Middle age often leaves men isolated and confused, deeply in need of openness, connection, meaning and excitement. We must balance the tension between the external expectations on us and the internal needs of a creative, spiritual being that yearns for expression and fulfillment.
Men at mid-life share a common experience. Most have been humbled by loss, failure and their own sense of mortality. Men need other men with whom they can share their pain and their dreams; they need to rekindle hope. This intensive workshop addresses the complexities and uncertainties that fuel the mid?life crisis. Pressures can include a parent dying, kids leaving home, career frustrations, physical and sexual decline, malaise, health problems, divorce, time and money constraints, lack of emotional support and connection, and the need to live a meaningful life.The heart of this workshop is the creation of a learning community, sharing our experiences and insights through structured conversations. We will learn skills drawn from Eastern and Western disciplines to help us understand the responsibilities of being a male elder in our culture and to prepare for a physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy old age. We will mourn our losses so we can heal from past wounds and move ahead in our lives. We will sing, dance, laugh and make new male friends.
Michael Shandler is a nationally known executive coach and team development consultant to such organizations as the MacArthur Foundation and the Vaccine Fund. He has written several books on human relations including The Marriage and Family Book: A Spiritual Guide, and co-authored Between Pleasure and Pain: The Way of Conscious Living. He has been a longtime practitioner of yoga and Ayurveda and is director of The Rejuvenation Studio, a body/mind healing center in Amherst, Massachusetts. He has been married for more than 30 years and has two daughters.
Jeff Kassis is the clinical director of a large mental health agency in Western Massachusetts and is well known for his creativity and intuitive insights in organization and family dynamics. His articles in the Journal of Strategic and Systemic Therapies have received high praise. He's consulted for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and taught men's issues and family therapy at Antioch of New England Graduate School. He's practiced Taoist Yoga and various forms of Taoist martial arts for 25 years, is married and has three sons.
"Within a few weeks of turning 50, I collapsed. The diagnosis: chronic fatigue. My high-flying consulting career came crashing down around me. I became confused and depressed. Gradually I recovered and began speaking to other men. Soon I began to realize that I wasn't alone in my struggle." MICHAEL SHANDLER