Aging as a Spiritual Feminist Practice

Two-Day Online Workshop, Three Hours Per Day 

Aging isn’t always easy, yet the transitions into new life stages, new body sensations, and new social roles can offer powerful opportunities for spiritual growth. As we change and our bodies transform, we are afforded an opportunity to experience the world in new and powerful ways. 

For the past two decades, author and aging expert Dr. Anna I. Corwin has researched the connections between aging, well-being, and spiritual practice. This workshop brings critical feminist approaches to aging with powerful evidence-based spiritual practices to turn what we’ve been taught about aging on its head. If society tells us that aging is a problem to be solved, a feminist spiritual approach tells us the opposite. By treating aging as a spiritual opportunity, the body can become a potent somatic and symbolic tool for deep spiritual practice. 

Join Dr. Corwin for a transformative workshop for anyone of any age seeking to develop reflective and active practices to age with intention, community, and joy. Wherever you are in your life, whether you’re considering retirement, caring for an adult parent, or just had a baby—or a great grandbaby—you are welcome to learn with us. 

This workshop integrates three components: ritual, learning, and reflection. Together we engage in guided visualizations, exercises to promote well-being, reflective journaling, and sharing in community. You are introduced to some of the science behind happiness and fulfillment in midlife and beyond and will leave with tools to integrate into your daily life to help foster acceptance, well-being, and the sacred into the process of living and growing older. 

Through this powerful work together, we develop tools to shift from denial to acceptance, to approach pain as an opportunity for spiritual deepening, and how to create rituals and practices to embrace aging as a spiritual tool. 
 

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Dr. Anna I. Corwin (she/they) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Women’s Spirituality Program at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Dr. Corwin received their Ph.D. from UCLA and is a recipient of fellowships from the National Science Foundation and The National Endowment for the Humanities for research on aging and well-being. Dr. Corwin has spent almost 20 years researching how everyday practices shape individuals’ experiences of well-being. In addition to her work as Chair and Associate Professor at CIIS, Dr. Corwin also leads workshops on aging as a feminist spiritual practice and works with individual clients as a spiritual director and aging coach.   

An author of many peer reviewed articles and the book Embracing Age: How Catholic Nuns Became Models of Well-Being, Dr. Corwin’s work explores the effects of everyday routines and habits on health and well-being in older age. She recently completed a research project funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation exploring spiritual intelligences, focusing on how communities around the world define and cultivate spiritual expertise. Her works in progress include a graphic novel about her research on experiencing the divine and a workbook, Aging as a Feminist Spiritual Practice.  

Important Event Information 
 

Accessibility

If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu at least one week prior to the event. For more information, explore our Accessibility web page.

Recording Policy 

Portions of this workshop will be recorded, and limited access to a recording will be made available to all ticket buyers. 

Refund Policy 

Tickets are fully refundable up to 7 days prior to the event start. Within 7 days of the event, a 50% partial refund is available. No refunds are available within 24 hours of the event start. Read our full refund policy on our Frequently Asked Questions web page.