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Waldorf News

How Mud Boosts Your Immune System

"Don't get dirty!" was once a constant family refrain, as parents despairingly watched their children spoil their best clothes. Whether they were running through farmers' fields, climbing trees or catching tadpoles, it was inevitable that children's whites would turn brown before the day was over. Today, many parents may secretly wish their children had the chance to pick up a bit of grime. With the rise of urbanism, and the allure of video games and social media, contact with nature is much rarer than in the past. For many, there is simply no opportunity to get muddy. What is gained in laundry bills may be lost in the child's wellbeing. According to recent research, the dirt outside is teaming with friendly microorganisms that can train the immune system and build resilience to a range of illnesses, including allergies, asthma and even depression and anxiety. More »

The Vacuum and the Plague: A Meditative Path into the Reality of the Moment

Everything that exists is being: the house, the mountain, the tree, the car or the dog, as well as the fingernail of the hand; everything is being. From the most elementary to the most majestic, spiritual beings interweave themselves; they are, and they bring forth, what we call creation. For our awareness, their interconnections are conditioned by a fundamental law: a unity in the spiritual word is a multiplicity in physical existence, while a unity in the physical world is a multiplicity in the spirit. The being of the plant appears as a unity, the primal plant, and as the many differentiated plants in the physical. On the other hand, the physical plant, for example the rose bush on the roadside, appears as a unity, but as a spiritual reality it is the activity of the beings of the sun, earth, water, mineral, air, of life and so on. Given that a being is present wherever it has effects and that a being unfolds particular activity, the plant is a spiritual multiplicity, as is every particular physical appearance. Every “thing” is a spiritual multiplicity, a tapestry of activity in which no emptiness can be discovered. In other words: nothing exists that is not, and everywhere something exists, someone exists, is active, as a being. Non-existence cannot be found. More »

Waldorf School for Doctors and Nurses

As a Waldorf parent, you gather lots of good stories about your children. One that stands out for my family is when our new first grader—who had independently taught herself to read at 5-and-a-half years of age—marveled at how clever her new teacher was. She told us about this at the dinner table. Her first-grade class was learning about the letters of the alphabet and how for each letter there is a story, and a story associated with a shape, and a shape with a sound. We were wondering whether this process of learning the letters might be boring for our daughter, but found the reality was really quite the opposite. More »

Resilience: More Than Bouncing Back

When I imagine resilience in its simplest form, it looks like the pop-up doll I had as a child. It was egg-shaped, full of air, and had a round bottom that was weighted. It was as large as I was. I could push it over and it would always pop back up again. I loved that doll and the picture of resilience it communicated. But resilience is more complex that simply popping up again, although that is one aspect of it. Reflecting on why we fall so that we can understand the experience is another. And using the experience of the fall—or the failure—for growth and transformations is yet another. Resilience in its fullest meaning embraces all of these. This multi-dimensional resilience allows us to face life’s obstacles and transform them into stepping stones. More »

From Switzerland to Detroit: A Summer of Inspiration & Service

This past July, I had the privilege and opportunity to travel both to the Goetheanum in Switzerland and the Brightmoor Makerspace in Detroit, USA. In this Part 1, I’ll write about the Goetheanum experience, and in Part 2, I’ll share more about my time in Detroit. Both experiences continue to inform my hopes as a high school teacher and mentor for young people.  The Goetheanum in Switzerland is the center of the Global Anthroposophical Society. I’d wanted to visit it ever since I was 18 years old and first started reading Rudolf Steiner.  The Waldorf school movement originated from the broader impulse called anthroposophy at the turn of 1900. Rudolf Steiner, at age 40, began to respond to people's spiritual and life questions out of clairvoyance for what is vital for humanity to become wiser, more creative, and more loving. More »

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