WINGS – newsletter March 2020

By Genia Lackey 12 March 2020

The WINGS learners started the new semester with a studio day.

They are leaving an eventful half-year behind them. In the past intensive sessions, Andrej Karimov visited us under the motto “Empower the Adult”. Gesine Otto enriched us with her workshops on fairness, and a talk by Walter Doleschall introduced us to the secrets of water according to Masaru Emoto.

Studio day at WINGS Studio day with Devon Graves (Psychotic Waltz) and Eric Clayton (Eric Clayton and the 9)

During our intensive week on human biology, Waltraud Flicker inspired us with her workshop on the skeleton, the postural system and movement coordination.

In January the upcoming exam was already making itself felt: the intensive session was devoted to the German topics of sentence analysis and character description. The first weeks of the new half-year will therefore be marked by intensive preparation, so that in May, after our lower secondary pupils (end of April), our primary pupils too can show their knowledge and skills in the exam.

Throughout the year, WINGS head Genia Lackey let us share in her extensive knowledge of our ancestors. In December, for instance, the WINGS learners listened to the Edda and made runes. Advent was very musical. Using The Magic Flute, the WINGS learners got to know the genre of opera, delved into the periods of music history and studied musical notation. The crowning finale of the December session was a trip to the Franz-Josefs-Spital hospital in Vienna, where, among other things, we learned life-saving measures with Rosmarie Wohlarik.

As always, there was plenty of craftwork too. Under the guidance of Ursula Barthel, the older WINGS learners made their own colourful soaps, while the little ones kneaded soap balls and mixed bath salts. Together we made matching soap dishes in pottery, and the felting workshop produced hats, slippers, necklaces and earrings.

As a current and unique project, Genia is bringing the wonderful Slavic women’s yoga (German) to the German-speaking world. Women’s yoga enables psycho-emotional and physical energy processes that make women beautiful, healthy and happy. First and foremost it is about activating the endocrine system by repeatedly massaging the adrenal glands. As in all practices, breathing plays an important role, as does the use of the pelvic floor muscles.

At the same time, women’s yoga is a magical tool. With the help of spells (nowadays called affirmations) and the visualisation of ancient sacred symbols, a great change takes place in a woman’s consciousness, in her perception and in her ability to structure and influence the space around her. Even after the first exercises, tailored individually to each practitioner, crystal-clear insights from looking inwards as well as gentle changes in the dynamics of our lives can become noticeable.

Anyone curious about our wide range of activities can take part in the crafts session at the end of May and get a taste of WINGS. Registration required (German) – we look forward to seeing you!

Waltraud Flicker