Awaken the power of mature women

It started, as it often does, with its own story. Eleanor Mills, a loyal editor-in-chief of Britain’s Sunday Times for 23 years, was summarily fired from the Murdoch Empire as she prepared for 50. The shock of her public beheading led her to find solace in a sunny retreat in Jamaica. . There, she envisioned a design for a new future: leading a movement to help other women avoid such ignominious outings and enter into a more precise sense of their collective power. With the tools, resources and networks to use it. The result, 18 months later, is a mix of activism and education via an online platform, brilliantly named Noon. And a series of retreats designed for mature women, the first of which I attended.

I’ve always known that you can just put a group of women – almost any woman, in any country – in a room, close the door for a few hours and they’ll come out of it empowered. But if you mix it with beauty, serenity, and skill, you create a buzz that can project individual women into powerful new chapters – often to their own surprise. And create a wave of enthusiasm that translates into societal change. This is, I guess, what will happen to the 17 women who left after 4 days of this midday “Reboot Retreat”.

Beauty and awe ran through the setting, which has more than a fleeting resemblance to the spa from the Nine Perfect Strangers TV series. Held at Broughton Hall in the middle of Yorkshire, this stately home, owned by the same family for 1,000 years over 33 generations, exudes longevity, heritage and generational bond. The 3,000-acre estate is now dedicated to transformation and regeneration, both human and natural. The old house, filled to its high ceilings with centuries of art and accessories, contrasts with the elegant new ‘sanctuary’ and meeting rooms, a visual invitation to build the future on the carefully preserved pillars of the pass.

Slowing down a bunch of older modern British women takes a bit of time. Stimulated by high pressure jobs while simultaneously being challenged by physical accidents, or crucial personal moments, or simply not knowing what to come next, it took Forest Therapist Liz Dawes’ excursions into the forest to begin the process of reduction to a semblance of presence. If you think these are woo-woo stuff for aging women, and you need a data-driven model from a big brand to believe in the effectiveness of these approaches, check out ‘Awesome Walks’ recommended by the Greater Good Science of the University of California at Berkeley. Center.

The next few days are a carefully curated collection of inspiring women from Eleanor Mills’ hyper-connected rolodex. Her Oxford buddy, Tamsin Calidas, who just published a bestselling book I Am an Island, shared his own midlife transformation – an extreme story of life on a remote Scottish island, left alone after a battle against the childlessness, the loss of her husband and a few lonely years facing (and filming) the sea in which she swam (and found herself) every day at 4.30am. Rachel Peru, a single mom, who became a 40s lingerie model after a daughter’s illness forced her to end her teaching career. The highlight for many was the yin yoga session, with bells, led by Broughton Hall owner Paris Ackrill. Or the constellation session, exploring the path, resources – and obstacles – to the future through embodied mapping of the road.

Four days also offered socially hungry post-pandemic participants a series of in-depth conversations and connections between women on parallel paths to maturity and growth. I remembered the speed and depth with which women connect with each other in a mutually empowering way. This contrasted remarkably with a 5 week session I recently attended with a group of men (I was the only female). The level of privacy and vulnerability were drastically different. In men, most of the attention was limited to professional issues, as it was clear that major personal transitions simmered beneath the surface screaming for attention.

This was certainly not the case with these women. Everything has been generously poured into the common soup of reflection – personal, professional, philosophical. My personal ah-ha moment was sparked by climbing a windy hill where 33 stones were arranged in a Fibonacci spiral, each marking a generation of the Tempest family, the last stone erected just two years ago to herald the arrival of the owner first child. It reminded me of how my own family line had been severed by the Holocaust, with several generations wiped out. But that my Holocaust survivor mother, still imposing at 96, recently welcomed her first great-grandchild, born to my son. I might not have 33 stones to look back on and build my shoulders on. But I realize that I am the second in a line of four powerful women, one of 96 and one of a week. And stepping into that lineage is accepting your humble place in the much larger ongoing lifecycle (and yes, my son’s favorite movie as a kid was The Lion King).

Perhaps that is what this generation of mature women is called to do: tear down the last bastion of feminism. Baby boomers are decapitating the intertwined snakes of ageism and sexism. The first truly massive wave of educated, independent professional women who flex their muscles, their money, and their political and social power. Marti Barletta started announcing this change in his book Prime Time Women ten years ago. They are about, not to retire, but to unleash themselves on the world. They have been busy balancing the multiple demands of the first half of life. They loved and cared for children in their own lives, pushed through careers to relative seniority and influence. The second half of life frees them to fully face – and reshape – the societies in which they operate.

After all, it’s only noon.

The midi site