WINGS – newsletter August 2019

WINGS will soon be starting its fifth year!

When I was thinking about founding a school back then, I was very busy finding a suitable model for accompanying young people. I was looking for methods that would support the development of their potential, suit the way the brain works and make learning joyful and effective.

Neither my training at the KPH Krems (a university college of teacher education) nor my Montessori training satisfied my longing for the “right” method. When I visited the Shchetinin school, I learned that the tools that support the intellectual and moral growth of young people are more important than any methods of passing on knowledge, because knowledge needs not only a space (the mind) but also a vector (what the knowledge acquired is used for).

“Seek and you shall find!” I found my answers in Systema Siberian Cossack, above all in one of its pillars, the “Empower the Child” method. For three years we have regularly been using its gross-motor games, which, on a physical level, allow growing young people to develop important emotional and social skills. Through these games, my husband Devon also found his place at WINGS and can now contribute not only his musical abilities but also his talent for understanding people.

Later came the experience of the “parent field”, lovingly passed on to us by the couple Margarita and Alexander Dudka-Bulyga and by the parents Olga and Dimitrij Duda from Ukraine. This led us to realise that WINGS is primarily about the parents, because “happy parents have competent children” (Karimov).

The coming intensive week is now entirely devoted to “Empower the Adult”. On the first two days (Tue 10 and Wed 11 September) we will open up the parent field and get to know each other at a deep level. Once we have clarified the tasks in the individual subject areas, we will plan the coming school year together.

On Thursday and Friday, the Siberian Cossack Andrej Karimov will support us with his holistic method, which rests on three pillars: the family training “Empower the Child”, with its focus on the younger generation; couples training – the interplay of polarities; and martial arts as a path to one’s own integrity. On the weekend of 14 and 15 September, everyone has the opportunity to go deeper into “Systema as the art of becoming human” and to experience themselves more deeply as an “adult”, a “partner” and a “parent field”. The practical sessions will be accompanied by an explanation of the epigenetic model of human development.

As a lovely start to our intensive week, Esch Naver is offering a guided walk around Lake Ottenstein on Monday, 9 September, at 2 pm. The rest of the week takes place on the picturesque youth meadow at the Allentsteig bathing lake.

UPCOMING EVENTS