Embracing Elderhood
on Behalf of All Life
A Live Online Course Rooted in the Work that Reconnects & Elder Wisdom
With Constance Washburn and Mary Oak
Join us in supporting one another in stepping into the role of Elder as sage, peacemaker, and activist. This interactive course builds community and nurtures conscious awareness in service to transforming our humanity, our Earth, and our future.
You’ll be introduced to the Spiral of The Work that Reconnects
through the lens of eldering, and delve into resources from many Elder Wisdom Keepers. We dedicate this time to emerging from individual self to global self, moving from inaction to action and from disempowered senior to empowered elder.
The course meets Feb 19th to April 2nd - 10:00 AM - Noon PST – you can find a timezone converter here.
Course Investment is on a sliding scale: $175- $630 to be made via PayPal here
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds
Registration Link: here
Free Introductory Webinar:
Thursday, Feb 5th - 10 AM - 11:30 PT
This free 1.5 hour introductory webinar offers an overview of the upcoming Embracing Elderhood on Behalf of All Life course that begins in February.
Learn more about the intention of the course, as well as the content and structure of the 7 sessions.
You will get a chance to experience interactive practices to shift ego-system thinking to eco-system thinking, meet the course leaders and connect with other Elders from near and far.
Register here.
Class Themes:
Week 1- Becoming and Being an Elder
Week 2- Growing in Consciousness as an Elder
Week 3- Facing the Polycrisis- Honoring our Pain for the World
Week 4- Envisioning Regenerative Ways Forward
Week 5- Empowering Elder Sacred Activism on behalf of all Life
Week 6- Going Forth Together in Service to the World
Week 7- Completion - Celebration - Evaluation
Core Texts that Inspire Course Content - This Course was originally developed with the support of the Elders Action Network - Eldersaction.org
Work That Reconnects
Coming Back to Life- Molly Brown and Joanna Macy
Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience & Creative Power - Chris Johnstone and Joanna Macy
Elder Wisdom
From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older - Zalman Schacter-Shalomi
Conscious Living- Conscious Aging: Claiming the Gifts of Elderhood - Ron Pevney
The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul by Connie Zweig
More Resources will be given in class.
My Journey to Joanna Macy’s Work
Over thirty years ago, I had a destiny dream: in a circle with others, I was
giving voice to a tree and decrying human superiority. When I mentioned this powerful
experience to a friend, she told me it sounded as if I was enacting a ritual which she had
recently participated in with Joanna Macy. Within less than a year, I was given an
opportunity to take a course with Joanna, inviting us into intimacy with the
more-than-human world. We were introduced to her unique interweaving of Deep
Ecology, Systems Theory, and Engaged Buddhism, while focusing on a ritual called The
Council of All Beings, which I recognized as being the circle in my dream. I was deeply
impacted and wove some of her teachings into my area of concentration for my BA
degree in Mythopoetics and Sacred Ecology and offered workshops around The Council of All Beings in the US and abroad for a few years.
Decades later, teaching courses such as Eco-Spirituality, and Sacred Activism at Antioch
University gave me a chance to return to Joanna’s work and bring in her practices in new and deeper ways. I was happy to see that her work had flourished and expanded into what is now called The Work that
Reconnects. Indeed, the manual I had known decades ago, Coming Back to Life,
co-authored with Molly Brown, had expanded to twice the size! I was moved by how
deeply my students responded to the work and wanted to focus increasingly on giving
ways to keep hope alive in these urgent times.
When my time as a core faculty member was ending, I knew I wanted to take up
facilitating Joanna’s work in a wider way. I was fortunate to take the Spiral Journey International
Facilitator Training. It was truly enriching to be one of only a handful of US citizens among participants from many continents.
I am currently involved in designing some programs around this work to be offered in 2026. Stay tuned and please let me know if this work draws you and you’d like to know when I have offerings on Ecocentric themes.