Healing Arts and Anthroposophy

Upcoming session:

Dynamic Stillness and Movement
Jaimen McMillan
March 2/3

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Friday March 2, 7:00pm- 9pm
Saturday March 3rd, 9am- 5pm

To know another, we must know ourselves. It can be helpful, some would say essential, in our work as health care practitioners to have a practice in which we come to know ourselves deeply.

Rudolf Steiner, the initiator of Anthroposophy, presented six steps as a basis for setting off on a path of self exploration and self development. Although these meditative suggestions are widely known, many have difficulty in practicing them. Besides the challenge of finding quiet amidst the distractions of everyday life, it may also be that these practices are being done incompletely. It is often overlooked that these indications are also very subtle movement exercises.

Applying exercises from the discipline of Spacial Dynamics, we will learn to create and perceive finer and finer movements. The finest movement is the point of dynamic stillness. Using our enhanced sense of refined movement, we will explore the progression of these six steps and see that they really do proceed along a path, and that walking that path is an important part of our development.

This course is open to the public.

Snacks will be served. Please bring a lunch.
Seattle Waldorf School 2728 NE 100th St

Course Fee: $225, Partial Scholarships available.
To request, please contact Mary Oak: moak@soundcircle.org

The Heart of the Matter

The Heart of the Matter is a series of weekend modules which can be taken separately or as a series, applicable to those working in the healing/health care professions seeking to rejuvenate themselves through the arts and gentle self-transformation. There is room to join the course.Using the patient/practitioner interaction as the basis for collaboration, participants will explore how the physical body, soul, and spirit interact in health and illness. By experiencing the creative process through singing, clay modeling, movement, painting, storytelling, study, and meditation exercises, participants will explore the modern relevance of indications given by Rudolf Steiner through Spiritual Science.

The Heart of the Matter course comes out of a desire to re-examine and expand our role as health care practitioners. Healing often begins in the meeting between people, between patient and doctor, client and therapist, or between colleagues. Stepping into real healing work asks that we be courageous and honest, observant and vigilant and in some cases be willing to challenge the status quo. It asks that we know ourselves as well as our professional scope of practice.

Through conversation, artistic work, meditative work, and movement, The Heart of the Matter will provide an opportunity to explore the question, “What is healing?” Through observation and reflection can we enlighten our work with patients, clients, and colleagues, and begin to transform how we practice?

To read an article about the course, click here.

Dates and Times

Except for the March workshop, sessions will be held each month on Friday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30, and the following Saturday from 8:15 to 2:00. A light lunch will be served. All classes will be held at Seattle Waldorf School, 2728 NE 100th St, Seattle-- downstairs in the first grade classroom.

Spring Workshops

Human between Heaven and Earth
David Martin and Johanna Steegmans
April 20/21

In this and the workshop given in February, we will work directly with enlivening and augmenting the perspectives of modern scientific medicine to include the wholeness of the human being and the mineral, plant, and animal realms of nature. We will engage with an alchemical view of substance as process, especially as linked with the holographic view of the human being as being everywhere made up of three interacting systems: the Nerve-Sense, Rhythmic, and Metabolic. There will be exercises to develop this way of experiencing. Participation in the previous workshops of the series may well be helpful preparation for entering more deeply into these experiences.

May 11/12: Guest artist TBA

Faculty

Robyn Jones
Andrea Marquardt-Preiss
David Martin
Nancy Mellon
Nancy Pfeiffer
Johanna Steegmans
Anouk Tompot

Fiona Gold – facilitator

REGISTRATION AND COST

We encourage participants to take the course as a whole, although modules may be taken separately.

Advance registration:

$1600 for the series of 8 weekends.
$225 for each weekend module.

Registration upon arrival:
$250 for each weekend module. Checks only.

Go to the registration page

CEUs

Continuing education credits are available for certain health care professionals. Check with your licensing bureau.

For more information: Contact: Fiona Gold at gofiona@gmail.com, or call Mary Oak at 206-523-6279

Past Workshops

Storytelling for Transformation- Caring for Myself and Others
Nancy Mellon, October 7th and 8th

How can the healer benefit from imaginative storytelling? This workshop provides an opportunity to explore physiological processes together with wise old story patterns. Grounded consciously in the body, we will explore an ancient healing art with practical and well-tried exercises that can be applied both personally and professionally. As we extend our listening and speaking into the dynamic realms of intuition and imagination, we will seek healing medicine on many levels for ourselves and for others.

Moving into Light and Color
Robyn Jones and Andrea Preiss
December 9th and 10th

Color is closely connected to our inner world. Our moods respond to color, to light and darkness. Can we notice the individual characters of colors? How do we interact with them? In this weekend module, through painting and movement, we will experience the evocative nature of color and of light and darkness. Moving color inwardly and outwardly, we will discover how it can affect the direction of healing. There will also be a session with reflections and conversation guided by Dr. Johanna Steegmans.

Meeting and Modeling in Clay
Nancy Pfeiffer
January 13/14

Meeting and Modeling in Clay
Nancy Pfeiffer
January 13/14

Clay is ideal for holding a form born out of movement. Similar to the healer's process in working with another, working with clay requires an inner, active sensing. The form comes out of the dialogue between the clay and your hands. In this workshop, a variety of guided clay exercises will lead to working on a sculptural figurative piece. Conversations will be based on observations and reflections weaving this into the realm of healing. In addition, there will be a session with reflections guided by Dr. Johanna Steegmans.

Soul and Spirit in the Human Physical Constitution
David Martin and Johanna Steegmans
February 10/11

In this and the the April Workshop, Part 2, we will work more directly with enlivening and augmenting the perspectives of modern scientific medicine to include the wholeness of the human being and the mineral, plant, and animal realms of nature. We will engage with a view of the fourfold elemental processes of Earth, Water, Air and Fire in the makeup of the human being and the natural substances from which harmonizing remedies can be drawn. There will be exercises to develop this way of experiencing. Participation in the first three workshops of the series may well be helpful preparation for entering more deeply into these experiences.