What if preparing for death could transform your life?
We spend much of our lives trying to hold on to things that will inevitably change: the people we love, who we think we are, and the life we know. Yet hidden within these endings and transitions are opportunities to loosen the grip of fear and live with more freedom.
By learning how to relate to these smaller endings and open ourselves to impermanence, we prepare for the ending of life itself and develop a deeper appreciation for the time we have.
In Waking Up to Death, Buddhist teacher and author Andrew Holecek invites you to explore how the wisdom of letting go can help you navigate change and loss with greater openness and clarify what matters most.
Drawing on Tibetan Buddhism and other wisdom traditions, Andrew takes the inquiry deeper through two fundamental questions: What is reality, and who are we, really? Through in-depth teachings, contemplations, and meditations, you’ll investigate these questions in your own experience and explore practices for bringing these insights into daily life.
Enroll Today
All enrollment options include lifetime access to the complete five-module course, reflection questions, transcripts, audio downloads, plus exclusive live teaching with Andrew Holecek on October 19.
In This Course, You’ll Learn To...
➛Understand why we fear death
Explore how avoidance, uncertainty, and our assumptions about who we are and what is real can intensify our fear surrounding mortality.
➛Question what you believe to be fixed and solid
Look more deeply at your sense of self and reality, and discover how loosening habitual assumptions can open new ways of relating to change, uncertainty, and death.
➛Navigate loss and transition with greater openness
Learn to recognize the “small deaths” of everyday life as opportunities to practice letting go, while working more skillfully with change, loss, and grief.
➛Let the reality of death deepen your experience of life
Allow the wisdom of impermanence to clarify what matters, deepen your appreciation for the life you have, and support a less fearful, more open way of living with awareness and gratitude.
From Understanding to Direct Experience
Understanding impermanence is one thing. Learning to experience change, uncertainty, and letting go with greater openness is another.
Throughout the course, Andrew pairs philosophical inquiry with guided meditation, contemplation, reflection questions, and practices you can bring into daily life. He invites you to investigate death, reality, and the nature of self in your own experience.
Through practice, we can become more familiar with uncertainty and letting go, and gradually learn to transform our relationship to the fear of death.
You’ll explore practices including:
• Contemplations on death and impermanence
• The contraction-and-openness meditation
• Practices for examining the nature of reality and experience
• The Identity Survey and contemplations on the sense of self
• Daytime and nighttime practices that connect waking life, sleep, and dream
• The Four Reminders and The Five Remembrances
• Loving-kindness, gratitude, and reverse meditations for working with grief
• Everyday practices for meeting transition and letting go
Enroll Today for Lifetime Access
Choose the pricing option that works for you.
Course Structure & Module Highlights
Five in-depth modules guide you step by step from understanding the roots of fear to applying the teachings in daily life. All modules become available on October 5, and you’ll have lifetime access to move through and revisit them at your own pace.
The Gift in Ugly Wrapping Paper
Why We Fear Death
Begin by exploring why death evokes such deep fear—and why avoiding it can quietly shape the way we live. Andrew introduces the course’s two central questions, “What is reality?” and “Who am I?”, along with the foundational lens of contraction and openness. You’ll discover the many ways end-of-life teachings can benefit life now and begin practices that help you turn toward mortality with greater awareness.
Seeing Reality Anew
Questioning Our Assumptions
Andrew challenges the prevailing materialist view and introduces the Buddhist and nondual understanding that experience is inseparable from mind. Through teachings and practices involving waking life, sleep, and dream, you’ll explore how changing your view of reality can change your relationship to death.
A Deeper Sense of Being
The Identity Survey
Turn to the second foundational question: Who am I? Using the Buddhist teaching of the three bodies, Andrew guides you from identification with the outer physical body toward subtler dimensions of mind and awareness. Contemplations and meditations invite you to investigate whether your deepest nature is as limited, fixed, or vulnerable as it appears.
The Alchemy of Grief
Opening to Loss
Explore the relationship between love and attachment, how our assumptions about permanence shape our experience of loss, and how a wider understanding of life and death can help us hold grief differently. The aim is not to eliminate grief, but to meet it with greater openness and compassion—allowing difficult feelings without suppressing them or becoming lost in them. Guided contemplation and meditation bring these teachings into direct experience.
Death as Grand Opening
Practices for Living and Dying Well
Integrate the course through practical teachings and practices for everyday life. Andrew explores death as a journey of transformation and shows how smaller endings can prepare us for the ultimate transition. You’ll learn to recognize habits of contraction and grasping, deepen your familiarity with openness, and bring the wisdom of mortality into how you live now.
PLUS: Live Practice and Q&A with Andrew Holecek
Monday, October 19, 2026 • 1:00 PM ET
What Students Say
Praise from “Preparing to Die”, Andrew Holecek's landmark program
“My understanding of death and the experiences before, during, and after death have been greatly broadened and deepened, and consequently my fear of death and dying have greatly diminished.” - CW
“Andrew is a paradigm changing machine. His teaching dispels delusions and makes the ineffable almost graspable. He offers a very high rate of “Aha! moments” per hour.” - JP
“This program was absolutely amazing. I’ve done several courses with Andrew around death topics, I cannot say enough about how his teachings have deeply and profoundly affected my understanding about death and what comes after. Thank you so much!” - PK
“This class changed my life. I have been a Vajrayana practitioner for 25 years, but not until I participated in this program did I understand how to actually prepare for death. This may be weird to hear, but now I have something to look forward to at the end of my life! It’s an opening, not a closing...” - Anonymous Student
“Andrew’s ability to collate so much rich material, distill it down to its essence, and then present it so that it is compelling truly boggles my mind. The gratitude I have to be fortunate enough to be a recipient of his knowledge is beyond stating.” - TR
Enroll Today
All enrollment options include the complete five-module course, reflection questions, transcripts, captions, audio downloads, the live gathering with Andrew, and lifetime access.
What’s Included with Lifetime Access
All enrollment options include the complete five-module course, reflection questions, transcripts, captions, audio downloads, the live gathering with Andrew, and lifetime access.
Five in Depth Course Modules
A progressive journey of understanding the fear of death, the nature of reality and identity, grief, impermanence, and practices for living and dying well.
Guided Contemplations and Meditations
Experiential practices designed to help you explore the teachings directly and bring them into everyday life.
Reflection Questions
Prompts to support deeper inquiry and help you integrate each module’s central teachings.
Transcripts and Captions
Written transcripts and captioned videos make it easier to follow, review, and revisit the material.
Audio Downloads
Listen to the course teachings and practices away from the screen.
A Live Gathering with Andrew
Join Andrew on October 19 for guided practice, further exploration, and Q&A.
Meet Your Teacher
ANDREW HOLECEK
Andrew Holecek is an interdisciplinary scholar-practitioner in Tibetan Buddhism and other nondual wisdom traditions. He is the Resident Contemplative Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies and a research consultant for the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Northwestern University. He holds degrees in classical music and biology, as well as a doctorate in dental surgery.
Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a concert pianist, and the author of nine books, the latest being Total Eclipse of the Mind. He has completed the Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat and is a frequent subject in scientific studies on meditation and lucid dreaming. His work integrates ancient wisdom traditions with contemporary perspectives, aiming to help individuals navigate spiritual challenges and end-of-life experiences.
This Course is for You if...
➛You feel fear or uncertainty when contemplating death and want a wiser way to relate to it.
➛You are navigating aging, grief, loss, illness, or a significant life transition.
➛You want to explore Buddhist teachings on death and impermanence in depth.
➛You are drawn to questions about the nature of reality, consciousness, and identity.
➛You want contemplative practices that can help you become more familiar with change, openness, and letting go.
➛You support others through dying, grief, caregiving, or end-of-life work.
➛You want your awareness of mortality to bring greater clarity, appreciation, and purpose to your life now.
Enroll Today for Lifetime Access
Choose the pricing option that works for you.
All five modules become available October 5, 2026.
Enrollment closes October 5.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the course begin?
All five course modules become available on October 5, 2026.
Do I need to be online at a particular time?
No. The five course modules are available on demand, so you can move through them according to your own schedule. The live gathering with Andrew takes place on Monday, October 19 at 1:00 PM ET.
How long will I have access?
You’ll receive lifetime access to the course materials.
What does the course include?
Your enrollment includes five modules of video teachings and guided practices, reflection questions, transcripts, captions, audio downloads, lifetime access, and the live online gathering with Andrew.
Do I need previous experience with Buddhism or meditation?
No extensive background in Buddhism is required. Andrew introduces the course’s central ideas progressively. Some familiarity with meditation may be helpful, but the guided practices provide clear direction.
Is this course only for people approaching the end of life?
No. Although the course explores death directly, its teachings apply to the many forms of impermanence, loss, and transition we encounter throughout life.
Is this course appropriate for someone who is grieving?
The course includes Buddhist teachings and contemplative practices for relating to grief and loss. The course is educational and contemplative in nature and is not a substitute for professional mental-health or grief support.
Will the live gathering be recorded?
Yes, a recording of the live gathering will be made available to all students and posted in the course curriculum.
What is the refund policy?
If you’re unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us within 30 days of purchase to receive a full refund.
Turn Toward What Matters Most
Death is inevitable, but the way we relate to it is not fixed.
By becoming more familiar with impermanence, change, and letting go, we can begin to loosen fear and discover a more open way of living. The contemplation of death can clarify what matters, reveal the preciousness of this life, and help us meet each transition with greater awareness.
Join Andrew Holecek for Waking Up to Death and explore the Buddhist wisdom and practices that can transform your relationship with both life and death.
