AHE Summer 2020 Newsletter 
                             Letter from the President


Dear Friends,
 
We send our Warmth and Love to all during these challenging times. We feel fortunate to be able to offer guidance through suggestions of exercises that may help children (and adults) feel a sense of calmness and balance in their relationship to the etheric, physical, astral and incarnating guiding higher forces (Ego) during this time. Please notice on our website, http://www.healingeducation.org, we have free video presentations of exercises for adults that can be shared with children. There are also several more demonstration videos on the "Member's Only" page.  
 
We are grateful to the guest contributors of this issue and the insights they have shared such as the authors, Dr. Adam Blanning, Mary Jo Oresti, Beatrice Voigt, and Jeff Tunkey discussing the topics of "Speech and Teamwork", "Enrichment Activities for a time of Distance Learning," and "The Recovery Stage of a Healing Crisis".
 
In closing, I would like to acknowledge the supreme efforts of Mary Fettig, our newsletter coordinator who will be stepping off the AHE Board. Mary came onto the AHE Board in Dec. 2015 and took over the membership committee and newsletter coordinator, which transitioned smoothly from Joan Treadaway, four and a half years ago! She has also served as our steadfast secretary of minutes - what an amazing gal! Mary has wonderful new plans which include caring for her sweet granddaughter. We thank Mary for all of her dedication to the work of AHE and wish her well.

Kindest regards,

Betty Jane Enno
President, Association for a Healing Education


Summer 2020 Conference
DEEPER ASPECTS OF EXTRA LESSON AND GRADUATE SEMINAR
featuring Joep and Erica Eikenboom

AHE (Association for a Healing Education) and WLS (Waldorf Learning Support) are co-sponsoring a 5-day on-line course featuring Joep and Erica Eikenboom Monday, July 27 through Friday, July 31, 2020. 
 
The conference theme and topics:
"BUILDING THE HOUSE"—Supporting the physical body to learn and develop in order for the soul to mature within. Rudolf Steiner and Audrey McAllen explain how development of the physical body is essential in forming the vessel for the incarnating soul and spirit. Audrey told us that the “house” needs its “furniture” and neither works without the other. Joep will clarify how development of the individual structural physical body—universal in its form and function—provides the foundations essential for development of full human consciousness (Consciousness Soul). The difference of this structural in contrast to the constitutional physical body and our roles as teachers in relation to these aspects will be explored. 

Main topics to be covered:
  All  Waldorf learning support teachers, early childhood, class and specialty teachers are invited to join program attendees from the AHE and WLS trainings to this conference. It is important to note that the conference has an advanced theme; therefore, previous knowledge of Steiner’s insights about human development and education is essential. 

Each morning will begin with 30 minutes of Extra Lesson Movement for the Classroom with Kris Boshell, followed immediately by a 1 1/2  hour lecture with Joep Eikenboom. After a 30 min break, Joep will continue with a second 1 hour lecture followed by 30 minutes Q&A. Following this there will be opportunities for break-out groups to continue discussions for another hour. 
 
At the beginning of the week there will be a video of Erica demonstrating a painting using magenta, viridian green and black—with an emphasis on the archetypal movements of these colors. Each participant can then follow these instructions and paint at each one’s convenience before Wednesday, July 29 when one of the periods will be used to go over this assignment. Participants can also share their paintings during the break-out times. 
For information about fees, registration and other relevant details, please go to the websites:  healingeducation.org   and/or  waldorflearningsupport.org 
 
For specific questions email the program directors:

Connie Helms, AHE,   registrar@healingeducation.org
Ingun Schneider, WLS  ingunmaria@gmail.com
Kris Boshell, WLS   info@waldorflearningsupport.org
TEAM WORK   and  SPEECH  in Waldorf Schools
 By Mary Jo Oresti  M.A.  and Beatrice Voigt, speech artist  
 
 GROUP EFFORTS FOR MEETING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN
 
 WHO DO WE WORK WITH?    Parents, fellow  teachers, friends,  and medical professionals  all have a hand in an educational environment. However, when we are working more therapeutically, collaboration is obvious as we engage with  therapists, parents and other teachers through  child studies, educational plans and parent meetings. We should mention here that  even if we are working in a way that appears to be almost a solo act, such as a class teacher without professional assistance,  or as a parent who is home schooling; we can still achieve a therapeutic, cooperative circle around a child  even if we are just building  intermittent  relationships  with others.  In this category, we have sympathetic neighbors, children' s clubs, and health care professionals. 
 
  Another collaboration is achieved through our relationship with the spiritual guides of the children. Unfortunately, this partnership is sometimes not considered very consciously or in a deep and sustaining way. We can turn this around through some simple methods including a basic evening recollection which attracts the attention of our guides. A simple way to do this is to just allow the face of a child to be created in your mind's eye before sleep. Picture them. You can also practice a more elaborate variation by picturing the full physical description of the child and add a gesture or a few of the child's comments. Then, take this picture into sleep with the wish to help. 
 
So, whether we are sharing our responsibilities or perhaps working as the only care giver, we can have a collaborative relationship with unseen partners who guide us in less tangible ways. The child's guiding spirit and our spiritual helpers are always with us and it is up to us how closely we will work with them. Will we ask for their help or ignore their presence? There are many meditations, prayers and imaginations that can be practiced, especially before sleep, to open the door to the help that the spiritual world can give us. 
 
Most people who practice this exercise have had experiences that demonstrate this connection. When we address the guiding spirit of the child through our picturing of the  child, or with a verse or prayer, we often feel a shift in our perception of them and we may even receive an intuition about what to do to support the child. This differently visible relationship, strengthened by our interest and love for a child and carried by our will,  is really the first step in building a therapeutic space for working with a child.
 
  Taking this a step further, here are a few short examples of day to day type collaborations.

               1) Establish a Care Group.   A Care Group consists of any community member interested in finding new perspectives to a child's challenges. Basically a Care Group has two aspects. One is for study and professional development regarding a theme such as sulfur rich and sulfur poor or hearing as a sensory modality.  The second  aspect is to concentrate on a particular child outside of the faculty meeting. In a Care Group, you have choices for engaging in child studies ranging from intensive long term sessions to a  mini study. The collective collaboration of each individual always proves that the whole is greater than the sum. To find out more about Care Groups, please consult the AHE Care Group Manual which contains resources for beginning or strengthening a Care Group including Child Study formats, forms and a special article by Karl Schubert.            
            2) Practice a  mini study: A Care Group or just several people putting their heads together can do a “ mini study”  comprising a brief description of the child's responses to the school environment or an “ acute” condition. For instance, one day  at our school  a 6th grader was seen crying in the halls. When asked what the problem was she repeated, “ My daddy is dead,  my daddy is dead.”  She was consoled in the hallway and a few days later the teacher who discovered her in this state, mentioned the incident in the Care Group. It was revealed that her father had actually died almost two years  before but, as we know, a traumatic event  will repeat and waves of memory will occur.  It was decided at that time to ask the Early Childhood center if she could help out for a few weeks.  Once a week she helped make the daily grain, assisted the little ones with their winter outerwear, and then ate with  them. This one hour activity helped her to realize the “ circle of life" and created a feeling that she was not just a victim of circumstances and tragedy but that she could influence her situation and she could help others. Additionally, a little honey on the oatmeal was wonderful for her melancholic nature!!!!
             3) Prioritize  the intervention.  In this space, we can not go far with this topic, but it seems important to mention a few thoughts. One task that especially benefits from collaboration is the process of choosing the initial program for a child with challenges. This selection and prioritizing process is often a conundrum of intersecting opinions and limited possibilities, such as lack of therapists or other resources. Working collaboratively with the available teachers and therapists can help bring clarity to a case and intensifies the creative process around the last stage of a child study, which is the choice of interventions. Also, a prioritized plan is essential when working with parents so that they are not overwhelmed.   
 When prioritizing the interventions, we keep in mind the importance of including one of the foundations of Waldorf Education: child development and the image of the human archetype. For instance, we know that children incarnate "down” and some children are slow to build capacities which demonstrate that he/she can take hold of the physical development. One example of a developmental capacity is an awareness and dexterity of the hands and  feet. Dr. Steiner suggested foot writing for a child who is challenged with this capacity. It is important to initially inquire: How can we secure the developmental path ?
 
 Fortunately, Waldorf Education has many examples of how to remove blockages to this development, such as the one listed above. Some scenarios for school practices for securing a strong developmental foundation are:  small  groups for early stage movement and balance and Move in Time bean bag exercises; appropriate exercises from Extra Lesson; and referring families to Sensory Integration. Academic tutoring can also be added; however, without the foundation work, much of what the tutor might bring may not have a lasting effect.
 
Another consideration for deciding what Learning Support intervention to begin with is framed by the description of the three fold human being. Does this child need to have soul needs met before working on will/movement capacities or tutoring ? I have been fortunate to have colleagues at my school who were professionals in Eurythmy, speech and painting therapy, and we could view the child's needs through many lenses. We had the luxury of being able to ask,  “Is Eurythmy or painting needed to strengthen the feeling life so that the child can later integrate the activities for building age appropriate capacities?”
Even though these resources might not be available to you, there are still alternative choices for more arts, or practical arts that can bring harmony to the child. Maybe a teacher can take the child for extra painting or form drawing once a week for several weeks. 
 
  SPEECH WORK  in a Waldorf School
Now that we have examined some broad ways of collaboration, we will now look at the application of speech work and how working with a speech artist or speech principles can bring more healing to a classroom.
 
Speech, as we know, is a forming principle for children and with the ideals that we carry within regarding the poem or verse.  Our ideation surrounding the text will have a benefit to the higher self of the child (Pedagogical Law). Some things to consider in our speech and how to teach poems and plays can be brought by a professional speech therapist but of course these can be practiced individually also. 
 
The following comments are from work with a speech artist working with children and teachers. Ms Voigt observes in the classroom and helps the teacher with how his/her speech is formed and used in the class. Then she works with the children with a poem or exercises so the teacher can observe a professional interpretation and teaching methods.
 
Of primary importance is establishing a habit of tuning oneself to the poem. In other words, live into it enough that the imagery is alive in you.  How does it feel?  What pictures and thoughts arise in you ?
 
Also important is the practice of well formed/articulated speech for the teacher and the child. Gestures that support sound formation such as cupping of hands for B, or rubbing of hands for SH can be very helpful. And after positive comments such as, “Those Ts were so sparkly today”, or, “I could hear the wind blow through these Ws”, you will find that the class will speak better when examples are given. The teacher’s example of good articulation is of course most helpful and frequent practice of exercises such as “Misers miss immense essential” (for clarity) and “Lambent lilies lightly loiter” (for flow of speech) will make a noticeable difference.
 
Then we can pay attention to the flow of the language. Does the delivery have swiftness? Or do we stress so many syllables that the speech drags and is tiring instead of enlivening?
In the following poem we might choose to stress the last two words of each line ( _I_  glow). A choice we can of course make. But how does it feel if you don’t stress the ‘I’ ( I  glow)?
 
The sun says: I glow,
The wind says: I blow,
The stream says: I flow,
The tree says: I grow,
And we say:  I  know.
 
Isn’t it lighter? And you see that in the last line the ‘I’  is stressed to emphasize the meaning.
 
 Educational Support Program 
When M was in second grade the Educational Support chair, in collaboration with the class teacher, suggested speech to awaken M to the speech sounds and for self confidence. He was not reading in a class of all readers, showed signs of anxiety and the teacher had concerns about stuttering. M, who tired easily, had already received support from the Extra Lesson teacher for eye tracking, balance and early movement patterns. The new program would provide speech twice a week for twenty minutes. The speech artist met with the parents during this time, and she consulted with the class teacher and  the Educational Support chair. The plan was to work on sound formation by focusing on the major speech placements of lips, tongue/teeth and palate and to work on breathing through rhythm and gesture.

 We opened the sessions with a harmonizing verse about building a boat as an image for healthy incarnation:
 
I build myself a boat,        one large gesture downward on ‘I build’ followed by two short touches of the fists for ‘myself’, followed by another large gesture downward.
I step into it,     two steps forward
The waves carry me,  we move both stretched out arms from back to front in a wavelike way until the hands grasp each other
The sun shines warm and bright. large round gesture ending downwards
 
With the verse “Biggety, baggy, bacon and beans…” we worked on the lips sounds, with a ‘horse ride’ on the tongue/teeth sounds LNDT and with “This is the Key to the Kingdom” on palate sounds. All this was done with movement that on the one hand supports sound formation and on the other supports breathing. The gestures needed to be speech gestures; gestures that connect immediately with the audible speech activity and the image. No gymnastics, eurythmy or mime!
 
In fourth grade M was again referred for speech sessions, alternating with blocks of Extra Lesson. This decision was made because though M had improved he was still reading slowly, and struggling with some anxiety. Because the home life did not allow for regular work on early movement patterns, both teachers included exercises in their sessions. A main focus was now on alliterations which are an essential part of the Fourth Grade curriculum. This verse from “The Forging of the Sword” by R. Wagner was among the texts used:
 
Needful, needful, masterful sword,
What blow was that that broke thee!
To shreds I’ve shattered thy shining steel,
Now flames the fire around thy fragment.
Ho hey, ho ho, ho hey ho ho,
Bellows blow, brighten the glow.
 
With the help of a copper rod we worked on the alliterating words. M. held the rod stretched out in front of him at shoulder height, and on the alliterating word, he dropped it quickly to catch it soon thereafter again. He had to find the alliterations by himself. Here we don’t focus on rhyming words, which are rather comforting, one can even fall asleep into it. No, here the student is asked to be very awake and the will that is burgeoning at this age is taken hold of.  You can perhaps sense how encouraging this activity can be, while at the same time the consonants are practiced in a new way.
 
During this fourth Grade year M had two separate speech blocks that lasted about seven weeks. He continued to improve and will again be seen by the Extra Lesson teacher. M's rotating and watchful educational plan is an example of how different methods can work together and have a synergistic effect. We hope that this short case study with an emphasis on speech work, will give you another view of working therapeutically together.

Mary Jo Oresti
Beatrice Voigt

 REFERENCES:
 Care Group Manual  A Practical Approach   AHE Publications Available at our website;   http://www.healingeducation.org

 Education and Teaching as Preventative Medicine   Persephone Press     A compilation of classroom applications from Dr. Steiner's books, lectures and conversations with teachers.   A  gold mine of ideas from body geography and lethargic thinking  to math challenges. 

The Listening Ear   Audrey McAllen  Steiner Books

Living Language in Waldorf Education.   Helen Lubin  Research Bulletin     v. 12   
 
Lighting Fires: Deepening Education Through Meditation  by  Jorgen Smit  Hawthorn Press
If you are interested in pursuing more speech work in your school:
 
Speech grants are available 
 
Contact:    Helen Lubin - helenlubin@gmail.com - 916-966-5749
 
The following is from an article in the Research Bulletin  Spring 2007  vol. 12. written by Helen Lubin
describing the grant program.
 
The project Speech and Drama in Waldorf Schools in North America has as its purpose the cultivation of speech and drama based on the work of Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-Von Sivers
The project endeavors to enable teachers to continue speech practice begun in teacher education and to apply this art age-specifically in the classroom while also cultivating their own relationship to living language.
Speech in the rhythmic part of main lesson. These sessions are intended to support class teachers’ ongoing speech practice by demonstrating how exercises and poems can be introduced and developed so that they engender the kind of inner activity that supports the development of students at each stage.
 
  Why Speech Work?
  1. The humanizing process of education hinges on and presupposes a teacher’s ongoing practice of inner development. Rudolf Steiner presented how and why this takes place through cultivating a connection to the living word.
  2. We are the model of speech for our students.
  3. For school-age children, a teacher’s speaking is one of the most prominent and important sense impressions; it is a lens and gateway to the world and works formatively right into the physiology of the organs.
  4.  Teachers need to know how to choose texts and exercises to work on with their students at various stages of their development. They need to know how this work furthers a teacher’s overall pedagogical intentions for the class and what the artistic tools are that bring this to realization.

ESP Program Adjustments in These Times

 Just 2 weeks before we were to all travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan for Module 6 of AHE's Educational Support Training, the decision was made to hold the course online. Over four days, spanning time zones from Hawaii to Spain, we met for several hours each day, and given our short planning window, the session worked better than we all had anticipated.  It was so heartening to see the faces of our group together on the zoom screen.
Elyce Perico, co-director of the ESP program, and I each gave lectures and demonstrations and we also had auxiliary cameras to focus on our desks so that we could demonstrate a form drawing or a painting. Doing Eurythmy online for 10 minutes daily with Barbara Bresette-Mills was very well received and this helped to give us all a sense of togetherness and calm amid the early days of physical distancing. 
Each day we also had breakout groups for people to have discussions with a partner and also to prepare for presentations from the "Anthroposophy" lectures by Rudolf Steiner from October 1909. The presentations included beautiful artwork and some clever power-point slides. Being flexible in these times is certainly an asset, as exemplified in everyone's willingness to navigate new territory while building our comprehension of the archetype of the human being.

As we look towards year 3 of our 12th cycle, the fall and spring modules will either be in Ann Arbor or online, depending on the requirements for safe distancing in the USA.

 Module 9, October 15th-18th,  Our featured guest presenter is Paul Gierlach who will return again to share his experiences about ways to approach adolescents in our teaching. We're always ready to meet the challenge of Dynamic Drawing that he leads us through. Module 9 is open to all.

In 2021, Module 10 takes place April 15th-18th and features Dr. Bruno Callegaro from Kassel, Germany who will return to lead us in various exercises to sharpen our abilities in child observation and share his insights from Anthroposophical medicine concerning autism spectrum disorders and childhood illnesses. Module 10 is also open to all.

In the summer of July 2021, we plan to be in Ann Arbor for two weeks.
Module 11, July 19-23, will cover tutoring from a Waldorf perspective as we study Dr. Karl Koenig's indications on Language, Reading and Writing. We will also continue with strategies for implementation of Extra Lesson in schools and  working with parents and colleagues. Another important focus will be the indications of child study and observation as presented by Dr. Rudolf Steiner in his lectures called the Curative Course, now titled "Education for Special Needs."

Module 12, July 26-30, brings therapeutic offerings including the pedagogical story, plus the important role of sleep in education as stressed by Rudolf Steiner and reiterated by Audrey McAllen. 
 
Modules 11 and 12 are open to all with a background in Extra Lesson and Module 12 will conclude with the graduation of cycle 12 on July 30th.

Connie Helms, M.Ed. Co-director of AHE-ESP Cycle 12

Jeff Tunkey, AHE Advisory Board member and long time Waldorf School Movement Teacher has a new book!

Educating for Balance and Resilience:
A practical guide to strengthening the foundations for professional development, student capacities and readiness, and parent support

There is growing recognition in wide educational circles that helping children to build the skills they need to thrive in adult life, including communication, persistence in the face of challenge, adaptability, teamwork, good manners, self-control, responsibility, and punctuality, is as important as content delivery linked to achievements on bench-mark tests.

A unifying goal for every Waldorf School — big or small, anywhere in the world — is to provide a progression of challenging academic content for which the students are (or are just about to be) emotionally and physiologically ready. Waldorf teachers know that all true learning requires inner composure and mobility, and that what can be seen and developed through outer movement is vital for mental health and acuity throughout life. Physical activity not only fuels the brain with oxygen and decreases stress; but also every movement creates and strengthens connections within the brain and in the nerve pathways throughout the body.

The importance of developmental movement is also clearly validated by modern science as a pathway to physiologic and emotional development, and may be as important as academic presentation, especially in the early grades. Activities that build up such basics as postural control, spatial orientation, movement coordination, and body geography are not just classroom extras. All children (and probably more than ever be-fore) need a rich diet of the kind of developmental movement, drawing and painting exercises that have been indicated by Rudolf Steiner, Audrey McAllen, Karl König, Olive Whicher, and others.

Although almost all of these tools have for decades been within the domains of Extra Lesson practitioners and Waldorf movement teachers, Jeff Tunkey believes that they are meant to be staples for all students, in all classes, every day.

“I found that utilizing even one sample of his many treasures made an immediate difference in the work with my class. His ideas are immediate and practical for the work of resource specialists, movement teachers and class teachers alike.” — Jennifer Snyder, public school Waldorf teacher and member of the Pedagogical Section Council of the Anthroposophical Society.

Available from Steiner Books or Kindle

"Fun Corner" - Enrichment Activities for a Time of Distance Learning...
by Jeff Tunkey

    The first couple of weeks after the abrupt closing of school left me in a protracted funk; I imagine many other teachers experienced the same. It took me the better part of two weeks before I realized that the main missing emotional element in my life was the daily smiles, groans, silliness, and laughter that permeate a healthy learning environment. Teachers need to be able to laugh at their own mistakes and teaching flubs - and to have children seeing that that is the case. This helps nurture and maintain a culture of children learning to do the same. So often, resilience is a matter of turning off the cold self-critic and looking on the funny side.

    Karl König carefully describes this aspect of our human condition: laughter and tears reset our balance, in opposite ways. I bet many students are feeling the same effect. “Distance teaching” removes almost all possibility of teacher-shared and classroom laughter in the lessons we post, and at the same time will by its nature increase the likelihood of student struggles, frustrations and even shut-down.

    And as down as we teachers and students may feel about the sudden separation and 180-degree shift in methods, imagine the plight of most parents: tasked, with maybe one day’s notice, to turn themselves into teachers, to take up the burden of academic progress in countless new topics. I hear of many who feel stressed out, overwhelmed, at sea. Too many fears or tears, not enough laughter to keep learning in balance.
        For these reasons, I’ve added a “Fun Corner” to some of my school’s google classroom offerings. This is a spot where a little extra lightness can be added to students’ (and parents’) daily schoolwork. Please note that these pleasant activities all serve an academic purpose as well as a break for fun.

Here are some selections from Jeff's Fun Corner, for more please go to his website; www.movementforchildhood.com 

Jeff is offering these distance-teaching resources which are free to use... and, he asks, 'If you've posted things for your school let me know. I'll be adding a few more each week now. You are welcome to use the items on this page for your school - link to them, copy what you like for yourself, use them in any way that helps. If you've developed or found things in this vein and could share them, or if you have a question, please use the contact page on the website.'
Thank you Jeff, and others, for sharing these!
​
Juggling - Steps to success
The site has a video of a juggling progression, and an instruction sheet. Since most students will not have juggling balls at home, I offer an easy homemade alternative that works very well.
Memory Drawings
Attached is a sheet with three strips of memory drawings. The idea is to use one a day: let the student look at the one of the strips, take it away, count to 50, and then the student attempts to duplicate the drawing. Beyond these three, have fun making up your own!
 Two card games for strengthening numeracy
Playing cards concentration - supports memory; spatial intelligence
    For 2 to 4 players
   Materials: Playing cards - one deck per playing group. Adjust number of cards to be used for group size and ability level, i.e. perhaps remove all face cards for beginners.
    Description: Shuffle all cards and then put them face up in a grid arrangement. After cards arranged and studied for a minute, turn them all over - face down in the same spot. The students in turn try to find pairs (either any two of a number, or two of the same number and color). If successful, player picks up the pair and adds to his/her pile. Winner is one who finds the most pairs. Can be played either as single-pick turn, or as a player keeps picking as long as he/she finds a pair.
Double Digit War - Card Game - number bonds or times tables
    For 2 players
    Materials: One or two decks of playing cards with face cards removed (shuffled together if two decks)
    Description: Players split deck(s) so each has half. Game is played just like regular “War” (i.e. higher number takes both cards) except that they slap down their first card and then the next card. For number bonds, the winner is the higher sum; for times tables, the higher product.
Tricky Riddles and Sad Jokes

  • If it takes 20 minutes to hard-boil one goose egg, how long does it take to boil four?   The same 20 minutes - you just put them all in the pot at the same time.
  • What happened to the duck when it tried to fly upside down?  It quacked up!
  • How do you keep a skunk from smelling?  You hold its nose!
  • Where do vampires get their mail?  The ghost office!                                                                                            

Memory Strip Drawings
Show student a strip of shapes; let him/her look for about 30 seconds to a minute (depending on age/ability); then take strip away and let student draw from memory. Three sample drawings attached - make up more if student likes the activity. 
 

  From Jen Mishkin-Krause, Coastal Grove Charter School...

May 6th - Mystery Class activities for teachers to do
with students on Zoom
Pancake hands: Pour pancake batter on the griddle (place palms flat on the table) and pike hips up to 90 degree angle with legs while skip counting, counting by square numbers, or just counting to 12. Always count in the same manner backwards again to the beginning. For mental flexibility, have the students start at a random spot and count to a random number and back again. Ex: 5-17 and back by ones, or 20-55 and back by 5’s. See stunning footage link on the website!

The Grand Old Duke of York: Student makes sure to have a chair next to them with in view of the screen.  Teacher leads by singing and modeling stepping up onto the chair with “UP” , stepping down off the chair with “DOWN” and crouching on the chair with “HALFWAY UP”. See electrifying video on the website!

Palmer, Finger and Hand Dexterity Exercises, Including:
--> Hermit Crab hand walk 
--> Finger dexterity
--> Pencil Roll

See more exercises with the links on www.movementforchildhood.org 
Enjoy!
 

Looking towards the Recovery Stage 
of a Healing Crisis
An important part of anthroposophic medicine is thinking about why we get sick, even with the COVID19 illness. That consideration does include aspects like routes of exposure (respiratory droplets, coming into contact with contaminated surfaces) as well as knowing when someone can most easily spread an infection (once your fever has been gone for three days you are no longer considered contagious). Those aspects are real and lend quantifiable information we can study through testing and epidemiological models. Those are the outer parts of the illness and they deal with the quantifiable parts of the illness. But there are other levels of illness which have more to do with patterns of symptoms and patterns of consciousness and try to understand the qualities of the illness. Why are we getting this illness? Those pieces can tell us something about the “being” of an illness. Pandemics are unusual because everyone around the whole world experiences the same illness process at the same time. Pandemics have more of a relationship to the experiences of a particular time than to the conditions of a certain place. They are different than working to understand the health history, illness inclinations, or biography of an individual person.
 
As we are slowly settling into new rhythms of life, there is a little more space and perhaps more consciousness to consider what the future will look like. Let’s compare it to an accident when you break your leg:
  • Initially there is just the shock and pain of the injury. You can’t believe this just happened! Why did that happen? What went wrong? Where did this come from? Who is at fault? (You madly gather information, focusing mostly on the past). 
  • Next, realizing: I am really hurt! This needs treatment. We need to do something about this because we can’t just ignore it any longer! (So, you go and get an x-ray and a cast; you do something, in the now).
  • Then, once the bone is stabilized, and after the initial pain has improved a little, you figure out how you are going to navigate the next weeks or months, as the mobility you usually take for granted is gone, and you have to be much more careful and conscious about your movements (how does this now affect all the different parts of my life?)
It is important to acknowledge that there are many people who are continuing to get sick, some becoming severely ill and dying from COVID infections, so this analogy is certainly imperfect. We hold those people in our consciousness as well as their loved ones.
  • And then if the pain is not too great, we think about how we can try to prevent anything like this from happening again in the future. 
If we pull back, way back, looking beyond the fever/cough/shortness of breath and try to see what the whole world is experiencing right now, it is an accentuation of fear and loneliness. Those two "shadows" are a core part of everyone's experience right now. Both have been building in intensity for far longer than just the last two months and have hopefully, just now, reached a crisis, a turning point. Every person is challenged to wrestle with two seemingly contradictory dynamics—how do I protect myself (because I am told in so many ways that I cannot trust other people), and how do I rebuild and cultivate meaningful connection to other people (because I need them). We have been on a collective march towards this eye of a needle for a while. An increasingly virtual world feeds and manipulates all variety of fears, since we receive bits of provocative information without the context or direct experience to judge them ourselves. More and more children, teenagers and adults complain of feeling anxious. At the same time, we are probably more lonely than at any other time, in spite of being so connected. In 2018, the UK recognized this trend and actually named a “Minister of Loneliness” because it was seen as such an important health concern.
 
If tomorrow, a cure for the coronavirus was miraculously found and perfectly distributed all around the world and no one had to worry about this virus any more, we would still be left with a pandemic of fear and isolation. This time is giving us a chance to really take hold of those two soul patterns and change them. This is a healing crisis. Have we had enough of these yet? How much further do we have to go before we are willing to change? How can we best know and celebrate the richness of human contact, collaboration, and community?

It's not possible to give an answer here, because the truth is that we need many millions and billions of of small, earnest movements in each of our inner lives. 
 
Let's be open. Be well,

Dr. Blanning

Denver Center for Anthroposophic Therapies, for more information see;   http://www.denvertherapies.com
Copyright © 2020, All rights reserved.

The Association for a Healing Education

Working to strengthen Waldorf Schools and to help serve the foundational needs of children today!

Please visit our website at http://www.healingeducation.org

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

  • To bridge the expertise between the medical profession, art therapists,
    and remedial professionals
    in the service of healing.
  • To foster remedial education with the pedagogical principles of  Waldorf Education.
  • To deepen and further
    the study of human development as described
    by Rudolf Steiner and to incorporate appropriate modalities of mainstream methodologies.
  • To facilitate cooperation
    and exchange between therapeutic educators, classroom teachers,
    caregivers, parents and individuals trained in
    curative education.


WHO WE ARE
For over thirty years, the Association for a Healing Education has served as an agent of change in the culture of education for children with individual needs. It has acted as a “listening ear” to the needs and questions of classroom teachers, parents and therapists who are involved with providing care for the child of today. Our main work is with children in regular classrooms who, faced with the challenges of their destiny and the world environment, often require some help for a time. Our intent is to help caregivers provide right practices in education, therapy and medicine through a deeper understanding of child development and hindrances to that development. We also serve as a bridge to the Camphill movement for Curative Education.
Articles from AHE Contributors 
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Information on School Workshops
Publications

Order Back Issues of
the AHE News

 

Each issue is devoted to one subject and features articles, essays and studies by some of the leading therapists and educators in the world. For more information please contact Connie Helms at;   registrar@healingeducation.org for topic listings and costs.
SERVICES
The Association provides the following services: workshops and lecture presentations; Remedial Teacher Development programs, which are
part-time three-year programs in the U.S. and
abroad; a bi-annual newsletter; a Care Group
Manual; activity books for teachers and parents; workshops for parents; and school or individual consulting services. If you are interested in these services, please contact us.

We are a non-profit organization and rely on memberships, gifts and volunteers to complete our work. Membership is open to everyone and includes the newsletter, notification of conferences and discounts on conferences and publications.          
 
BOARD MEMBERS
President: Betty Jane Enno    
Vice-President: Elyce Perico             
Treasurer: Rob Kushler
Mary Jo Oresti
Connie Helms
Dana Fleming
Renni Greenberg 
Barbara Bresette-Mills 
 
CONTACTS
Administration Office:
Connie Helms
Co-director AHE-ESP Cycle 12
registrar@healingeducation.org
Membership Office:
2886 Mountain Road, Bristol, VT 05443
Copyright © 2020 Association for a Healing Education, All rights reserved.