Vital After 50: Master Your Metabolic Reset

As co-founder and now executive chairman of Wanderlust yoga festivals, and Co-Founder and CEO of Commune, Jeff has been influential in the wellness world. Under his leadership, Wanderlust co-created 108 festivals across 56 cities worldwide, including locations throughout North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Commune is a masterclass platform reaching millions with transformative education, and Jeff’s Commune podcast features conversations with renowned experts from Andrew Huberman to Marianne Williamson. His weekly Commusings essay explores spirituality and culture for over a million subscribers.

Jeff’s book Good Stress shares the wellness protocols he developed to reverse his own diabetes, lose 60 pounds, and reclaim vitality at age 50. Together with his wife Schuyler, he operates Commune Topanga, a 10-acre wellness center hosting retreats featuring yoga, cold plunging, sauna bathing, and storytelling.

Schuyler founded the Kula Yoga Project in 2002, just blocks from Ground Zero, creating a sanctuary for healing in Lower Manhattan. What began as community service evolved into a lifelong calling. Her signature Kula Flow style – demanding yet accessible, precise yet creative – has influenced thousands of teachers worldwide. In 2009, she co-created the Wanderlust Festival with Jeff, expanding their wellness vision globally and reaching dozens of cities worldwide.

After decades in NYC, Schuyler returned to her California roots, where she now hosts retreats combining movement, breathwork, and mindfulness at their 10-acre Commune Topanga center. Her yoga trainings remain sought after, while her online courses reach practitioners worldwide.

She’s a movement innovator who created the globally practiced Kula Flow style, built community-focused studios, shaped a generation of teachers through her training, and developed a holistic pregnancy course, Empowered Birth.

Derek Gehl is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and author whose journey has been shaped by a passion for empowering entrepreneurs and transforming lives. After building one of the world’s first Internet marketing companies, the birth of his first son in 2008 sparked a pivotal realization: he wanted to create a life that balanced family, business, and personal fulfillment. This led him to sell his company and refocus on building businesses that supported his vision of being present for his children while pursuing his entrepreneurial passions.

As he entered his forties, his path evolved naturally toward helping people in midlife pursue their entrepreneurial dreams while simultaneously venturing into the health and longevity space, where from 2017 to 2024, he built numerous successful natural health supplement brands. Yet despite his success, Derek missed the direct human connection that had characterized his earlier work with entrepreneurs worldwide.

At 47, Derek and his wife of 20 years were planning their next chapter together as they prepared to launch their youngest of two sons when MEA unexpectedly entered their lives. Initially skeptical of the concept of a “midlife wisdom school” – having seen behind too many curtains in the personal development industry – his experience at MEA’s Navigating Transitions workshop transformed his perspective entirely. There, he discovered something authentically different: a community of intelligent, caring individuals, each charting their unique paths through midlife’s transitions.

That unexpected journey from skeptic to believer led Derek to join MEA as the CEO. Today, he leads MEA’s mission to reimagine midlife and build a vibrant global pro-aging community. His unique background in entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and wellness, combined with his personal understanding of midlife transition, positions him perfectly to help expand MEA’s impact while preserving the magic that makes it unique.