A reflection on our work here at Emerson

Since the beginning, Emerson’s purpose has been helping students to find their way to meaningful action by creating ‘a space for people to flourish’ inspired by Anthroposophy.  Whilst the essence of what we do is embedded in the very being of the College, the way in which we bring this into action has changed over the years.

On Friday 15^th November a very special ‘Evenings@Emerson’ event took place in Ruskin Hall – a concert by Aeham Ahmad, known as the Pianist of Yarmouk, combined with readings from the book detailing his experiences by Barbara Schiller of stART International.

This year we celebrated the first Emerson Alumni Gathering in twenty years which brought together 113 former students from around the globe.

Theme, Format and Organisation

The theme ‘Listening to our Time, Speaking to the Stars’ was chosen to reflect the current gesture of Emerson College in relation to its wider purpose in the world. The global community of alumni joined together to ‘honour the past, meet and share in the present and welcome the future’ through individual initiative and collaboration. Alumni from the 1960s to the 2000s contributed out of what they had developed inspired by their time here. The result was a rich programme of workshops, dialogue, art and encounter. 

To create such an event would not have been possible without our volunteer event coordinator and alumna Linda Churnside. A former teacher at Michael Hall School and Education Coordinator at Philpots Manor, she brought her strength of will, powers of organisation, and personal warmth to the task. 

On the 7th August, the Gathering began with an open space devoted to honouring those no longer with us, followed by an introduction to the theme by Emerson Trustee James Dyson. Over the next three days, discussions flowed from past to present to future.

The Foundation for Water, an independent charity within the Emerson College campus, is continuing the work of John Wilkes and George Adams for water and nature. Over the last few years, with only meagre resources, we have focused on setting up infrastructure for an international expansion of influence and in reorganising our main physical asset, the 'water building' on the Sussex campus at the same time as conducting a thoroughly scientific 'Energizing Water' research programme funded by Software AG Stiftung in Germany.

Jupiter and Saturn were waiting for us. There they were, shining down on us every night from the clear skies over Emerson College, visible to even the most ammeter star gazer with the expert help of John Meeks. He explained that they are making their way silently across the sky on their individual paths to a meeting planned for the winter solstice, 21st December 2020. We wondered what they might be preparing to say to each other and what they might say to us of their journey. But of course they remain silent – and maybe offer us an invitation to listen with our understanding and our eyes. We are left contemplating what we might say to them.

The Lifeways team and participants had also been planning their journeys and were delighted to meet during the joyful babble that is registration. Workshops booked. Forms filled in. Sun hats remembered!! Many questions were asked and answers offered. Which room am I in? Where is it? Where do I pitch my tent? Which workshops have I booked? Did I remember to tell you about my child’s allergy? And so, starting in the heat and under a bright blue sky, the weeks not-so-silent meetings that made lifeways 2019 were in the last stage of preparation.

Next the conversations catching up with news from Lifeways friends over supper. Then listening to the workshop leaders sharing what they would be offering during the week ahead. What a choice it was ! What glorious opportunities there were going to be to practise creating space within ourselves to listen.

Rhythmical Einreibung (RE) is a method of gentle, therapeutic touch developed by anthroposophic nurses. One of the enormous benefits of RE is that it can be used by health care professionals in many situations where traditional forms of massage cannot be used: with acutely ill patients or patients with chronic conditions; with women who are in labour; with cancer patients who have undergone extensive treatment, and with end of life patients who would be too frail for traditional massage. There are also many ways that RE can be used outside of a traditional health care environment, for example by parents and by those caring for people with special needs.

Over the last three years, along with two other nurses, I have been exploring how complementary treatments can be used in a hospice environment to help provide end of life care. I spend eight hours per week delivering complementary therapies to in-patients, which include both RE and ‘M’ Technique, two types of ‘therapeutic touch’ techniques developed by nurses. They are both very low risk, being gentle and following a set sequence, and can be used by professionals and non-professionals in certain circumstances. 

What inspired the ‘Relational Arts & Organic Design’ course?

It began with conversations between Daniel, Nick and myself, and later others, all based at Emerson College. I had retired after 30 years of work in cardiac imaging and research in a London hospital and was wanting to try to offer back, in Emerson, some of the inspiration and ways of discovering that others, particularly John Wilkes and John Davy, had opened for me nearly forty years ago.

Why is discovery important?
I think that by far the best way to find out about the world is to gain an ability and habit of inquiring, noticing and discovering for your self. School and university may favour more directed learning towards measurable goals. But learning for exams can suppress self-directed inquiry and creativity. And, in my experience, exam learning is forgettable, whereas discovery for your self sows seeds that grow and weave into the richness of your experience.

What enables discovery?

It’s a blessing that can happen at any time, but can be helped by several factors. One is inquisitiveness and unbiased openness, free from received interpretations or assumptions but, at the same time, keeping a sense of reality and discrimination. Open-mindedness needs to be tempered by realism. Practical, hands-on experience and direct observation allow this, and can raise questions - why?, what?, how?, what else?, what if? Original discovery can begin by noticing a paradox or discrepancy... how on earth can this be the case if this is also so? It's helped on its way by active engagement and experimentation - getting stuck in - playfully, or by trying to make something work, or in attempting to recreate something through drawing, painting, modelling or describing. Discovery can also be helped though group participation, where members hear and share their different viewpoints or insights. Recognition can also dawn through formulating and pursuing a question over successive days, nights and weeks.

 At the age of 27, I found myself wrestling with my life path (quite naturally I now appreciate according to the principle of seven-year cycles) - the path I had followed so vehemently to my own spiritual, emotional and physical detriment. As I embarked on a personal quest to find my true place in the world, I took myself to a 'Change Your Life' event at Olympia in London. I came home with a bag of leaflets and flyers, one of which was from Emerson College. I remember thinking to myself, leaflet in hand - 'wow, I really must go there' and filed it away in a box for safe-keeping. Twelve years on in October 2015, several twists and turns and hands of fate later - I find myself signing a contract for the rental of the Puppetry in Ruskin House as my work-studio. 

Dorothy Marlen, course leader for Emerson College's Holistic Baby and Childcare course was recently interviewed by Early Years campaigner, Richard House.....

Participant Caroline Kelly writes about her experiences attending the Mental Health Seminars run by Dr James Dyson and Dr Michael Evans - with thanks to ASinGB for allowing us to reproduce this article here.

Spring is in the air and in the Emerson dining room we have been enjoying these delicious little muffins. You can replace dairy and flour for dairy-free and gluten free varieties to make suitable for vegan and coeliac diets.

Ian Trousdell, director of Foundation of Water, writes about Flowform®, which has been based  at Emerson College  since its invention by one of the College’s early teachers, John Wilkes, in 1970.

The Emerson Living and Learning Community is a new concept for sustainable living and social development which responds to the needs of humanity at a time when there are many concerns about the way we live together and relate to nature.

"There is a Lifeways Week held each year in midsummer at Emerson College in Forest Row, England.  I had heard that that this event really succeeds in keeping all family members engaged, and this past summer I went to see how it was staged." 

In America the word, “Lifeways,” is associated primarily with providing care for the child between infancy and three years of age, when it is not feasible for the very young child to be at home with a parent during the day.  In England the emphasis of Lifeways is the encouragement of individuals all ages from the young child to teenagers, from young and old single adults, to parents and  grandparents, to join together in the celebration of Life.