Kairos Institute At the Center for Anthroposophy

By Maria Ver Eecke | Eurythmy Therapist

Many people today are empathetic to humankind’s sufferings due to endless wars and an increasing number of natural disasters as we live with daily stories of horror and violence. We are more aware than ever of the consequences of trauma and collective trauma. Human destiny paths are thwarted or destroyed or made impossible. There is an urgent need to prepare ourselves: To become trauma-informed and to develop capacities to help in our communities, or for those who can, prepare themselves for worldwide crisis intervention now and in the future.

In this country, there’s an unprecedented youth mental health crisis. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is monitoring the effects of the pandemic on youth. Healthcare professionals declared the situation a national emergency in October 2021. Since then, the situation has only gotten worse. Parents express concern over their children’s mental well-being, and there is undeniable evidence that social media and other online platforms have contributed to a mental health crisis for our youth. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported in May 2023 that there is a drastic shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists in the U.S. For every 100,000 children in the U.S. (with 1 in 5 of those children having a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder in a given year), there are only 14 child and adolescent psychiatrists available to treat them, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. At least three times as many are needed. [Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Scientific American]

Healing In A World Of Need

The Kairos Institute offers training in artistic therapies (painting, clay, and drawing) and is a cooperative member of iARTe, the Medical Section of the School of Spiritual Science, and the Goetheanum. Kairos Institute is an American training site for emergency pedagogy that consists of 12 modules of training for worldwide crisis intervention.

Kairos Institute was founded in 2021 by Karine Munk Finser, strongly supported by her colleagues at the Center for Anthroposophy, where she had been running the Renewal courses for 21 years.

Art Therapies

Kairos was created to help gather human beings who wish to become art therapists, who have that vocation inscribed in their hearts. The training follows the iARTe competencies so that students may join this movement, offering both skills and capacities, recognizant of the need to have high standards. It is a vibrant community of kindred spirits, and many have decades of teaching experience. The students are mostly teachers from early childhood, the grades, or high school, or therapists, educational support teachers, and artists who know the healing potential of art. Kairos is strongly based on Rudolf Steiner’s medical lectures and in anthroposophy. Students are encouraged to study traumatology as a foundation to understand and recognize different levels of consequences of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how to address these stages.

EMERGENCY PEDAGOGY

Karine visited Bernd Ruf at the Parzival Center of Waldorf-based education, which has several schools within it, gardens, and a therapy farm, where she discovered the many therapies offered there as first aid for the soul, or for more extended soul care as a result of PTSD in it’s various stages.

Adjacent to this large school, Bernd Ruf founded the Emergency Pedagogy Center to respond to crises with Waldorf-based educational methods, in order to alleviate the dangers and consequences of PTSD. This large organization has managed hundreds of worldwide crisis interventions for children in war zones, other crisis situations, or regions of natural disaster.

Bernd Ruf had a first-hand experience with refugee children in 2006. Standing in a war zone cannot be described, as it goes against our humanity to try to comprehend such utter destruction.

Emergency pedagogy provides a sense of restoring humanity to victims of war or natural disasters. Many teams are still on-site, offering help and training in trauma healing, whereas other interventions offer more acute approaches.

MY EXPERIENCE AT KAIROS

As a therapeutic eurythmist, I am fortunate to be a part of the Kairos Institute at the Center for Anthroposophy. It’s inspiring to witness artistic therapies that serve the ideals of spiritual science as applied to the suffering of humanity. Kairos offers intensive spring residencies, where students learn from experienced professionals, and summer residencies with Bernd Ruf, who speaks of his real encounters with people who have suffered traumatic events. In my opinion he is doing Michaelic work in the world.

It has been heartening to meet the Kairos students. These people are striving to be of service to others. The work is intensive and after just a few days of classes, it is amazing to witness the class stir with joy in doing meaningful work. It’s very hands-on, while also being carried by deep spiritual content. There’s a lot of heart as well, and these gifted Kairos students are becoming a family.

It is empowering to join forces with others focused on the healing process. Since I began this journey, I have met trauma survivors and heard many stories of human suffering, and I can see how the artistic approach offers a path toward healing, as we all have creative forces within us and they can be awakened and nurtured.

At Kairos, I observed students engaged in 12 aspects of light and darkness to support diagnosis in case studies, and I have seen students paint with luminous veils, becoming ever more courageous as the imagination is carefully led into form and image. I have seen the students pound the clay as they are learning how to work with someone with a soul cramp. I have also seen clay in metamorphosis, as the Platonic solids are discovered. Colored shadows, children’s drawings, Goethe’s Fairy Tale in pastels…and so much more; forming consonants in speech or eurythmy, while exploring the soul gestures found in the heartfelt vowels; singing in harmony that lifts us out of internal discord; improvising melody, harmony, and rhythm with lyres and chimes in chorus; clowning play that demands balance and synchronicity, along with the great need for humor!; animal therapy that includes a living environment and a sensitivity for nature spirits; rhythmical application of therapeutic oils and rhythmical massage introduction; and painting explorations with numerous master artists. These are a sampling of the classes and workshops that are offered at Kairos during spring and summer residencies. Classes and studios are online throughout the year. Please see our flier as some classes are open to our Kairos friends. You may be one!

At the closing of our spring residency in April 2024, there was a downpour of rain, and then a rainbow shone in the sky. We felt that our spiritual companions had blessed our work!

What can we do as anthroposophists to face adversarial forces in the world? How we think about each other is essential. Thoughts are powerful, as is prayer.

The Hallelujah in eurythmy purifies the soul. Hallelujah is done daily around the world. Please join us. Ask any eurythmist to show you the sequence. This practice is usually performed for those who have crossed the threshold of death. Also, one may offer a Hallelujah for those who have lost loved ones or their homeland. Most recently, I have begun to offer Hallelujah in eurythmy to those who have lost their humanity. We can do this for each other.