About us

The Academy of Living & Dying exists to give life to death. We prepare people to die with clarity, support them through the process, and guide those left behind with care, compassion, and understanding.

We are here to evolve the death industry, offering choices that honor the body, spirit, and Earth—helping people die with dignity, presence, and even joy.

Through education, ritual, art, and conscious innovation, we empower communities to embrace death as a transformative, life-affirming experience.

A whale breaching the water with a splash, silhouetted against a dark background.
  • We guide individuals to approach the end of life with clarity, choice, and inner calm.

  • Death is transformative. We illuminate its lessons, potentials, and sacred dimensions.

  • We show people alternative choices, from mycelium caskets to conscious, regenerative end-of-life practices.

  • We honor and integrate ancestral practices, listening humbly to those who have long walked these paths.

  • Every life, every passing, is sacred. We act with full integrity, reverence, and presence.

  • We honor those who came before us as we prepare to become the ancestors of tomorrow.

  • Our work leaves a positive imprint: we give back to the land with every action, ritual, and ceremony.

  • Compassion, truth, and reverence guide everything we do.

  • We honor joy, ritual, and beauty as essential companions to death-awareness.

  • We explore, create, and challenge norms to bring new possibilities to the way we live and die.

Our Guiding Ethos

Black and white portrait of a man with a beard.


About the Founder

Gabrielle’s deep curiosity for understanding the Universe has fueled her to seek out masters, wisdom keepers and experts. 

Driven by a deep curiosity about the nature of reality and the fundamental essence of life, Gabrielle has travelled and studied with prominent teachers, shamans, and experts across spiritual, psychological, and somatic disciplines. Her focus is practical: How do we live well? How do we face death consciously? How do we reduce unnecessary suffering?

To her, how we live shapes how we die—and how we relate to death determines the depth, honesty, and vitality of our lives.

She is the founder of several mission-driven projects dedicated to evolving conversations around death, embodiment, and personal responsibility. Through her work, she challenges cultural avoidance, invites direct engagement with mortality, and encourages people to cultivate vitality while alive.