Blog Archives - Center for Anthroposophy - Waldorf Teacher Education and Renewal

Kairos Institute: Traumatology and Spirituality

Wilton, New Hampshire, July 7-12 In today’s world, we are constantly bearing witness to global crises and tragedies, and therefore, we live in a world that is rife with untreated trauma. How do we create a culture that is inclusive of this task, given to all human beings? A culture where everyone matters, and where human encounter is the ultimate creative invitation to harness our capacities of presence? We need tools to achieve deeper levels of understanding and to put our knowledge into action. I have found much to learn from the worldwide crisis intervention leader, Bernd Ruf. He is the founder of the Parzival Center, a school of 750 children from infancy to age 24, where everyone is accepted, no matter how difficult the task, and how deep the suffering. Bernd is also the co-founder of the Emergency Pedagogy Center in Karlsruhe, Germany. Since 2006, trained therapists, teachers, and trained emergency pedagogy volunteers have reached out to countless places all over the world to help children and young people experiencing trauma from war or natural catastrophes. Why Emergency Pedagogy? 1. Because we want to help those in need: Traumatized children are in the most dangerous position as their trauma can hinder their development and prevent their lives from reaching their full potential. Every human being who is prevented from bringing their capabilities to this earth is a loss for all of us. “The human being who saves a person saves the world.“2. Because we are all connected to this earth we need our collective consciousness and our collective efforts: Only in human encounters can we make a difference. The earth depends on us becoming well-grounded so we can do what we came here to do. Our work is all about helping the children incarnate despite trauma. Bernd tells of a woman who watched the team work with children. Every day she arrived from early morning to late evening, always sitting on the spot where dark stains tainted the wall behind her. On the last day, she stood up and said, “My child was shot here, in the head and in the heart. She added, “You don’t only heal the children, you heal the earth.” There is no human being without the earth, and there is no earth without the human being. 3. Because we live in a time where we need to understand that spiritual health is physical health and that we are in a battle against the materialistic forces that aim to dehumanize us. What happens when we experience trauma? Through shock, the I excarnate, and you can say that the I is imprisoned, unable to fully incarnate. Where the I should reside, there is a wound, and if not attended, can create a vacuum, making the person vulnerable and less able to find meaningfulness in their lives. This affects health as well. We have a unique opportunity to meet Bernd Ruf, listen to daily morning lectures, and attend afternoon trauma-preventative therapy sessions before a Q&A session with Bernd at the end of the day. Getting to sit in a circle with Bernd and to ask questions in such an intimate setting is such a memorable experience. Please consider joining this unique opportunity. We still have some housing, please visit our website at centerforanthroposophy.org/kairos-instituteand register. There’s lot more information there as well about Emergency Pedagogy and our courses. With warmest wishes, Karine Munk Finser, Director, Kairos Institute, Training in Artistic Therapies, Training in Emergency Pedagogy karine@centerforanthroposophy.org

Training Waldorf High School Science and Math Teachers through the Arts

High school teachers specializing in science and math are especially helped by a training saturated in the arts––especially the performing arts––as this new video of CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) so aptly illustrates. Watch the video below.

High School Seminar Week

High School Seminar Week More than 20 Waldorf teachers and student teachers attended a high school seminar this week at RSCC with visiting teacher David Barham. When he’s not traveling around giving courses, David leads the high school program at Centre for Anthroposophy in Wilton NH, having taken over the leadership of that program from Douglas Gerwin. In addition to the full time RSCC teacher education students, this week was attended by teachers from several Ontario Waldorf schools including Toronto Waldorf School, Trillium Waldorf School and Halton Waldorf School. The lead photo shows most of the folks who attended the week, though the TWS teachers were not there when the picture was taken. While mornings were devoted to classroom sessions at RSCC — a blend of lectures, and small group work, with the opportunity to present skits on various facets of adolescence and the life of high school students, afternoons (for the guest teachers from other schools) were given over to observation in real-life classes in the high school of the Toronto Waldorf School. Last week David was also here at RSCC as part of a group from AWSNA who were here to confirm RSCC’s full member institute for Waldorf teacher education. First photo below is David Barham teaching, next three are of students working in small groups, and the last one is of a blackboard full of class-generated observations about grade nine students. David Barham, teaching at RSCC this past Tuesday October 24th Teacher David Barham looks on as students work in small groups The high-school-week group included both full-time RSCC teacher education students and teachers from local schools. Working together in small groups Students helped fill a blackboard describing common traits of ninth graders on Monday October 23rd.

Christopher Bamford

Chris’ courses at CfA were prophetic and deeply stirred the lives of participants; his introductions to countless publications at SteinerBooks were inspirational. Apart from being himself a prolific author, Chris “commissioned” Torin Finser’s School as a Journey in 1990, wrote the introduction to Douglas Gerwin’s For the Love of Literature, and encouraged numerous other authors over decades with his confidence, vision, and unconditional generosity of spirit. Christopher Bamford, longtime faculty member of our Renewal Courses, former editor-in-chief of SteinerBooks, and friend and colleague to many at CfA, crossed the threshold on the morning of Friday 13 May 2022.

Pencils, Paints, and “Emergency Pedagogy” for Ukrainian Refugees

Supplied with pencils, paper, paints, and brushes, Karine Munk Finser, Director of CfA’s newly founded Kairos Institute, flew to Scandinavia in mid-March to welcome Ukrainian refugees into her parents’ empty cottage on the Danish island of Bornholm and to begin administering a program of acute healing therapy to mothers and their young children. A licensed art therapist in the U.S., Karine was following up on her mother’s initiative to open her summer home to Ukrainian families seeking refuge on this Baltic island. Beyond housing and basic needs, Karine is offering them a therapeutic program based on “Emergency Pedagogy” pioneered by Bernd Ruf from the Parzival Zentrum in Germany. This program is designed to bring healing artistic elements of Waldorf education to traumatized children and their parents whose lives have been upended by war or natural catastrophes. A seven-year-old girl captured her feeling of release after fleeing her native Ukraine in a drawing she called, “Girl Crossing the Border”. Karine writes, “Notice the darkened sun, the dying flowers on the left, the empty darkness, the deep sorrowful world where everything weeps. The transition is beautifully marked with the dark clouds changing to white clouds and the sun’s return. The rainbow, eternal expression of hope and belonging. The greens, life returning. Most importantly, notice how the girl in the drawing stands and sadly watches the darkness but then, as she crosses the border, she begins to lighten.” Karine, who is also Director of Transdisciplinary Studies in Healing Education at Antioch University New England, will spend the rest of this month with Ukrainian mothers and their children on Bornholm, a remote island located east of Denmark in the Baltic Sea between Poland and the southern coast of Sweden. Bernd Ruf is scheduled to bring his multi-year training in “Emergency Pedagogy” for teachers and art therapists to CfA’s Kairos Institute in Wilton, New Hampshire, starting this summer as part of the Institute’s new program of Waldorf pedagogy through the healing arts. Details of this program can be found here. Those wishing to help Waldorf schools and their families in Ukraine can make donations directly to the Friends of Waldorf Education (Freunde der Erziehungskunst), which has already mobilized a worldwide network of financial and logistic support via its secure website here.

CfA Statement about Crisis in the Ukraine

In these trying days, the faculty and staff of CfA send their good thoughts and prayers to the Waldorf schools, parents, teachers, and especially the children of Ukraine. Here is one report on how they are faring.

Earn a Master of Education (MEd) with a Transdisciplinary Focus on Healing Education

Download the flyer below to learn more.

WORKSHOP & INFO SESSION: Becoming the Teacher Your Students Need

When: Oct. 6th, 2021, 3 PM to 5 PM Where: Waldorf School of Cape Cod 22 Tupper Rd. Sandwich, MA What: Are you a teacher or parent interested in earning an AWSNA recognized teaching certificate in Waldorf? An accredited MEd? This workshop is for you if you have ever thought about becoming a Waldorf educator. Join us to learn about the opportunity to be part of a Waldorf training program called Building Bridges to Waldorf. Building Bridges is a series of workshops in Waldorf education that engages students in lively presentations, group discussions, self-development, and classroom arts. The content of these courses will include foundational course work in preparation for further Waldorf teacher training at Antioch University New England (AUNE). Weekends are designed to accommodate working teachers. This workshop will be presented by Torin Finser, Ph.D., President of Center for Anthroposophy Board of Trustees, Director of Waldorf Programs at Antioch University New England