9 Lives | Chapter 9 | Part 2 : “In Your Body is a Good Place to Be”: Artist Beatrix Ost on Living Fully in Her 80s

This article is part of a weekly series adapted from our latest book, "The 9 Lives of Woman" by Christine Marie Mason

There is a particular kind of woman who, at 80 and beyond, embodies a seamless interweaving of wisdom, curiosity, and self-knowing. She continues expanding, deepening, radiating from her essence.

Beatrix Ost is such a woman. She is still creating—painting, sculpting, collaborating on immersive exhibitions, and living with the fierce curiosity of a teenager. “I have no concept of age,” she says. “I feel like I’m 16.” And in many ways, she is. She surrounds herself with the energy of youth, spending time with her grandchildren and their friends, absorbing their world as much as they absorb hers. But she also carries the depth and elegance of a woman who has seen and created a lifetime of beauty, one who has made her body—and her presence—a good place to be.

“In your body is a good place to be.” is her motto, and a way of being. This, she believes, is the great secret of longevity, not just in years but in vitality. The body is the only true home we have, and treating it as such—feeding it well, moving it, breathing deeply, filling it with light—is an act of devotion. It is a home that must be tended. When her grand estate on the Hudson River burned down, she was reminded of this truth: “That was a house we lived in, but my body, I still have it. It’s my home.”

Beatrix once wore a brooch that said ‘Practicing Silence’ and would go out in the world without speaking, allowing herself to become a pure listener. “When you listen and don’t prepare an answer, when you’re not trying to be clever or interesting, people open up. They tell you the marrow in their bones.”  In the silence, we listen deeply.

There is joy in this stage of life. A freedom from expectation. And yes, for Beatrix, there is also flirting. “I love to flirt,” she laughs. “Women fear me because I flirt with their husbands, but it’s not about taking anything. It’s about delight. Flirting is making someone’s day a little lighter.” Sensuality and pleasure are part of the art of being alive.

And then there is love. The quiet, steady kind. She is in a relationship, one filled with the deep comfort of shared silence. “We can be silent, and it is very intimate,” she says. Love at this stage is not about possession or roles. It is about presence. Adoration, even more than attachment.

This ninth life is not an ending but a return to the purest essence of living—a life led by curiosity, pleasure, and deep embodiment. A life where time is irrelevant, and the only moment that matters is the one you are in. “This moment is the moment,” Beatrix says. “We don’t know what comes next. This is all we have.”

And so, she carries light. Literally. Each day, she practices a meditation where she allows light to stream through her body, filling every cell with radiance. It is her way of saying thank you—to life, to existence, to the sheer miracle of still being here, creating, loving, listening.

To be an older woman in this world is to hold all of it—the past, the present, the unknown future—and to choose, again and again, to remain awake to it all.