Amy Wright Glenn earned her MA in Religion and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She taught in the Religion and Philosophy Department at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey for over a decade earning the Dunbar Abston Jr. Chair for Teaching Excellence. Glenn is a Kripalu Yoga teacher, a DONA certified birth doula, a hospital chaplain, and founder of the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death. She is also a contributor to PhillyVoice. Glenn provides online and in-person trainings to birth and mental health professionals regarding pregnancy loss. Her first book, Birth, Breath, and Death- Meditations on Motherhood, Chaplaincy, and Life as a Doula, was published in 2013. To learn more-www.birthbreathanddeath.com
“Doula, chaplain, theologian, mother, wounded daughter,
philosopher, lover, Amy Wright Glenn writes with poetry and
power… Holding Space, part memoir and part spiritual
exploration, is brilliantly written and asks the central question
we all face in this life. ‘What does it mean to love, die and let
go?’”—Patricia Harman, Arms Wide Open and The
Midwife of Hope River
“This book is like a superhero, showing us how to run bravely
toward the darkness and come out the other side as a human being.
Amy deserves not just praise for writing in gorgeous, clear prose,
but deep thanks for creating a gentle guide we all need for that
one thing no one escapes: death.”—Tina Cassidy, Birth
“Holding Space does just that for each of us. In a clear,
intimate voice, Amy Wright Glenn shares her own experience and
wisdom and by doing so makes a space for her reader to develop the
same. For anyone going through loss, this book will feel like a
treasure.”
—Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness and Real
Love
“This is a beautifully written book about the challenging
practice of remaining present—holding non-reactive space—around
emotions of grief, sorrow and loss. This practice is brought alive
through many touching vignettes from the author’s life and work as
a hospital chaplain and as a doula for the poignant transitions of
birth and death. I recommend Holding Space highly
for hospice workers, religious and medical professionals, and for
anyone facing personal loss.”
—Jan Chozen Bays, Mindfulness on the Go and Mindful
Eating
“To be human is to be born, to live, and then to pass on. I
have long believed that we do ourselves a great disservice by
remaining insulated from the realities of birth and death. In
this exceptional book, Amy Wright Glenn offers profound wisdom and
support to help us navigate that most tender journey of death and
dying. Holding Space is a beautiful contribution to
finding peace in one of life’s most important
passages.”
—Susan Stiffelman, Parenting with Presence
“This is a beautiful, gracious book of earned wisdom from a writer
who is gifted with the capacity to be present with a loving heart
to life’s most essential moments, from birth to death. Highly
recommended!”—Miriam Greenspan, Healing Through the Dark
Emotions
“Amy Wright Glenn knows what it means to hold space in both
sorrow and joy. This is essential reading for those choosing to
follow their vocation to be with the dying and the dead with
compassion, mindfulness, and presence.”
—Lee Webster, President, National Home Funeral Alliance
“Amy Wright Glenn offers a deeply personal account of her journey
as a daughter, mother, chaplain and doula. It should be required
reading for those involved in end-of-life care, grieving, and
healing.”
—Alexandre Rotta, Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care
Medicine at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's
Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve
University School of Medicine
“Many parents are uncertain how to talk to their children
about death. Through personal stories and spiritual teachings,
Amy Wright Glenn offers insight into the way death is a natural
part of life. Her honest reflections remind us to hold space for
children, elders and ourselves to be more fully present with
one another.”
—Rev. Amy Freedman, Unitarian Universalist Minister of Religious
Education
“A compassionate, wise, and insightful book––Holding
Space will help you move through life’s challenges with
courage, compassion, and the doula’s skill of holding space by
embracing all moments with love.”
—Debra Pascali-Bonaro, Founder of Orgasmic Birth
“In Holding Space Amy Wright Glenn delivers a thoughtful
and poetic meditation on bringing mindful presence to the two major
transition points in life: birth and death. Utilizing stories from
her personal life and her experiences as a birth doula and a
hospital chaplain, Amy reveals how we can keep our hearts open to
both deep sorrow and ecstatic joy in these ‘sacred thresholds.’ You
will find wisdom, love, and tenderness on every page of this very
special book.”
—Henry Fersko-Weiss, Executive Director of the International End of
Life Doula Association,
Caring for the Dying
“The wisdom this book contains makes it worthy of being a key
reference on the subject. For those, like me, who keep in our
personal libraries only books that have a timeless quality and
which beg to be read again and again, this will be among
them.”
—Suzanne Arms, Founder of Birthing the Future
“Amy Wright Glenn dares to enter the holy space of birth and death
simultaneously. She teaches us to hold not only our loved ones’
hands––those breathing and those who have crossed the threshold
into death––but to embrace love and fear together in our open
hearts. ‘Death is not a disease,’ Amy tells us. As a mother of a
newborn who died in my arms, whose body I prepared for burial on my
bed moments after birth, I agree.”
—Dianna Vagianos Armentrout, Walking the Labyrinth of My
Heart
“Holding Space is a beautiful book. Amy Wright Glenn
intertwines stories of her personal growth with meditations on
moments of deep meaning. In doing so, she helps us all to hold
space for our grief––which is to say, she helps us to hold space
for ourselves and for our loved ones. This book is full of
insights, lessons, and kindness.”
—Elizabeth Heineman, Ghostbelly
“Amy is a woman who has the courage to trust her intuition and
open-minded relations to the world around her. Whether serving
bereaved families or sharing the raucous joy of her son's antics,
Amy is a young, fresh voice to carry the torch for all women; all
explorers of humanity.”
—Nina Angela McKissock, RN, From Sun to Sun
“No topic is more avoided than death. In this book, Amy
Wright Glenn creates a safe space for the readers to both
cognitively examine death as well as benefit from reading a
trustworthy travel guide with regard to the
experience of loss. Holding
Space leaves the reader better equipped for
whatever journey into loss awaits them.”
—Bob Mattingly, Executive Director of the Center for Spiritual and
Ethical Education
“This is an incredibly moving, honest and insightful book. Amy
Wright Glenn skillfully and artfully offers tools and wisdom for
those of us present with individuals at the most intimate,
vulnerable and profound times in their lives.”
—Aditi Sethi-Brown, MD, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Physician
Mission Health Systems, Asheville, NC
“Holding Space is a book that everyone should read, for our
collective conscience would be better off for it. There are people
in life whose shoes you’d like to walk in or whose head you’d like
to be in, yet Amy is one of the very few whose heart I’d like to
feel in. “
—Tracy Cassels, PhD, Founder of Evolutionary Parenting
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