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Fall 2006
Sage-ing Circle
brochure (197 KB)

A Curriculum for the Rest of Your Life

The Sage-ing Circle is offered twice each year beginning in September and February.


Sage-ing® radically challenges stereotypes of aging and encourages people to make a conscious choice to transform old resentments into blessings, a lifetime of experience into forgiveness and wisdom, and to embark on a vital search for meaning and spiritual growth in order to build a legacy for future generations - in spite of the inevitable changes of aging.

You will want to attend if:

• You are nearing retirement

• You want to start a "spiritual retirement account" at any age

• You have aging parents

• You work with older adults

• You feel you've lost your compass in your retirement years

  
  

The Sage-ing® Circle

This series includes a free introductory session and four full-day sessions. The introductory session is recommended but not mandatory. It gives you an opportunity to learn more about the content and experience some of the processes used in the four sessions of the Sage-ing® Circle.

You will receive the greatest benefit if you make a commitment to attend all four sessions below as the information is cumulative and each builds upon the last.

The Sage-ing® Circle uses a holistic approach, proven adult learning techniques and various tools and activities described below.

You will learn from your own insights and those of others by:

• Assessing where you've been, what worked, what didn't work (life review)

• Working on forgiveness, healing past hurts and relationships, reframing the past (life repair)

• Finding wisdom, meaning and purpose from past experience (life harvest)

• Coming to terms with your own mortality (valuing life)

• Discovering your unique, personal legacy, learning mentoring skills and developing the role of wise elder (serving others)

• Cultivating a grateful heart (finding contentment)

What is Sage-ing?

This award-winning, innovative curriculum is based on concepts for positive aging proposed by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in From Age-ing to Sage-ing (©1995, Warner Books). Rather than seeing aging as a problem to be solved, the focus is on practical answers to the yearning for meaning, inner growth and completion at this natural stage of adult development. If you have taken other programs in the Positive Aging Series, you will still benefit from this.

The Sage-ing Circle is a program designed by the Spiritual Eldering Institute of Boulder, Colorado. The curriculum won the 2004 National Mature Media Award. Our facilitators have received training through the Spiritual Eldering Institute to teach this curriculum. Sage-ing uses a mind-body-spirit approach, the latest research on adult learning and tools of Spiritual Eldering®.

Sage-ing Tools and Activities

• Contemplative techniques

  • Meditation

  • Guided visualization

  • Mindfulness

• Socialized meditation (sharing in pairs and group)

• Journaling

• Drawing, making charts and mind maps

• Exploring intuition

• Expanding love of self

• Connecting with your inner wisdom

• Recontextualizing the past

• Using imagination and understanding the elasticity of time

• Forgiveness work     . . . and much more

Sage-ing facilitators:
Sage-ing Facilitators have previous teaching and/or facilitator training and, in addition, have received extensive training from the Spiritual Eldering Institute of Boulder, Colorado to teach Sage-ing classes and have earned either a Sage-ing Circle Facilitator (SCF) or Certified Sage-ing Leader (CSL) credential.

Mimi Gabriel, B.A., M.A., SCF
Gertrude Maurer, SSJ, Ph.D., SCF
Marie Warner, B.A., M.B.A., SCF, CSL
Joseph Yankech, M.A., Ph.D., CSL

Some comments from the winter 2005 Sage-ing Circle participants:

It gave me a new sense of direction as I age so I do not end in a stereotypical caricature of an old person. I control my future and can make a difference.

This program afforded me the opportunity to reflect on my past and plan how I will live my future so as to fulfill my true potential.

It supported the changes I've been making to live a more deliberate life of my choice.

This course has challenged and empowered me to live a life of purpose and share this knowledge with others.

Some of the things that benefited me were compassionate listening, value of gratefulness, more use of intuition; being fully alive and aware of surroundings.

I now have the zest to live my remaining years with energy and purpose which will hopefully result in fruitfulness.

I came with a positive attitude and found all kinds of support.

What a great opportunity to celebrate the joys difficulties, honor and good luck to be growing older and wiser.

Encouraged me to take my role at this stage of my life more seriously.

It changed my attitudes about getting older.

I'm more in touch with the energy that flows more strongly with advancing age and wisdom.

So good to learn and contribute and listen.

This program expanded my understanding of life. It has also helped me help my mother age and offered me a purpose as I reach retirement.

It taught me how to simplify, become more aware and change old habits.