Dear Saging Friends,
I am writing to tell you that my Sage-ing engine has run out of steam and I’m going to stop holding Chapter meetings as of this month.
I am proud of the work we have done with the Chapter. We have had many speakers come and share various topics around spiritual age-ing, including Rabbi Zalman himself, his wife Eve Ilsen, David Chernikoff, Bob Atchlee, Rick Moody and Kim Mooney, among many others. At this point in my life I feel like putting the Sage-ing work into practice and moving forward into new adventures in the New Year.
I’d like to thank Deb Windrum and Jack Williamson for co-facilitating the Chapter and Ori Har for working with me these last months. They all gave much time and energy to the Chapter, built connections, contacted speakers and facilitated meetings. I couldn’t have done it without them! I’d also like to thank Oz Digennero and Maureen Dobson for behind the scenes support.
A big thanks to Horizon West and our resident members for allowing us to hold our meetings there. We appreciated a large, roomy, central meeting place.
If anyone has interest in stepping forward to take over the Chapter, let me know asap and no later than Dec. 27th. Otherwise, there will be no more meetings.
If you are ever interested in the classes “From Age-ing to Sage-ing” or “Death as a Part of Life” you can contact me at rlohndorf@comcast.net or Ori and I at this link for Conscious Learning Community at http://www.conscious-learning-community.com/sage-ing-classes–retreat.html
Rick Moody offers luncheons once a month in Boulder and Denver on Conscious Age-ing. You can get on the list for newsletters and invites at hrmoody@yahoo.com
You can also stay connected with Sage-ing International at sage-ing.com.
The second half of life gives us opportunities like no other time in life. Here is what Reb Zalman says on our website:
“I hope you sense what a glorious future awaits you in old age. No longer will you dread the evening of life as a time of unremitting suffering and futility, but as an opportunity for continued growth in consciousness and service to humanity. What a vista, what a wonderful adventure, what a miraculous window of opportunity awaits us in old age!” Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Old
I’d like to thank all of you for your interest and support over the years and I wish you all the best in your futures and with your own Sage-ing adventures!
Rosemary Lohndorf
November 6th, 2016 Presentation
Nan Phifer, author
“Writing to Make Whole: Integrative Life Review”
As a follow-up to our sage-ing lesson, “Our Lives as One Cycle of a Year” and the process of life review, Nan will present this writing workshop:
Our lives are shaped by our choices and by the advantages and sorrows we experience. We respond with gratitude and with grief. It has been said that wisdom integrates and accepts both conditions and both responses.
The intertwining of all our experiences is seldom viewed, and yet by listing those circumstances and events we consider to be fortunate alongside a second list of unfortunate influences, we’ll begin to see how the two lists are inseparable. We’ll write to discover how the positive and negative threads intertwine. Our overviews showing the interweaving of significant experiences will offer an increased sense of personal wholeness.
Wholeness requires recognition and assimilation of opposites.
–an idea expressed by Carl Jung
Nan Phifer leads workshops for writers’ groups, libraries, religious organizations, and academic conferences. Her writing guide, Memoirs of the Soul, leads memoirists directly into their most meaningful experiences and shows how to recount them vividly. Her method produces heartfelt accounts more compelling than chapters written consecutively. Memoirs of the Soul won two awards. To learn about Nan’s workshops and see her current calendar, please open www.memoirworkshops.com or write to her at nanphifer@mac.com.
October 2nd Presentation
“Our Lives as One Cycle of a Year” with Rosemary Lohndorf, Sage-ing Mentor
Rosemary continues with exercises from the Age-ing to Sage-ing book. This month we do the second exercise, “Our Lives as One Cycle of a Year”. This exercise involves a key concept of Reb Zalman’s work, life review. We will chart our lives and our growth, looking for patterns and harvesting the wisdom of our lives. This exercise helps us open ourselves to the past and future. Bring your journal, a pen and a friend!
Rosemary Lohndorf, MA, has been teaching adults and children for over 30 years. She is a certified Sage-ing Mentor with the ALEPH program and a Spiritual Director. She is a certified Journal to the Self® and SoulCollage® instructor, a retired principal, and co-author of The Flourishing Principal. She also co-facilitates Boulder Sage-ing, a chapter of Sage-ing International.
September 4th Presentation
Dr. Charley Cropley:
Powerful Ways to Care for Body and Mind as We Age
Dr. Cropley will follow up on last month’s discussion of approaching elderhood. He will explain a general model of aging based upon the Naturopathic model of toxemia. He will give examples of how toxemia contributes to various physiologic and metabolic changes that occur in older age such as hormonal depletion, joint degeneration and weakening of digestion and elimination.
We will learn specific techniques for restoring and preserving strength and health through exercise, nutrition and self-talk. Join us for this informative and practical session on approaching elderhood.
Dr. Charley Cropley is a practicing Naturopathic Physician, teacher and author in the Boulder/Denver area since 1979. He has trained hundreds of doctors in his methods of nutrition and Self-Healing, has been a frequent lecturer at the colleges of Naturopathic Medicine and regularly leads courses and retreats. He is author of numerous articles, two books and an array of audios and videos. He has been voted best alternative Health care practitioner in Boulder four of the last five years.
Dr. Cropley works with all types of Health problems using no medicines or supplements. He teaches his clients to dramatically improve their Health & Vitality through four practices which he himself lives.
- Wholesome Nutrition & Fasting
- Strengthening Exercise & Deep Rest
- Healthy Thinking
- Honest, Caring Relationships
August 7th Presentation
“Approaching Elderhood”
with Rosemary Lohndorf and Rabbi Ori Har.
“Elderhood is a time to discover inner richness for self development
and spiritual growth”. Reb Zalman.
Join us as we explore images of age-ing projected by society and those we may have absorbed or developed for ourselves. How do you experience elderhood? We’ll share what it means to each of us to age in body, heart, mind and spirit.
We’ll do some journaling, so bring your journal and a pen.
Rabbi Ori Har DiGennaro has been providing spiritual direction for over ten years. She received ordination as a Spiritual Director, a Sage-ing Mentor and as a Rabbi from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Reb Ori is a member of Spiritual Directors International and Sage-ing International. She serves as a spiritual director for individuals and groups as well as leading Sage-ing workshops. Rabbi Ori is also a practitioner of Embodied Torah and ecstatic dance, and is the author of God Speaks Here and Now: a Guide for Living.
Rosemary Lohndorf, MA, has been teaching adults and children for over 30 years. She is a certified Sage-ing Mentor with the ALEPH program and a Spiritual Director. She is a certified Journal to the Self® and SoulCollage® instructor, a retired principal, and co-author of The Flourishing Principal. She also co-facilitates Boulder Sage-ing, a chapter of Sage-ing International.
July 3, 2016 Presentation
The Important Stories with Eve Ilsen.
Eve Ilsen, rabbinic pastor, singer and storyteller, will be telling some of the essential stories, both traditional and personal, and evoking your own.
Eve is a many-faceted presenter. She is a singer, a psychotherapist, a story-teller and a Rabbinic Pastor. She is a rebbetzin, the widow of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalom. Rabbi Zalman’s seminal book From Age-ing to Sage-ing sparked off the work of Spiritual Eldering. Eve partnered with Reb Zalman in the development of the book and she can be credited with the development of many of the exercises in that book, which are also part of Sage-ing courses and workshops. This presentation of story-telling with Eve should be a very rich time!
June 5 Presentation
Harvesting the Wisdom of our Years
with Jack Williamson
We all have wisdom to harvest and to cultivate. There is still more wisdom that can be uncovered beneath the layers of our years. Through memories and stories we will explore our hard-earned wisdom as we lean into and live our elder years. Our time together will be inspirational, reflective and practical. We will experience how cultivating, harvesting and sharing our wisdom will expand our purpose and enjoyment for living fully as conscious elders and sages. Join us for this exploration of wisdom!
Jack first retired as an Air Force Chaplain (Colonel) and then as the Executive Director for the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Chaplaincy. Since fully retiring in 2015 he has been volunteering with elders and youth. Jack started and leads “Cyber-Seniors”, a weekly program engaging high school students with elders helping them learn how to more effectively use computers and social media. He is also active as a certified leader with “CircleTalk” that engages and connects seniors through meaningful conversations and building rich friendships. He also co-facilitates our local chapter of Sage-ing International.
May 1, 2016 Presentation:
DREAMS FOR THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE
with Rick Moody
We all dream, but not all of us remember our dreams and many of us
are puzzled by what dreams might mean. In this workshop, we consider
dreams as an “inner GPS system,” giving us clues about who we are and
who we might become in later life. We look at dreams during retirement
and coping with illness, as well as dreams about creativity, family relationships,
and memories of where we have come on the journey of life, including
anticipations of life’s end. The dreams shared in this event are drawn
from many years of dream workshops, as well as dreams from major figures
such as Dag Hammarskjold, Thomas Merton, and Carl Jung. As the Talmudic
phrase has it, “A dream un-interpreted is like a letter unopened.” In this
gathering we learn more about how to open and read these nightly letters
to ourselves.
Harry (Rick) Moody, Ph.D., is retired Vice President (for Academic Affairs)
from AARP in Washington, now living in Boulder. He is author of many books
including THE FIVE STAGES OF THE SOUL: Charting the Spiritual
Passages that Shape Our Lives, now translated into 7 languages worldwide.
Harry Moody previously served as Chairman of the Board of Elderhostel
(now Road Scholar) and hosts a regular Positive Aging Lunch Group here
in Boulder. He is active in the Sage-ing International organization and
conducts dream workshops around the USA.
April 3, 2016 Presentation:
Becoming a Sage…One Story at a Time
with Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse
An ongoing and valued participant in our Boulder Sage-ing community, Sharon comes to us with a history of “Becoming a Sage” as she pioneered the co-founding of the National Association of Children of Alcoholics. This concept grew to be known as The Co-Dependency Movement. Sharon has spent many years as a family therapist, the author of 19 books and the founding businesswoman of three companies. Her most recent company was Onsite Training, Consulting and Workshops serving over 48,000 people. Her 19th book, Becoming a Sage: Discovering Life’s Lessons, One Story at a Time was just released. For more information go to: http://www.sharoncruse.com
Sharon will help each of to find our own ‘inner story’ and prepare to leave a bit of our own legacy. Sharon will employ meditation, group sharing and interaction, sculpture and storytelling as we continue our journey of positive and conscious age-ing. Come, bring a friend and experience the richness of our growing Boulder Sage-ing community.
March. 6, 2016 Presentation
Death As a Part of Life
with Rabbi Ori Har and Rosemary Lohndorf
In the Sage-ing work of Reb Zalman we learn about ten “Sine qua Non” concepts that are, in his mind, critical to age-ing well. On this list of spiritual eldering work are the concepts of facing our mortality and preparing for a serene death and afterlife. Rabbi Ori Har and Rosemary Lohndorf will guide you through an exercise and discussion of what it means to face our mortality and start to think about preparing for death. Our culture is now starting to see value in this, when previously these topics tended to be off-limits, buried and even ignored. When we recognize that life is finite we are challenged to live each moment fully. Join us for an afternoon of learning and sharing around this concept that death is really and always has been a part of life.
Rabbi Ori Har DiGennaro has been providing spiritual direction for over ten years. She received ordination as a Spiritual Director, a Sage-ing Mentor and as a Rabbi from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Reb Ori is a member of Spiritual Directors International and Sage-ing International. She serves as a spiritual director for individuals and groups as well as leading Sage-ing workshops. Rabbi Ori is also a practitioner of Embodied Torah and ecstatic dance, and is the author of God Speaks Here and Now: a Guide for Living.
Rosemary Lohndorf, MA, has been teaching adults and children for over 30 years. She is a certified Sage-ing Mentor with the ALEPH program and a Spiritual Director. She is a certified Journal to the Self® and SoulCollage® instructor, a retired principal, and co-author of The Flourishing Principal. She also co-facilitates Boulder Sage-ing, a chapter of Sage-ing International.
Feb. 7, 2016 Presentation
Circle Talk
with Deb Skovron
CircleTalk will host our Sunday meeting on Feb 7th from 1:30-3:30 PM.
We moved up the time to accomodate our Bronco fans!
CircleTalk is a social and conversational program that engages older adults in meaningful conversations. In this activity, personal sharing is inspired, as well as a sense of belonging and a feeling of community. CircleTalk is a simple idea: conversations guided by trained leaders following a specialized curriculum designed to grow a safety net to increase connections and to decrease the sense of isolation in the lives of many older adults.
Join us to find out what makes this program unique and to experience it! CircleTalk is currently being facilitated in retirement communities throughout Boulder County and other places where seniors gather. Visit our website at: circletalk.org to learn more and to watch an 8 minute video of seniors participating in a CircleTalk session.
Deb Skovron, CircleTalk’s Director will be leading this session along with the assistance of several other CircleTalk Leaders.
January 2016 Presentation:
Tuning In: Sage-ing Well with Music
with Faith Halverson-Ramos
In this educational workshop, Faith will lead a variety of activities that illustrate how music can be used to promote healthy aging and to enhance your sense of well-being. Activities will range from listening to music to actively creating music. With each activity, Faith will provide research-based information that supports the benefits of music in the aging process.
Faith is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Board-Certified Music Therapist who received her training at Naropa University in Boulder. She has presented both nationally and internationally on music and mindfulness. Through her private practice, SoundWell Music Therapy, she uses music to enhance the quality of life for people throughout the life spectrum. She is especially interested in the ways in which people can use music to make personal and transpersonal meaning.
December Presentation:
Spontaneous, Compelling Memoirs: An Interactive, Participatory Presentation
by Nan Phifer
To enable ordinary people to produce profound memoirs, Nan adapted a writing process advocated by the National Writing Project. The process she’ll demonstrate produces not only a vital legacy for descendents, it also guides the writer in life-review.
When we meet on Dec. 6, you’ll experience a procedure you can replicate with caregivers, family members, gerontologists, counselors and chaplains—and you can use Nan’s technique for writing your own memoir! Nan will demonstrate how to:
- identify significant, meaningful subjects
- ease into spontaneous writing
- assure constructive responses to your first draft
- reflect on your writing in a way that creates awareness of the positive qualities in yourself
Nan is author of Memoirs of the Soul: A Writing Guide. She served as a co-director for the Oregon Writing Project at the U. of O. and now presents workshops for continuing education programs, libraries, academic organizations, writers’ groups, and religious organizations. For further information, please see http://www.memoirworkshops.com.
November Presentation:
Journey of the Soul in the Jewish Mystical Tradition
Rabbis Victor and Nadya Gross will offer an opportunity to explore the afterlife as imagined (or experienced) by Jewish mystics through discussion and imaginal exercises. Come with your questions and stories to share.
Rabbis Victor and Nadya Gross received Joint Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi in recognition of their unique paradigm of spiritual partnering. They serve as co-Rabbis of Pardes Levavot; a Jewish Renewal Congregation in Boulder, Co, co-Directors of Programs for ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal and co-faculty for the ALEPH Sage-ing Program and the Anamcara Project of the Sacred Art of Living Center in Bend, OR.
Additionally, Rabbi Victor Gross serves as faculty and Director of Studies in the ALEPH Rabbinical Seminary, and teaches Jewish History and Philosophy. He is the author of Educating for Reverence: The Legacy of Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Rabbi Nadya Gross serves as the Mashpi’ah (Spiritual Director) with individuals, couples and clergy, and is the Director of HASHPA’AH (ALEPH Ordination Program in Spiritual Direction). She also developed a program to train End-of-Life Doulas. Trained in the Jewish mystical tradition by her grandmother, she transmits the teachings in a two–year wisdom school: Secrets my Grandmother Told Me.
Chapter Meeting Oct. 4, 2015
GRIEF AS BIRTHRIGHT
with Kim Mooney
Rather than seeing grief simply as intense emotional reactions to events of great loss, it profits us to develop a mature, more fascinating relationship to this inevitable process of human adaptation. What we call grief can be our most sacred secret to living well. In this session with Kim Mooney, we’ll explore how we can consciously claim the power in having or hearts broken open for our own deepening and for the health of our community.
Kim Mooney has over two decades’ experience working with dying, death and grief, first in hospice and currently as principal of Practically Dying, which offers death education, guidance to complete effective advance care planning, and grief and loss support and education.
Chapter Meeting Sept. 6, 2015
Chip Frye & Sherrie Scott
Film and TV Producers on Positive Aging
Chip and Sherrie own Awareness Media, a humanitarian film and television production company. They are currently producing a TV series called Silver Linings – Composing a Life about Positive Aging hosted by Harry R. Moody, which they hope will be distributed nationwide to Public Television. During this session of Sage-ing they will share their demo of the TV series and segments of the first episode called Living with Purpose featuring Richard Leider, Life Reimagined. They will facilitate a discussion about the show and ask for feedback of the participants of the group.
Chip and Sherrie have been working with the United Nations, World Health Organization and Int’l Red Cross to produce film and TV on myriad of topics. One film on preventing the killing of humanitarian aid workers was distributed for World Humanitarian Day two years running and was seen on BBC World by millions on that day. They are currently shooting numerous other TV series such as Life and Death – Living Fully, Dying Well hosted by Kim Mooney. They are also filming Sherrie’s original one-woman musical called The Accidental Club, soon to be seen in a theater near you.
They live at Horizon West and have generously donated the use of the club house for the Sage-ing meeting once a month. In so doing, they hope to encourage Horizon West to evolve into a Positive Aging community to allow residents to share resources, build community and find support and friendship.
Chapter Meeting Aug. 2, 2015
AGING AND AWAKENING: A Buddhist Perspective with David Chernikoff
We are living in a time when wise elders are of critical importance. While the aging process involves losses and challenges, these can become a pathway to profound spiritual insight and understanding. Buddhist teachings offer us practical and liberating guidelines that enable us to free ourselves from the negative attitudes of modern western culture and to reframe the changes inherent in growing older as a curriculum leading to true spiritual maturity. In this workshop, we’ll combine short didactic presentations, experiential exercises, and partner & small group discussions. By creating a supportive group environment that encourages genuine exploration and discovery, we’ll come to know ourselves in new ways that invite us to live full, complete lives filled with joy and equanimity.
David Chernikoff, M.Div., LCSW. A student of meditation since 1971, David taught meditation and psychology at Naropa University for many years. Formerly the director of education and training for the Spiritual Eldering Institute (now Sage-ing International), he has taught workshops and retreats on conscious aging and related topics throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada and Ireland. He is currently one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado(http://www.insightcolorado.org) and he has a private practice as a spiritual counselor and psychotherapist in Boulder.
Boulder Sage-ing 