The Art of Aging Awake

It is the nature of the body to age and experience change and illness, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy!

In this program we grapple with the universal law of impermanence and how we experience it. We work with how we can find joy in a life we can no longer “lead” in the same way. Aging can be a time of deepening grace and great aliveness in the face of all it brings. 

This program is for anyone who wishes to understand and come to terms with the psycho-spiritual aspects of the aging process and the universal impermanence of life itself.

Gain greater awareness of the joy inherent in everyday moments large and small, working with predictable suffering, and opening to our own mortality. 

Explore: 

  • Using compassion and somatic practices to alleviate suffering and restore wholeness 

  • Facing the ups and downs of chronic illness or conditions with equanimity 

  • Finding something bigger in a life made smaller 

  • Re-imaging the gifts and well as the losses that come with aging and illness 

  • Getting off the wheel of suffering 

  • What to do when it seems you can can no longer do anything 

  • Finding community rather than sinking into isolation 

  • Centering on solitude, forgiveness, and life review with presence 

  • Opening heart and mind and letting go

  • Using these years for awakening and spiritual growth 

This program is designed for those 55 and over, or who experience chronic conditions or illnesses. Drawing from books like The Grace in Aging, How to Be Sick, and The Body is Not an Apology, and The Wild Edge of Sorrow, we incorporate new models for thinking about and seeing things, journaling, dialogue, practices, life planning and more. 

Teacher Dana Brenner has her AARP card, has been living with her own fluctuating chronic illness for 30 plus years. Buddhist principles and practices, along with somatics and psycho-spiritual frameworks have made all the difference. 

  • “This experience has been better than any therapy, spiritual service, class, or group I have ever been a part of. I’m in my seventies and I’m finally awakening to things I never understood or appreciated. I’m coming home to myself, and to connection to things much greater”

    ~ Program participant in The Deeper Well, ( the second section of this series)

In-Person Program

  • Date: 4/7, 4/21, 5/5, 5/19, 6/2, 6/16

  • Time: 9:30 am - 11:30 am

  • Location: The Clubhouse Cardroom, 32000 SW Charbonneau Drive in Wilsonville OR 97070

  • Cost: $189

register here