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I am releasing a classic episode which was recorded when the podcast was called The Mystic Discoveries. The topic of the 12 year old change and parenting/teaching through the teen years is so important I decided its time to re-release it. I went through and edited it a it to remove some of my ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’, so it’s a more flowy listening experience.

Today we discuss the spiritual, physical and social changes teens go through and how the Waldorf curriculum meets them. Annie offers wonderful insights and advice for parents and teachers of teens/soon to be teens. Although we started off with the intention of discussion 2 particular things, it became another great discussion that would be great for people to listen to who are new to Waldorf. 

We start off by introducing the fourfold human being for those who may not be familiar with the concept. It is important in understanding the more spiritual aspects of what is happening to the child/teen.

The 12 year old change is an event most Waldorf teachers and Waldorfy parents are aware of. It is quite a significant part of a child’s development. We talked a few years ago about the 9 year old change which may be a good episode to listen to before or after this one. We are discussing these turning points not from a position of dread or warning, but more from an angle of being prepared, open and loving towards the changes your child will go through.

Teens often get a bad rep and its partly due to adults not fully understanding their consciousness and their needs. Annie made a great comment between the difference of ‘exploring’ and ‘rebelling’. Teens naturally want and need to explore, this is healthy. They rebel when they feel oppressed, misunderstood and not heard. Annie has so may observations and suggestions when it comes to maintaining boundaries, and laying the foundations of that in early childhood.

We also discuss the importance of rhythm and routine, not just for 0-7 year old children, but right up to 18 and beyond!

Apologies for my voice being a tad flat the week, I am fighting the onset of a cold!

Connect with Annie at www.thechildisthecurriculum.com or on Instagram @thechildisthecurriculum and look into buying one of her threefold planning calendars co-designed by her and her awesome son.

You can follow me on Instagram @holistic_human_aotearoa

Thanks for listening!

:Reading List:

By Rudolf Steiner:

“Soul Economy”

“Education for Adolescents”

“The Spirit of the Waldorf School”

“A Modern Art Of Education”

“Discussions With Teachers”

“Education as a force for Social Change”

“Waldorf Education & Anthroposophy”

“On the Threshold of Adolescence” Herman Koepeke

Kia ora and welcome to another episode of the Holistic Human Podcast.

Before I introduce my amazing guest I want to thank again those of you who are supporting the podcast by sharing my posts on Instagram, follow along if you don’t already @holistic_human_aotearoa. It is a free and super helpful way to keep the podcast going. Those of you who would like to contribute with money can do so by heading to buymeacoffee/AmandaLBradley and shouting me a coffee or two which helps pay for the running costs.

Today I am talking to Mona Lewis who is the creator of Sunsprite Handwork. She is the author of ‘Natures Paintbox’ and illustrator of the children’s books ‘A Tataviam Creation Story’ and ‘TATA the Tataviam Towee’ written by her partner Alan Salazar. She is an artist, a dancer, a mother, a Waldorf handwork teacher, and the co director of Practical Art Teacher Training program.

In this podcast she runs us through the handwork curriculum, what she teaches and the importance of story and making it fun. She explains why handwork is such a cornerstone in the Waldorf curriculum. She also gives those of us who want to start a dye garden some tips, and what plants are good ones to start with. She discusses her journey with plant and earth pigments, and why it is such an amazing practice to connect with the local environment.

Honestly one of the best chats ever. I wish I had travel funds so I could zip over to LA for one of her workshops (feel free to donate airfare if you want). We could have talked about handwork, and connecting to nature for sooooo much longer, but managed to keep it just under 90 mins. I think people new to Waldorf will get a lot out of this, handwork is such a great lens into the pedagogy and she explains it all so eloquently.

I feel like we could do another episode just on connecting to place through art and craft. Perhaps I am bias because it’s linked to my thesis topic, but I truly think that most people will be inspired by her take on why craft matters, and how to bring nature based practices to children in a fun way as much as possible.

I encourage you to go buy Natures paintbox from www.sunspritehandwork.com and follow her on Instagram @sunspritehandwork. Also, if you also get your dye garden growing tag us in your posts about it.

Enjoy friends.

Kia Ora and welcome back to another episode of The Holistic Human Podcast where we are examining consciousness, human potential, and the relationship between spiritual and material worlds. 

Today I am talking to Saskia von Diest, PhD about Ecofluency (listen to the end for a guided meditation that Saskia intuited just for us – if you want to share your experiences with Saskia, tag her on Instagram @ecofluency, or flick her an email). 

We discuss what it is and how she came to develop it. She is speaking to us from a farm in Wales, yet was born and raised in South Africa. She briefly discusses her upbringing, then goes into her experience at university and gaining her PHD in plant pathology. We touch on biodynamics and she discusses how Ecofluency is being received in the realm of academia. This leads us into the potential evolution of the scientific method, to become more accepting of phenomena that can be unfairly labeled as ‘woo woo’ or ‘new age’ in dismissive terms. She also talks about what is happening in the wider cosmos, what it is and how it is impacting us at a DNA level. I learned about light photons!

There are many roads that lead to communion with nature, and I invite you to listen with an open mind to the pathway Saskia is offering through Ecofluency.

I want to thank everyone who has supported the podcast by sharing it on social media, and going to my buy me a coffee page which is helping with the running costs. I found out this week, mid convo with Saskia that Zoom is not longer free. So I have to now pay for that every moneh, which I don’t mind because it’s a good product, but it does mean I now have an extra cost to running this podcast. If you have some spare coin and want to support me and my kid, then head over to www.buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley. Or you can buy stuff from my silvercapcrafts page, or commission some art from me. If you don’t have the funds to do so, leaving a 5 star or a comment review on spotify or wherever you listen is super super helpful.

Connect with Saskia Website: https://www.ecofluency.org/ Instagram @ecofluency Email: saskia@ecofluency.org

Connect with me  @holistic_human_podcast

www.buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley

Link to the research article https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1757975919829700