Researchers have found that spirituality is one of the key factors in aging well, leading to greater optimism, and even longer life. Aging as a Spiritual Journey explores what it means to grow old. It examines questions of identity (how I define myself), the challenges (how I navigate change, loss and diminishment), and of a search for meaning (how shall I live) unique to each of us.

This course also explores ways we approach the gift of longevity, the 10-30 years extra years of longer, healthier life we have been given.  It looks at the changes in identity and roles, re-invention, ageism, fears, mindfulness, brain neuroplasticity, and above all aging's gifts. Not what we can accomplish in spite of aging, but because of it.”* In a culture that obsesses over youth, research indicates that older people are more content, less stressed, and better able to manage even when life becomes more challenging.

This class draws from the newest research on aging and the life experience of the students. Designed to be highly interactive, the course utilizes short videos, music and poetry and asks the participants to discuss examples from their own lives.

Course Syllabus:

• Class 1: Overview, why spirituality, importance of mindfulness, gift of longevity, some key concepts for aging well
• Class 2: Attitudes about aging, ageism
• Class 3: Fears, joys, mindfulness
• Class 4: Later-life psychological development, identity and reinvention
• Class 5: The paradox of aging, gifts of aging, gratitude
• Class 6: Acceptance, trust, inevitable losses, regrets, fears of dying
• Class 7: Elderhood, the hero’s journey, legacy, meaning and purpose, wabi-sabi (old imperfect and beautiful)

Class fee is $36 for the series. To register and receive Zoom access details, please register by Monday, June 10 using the registration form below.

Please note that recordings of each session will NOT be available, however a full copy of the slide deck for each session will be shared with participants a few days after each class. 

Robin D. Stavisky (rstavisky@yahoo.com) is a long time Beth Am member. She spent her career in high-tech marketing in Silicon Valley where she worked with companies, taught and did pro bono work in Africa and the developing world. She holds an MBA from Stanford University, where she was also an instructor. More recently, Robin has focused researching and teaching classes on aging, based on recent research and applications of mindfulness and Buddhist psychology. Robin splits residency between Berkeley and Asheville NC.

*Gene Cohen, psychiatrist who pioneered research into geriatric mental health, first head of the Center on Aging at the National Institute of Mental Health, the first government-supported center on mental health and aging, and later the first director of the Center on Aging, Health, and the Humanities at the George Washington University. (Source: Wikipedia)