Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark

Death Expert Reveals the Dark Truth Behind Modern Funerals | Guest: Mike Reagan, CEO of The Natural Funeral

Date: December 5, 2025

Episode Overview

In this thought-provoking episode, host Alex Clark sits down with Mike Reagan, CEO of The Natural Funeral in Loveland, Colorado. Together, they unravel the history and practices of modern funerals, exposing the environmental and emotional repercussions of current burial traditions—such as embalming and flame cremation—while spotlighting holistic, earth-friendly alternatives like green burial, water cremation, and terramation (human composting). Through personal stories, expert insights, and practical guidance, this conversation invites listeners to reconsider how our final choices can nurture both the earth and our communities, and explores how “non-toxic dying” may be the ultimate wellness practice.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mike Reagan’s Unconventional Path to “Death Guy”

• Background (03:14–05:59):

  • Mike started his journey at age 15, cleaning cemeteries, then moved up to laboring, grave-digging, and eventually becoming a licensed apprentice embalmer.
  • Reagan wasn’t drawn to the industry by interest in the macabre, but rather a sense of service during families’ most difficult moments:

    “When someone dies, I believe their soul moves on. So for me, it was just a body. I was just caring for the body, for a loved one.” (05:35, Mike)

• High School Anecdotes:

  • Being on funeral home callouts as a teen was unusual, but in small-town Massachusetts, “someone has to” do the work. (04:48)

2. End-of-Life Doulas & Profound Experiences

• Role of an End-of-Life Doula (06:33–07:49):

  • The doula supports both the dying and the family, providing everything from advance planning to grief support.

    “My sweet spot is sitting vigil with a patient at the very end.” (07:49, Mike)

• Spiritual Encounters (07:52–12:35):

  • Mike shared deeply moving stories of people finding connection and peace at the end of life—including a dying man recalling a childhood moment of cosmic belonging and a woman whose spiritual transition matched a gesture later echoed by her sister.
  • These are not “supernatural” but deeply natural:

    “To witness an individual at the end…come to realize they are connected to something greater than them was really beautiful.” (09:23, Mike)

• On Ghosts (13:08):

  • Mike believes our spirits move on, returning to God or the universal energy, rather than lingering as ghosts.

3. What Is a Holistic Funeral?

• Definition & Practice (13:20–14:41):

  • A “holistic funeral” returns to natural methods, skipping embalming and reducing environmental impact.
  • Families can keep the body at home, hold vigils for days, and participate in hands-on care—legal in many states, especially if the deceased was in hospice.

    “There’s this common perception that you never touch a dead body… The reality is that’s not the case.” (14:53, Mike)

• Practical Aspects:

  • Cooling the body with dry ice or gel packs can pause decomposition for home vigils. (17:04–17:21)

4. The Environmental Toll of Modern Burials

• How Did We Get So Toxic? (35:31–36:36):

  • Modern embalming began during the Civil War with Abraham Lincoln’s body. Now-body preservation uses toxic formaldehyde, steel caskets, and cement vaults that delay decomposition and pollute soil and water.

• Environmental Impact:

  • Toxins from cemeteries can potentially seep into the water table:

    “...Those toxins are going to be in that soil. If it happens to be near a water table, it might be impacting the water table as well.” (37:04, Mike)

  • “It’s just generally bad for the environment. It’s bad for Mother Earth. It’s… unnatural.” (37:39, Mike)

5. Non-Toxic Dying: Natural & Regenerative Alternatives

• Green Burial:

  • No embalming; body in a shroud or biodegradable casket; shallow graves; no cement vault.

    “Simply placing the body in a shroud or organic material casket into a shallow grave…returning the elements back into the soil.” (28:00, Mike)

• Water Cremation (“Alkaline Hydrolysis”):

  • Process reduces the body to bone fragments and a nutrient-rich liquid (“liquid essence”) that serves as a concentrated fertilizer.

    “That liquid essence becomes an amazing fertilizer…a beautiful way to return those elements to the cycle of life.” (31:13, Mike)

• Terramation (Natural Organic Reduction, Human Composting):

  • Involves placing the body (in a “chrysalis” vessel) with organic materials, introducing bacteria and beneficial fungi, and transforming remains directly into soil within 28–33 days.
  • Families receive about 15 bags of living soil, often used for trees, gardens, or houseplants.

    “[Terramation] is a process whereby a body is transformed into regenerative living soil.” (40:20, Mike)

• Regenerative Mindset:

  • Aligns with themes of stewardship, referenced by host and appealing to a Christian conservative audience:

    “The opportunity to contribute this beautiful vessel…to the cycle of life.” (25:39, Mike)

6. Societal Attitudes, Economics, and Industry Change

• Consumer Demand (44:53):

  • 68% of Americans now prefer a green funeral option.
  • Many funeral homes receptive to offering natural options in response to family values.

• Misconceptions:

  • “Certified green” is not a scam; it’s real, and prices for terramation or green options are about the same or less than traditional burial. (45:03)

• Cultural Shift:

  • “We’re making funerals natural again.” (44:59, Mike)

• Green Cemeteries:

  • Not as common as desired, but most states have a few allowing green burial (49:53–50:11).

7. Planning Ahead

• Importance of Advance Planning (55:06–55:40):
  • Having instructions or even pre-paying relieves family of emotional burden and ensures your wishes are honored:

    “It’s a real gift for someone to do—to put an advanced plan in place so their loved ones aren’t burdened with making the decision.” (55:40, Mike)

8. Ethics, Scandals, and Trust

• Industry Malpractice (53:08–54:56):
  • Recent funeral home scandal in Colorado involved fraud and improper body care; it’s a rare but serious breach of trust, not reflective of natural funeral advocates.

9. Why Embalming is Outdated

• Summary Reasoning:
  • “In essence, it’s not natural. It’s not good for the environment…It’s more an awakening to…the opportunity to do something more natural.” (48:54, Mike)

10. Broader Philosophical Reflections

• On AI and Career Choices:

  • Funeral work remains profoundly human; unlikely to be replaced by AI. (51:18–51:57)

• Healing a Sick Culture:

  • Mike’s remedy for society?

    “Practice loving awareness…Step into being present, having an open heart and mind, being curious about what other people’s perspectives are… do so with an open, loving heart.” (56:40, Mike)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the role of spirits:

  “Ghosts? I believe that our spirits move on back to the…energy or God that we all come from.”
  (13:08, Mike)

• On reconsidering traditional practices:

  “We talk about non-toxic living, but there’s also non-toxic dying.”
  (27:15, Alex)

• On the real potential of funeral reform:

  “Cemeteries today to a great extent are toxic wastelands…It’s certainly counter to what you just described about stewardship.”
  (26:54, Mike)

• On environmental stewardship and faith:

  “If you are Christian conservative, we believe in being good stewards of the earth…leaving things better than how we came. I feel like that’s something we would get behind.”
  (26:54, Alex)

• On terramation:

  “At the end of the 28–33 days, there are only three things remaining inside the vessel: the bones…any inorganics…[and] gorgeous regenerative living soil.”
  (42:24, Mike)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 03:14–07:49 | Mike’s entry into funeral work, end-of-life doula definition, and formative stories | | 07:52–12:35 | Moving vigil and spiritual transition stories | | 13:20–14:41 | What is a holistic funeral? | | 14:53–17:21 | Legal & practicalities of home vigil, caring for bodies naturally | | 21:33–23:22 | Environmental stewardship, story of misaligned funeral values | | 25:23–31:13 | Gut biome, regenerative burial, cremation, and water cremation explained | | 35:31–37:31 | Civil War origins of embalming, environmental consequences | | 39:44–42:57 | Terramation: process, impact, family stories | | 44:53–46:13 | Industry reception, demand for natural options, economics | | 48:54–49:49 | Why embalming is “a bad idea” | | 55:06–56:27 | Advance directives and pre-planning | | 56:40–57:34 | Mike’s remedy—loving awareness and cultural healing |

Tone & Takeaways

Alex and Mike keep the conversation deeply respectful, sometimes light-hearted, yet anchored in gentle realism and compassion for families at life’s end. Their exchange invites listeners—regardless of political stance—to see natural funeral practices, not as a fringe idea, but as part of holistic health, environmental stewardship, and reverence for both body and earth. The episode is as much about living meaningfully as it is about dying well.

For more resources and information:
Visit thenaturalfuneral.com

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