Daniela Muggia was born in Italy in 1954.
BA in Modern Languages at Torino University, Postgraduate in Thanatology at Naples University,
Faculty of Humanistic Psychology, with professor Cesare Boni, one of the most outstanding
thanatologists of 20th century.
After more than 20 years of working with the terminally ill, she has developed the ECEL
method (Empathic Care of the End of Life), a blending of western neuroscience, neuro-cardiology
and quantum physics, and the so-called “compassion practices” from the Tibetan tradition. Her
experience with the Tibetan thanatology comes from more than 30 years of study and framctice
with with Sogyal Rinpoche, author of the ground-breaking Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
Daniela currently practices ECEL with her team and teaches it since 2005 in Medical Education
Masters at several Italian and Swiss Universities as guest professor, as well as in hospitals and
hospices.
A II degree Master completely dedicated to ECEL was organised by Roma 3 University, Italy, in
2013.
Her work was awarded the 2008 “Terzani Prize” for Medical Humanities in Italy.
Co-author of two recently published books on ECEL application: one to ADHD children and the
other to animals at the end of their life.
Educator in Spiritual Care for the Dying for Rigpa Association, and President of Tonglen Italy,
ECEL care Association since 1991.
AWARDED STUDIES
Daniela Muggia, A research at Parma Hospital, Italy, on staff trained in ECEL, “Empathic Care For the
End of Life”: stress highly reduced through Tibetan traditional compassion meditation techniques.
http://www.tonglen.it/pdf/A_research_at_Parma_Hospital.pdf
(This study was awarded the Terzani Award for Medical Humanities 2008)
LECTURES IN CONFERENCES ON CARING FOR THE DYING:
Volunteering as a Community Resource at 10th Israeli Annual Conference for spiritual support: "The
Individual, the Community and Spiritual Care: Building Resilience and Meaningful Connection", Nov
5th, 2013
Giving Meaning to Holocaust Survivors at 10th Israeli Annual Conference for spiritual support: "The
Individual, the Community and Spiritual Care: Building Resilience and Meaningful Connection", Nov
5th, 2013
RECENT ARTICLES ON DEATH AND DYING
Conscious dying: How to say Goodbye with Loving Awareness
(In Edge Magazine, Dec 2014)
http://www.edgemagazine.net/2014/12/conscious-dying-loving-awareness/
Death and the Melting Pot: Is there a Universal Key to Caring for the Dying, Whatever Culture they
Belong to? (In Total Health, Feb. 2015, pp16-17)
http://totalhealthmagazine.com/Mags/2015February/index.html
How to Communicate at the End of Life, When Communication Seems Impossible
What does a carer perceive while in a cultivated empathic and compassionate state of consciousness, when
listening to the dying? (In Total Health, March 2015, pp. 22 to 24)
http://totalhealthmagazine.com/Mags/2015March/index.html
Are North Americans Immortal?
A new article on Total Health Magazine, published on April 2015, on Death and dying taboos
http://totalhealthmagazine.com/Mags/2015April/index.html
BOOKS
Empathic care applied to children with
ADHD
Available in Italian and English; Spanish
edition coming soon; French edition under
translation
The Impact of Empathy - A New Approach to Working with ADHD Children
(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), published by Blossoming Books.
Main Topic: ADHD/Meditation/Tibetan tanathology/Empathic Care/Psychology
ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and children diagnosed with it are
often subjected to heavy and risky therapies based on psychopharmacological drugs.
What if there were another, non-invasive, way to help them?
The innovation of the approach presented in this book is threefold:
1) it takes into account the new paradigm introduced by the evolution of quantum
physics (we can have more information if we are in a suitable state to grasp it, and
at the same time we can communicate the state of great peace that we can train
ourselves to attain);
2) it introduces the concept of the collective “mandala of suffering”;
3) it inserts into the well-oiled mechanism of self perpetuated suffering a
transformative element that brings the procedure to a halt, without worrying too
much whether the new element is introduced through the child, the parents, the
teachers, or the therapist or the carer.
The inspiration comes from the method ECEL®, Empathic Care at the End of Life, which
derives from the marriage of Tibetan thanatology and neuroscience. It is based on a state
of great empathy that characterises both the child and the dying person, and that the carer
can learn to achieve.
ISBN: 978-88-97951-33-9
Pages: 184
ebook kindle version and paperback available
VIDEO PRESENTATION
For a short English-spoken presentation by the Authors on the contents of The Impact of Empathy, see this
video: http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/books.php
PRAISE for The Impact of Empathy
"By employing an analysis of how empathy can improve the behavior of a child diagnosed with
ADHD, these authors explore helpful teaching methods for the classroom and at home.
In The Impact of Empathy: A New Approach to Working with ADHD Children, coauthors Emilia Costa
and Daniela Muggia address the topic of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in the context of
adjusting group responses, incorporating meditation, and cultivating empathy instead of simply
throwing pharmaceuticals at the child. By employing the Empathic Care at the End of Life model,
they cultivate the idea that empathy is the most effective way to respond to children struggling with
ADHD, giving them power to make changes, and giving others around them the power to support
those changes without resorting to the use of medication.
According to the authors, 'Pharmacological agents in fact induce behavioral changes, but they are
not capable of teaching children how to make these changes on their own. The children are thus
deprived of the essential learning experience of how to act autonomously and emphatically.' By
working with the impacted child and the entire class, empathy and some behavior modifications
will help everyone learn to function in many environments. The discussion of meditation will be
beneficial to both parents and educators. The ultimate goal is to teach life skills, not just medicate
children into passivity."—ForeWord Reviews
“The diagnosis of ADHD has increased enormously in recent years, involving children with a
variety of problems. Yet the dominant standard form of treatment has continued to be medications
such as stimulants. These drugs usually do non-specifically and temporarily decrease the basic
“symptoms” of high activity and inattention but have negligible impact on helping the child to solve
his/her related behavioral adjustment problems.
In this book Costa and Muggia offer a welcome shift in focus to an emphasis on empathic
interviewing with the child. Their plan is based on listening to the child to discover the specific areas
of conflict in his/her life and the use of the child’s “innate wisdom” and other resources to
understand and deal more effectively with the challenges involved. Conscientious clinicians should
be aware of and utilize this very sensible revision of management.” —William B. Carey, M.D., Clinical
Professor of Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
"This book uses the essential insights of Tibetan thanatology to tap into the power of empathy. It will
prove to be essential for those who care for children with ADHD and also for the rest of us who live
in this world." — Ervin Laszlo, Nobel Prize Nominee, author and founder/president of the Club of Budapest
"Finally a book, showing us that empathy itself transforms symptoms. Empathic connection is a
necessary condition of change, I hope this message catches on!” — Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, author of The
Gift of ADHD
“This book harnesses what we know from science and meditation to create new possibilities for
helping children who struggle with ADHD.” — Nancy Ratey, Ed.M, author of The Disorganized Mind:
Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents
“This is a fine and wise book, written with real spiritual depth and maturity, and on a very
important subject. Please read it and learn from it.” — Andrew Harvey, author of Light the Flame: 365
Days of Prayer
"A passionate and well-documented volume (…) So why not take an open-minded look at the
methods of dealing with the distress effectively described in this book, which gives an account of
different experiences, some psychiatric and psychotherapeutic, others thanatological?" — Luca
Poma, President of “Hands off the Children”.
RADIO INTERVIEWS on The Impact of Empathy and its connection with death and dying
Interviews by Tim Nixon, Tim Nixon Show, on Sept 8, Nov 2, and Dec 17, 2014
https://soundcloud.com/tags/daniela%20muggia
Interview by Ric Bratton, This Week in America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8XJtHvXiQ
LECTURES on The Impact of Empathy
Jerusalem, January 2015. Israel Spiritual Care Network CONFERENCE. Hope and Resilience; Innovation &
Interdisciplinary Spiritual Care. "Empathic Care Applied to ADHD Children"
DANIELA’S ARTICLES on The Impact of Empathy
Meditation instead of medication, in Evolving Magazine, April 2015
http://www.evolvingmagazine.com/#!meditation-instead-of-medication/c19hw
A New, Non Invasive Way to treat Juvenile ADHD: Death, Dying, Tibetan Meditation & Children
with ADHD, in Elephant Journal, Jan 2015
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/01/a-new-non-invasive-way-to-treat-juvenile-adhd/
What changes if we cultivate empathy? The Impact of Empathy: a New Approach To Working with
ADHD Children, in Spirit Seeker, Oct. 2014
http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/repository/USE%20for%20web%20site%20Spirit%20Seeker
%20Oct%20Article.jpg
A New Empathic Approach for Working with ADHD Children: The Research Behind it and its
Effectivenenss, in Total Health Online, October 2014
http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/repository/TotD.pdf
What Changes if we Cultivate Empathy? In Heal Myself, Oct 2014
Page 1 http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/repository/D1.jpeg
Page 2 http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/repository/D2.jpeg
REVIEWS on The Impact of Empathy
ForeWard Reviews, Winter 2015
http://www.blossomingbooks.com/pulse/data/img/gallery/TryThis.jpg
Rewire Me, January 6, 2015
http://www.rewireme.com/relationships/parenting-relationships/impact-empathy-newapproach-working-adhd-children/
Media Review: The Impact of Empathy, on www.newleafblogger.com by Sue Imperial
http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/repository/TotSue.pdf
Cover Total Health Online, October 2014 - headliner
http://www.blossomingbooks.com/en/repository/Oct14coverTOTALHEALTH.pdf
Empathic care for animals
Available in Italian.
English, Spanish and French
editions under translation
Paw in Hand Until the End - Empathic and Palliative Care at the End of Life for Pets by
Daniela Muggia and Stefano Cattinelli
A vet and a thanatologist answer to the most significant question we have to face when we have a pet: how
can we take care of our best friend when it is time for them to go? 157 million US families share their lives
with a pet: a close, enriching relationship of love. But what happens when our pet friend’s life comes to an
end?
Do palliative treatments exist for animals? Is euthanasia always the only solution for suffering? Sometimes,
when our pets go away, this loss makes other losses resonate. How can we face a pain that no one else
understands?
A vet and a thanatologist, both experts in the care at the end of life, try to answer these questions, in a book
full of case histories and scientific facts that show us how deeply, under specific circumstances, our friends’
mind and ours can connect…