Rhythms of the body

When a child picks up his first drawing instrument, whether a crayon or a pencil, and starts to scribble on a paper, the wall or floor, he begins to speak from within.

Amazingly, he creates big loops as if from nowhere and lines with no direction become his symbolic language of forms. Is the child mirroring the planetary cycle? An explanation for this means of expression would be futile until one looks closely enough. And so it is the same principle in child-rearing. As a child grows, different signals are given at every stage of development.

Dr. Eugen Kolisko, a doctor from Austria, worked closely with the children of the Waldorf School in Germany. His observations and study have left an indelible impression that has inspired many doctors and educators in Europe. His diagnostic investigation and clinical analysis found their way into, then correlated with the educational aspect of the growing child.

One aspect is to view the child as a free-thinking, feeling and willing human being. In one’s observation, a child learns to perceive in thoughts that connect him to his surroundings. This activity is centered in the brain. He takes in the World through his nerve/sense system in a set of gestures that enrich his soul.

The second is his relationship to the world as expressed in the metabolic system. From his first bite – his teeth leave an imprint into the world, that goes from the mouth to the intestinal track then over to the anus, nothing remains as it was in our bodily nature, we dispose a surplus that allows us to give ourselves over to the world.

The third connection is the rhythmic system. Here something of the world is taken in and interchanged, much like the reciprocity between oxygen and carbon dioxide through breathing – an activity of our lungs. The breathing in and out, the beating of our heart, all these take place in harmonious accord with the rhythms of the cosmos. We breathe 18 times per minute, 1,080 times per hour, 25,920 times per 24 hours. The same number of years takes the sun’s point of sunrise at the vernal equinox to pass through the entire Zodiac 25,920 Platonic world years.

Why is it important to observe these manifestations? The reason is we are in sync with the universal movement, a remarkable phenomenon that is important for educators, medical practitioners and parents to consider in the study of child development. Discovering the three-fold nature of man is an important concept that should form part of his education.

Learning about what subjects are best introduced to children during these developmental stages of the human body will be one of the topics in the Kolisko Conference, a first in the Philippines, intended for educators with a deeper interest in understanding the human component of a child. Doctors may be challenged to find out what defects in the rhythmic system may develop in the later years of a man’s life in accordance to this study. Parents, most of all, may want to understand more the role of these processes in their child’s growth.

On April 22-29, the Anthroposophia Wellness Foundation will host the Kolisko Conference. The focus of this discussion is on how education is contributory to health development. Therapeutic approaches to education, temperament, ADHD, etc., will constitute some of the topics that will be discussed that may be of help for medical professionals, educators and parents alike.

For details, call the secretariat c/o Centro Natura, with address at #24 Mahusay st., UP Village, Quezon City, at 424-0055 or mobile number +639193091180. Or call the Anthroposophia Wellness Foundation Inc. (AWFI) head office on Timog Avenue corner Morato Avenue, at 412-0224 or 373-4807. Check the Kolisko website http://www.kolisko.net or e-mail at [email protected].