Ann Cason

Ann Cason is a pioneer in bringing the principles of mindfulness, compassion, and upliftedness into the care of elderly people. During the 1970s, inspired by her training under Chögyam Trungpa, she cofounded and directed Dana Home Care, an innovative nonprofit that provided care management and home-based care to frail elders in Boulder, Chicago, and Boston.

Later in private practice she set up healing environments for those suffering from confusional disorders and for the dying. One of her well-known clients was Anne Morrow Lindbergh, for whom she coordinated care for nine years.

Cason’s personal journey of aging has included experiencing a stroke and the resultant process of recovery. Now living in Portland, Oregon, she continues to work as an expert consultant on aging. She has recently developed a course entitled “Giving Birth to Death” that brings together many threads of her work to help people prepare for their own end of life. Cason is a certified geriatric care manager and a meditation instructor and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. She was recently featured in “The Wisdom of Ann Cason” in the Shambhala Times online community newsletter.