through carefully selected meditation practices.

A figure contemplating the cosmos
An invigorating look at life and death

These profound teachings lighten the burden of mortality and reveal a joyful, playful enthusiasm for life.

Andrew Holecek

Meet Andrew Holecek

ANDREW HOLECEK is an author and spiritual teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition who leads seminars and workshops throughout the United States and abroad. As a longtime student of Buddhism, he frequently presents the tradition from a contemporary perspective, blending ancient wisdom with modern tools. Drawing on years of intensive study and practice, he has become an expert on lucid dreaming and teaches widely on opportunities found in obstacles, hardship and pain, and death and dying. He is an experienced guide for students drawn to the powerful nocturnal practices of dream yoga.

Andrew has authored several books, including The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, Dream Yoga; Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep, Meditation in the iGeneration: How to Meditate in a World of Speed and Stress, and the audio program “Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming.”

Testimonials

This course is a true revelation to my psyche and heart. My husband just passed on and I didn't have the first realization what happened or what to do next. Thank you for guiding me through intense grief for me and renewed hope for him.
Andrew's passion for the Bardos teachings and compassion are an integral part of the course. The Q&A sessions really expanded on this aspect and were a real benefit.
I've learned so much and now will meditate and work on my practice of dying before I die! This course was easy to understand and very enjoyable!
Excellent. Andrew is a superb teacher.
Great course. Very helpful. Inspirational. Loved it.
Outstanding, meets all my expectations and more.

How the exploration unfolds

This is a 6-unit course. You are entirely free to study at your own pace. Each lesson will offer roughly 90 minutes of material to work with, including video teachings, prompts for reflection, optional quizzes, and a communal discussion board. There will also be suggested take-home practices, including guided meditations, for you to explore. You will retain access to the course for as long as you need.

Unit 1 | The Death Principle

Everything ends. We know this abstractly but tend to brush it under the carpet in our day-to-day lives. However, ignoring impermanence means that we miss out on a greater freedom: the freedom to live with ease and face endings big and small with equanimity. In this unit, Andrew shows us a healthier way of relating to our time-bound lives.

Unit 2 | The Importance of View

How we look at the world changes what we see. "View" is the starting place and it is a strong determinant of our success. Here, Andrew describes useful viewpoints for understanding life and death. We'll see that how we live affects our experience of the bardos after death.

Unit 3 | The Three Bodies

What is it that continues after we die? Andrew explains the Tibetan Buddhist teaching on the three bodies. These are increasingly subtle manifestations that can cause us varying degrees of suffering should we cling to them. Fortunately, as our experience and acceptance of impermanence deepen, we cling less and less.

Unit 4 | Transcending Fear

Fear is perhaps the central obstacle on the spiritual path. We fear endings. We fear death. Counter-intuitively, we need to understand and befriend fear if we are to transcend it. Andrew helps us to understand the origins of fear and how to keep it close to us so that we can learn and benefit from it, without being ruled by it.

Unit 5 | The Death of Death: Emptiness

The true release of fear and suffering is to realize first-hand that there is no-one who suffers, no-one who dies. Understanding these teachings at the deepest level brings a radical openness and connectedness that leaves us at peace with whatever happens. In meditation, Andrew points the way towards an awareness that can rely on itself instead of any external form.

Unit 6 | Voluntary Rebirth

The bardo teachings are not just about death, they are equally about birth. Endings always lead to a beginning. The knowledge and experiential understanding we have accumulated so far gives us an opportunity to shape our futures with wisdom and compassion. We'll learn powerful techniques that prepare us for death, understand more about who and what we are, and what awaits us after the end.

Detailed curriculum

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  Introduction
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  Unit 1: The Death Principle
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  Unit 2: The Importance of View
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  Unit 3: The Three Bodies
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  Unit 4: Transcending Fear
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  Unit 5: The Death of Death – Emptiness
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  Unit 6: Voluntary Rebirth
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  Resources
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