In this first session, we welcome everyone to the program and provide an orientation to our online space, including agreements and protocols that will support our time together.


We will take time to introduce ourselves to each other as we begin building the energy of our community. Using the technology that underpins our community engagement and learning, we'll step onto the path of inquiry into our Elderhood together. 



We will explore the stage of elderhood called Active Wisdom, first spoken about by Mary Catherine Bateson in her Book "Composing a Further Life", and how this resonates with this time in our lives. 



An ancient tradition is holding our inquiry in connection with the wisdom of the Earth. We believe this wisdom offers rich and relevant guidance for exploring the territory of Elderhood.

My Wellbeing begins our exploration of the virtues and vulnerabilities of this emerging stage in our Elderhood.  We delve into how caring for our health and happiness, in the face of unprecedented challenges, enhances our capacity and capabilities as an Elder.

Healthy longevity can be  a beautiful consequence of many aspects of progress, and we are now living an average of 30 years longer. Our current global challenge requires powerful clarity in how to respond holistically with integrity and vitality.

In this session, we use 'The Wheel of Wellbeing' to discover what is needed to maintain the territories of our lives, and achieve more wholeness and balance in a way that sustains our activities in a relevant and resilient way.

My Development is a doorway to appreciate the risks and opportunities that face us all in this time. We explore how being vulnerable to our own learning edges opens the possibility of being exemplars to others in how to respond with heartfelt wisdom.

We never stop learning, and stepping into an exploration of what expands our openness to life, as it is now, enhances our potential to change. Thus, challenging and enabling us to be the Elders that the world needs now.

In this session, we reflect on our life experiences so far and reveal the wisdom that is ours to share. Then we collectively explore what is needed from us that enable us to see and live into the resonance with our own development.

My Vocation explores how our passions, gifts, and contributions deepen our understanding of what is important to us as Elders and how to bring this into manifestation. In particular, we turn towards what is ours to do in light of the challenges that we are all facing in this time.

We experience the reward of being with others whose experiences are different from our own. This offers us a new window into mutually rewarding ways of fostering our individual and collective intentions for giving back.

In this session, we sense into what is ours to do out in the world in a way that stems from our most profound passion as an Elder. We strategize how to offer our skills in purposeful and sustainable ways.

My Freedom awakens us to our audacious self that can presence new beginnings, new horizons, and fresh revealing of ourselves in our Elderhood with ease and grace. 


We explore how freedom of expression can be a playground of opportunity as we step into this time of being an Elder. Imagining the future within this stage of our Active Wisdom sustains us and deepens our understanding of our unique purpose.

In this session, we explore how our personal purpose flows from our ancestry through us and out to those whom we care about. This is often called seven generations thinking and opens up the narrative or story of our lives as the fulcrum for our creativity, our love of living, and our legacy.

Every completion holds the promise of a new beginning. In our final session, we will honor our journey together and savor what we have experienced together as a community of Elders.

Gathering a harvest of the gems of our learning, we will set intentions that will call us to the actions we wish to take to expand more fully into our Elderhood, which is truly needed at this time of great change and transformation.

Exploring the nature of co-creation, we'll open up ways to sustain and grow our Active Wisdom during this vital and challenging time in our lives. We will explore the energies of New Beginnings in a way that deepens the sense of what is emerging for humanity and expands our intention to be of profound service in our own unique way.

You can always e-mail Ann, David, and FireHawk at [email protected] and we will respond.

The video recording of each session will show up on the Course Home Page within 48 hours. These recordings are for your personal use only.

Yes. when you check out with PayPal, they allow you to use a credit card to pay without having to have your own PayPal account.

Once you have registered, you will be directed to the course home page, where all of the materials reside. You will also receive access to the Community Learning Lodge.