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By the time he turned 52, Chip Conley had already built and sold one of the country’s largest boutique hotel firms, Joie de Vivre, and was about to take on a new role as hospitality and culture advisor to Airbnb’s twenty-something founders just as the firm’s explosive growth was about to take off.
Walking into Airbnb, Conley quickly realized that he was twice as old as the tech startup’s founders and average staff. He was, at 52, an elder in an industry and culture built for youth’s idealism and boundless energy.
But unlike many forty or fifty-somethings who would have revolted at the “elder” label applied so early, Conley embraced it. He, after all, had the benefit of wisdom built from decades of brand building, business struggles and self-reflecting moments that follow life altering health scares. Conley had entered a new chapter of life that, he learned, was just as exciting and maybe more rewarding than the first.
Later this month, Conley’s Modern Elder Academy will officially open its second global campus on 2,600 acres on a former horse ranch about 20 minutes south of Santa Fe.
Rising Circle Ranch is the second campus for a global movement serving middle-aged adults learning how to navigate mid-life and later-in-life changes for adults in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond.
Between horseback riding and fireside cocktails, participants explore their role as modern elders through workshops designed to “equip you with the skills to navigate transitions, break through life obstacles, and tap into your deeper life purpose.”
The workshops and residential experiences are built on Conley’s own lessons transitioning from the fast-paced worlds of hospitality and tech, through cancer and a bizarre bachelor party accident that almost killed him, and into a new role as a best-selling author and modern elder evangelist. His latest book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better With Age (Find it locally at Collected Works in Santa Fe or Books on the Bosque in ABQ) adds to the collection of books, podcasts and Ted Talks that make him one of the world’s most sought-after aging gurus.
On its website, MEA describes its purpose as empowering people to face and navigate life transitions that might be tough—like divorce, career shifts, and empty nesting. But the curriculum doesn’t just touch on the serious stuff—it can inspire renewed energy and new experiences. Students cultivate creativity and rediscover play. Participants may branch out to try a new hobby or explore long suppressed interests.
MEA frequently tells the story of a high-powered trial lawyer who found herself at the top of her professional career, but unfulfilled in her spirit. Through MEA, she rediscovered a childhood love of baking and opened a bakery. Others have learned to navigate empty nests, find an artistic streak, or even return to become a facilitator helping others through their own aging journeys.
The workshop descriptions and testimonials from feature wholistic and community-building approaches to complicated topics on aging. But it’s not all mysticism and self-reflection. Through countless Ted Talks and interviews, Conley always makes a point to talk about how our aging brains are already adapted to this elder mentoring role. In youth, or brains are learning the tactile parts of staying alive and getting stuff done. As we age, our bodies aren’t as good at the physical tasks, but our brains are full of years of wisdom to enabling us to see the big picture and focus on the things that really matter.
And science also tell us that learning to live better gives us more years to live. “When people shift their mindset about aging from a negative to a positive, they get seven and a half years of additional life,” Conley told me during a long conversation about life journeys, shifting priorities and ending up in New Mexico. “It’s part of the reason why the subtitle for my book Learning to Love Midlife is ‘12 reasons why life gets better with age’.”
A Santa Fe experience was not originally in the cards for the Modern Elder Academy, however. Conley joined our conversation last month via Zoom from Baja, Mexico where he founded the original retreat center on the beach in 2018. To date, over 4,400 modern elders, including about 125 New Mexicans, count themselves among alumni of the MEA. Through their transitions, some even decided that moving to Baja was a part of their next phase and relocated nearby, Conley says proudly.
See inside the new Modern Elder Academy south of Santa Fe
Images from the new Santa Fe campus of the Modern Elder Academy / courtesy photos
But as it always does, the light and culture and magic of northern New Mexico kept calling. And it didn’t hurt that Santa Fe had a built-in community of interesting people with their own transition stories to share.
But MEA isn’t designed as another traditional Santa Fe tourist experience with fancy downtown dinners and side trips to Taos or Abiquiu (though many students won’t be able to help adding on a few days for local adventures before or after their 5-day stay at MEA).
Asked whether Santa Feans would see any benefit, Conley was quick to point out that they are hiring and buying local. “We’ve only hired people locally, so it’s great. Let’s say you’re a facilitator or let’s say you’re a mindfulness teacher, or let’s say you’re an artist. We highly recommend you reach out to us because we want to buy from locals.”
“People locally would say, ‘Oh my gosh, MEA is bringing Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the hugely popular, Eat, Pray, Love. Series) to the campus. They’re having Richard Rohr, who almost never does workshops anymore, doing a workshop. Of course [Santa Feans] know Richard because he’s local. He is so revered globally, but he almost never does workshops anymore… or Michael Franti, the famous musician, or Pico Iyer, the famous travel writer… It’s interesting because here in my own backyard, there’s some really amazing speakers or faculty members who are going to be leading a workshop and so that’s nice.”
Local workshops already open for registration include programs for cohorts at different stages and with specialized experiences, including “Our Evolving Identity as Older LGBTQ+ People” and “A Mastery Week with the World’s Leading Evolutionary Astrologer, Steven Forrest.”
MEA’s 2024 Santa Fe program calendar is an exclusive Blue Zones workshop coming in October, as well as workshops taught by critically acclaimed author and storyteller Elizabeth Gilbert, Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, a revered authority in menopause and women’s health, Christian mystic Richard Rohr, novelist Pico Iyer, and poet and spiritual adviser Mark Nepo to name a few. MEA has also partnered with Arizona State University for a program designed to help parents move through the difficult transition of empty nest to post-parental growth, plus INC Magazine for a workshop exploring entrepreneurship at any age.
But locals won’t be able to just pop in. When I commented that these workshops would be great day trip options for ‘Burqeños and Taoseños just down the road, Conley politely adjusted my expectations.
“It’s meant to be a residential experience, because it’s meant to be very much like a safe crucible, and we don’t want people having to commute back and forth because sometimes the most interesting conversations and connections are made outside the classroom at dinner or breakfast.”
A traditional 5-day program can run between $4,500 and $6,000, but many participants receive scholarships and financial aid, Conley notes.
“There’s a bunch of things to get worse with age,” Conley reminded me as we concluded.
Getting old doesn’t have to suck. In fact, it should be a celebration of your experiences and obstacles you’ve overcome. You deserve to live your best life in the next part of your life and planning it in a Santa Fe luxury resort alongside some of the world’s most sought-after mindfulness leaders isn’t a bad way to start.
Learn more about the Modern Elder Academy at Rising Circle Ranch online at https://www.meawisdom.com/