Episodes

  • The Holistic Human Podcast: 12 Year old Change,Teenagers and Waldorf Education
    Jun 3 2022

    If you wish to support the show please like, subscribe and share. Feel free to ‘buy me a coffee’  which helps with the running costs: www.buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley

    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

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    2 hrs and 25 mins
  • The Holistic Human Podcast: Waldorf Handwork with Mona Lewis
    May 12 2022

    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.

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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • The Holistic Human Podcast: Ecofluency with Saskia von Diest
    May 6 2022

    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

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • The Holistic Human Podcast: The Nine Year Old Change with Annie Haas of The Child is the Curriculum
    Mar 17 2022

    Kia Ora e te whānau, Hello dear friends and welcome to a re-release of a classic Holistic Human Podcast.

    I have had to re-edit one of my most popular episodes where Annie and I talk about the epic stage in child development, the 9 year old change, because I was a doofus and accidentally deleted the old one along with some other files.

    But actually it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I got to listen to it for the first time in 3 years and its been super valuable.

    So this episode has been produced by Tanglewood Toys, a New Zealand based Waldorfy supply company that stock all my favorite products, from waldorf art supplies, to wooden toys, to play silks, to parenting books. Its run by Felicity and Damon who, aside from providing amazing customer service are just genuinely lovely people and in these times of world uncertainty, supporting local, small businesses is really important. Go check out their website tanglewoodtoys.co.nz or visit them on Instagram @tanglewoodtoys.

    So in this episode Annie and I will be discussing…..

    • The fourfold human being (feel free to check out my tiktok vid https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSddQ7tWk/?k=1 or youtube clip explaining it in more detail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zVmKIy62vQ)
    • What happens at a consciousness level during the 9 year old change
    • How the Waldorf curriculum meets the child
    • Practicalities on how to plan your main lessons and such throughout the year
    • Why using Steiner’s lectures are an important starting point, and then using premade curriculum resources to supplement your original lessons.

    Connect with Annie on Instagram @thechildisthecurriculum and @threefoldhumancalender. Also check out the waldorfy homeschooling community at her website thechildisthecurriculum.com.

    Also I want to say a big thank you to all you beautiful people who have bought me a coffee and given the podcast a 5star review wherever you listen. Reviewing the podcast is a free and incredibly appreciated way to support the podcast.

    If you want to become a producer of the podcast or buy me a coffee to help with the running costs go to the https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley  link in my bio, or go to my ETSY shop and buy some of my creations https://www.etsy.com/shop/SilvercapCrafts.

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    1 hr
  • Holistic Human Podcast with Mary Stewart Adams; Astrology, Astrosophy and the year ahead 2022
    Jan 23 2022

    Nau Mai Haere mai and welcome back to another episode of the Holistic Human Podcast.

    Today I am blessed again to be speaking to Mary Stewart Adams, a stare lore historian and author of The Start Tales of Mother Goose about the astrological forecast for the year ahead. We go deep into what Venus is up to, and how the work done over the Holy Nights can be carried throughout the year. 

    This episode, as usual, becomes so much more than just a astrological forecast. I really value and appreciate Mary and her willingness to share her insights from years of studying and working with anthroposophy and astrosophy. If you don’t know what astrosophy or anthroposophy is I suggest you listen to the first podcast we did together where she gives a general explanation of astrosophy and its place within Anthroposophy. Mary gives a brief intro, but that first episode goes deep.

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/6kKHjkbRdJh0t3DsLM2Igx?si=0d56d98b163b46f9

    I have to say a big thank your to Tanglewood Toys who have generously sponsored this episode of the podcast. Not only do they sell some of my favorite waldorfy products, but Felicity who runs the show with Damon is such a kind person. Supporting family run small businesses are so important these days, so if you need some supplies for your homeschooling year ahead, gifts for your kids, or art supplies for yourself I recoomend checking out their website first. Go to tanglewoodtoys.co.nz and follow them on Instagram @tanglewoodtoys.

    Also I want to say a big thank you to all you beautiful people who have bought me a coffee and given the podcast a 5star review wherever you listen. Reviewing the podcast is a free and incredibly appreciated way to support the podcast.

    If you want to become a producer of the podcast or buy me a coffee to help with the running costs go to the https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley  link in my bio, or go to my ETSY shop and buy some of my creations https://www.etsy.com/shop/SilvercapCrafts.

    I hope you enjoy, please remember to like, share, subscribe and give the podcast 5 stars. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this so come join the Holistic Human community on Instagram @holistic_human_aotearoa.

    Mary's website and socials

    https://storytellersnightsky.com/category/star-lore-historian

    Instagram @starmares and @starlorehistorian

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    1 hr and 35 mins
  • The Holistic Human Podcast with Christine Moginie; Nourishing Relationships with the Spiritual World, Twelve Holy Nights, Three Kings Biodynamic Prep
    Nov 25 2021

    Kia Ora e te Whānau, and a warm welcome back to you all.  Feel free to like, subscribe, share and come visit me on Instagram @holistic_human_aotearoa

    You are in for a treat today. I am talking to my wonderful friend Christine Moginie about a classic anthroposophical practice called the Twelve Holy Nights and the Three Kings biodynamic preparation. Christine is a Waldorf teacher, and artist, an art teacher, does biography work, and is a member of the Council for Biodynamics New Zealand - among other things!

    Before we delve into the Holy Nights, Christine shares some suuuuuper interesting stories from her life. She has done a lot of biography work personally and with others, so she speaks about her life with an interesting outlook. She shares about her connection to the natural and elemental worlds, as well as experiences she has had with death and connecting with those she calls her 'Team' in the Spiritual World. 

    We then move onto the Twelve Holy Nights, what the purpose of them are, how they can be worked with and some ways you can observe them this coming season. The book she refers to is “The Twelve Holy Nights and the Spiritual Hierarchies” by Sergei O Prokofieff. I have a book called “The Twelve Holy Nights” by Frans Lutters that you can get from Tanglewood Toys https://tanglewoodtoys.co.nz/products/copy-of-the-kingdom-of-beautiful-colours

    After that she shares with us her experiences with the Three Kings prep, what is in it, when it is to be used, and a warning!

    All in all I really enjoyed listening to Christine, she has a warmth and wisdom that comes from someone who truly practices what they preach. She is super generous and would be happy to talk more with you if you have questions and she has the time. Follow her on Instagram @christinemoginie or @ vortexbiodynamics. Her email address is christinemoginie@gmail.com.  If you want to be a producer of a future podcast or show your support financially you can go to buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley . All funds go towards paying for website hosting, the internet bill and general parenting costs.

    You can also buy some of my creations over and enjoy free worldwide shipping over at https://www.etsy.com/nz/shop/SilvercapCrafts 

    The free and just as appreciated ways to support the podcast is by liking, following, subscribing and sharing this podcast among your networks. I appreciate every like and share so thank you to those who do so. Connect with me on Instagram @holistic_human_aotearoa, on Youtube or on facebook.

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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • The Holistic Human Podcast: The Human Temperaments with Lou Harvey-Zahra
    Aug 14 2021
    Welcome back Holistic Humans, Today I’m blessed to have Lou Harvey Zahra back on the show. Lou is the Author of many amazing parenting books such as Happy Child, Happy Home, Creative Discipline and the Waldorf Birthday Book, Through the Rainbow. Lou has courses and online workshops available for Parents and Teachers which you can access through her website happychildhappyhome.com. Also follow her on facebook and Instagram for loads of tips, short videos and updates about her courses and publications @happychildhappyhome (More info below) Today we go right into Temperaments. Lou explains what they are, why they are important for us to understand and how developing an understanding of our own temperaments will help us better understand ourselves and relate to the world around us. I do want to preface this with the fact that we are a combination of ALL FOUR temperaments, but we usually have one more dominant. These can change over time, and please never tell your young child what you their temperament is. They need the freedom to grow into who they are destined to be. First we introduce the concept of the Temperaments. Then in middle Lou talks about the general characteristics of the four temperaments, how we see it in children, how to relate to children with that temperament and what you may be like as a parent with that temperament. Near the end Lou gets talking about general good parenting, and I recommend you listen right to the end, the tips and insight that come out at the end are golden. We were a bit glitchy and I think looking back, I was a bit delayed on Lou’s end, so forgive the couple of times where we unknowingly talk over each other! Tech is a blessing, but has its own way of doing things at times  I want to make a special mention of Life Ways in North America, they are an organization that support teachers and parents in the Waldorf ways, much like Lou does! The anonymous producer of this episode requested I not mention them, but give a shout-out to an organization they really value. So thank you anonymous and check out Life Ways on Instagram @lifewaysnorthamerica. If you want to be a producer of a future podcast or show your support financially you can go to buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley . All funds go towards paying for website hosting, the internet bill and general parenting costs. The free and just as appreciated ways to support the podcast is by liking, following, subscribing and sharing this podcast among your networks. I appreciate every like and share so thank you to those who do so. Connect with me on Instagram @holistic_human_aotearoa, on Youtube or on facebook. Here is more about Lou, info on upcoming workshops and more: ABOUT LOU Lou Harvey-Zahra is a bestselling Steiner parenting author with 6 popular books (translated into multiple languages), including: Happy Child, Happy Home: Conscious Parenting and Creative DisciplineCreative Discipline, Connected Family: Transforming Tears Tantrums and Troubles While Staying Close to your Children Growing Children, Thriving Children: Raising 7 to 12 Year Olds with Confidence and Awareness Through the Rainbow: A Waldorf Birthday Story for Children Lou’s books are available from www.happychildhappyhome.com/shop within Australia (and all online book sites worldwide). She has inspired thousands of parents (and teachers) presenting worldwide over 15 years. She is teacher (Primary and Steiner schools and with students with special needs). Lou supports and inspires parents with Online Parenting Courses for each age: Terrific ToddlersHappy Children (Parenting 3 to 7 year olds)Thriving Children (7 to 12 year olds) Take a course (7 one hour videos and resources) in your own time and share with a partner, all reduced at present. Go to www.happychildhappyhome.com/online-courses for information on each one. To sign up to Lou’s free newsletter to gain free tips and hear about any upcoming talks and workshops go to www.happychildhappyhome.com These are Lou’s upcoming talks/workshops: BIRDS AND BEES EVENING TALK (How and When to Chat - all ages 2 to 15 - this is a wonderful talk for parents with children of all ages) on Monday 23rd August, 8pm to 9.30pm, cost $20: www.trybooking.com/BTKQT TERRIFIC TODDLER WORKSHOP (Understand, connect and reduce tantrums overnight!) on Saturday 28th August, 9.30am to 12.30pm, Cost $79 and book on www.trybooking.com/BTKWT UNDERSTANDING TEMPERAMENTS WORKSHOP FOR FAMILY HARMONY on Monday 6th September, 7.30pm to 9.30pm, small group, $40, book on www.trybooking.com/BSOLR CREATIVE DISCIPLINE WORKSHOP, learn many tips to transform behavior in a positive and connected way (Toddler to 7) on Sunday 12th September, 9.30am to 12pm, cost $65 and $95 couple, book on www.trybooking.com/BTKRD THE CROSSING: NINE YEAR TRANSFORMATION (Parents with 8 to 10 year olds) on Monday 13th September, 8pm to 9.30pm, $15 and book on www.trybooking.com/BTKRN
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    1 hr and 35 mins
  • The Holistic Human Podcast: Spirituality, Connectivity, Community & Mercury with Olivia and Charlie
    Jul 18 2021

    Please like, subscribe and comment where ever you are listening. And I encourage you to share this on Instagram, twitter or facebook. These are all free ways you can support the podcast and keep it going. You can also support the show financially by going to my buy me a coffee page. I drink a lot of coffee, I also use what is gifted towards webhosting, the internet bill and raising my child 

    https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AmandaLBradley

    www.instagram.com/holistic_human_aotearoa

    Connect with todays guests:

     

    Olivia Pepper: www.instagram.com/oliviapepper             www.patreon.com/oliviapepper

    Charlie Cross: www.instagram.com/charliecrossss

    Kia Ora and Welcome to another episode of the Holistic Human Podcast. Today I am talking with Olivia Pepper (writer, Star Poet, eclectic magician) and Charlie Cross (anthroposophical student at Dornach Switzerland, astrologer and ultimate frisbee athlete). 

    As you will hear, they are a great team and have been writing a book about the being, the planet that is Mercury. As well as this book they are also offering courses about Mercury (and possibly Venus) in the near future, helping participants build their own understanding and relationship with these planets and wider insights into their own being. 

    They whole conversation had a very mercurial structure. There were three of us in three different time zones. The chat was recorded in three segments (because I don’t have the pro version of Zoom), and there was a lively, fun vibe around it all. 

    We began hearing about Olivia and Charlie’s upbringing, and what lead the to where they are today. Honestly, that part could have been multiple podcasts in itself. 

    Star wisdom is sprinkled throughout and you can tell these two live what they teacher. Both wonderful human beings that are bringing light and inspiration to the world and making the most of the shift to online connective ways. In an age of technological advancement, that moves so fast and can be damaging, when used well it brings people together and can create change for the Good!

    I have to apologize for the first 30 minutes Charlie’s mic is a bit rustley which didn’t sound to bad when we were recording but it was when I listened back to it.  We sorted is after that point, and I encourage you to stick with it because as we get further into the conversation, we get to some really interesting stuff.

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    1 hr and 23 mins