We invite you to celebrate the publishing of Side by Side: The Sacred Art of Relationships for Aging Couples* by joining us in retreat, along with 15 other couples interested in “relationship enlightenment,” as part of a pilot group. Aging calls us closer to home and offers couples a rare opportunity to consider how to make the most of their relationship in their elder years. We address themes such as the nuances and demands of the physical, emotional, and spiritual changes that come with aging, contemplative practices that deepen our souls’ connections and improve communication, the dance between “me and we,” and the importance of friendship, kindness, and mutuality in sustaining relationships.
Gathering in the beautiful forested surroundings outside of Portland, Oregon at Alton Collins Retreat Center the time together will be rich with opportunities for dialogue, discernment, solitude, and breaking bread with other couples who are on similar journeys. Couples will also be invited, if they are interested, to take the program and book back to their home communities to create couple’s groups in their churches, neighborhoods, or in their homes.
The retreat will be experiential in nature and use the Circle of Trust© process to a create a safe, confidential, and trustworthy gathering. Clearness Committee, as well as other forms of discernment and deep listening, will be included. We hope you will join us!
**Side by Side: The Sacred Art of Relationships for Aging Couples, being released in the Spring 2023 from Creative Courage Press, is a collection of the stories of 14 couples, based on in-depth interviews Jay and Caryl conducted over a two-year period. The book, film clips and Readers’ Guide explore the intersection of aging, relationships, and spirituality, and invite others into a discovery process with these themes.
Retreat Leadership: Caryl & Jay Casbon – Married 22 years, Caryl & Jay live in Santa Barbara, California.
Caryl Casbon is a poet & writer, author of The Everywhere Oracle: A Guided Journey Through Poetry for an Ensouled World (Wyatt-McKenzie Publishing, 2015.) A facilitator through the Center for Courage & Renewal, she has co-written programs dedicated to exploring the inner life, including A Geography of Grace, Befriending the Unknown, The Soul of Aging, and The Anamcara Project and Storybook. She also works as an interfaith minister and spiritual director and has led retreats for over 25 years with educators, clergy and congregational leaders, healers, and hospice workers.
Jay Casbon retired in 2016 from Oregon State University as the first Provost of the new Bend Campus after a lifetime of leadership and teaching in higher education. Much of his work entailed leadership positions, including 13 years at Lewis and Clark College as dean of graduate studies. Jay also worked internationally as a consultant and visiting professor in Ecuador, Peru, China, Germany, Austria, and Italy. He led cadres of international university students on European excursions to Italy, Austria, and Germany, teaching religious art history. Throughout his academic tenure, he published numerous scholarly articles. Currently, Jay serves as a consultant for universities engaging with concerns arising from the Pandemic of 2020-22.
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