Chip Conley and Spirituality & Health Magazine founder Stephen Kiesling present...
Spirituality + Health in Midlife and Beyond
Jan 14 - Jan 19, 2025 in Santa Fe, USA
Led by: Chip Conley, Stephen Kiesling, Mingtong Gu, Darby Rose, Lee Johnson
Financial aid is available. Apply Here.
Discover how to achieve “total aliveness” in your mind, body, and spirit
When you enter midlife, your primary operating system begins to shift from your ego and your body to your soul.
This is a profound change – and yet none of us are given an operating manual that shows us how to navigate the transition with ease and take good care of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual selves as we embrace the second half of our lives.
And with more people than ever disconnected from the faith traditions of their ancestors, this means they may be lacking the kind of spiritual guidance or community that could help them experience the awe, transcendence, and deep sense of connection they need to feel spiritually healthy and whole as they grow older.
That’s why it’s so important to consciously incorporate into our daily lives spiritual practices and healing modalities that enhance all aspects of our wellbeing.
When we take care of our spiritual health, we are more likely to thrive in all aspects of our lives.
In this workshop with Chip Conley and Spirituality & Health Magazine founder Stephen Kiesling, you will discover simple but powerful new practices that promote the wellbeing of your body, mind, and soul. Mingtong Gu, one of the world's leading Qigong teachers whose well-known Chi Center is two ranches away from MEA's campus, will also lead a session focused on how to bring energy back into your life through connecting with spirit.
What you’ll gain
Through a combination of mindfulness practices and experiential activities that speak to your body, heart, and soul, you will:
You will leave with a much deeper appreciation for the inextricable connection between your physical health and your spiritual health – equipped with powerful spiritual and physical wellbeing practices that help you feel more completely alive in every moment.
Meet your faculty
Chip Conley
MEA Co-Founder and Author of Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age
Bestselling Author | Entrepreneur | Innovator | Disruptor | Speaker
A three-time TED speaker on the big stage, Chip Conley is one of the world's leading experts at the intersection of business innovation, psychology and spirituality.
As one of the creators of the boutique hotel movement and the "modern elder" to the young Airbnb founders, Chip's been a disruptor and expert on entrepreneurship and business leadership. He’s a globally-recognized thought leader on the future of work and the competitive advantages of a multi-generational workplace.
Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a “modern elder” at Airbnb – where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary success – Chip founded MEA and has since dedicated his midlife years to reframing the concept of aging and helping people navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.
Stephen Kiesling
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Spirituality and Health Magazine
Bestselling Author | Entrepreneur | Innovator | Disruptor | Speaker
Stephen Kiesling is a founder and editor-in-chief of Spirituality & Health magazine. He was the youngest member of the 1980 US Olympic Rowing Team and the oldest competitor at the 2008 Olympic Rowing Trials. A Scholar of the House in philosophy at Yale, he was a founding editor of American Health magazine and a spokesman for Nike Cross Training.
Stephen Kiesling is the author of The Shell Game: Reflections on Rowing and the Pursuit of Excellence and Walking the Plank: A Year Aboard the Pirate Ship Whydah. He has written for the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated, has been featured in the New York Times and Boston Globe, and has appeared on Today and All Things Considered.
A lifelong journalist, Stephen was a Scholar of the House in philosophy at Yale University. His passion is building parks and playgrounds and is current project is a whitewater park and sculpture garden at Ti’lomikh Falls on the Rogue River in Oregon. He grew up in Los Altos, California, with a Zen priest in the basement and the Parapsychology Research Group in the living room and is currently writing No Risk of Enlightenment.
Mingtong Gu
Founder of the Chi Centre
Qigong Master of the Year | MFA | BSc Mathematics | Artist
Mingong Gu was named Qigong Master of the Year by the 13th World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine. He possesses a profound ability to harness energy in order to accelerate personal and global healing, making him a sought-after healer, practitioner, and teacher.
Master Gu has practiced qigong for more than 27 years and trained in China under Dr. Pan Ming, a qigong grandmaster trained in Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, and the founder of the world’s largest qigong hospital.
During his training, Master Gu observed thousands of cases of chronic and “incurable” diseases being healed at this “medicine-less” hospital, which has now treated over 200,000 patients with over 185 different illnesses, with a 95 percent effective improvement rate. Witnessing these profound healing experiences inspired Master Gu’s dedication to the teaching and practice of qigong healing, which he now teaches to thousands of people in the United States, China, and Europe through his workshops, books, and education programs.
Through practice, Master Gu has recovered from his own chronic conditions of asthma, scoliosis, back pain, and kidney weakness. His teaching emphasizes activating the power of inner self-healing, facilitating the release of chronic illness while improving health and well-being. Master Gu lives and teaches with his wife Linling, also a gifted healer, and their two children.
This workshop is for you if...
1. Searching
You’re searching for answers to the big questions about life, the universe, and everything.
2. Yearning
You yearn to experience more awe, wonder, and transcendence in your life.
3. Exploring
You want to explore your own spirituality and create new rituals and practices that feed your soul
4. Wanting
You want to take good care of your body so you feel healthy and strong for years to come.
5. Looking
You’re looking for a deeper sense of connection to others and to the world around you.
6. Searching
You’re searching for a new way to access the eternal or divine because the old ways no longer work.
7. Feeling
You’re feeling disconnected from nature and want to reimmerse yourself in the vast beauty of the world in a breathtaking location.
8. Learning
You want to learn simple daily practices that can reduce stress and anxiety and cultivate lasting joy and gratitude.
Santa Fe, USA
Rising Circle Ranch
An upscale regenerative ranch featuring traditional Pueblo architecture and spanning nearly 2,600 acres of wildlife, hiking trails in the arroyo, with ancient petroglyphs, and awe-inspiring beauty. Close to historic Santa Fe, an artisan’s mecca.



Meet your MEA facilitators
In addition to the powerful sessions conducted by Chip, Stephen, and Mingtong, you will be guided through the core MEA Owning Wisdom curriculum by our faculty members:
Darby Rose
Experience Facilitator
View Bio
Darby Rose is a multidisciplinary artist, arts administrator, cook, actor and animal lover, currently living in Santa Fe, NM. Born into a family of travelers in Austin, TX, she’s lived more places than she can count — all over Texas, Boston, Jackson WY, Baltimore and Los Angeles, to name a few; and outside the US in Peru and Italy. After a long stint in Marfa, TX, the vast, mountainous horizons and monsoons of New Mexico captured her. This travelers life has built in Darby a deep curiosity and compassion for others, and a gratitude for the beautiful complexities of the human condition, with its myriad expressions of love, humor, struggle and strength.
Lee Johnson
Head of Land, Livestock, and Mindfulness in Santa Fe
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Lee likes to say that he’s as ordinary as dirt but as complex as soil.
A former Course Director for the Colorado Outward Bound School and Certified Holistic Management Teacher, he has managed ranches in Nebraska and Tennessee as well as several ranches here in New Mexico. As steward of our four-square mile regenerative ranch, Lee translates nature’s teachings into insights that encourage us to tune into our inner landscapes as much as the outer landscape. His holistic approach to life and spirituality creates a warm invitation for you to step into a deeper relationship with yourself, nature, and each other.
You will appreciate his laidback presence and the opportunity to slow down, listen to nature, and participate in the ancient ritual of gathering around the campfire.
Exploring the mysteries of life with awe and curiosity is what helps you feel alive.
It’s time to discover the proven tools, rituals, and practices that will help you integrate spirituality into your life while also caring for your 'rental vehicle' – your body – so you can thrive more fully in all aspects of your life.