Welcome to Meditative Heartbeat Therapy
A Contemplative Practice for Presence, Rhythm, and Care at End of Life
In the quiet spaces between heartbeats and breath—where language dissolves and only presence remains—Meditative Heartbeat Therapy (MHbT) was born. It did not emerge from textbooks or theories, but from the lived experience of sitting with the dying: listening not only to stories, but to silence. To the body. To the final rhythm of life: the heartbeat.
The Practice
MHbT is a gentle, integrative spiritual practice, created by Chaplain Daniel DeLoma that uses the sound and sensation of the heartbeat to anchor patients, families, and caregivers in deep presence during life’s most profound transitions.
It is especially suited for the final 72 hours of life, when the nearness of death calls for accompaniment that is both reverent and real.
Through a simple blend of breath awareness, recorded heartbeat sounds, flame-gazing, and contemplative stillness, MHbT opens a space for peace, meaning, and spiritual connection.
The Philosophy
MHbT does not replace medical care; it complements and deepens it.
It reminds us that behind every clinical sign and symptom is a soul preparing to cross a threshold. The final moments of life are not only a physiological process, but a sacred unfolding that calls for tenderness, ritual, and attention to the unseen.
To accompany another through dying is to hold space for mystery.
It asks us to slow down, to listen not just for what can be measured but for what can be felt: the subtle change in breath, the settling of spirit, the quiet return to source. In MHbT, the caregiver becomes both witness and companion, offering presence rather than control, reverence rather than remedy.
Begin Listening
Every heart carries its own rhythm of grace. To bring Meditative Heartbeat Therapy to your hospice, seminary, or spiritual community, or simply to learn more, reach out and begin the conversation. Use the buttons below to explore.
In this work:
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The body is sacred. It is the vessel through which love, memory, and meaning have moved.
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The heart is a guide. Its rhythm reminds us that life is not extinguished, but transformed.
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Death is a threshold deserving of reverence. It is not an ending, but a homecoming.
To accompany another across that threshold is to hear, within each fading pulse, the echo of something eternal—a rhythm that began long before the first heartbeat and continues long after the last.
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