Falling Upward with Richard Rohr: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

When falling becomes the path to rising – a spirituality for midlife and beyond

You thought by now you'd have it figured out.

That the big questions – about meaning, identity, how to live well – would finally be settled, and that your place in the world would be clearly established. 

Then midlife arrives, and instead of answers, you get new questions. Harder ones that don't resolve neatly, that make you uncomfortable and challenge everything you thought you knew about yourself and what it means to live a meaningful life.

That’s because midlife has a way of stripping away your certainties.

The beliefs that sustained you for decades feel too simple now, and the identity you spent years constructing no longer fits. You find yourself hungering for something that reaches beneath the external markers of a successful life – the career, the accomplishments, the roles you've played – to touch what's essential and eternal.

Not religion necessarily, though it might include that. What you really want to understand is what your decades of living have been for. 

You find yourself pulled toward the contemplative, the mysterious, the sacred because you want the second half of your life to hold more meaning than the first. 

And you’re searching for a way to make meaning from everything you've lived through – to see your losses, your mistakes, your moments of failure as valuable teachers rather than obstacles you should have avoided.

This Workshop
Is For You If…

Richard Rohr

Franciscan Friar | Author of 40+ Books | Founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation

Richard Rohr is a globally celebrated Franciscan priest, author, and teacher who has spent more than five decades exploring the intersection of Christian mysticism, psychology, and contemplative practice. Ordained in 1970, Fr. Richard founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, out of his conviction that authentic spirituality must integrate both inner work and outer service.

PBS has called him "one of the most popular spirituality authors and speakers in the world." His book Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life has become a modern spiritual classic, offering a framework for understanding how the losses and failures of midlife become essential teachers on the path to wholeness.

Fr. Richard's work has influenced millions of people across all faith traditions – and those with no formal faith at all – who are seeking a spirituality grounded in lived experience rather than rigid doctrine. Known for his sense of humor and his ability to make profound wisdom accessible, Fr. Richard creates space for people to explore the deepest questions of human existence without demanding they accept easy answers.

Michael Poffenberger 

Executive Director, Center for Action and Contemplation

Michael Poffenberger has served as Executive Director of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico for nearly a decade. In that role, he has worked more closely with Richard Rohr's teachings and humanity than almost anyone else, helping to bring this transformative spiritual work to thousands of people navigating the challenges of midlife and beyond.

Before joining the Center, Michael spent years in nonprofit leadership and community organizing, always guided by the conviction that spiritual depth and social action must work in tandem. His partnership with Fr. Richard has been instrumental in translating contemplative wisdom into practical frameworks that help people navigate real-world transitions – career changes, relationship losses, identity crises, and the spiritual hunger that emerges when achievement stops feeling like enough.