PSC FREE ONLINE SEMINARS

Social Healing Through Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy: Where Do We Go From Here?

Presenter: Linda WIlliams Ph.D.

The Waldorf movement was founded on an impulse of social healing and reconciliation. 

As 'Warriors of the Heart', how do we, as Waldorf educators, work consciously and

intentionally to address the issues of our time and place within our classrooms and

communities -- while staying true to our spiritual roots.

Online Zoom Event: 11am-12:30pm CT

Sleep on It

Presenter: Douglas Gerwin Ph.D.

In education, as in health care, we are finally waking up to the value of sleep. 

Recent research confirms what Waldorf teachers have long known: children and

teenagers learn more––and more deeply––when they sleep than when they are awake.

In an age of insomnia, how do we guard the sleep of our youngsters?  Indeed, how do

we restore restful sleep for ourselves?

Douglas will guide us on a cyclical journey to lands beyond the River Lethe, where we

engage in sleep as vibrant activity, not merely as zoned-out inertia.

Online Zoom Event: 11am-12:30pm CT

The Cycle of the Year as a Breathing Process of the Earth

Presenter: Laura Radefeld

After the burning of the first Goetheanum, Rudolf Steiner spoke for the first time about

the breathing of the earth, the spiritual course of the year, and the Imaginations of the

Festivals. He also spoke for the first time about the importance of the Michaelmas

Festival, urging that we take the force of spiritual knowledge into the will-forces which

he also calls the Michael force. Rudolf Steiner spoke about the Michael Festival as one

of soul activity and of courage. He continued to speak on this theme for the rest of his

life. His final address included the Michael Imagination.

We will look at Michaelmas within the cycle of the year, its importance to our pedagogy

and to the health of our school community by working through a few excerpts from this

lecture series, and artistic work designed to illuminate what Rudolf Steiner was bringing

to us.

Online Zoom Event: 11am-12:30pm CT

The Teacher's Task: Breathing and Sleeping

Presenter: Liz Beaven Ph.D.

In his preparatory work with the teachers of the first Waldorf school, Steiner stated that

key tasks for the teachers were to teach the children to breathe and sleep properly.

These statements can be a bit mysterious; together, we will explore what it means to

teach these fundamental human processes, and how they can inform our work. 

Disruptions to breathing and sleep are widely reported by teachers today in a range of

settings. How is this "sleep and breathing crisis" affecting our schools? What are we

seeing, how is this affecting our tasks, and, importantly, what can we do about it to help

our students gain greater balance for today and strength for the future? What is the state of our own breathing and sleeping? We will explore the significance of all of this and the tools that are available to us.

Online Zoom Event: 11am-12:30pm CT

Play, Art, and the Power of Sleep as Germinating Processes

Presenter: Frances Vig

In the First Teacher’s Course Rudolf Steiner speaks of will activity as planting seeds for

the future. He also states that intentional will activities awaken in thought an activity

much needed in these times. After sharing some opening thoughts and engaging in a

brief exercise, there will be opportunity to discuss play, art, and sleep as integral to the

awakening of new thoughts as well as to the health and wellbeing of us as adults and

the healthy incarnation of the child through to adulthood. We will also discuss practical

ideas about how we share these thoughts with parents.

Online Zoom Event: 11am-12:30pm CT