Bodhi and Leilah Be

Leilah and Bodhi live in Hawaii on their of-the-grid organic homestead of  tropical fruit and flowers. Married for 39 years and having raised 5 children they  are now helping raise their grandchildren. Leilah and Bodhi are ordained  interfaith ministers and teachers in the Sufi lineage of Samuel Lewis and Hazrat  Inayat Khan. They have been leading retreats throughout the world for over 30  years. 

Leilah Be is a student and teacher of living the beauty way. Through her music,  her voice and her deep and spacious heart she invites us to step more deeply  into heart and presence. 

As a senior teacher and guide, her wisdom, empathy and deep listening  continue to serve her many students. Leilah began leading the Dances of  Universal Peace and the practice of Zikr (Remembrance of God) in the early  1980’s. She has composed many beautiful circle dances and Zikrs, now danced  the world over. She teaches on Maui and leads retreats throughout the US. She  is a spiritual guide to some and a friend to many. Her attunement to expansive  awareness is contagious. She is a ‘grandma supreme’ and is the heart of her  family. She holds an honored and esteemed place in the Maui community and  beyond. Leilah was the founder and teacher of a Waldorf inspired pre-school  for 13 years. As one of the founders of Doorway Into Light, she continues to  serve on its Board.

“Leilah Be was most impressive — unassuming, gentle, respectful of others, in deep service  to the One without needing a big presence, she, nevertheless, held great power as a  channel for the flow of blessing.”  

Phil, Seattle 

“She inspires us with her fun-loving gentleness and at the same time, an undeniable power  of spirit” Myrica, Hawaii 

Bodhi Be is a founder and the executive director of Doorway Into Light, a  nonprofit organization on Maui, which provides conscious and compassionate  care for the dying, their families and the grieving, and has been ofering  community educational programs and trainings since 2006 in the fields of  awakened living and dying and the care of the dying. It operates Hawaii’s only  nonprofit funeral home since 2012 as well as a storefront ‘The Death Store’, a  community educational resource center and store providing education, support  and counsel on a donation basis. 

Bodhi is a funeral director, an end-of-life and bereavement counselor and  educator; a hospice volunteer; a teacher and trainer of death doulas; a speaker  and workshop leader. He has trained doctors, nurses, hospice staf, social  workers, ministers, chaplains, therapists, artists and lay people in the spiritual,  psychological, emotional and logistical care of the dying and the care of the  dead, and for four years has taken students through a certification program for  death doulas. 

A ceremonial guide, Bodhi leads memorial and funeral services and community  grief rituals. He has facilitated grief support groups for teenagers at a local high  school and has hosted a weekly streaming radio show, ‘Death Tracks’, on a  local Maui station. For many years Bodhi collaborated with Ram Dass, a  neighbor, mentor and friend, who served on Doorway Into Light’s Board of  Directors. Bodhi is continuing the work Ram Dass helped birth in the fields of  conscious dying in America. 

“Reverend Bodhi Be’s open-heart loving presence served as a solid rock foundation for this  profound and depth-filled course. Through his love, he helped create a space where we felt  safe to explore our deep vulnerability and profound emotional feelings about death. No  questions were of-limits. No judgment ever felt. Through his love, we knew that we all  mattered.” 

Cathy and Richard, elementary and preschool educators for over 40 years