Originally posted in German on 3rd February 2025
by Heinz Grill
The short articles on health that were written last year, carried as their core content, the thought that it is not an external form, a remedy, an exercise or an energy that comes from the outside that make people healthy, but rather their activity, which they bring into relationship with other people or the various forms of life, that heals them. The statement “the doctor knows best” is likely to limit the real perception and truth in the process of healing. In any case, a founded ability to heal needs more than the application of a method or a quickly administered medicine.
The healthy activation of people’s creative potential leads, for example, to a natural strengthening of the spine, because it straightens up easily with the decisions that are connected with the human consciousness. Consider the difference, for example, when someone who is teaching enters a classroom. Does the teacher have a routine perception of their work and compromise as best they can in order to teach? Or do they decide for their work and even set themselves an ideal in terms of how they can present both the content of the study and lead the individual pupils in an exemplary manner? The right individual decisions immediately enable the spine to straighten itself up. The attitude of working through tasks or, in contrast, the attitude of working towards a pedagogical aim with an independently taken decision and ideal prerequisites are two different things that, however, determine the life forces for health in one direction or the other.
It could be that a teacher after some years of working has actually become tired and is only carrying out her job out of economic and imposed social duties. The feelings of exhaustion are felt very quickly and the body subsequently signals that it is actually becoming tired. The teacher looks at the clock during her lesson and longs for the saving grace of the weekend. However, the percentage of time teaching seems infinite and life tends towards relentless exhaustion. Despite the existing, tiring physicality and the feelings that signal that everything is too much and the fact that one can no longer enjoy the day in the way that it deserves, one should nevertheless straighten oneself up to the decision and lead life with growing aims to a higher level of interest.
Overcoming bodily feelings and depressive or generally draining emotions is very important for the coming time. Teachers can probably no longer expect the school system to answer their questions about the meaning of teaching and education; instead, they themselves must create a space for meaning within the curriculum and the pedagogical process. The courage to consciously think an ideal and ultimately to put this ideal into practice is essential for health and for its continued preservation.
As a teacher, imagine going into the classroom and looking at the pupils for a minute without saying anything at all. The relationship that will then be established via the senses already comes across as an unusual activity. After this exciting minute has been withstood the teacher can state that today a particularly difficult topic will be worked through. It may be helpful to ask the pupils which topic this will be. In any case, this and various similar approaches will strengthen the teacher’s own leadership and perceptiveness towards individual pupils.
In the book “Die Signaturen der Planeten und die seelisch-geistige Entwicklung in der Pädagogik“ (“The Signatures of the Planets and Soul-Spiritual Development in Education“ – not yet translated into English) I have given many suggestions that can provide specific content-ful guidance in the relative subject area, regardless of whether it is mathematics, language or another subject.
However, it seems important for the strengthening of health, that independent decisions for the teaching are made on a daily basis and that the teachers practice their quality of leadership accordingly. A healthy ambition with clear aims can straighten the spine and bring about a better relationship with both the content being taught and the students. The decision forms an individual strengthening and it is developed out of specifically pictured aims that are led into realisation.
The appropriate individual decision is of great importance for all the work that is brought into societal life today. It determines whether a real straightening up can take place or whether individuals are consumed by the systems and all the administration, regulations and demands on their performance
– purvottanasana – emphasises the value of the decision to overcome oneself, despite difficulties, and carry out a concrete activity.
