Nourishing our Environment through Nourishing Ourselves Webinar Series

1st Webinar:

Self Care through Breath and Speech (January 11) — This webinar live presentation has passed, but if you sign up for the series you will receive the recording.

By Lisa Del Alba, ND, and Helen Lubin

Breathing is perhaps the most obvious way that we give and take with our surroundings.  This webinar will offer insights and tools towards which of the many "outer" resources  related to breathing and environmental quality may be supportive for an individual’s efforts at self care.  We will also explore initial inroads into the renewal of the spoken word in its therapeutic application. As with other artistic therapies, through therapeutic speech the individual's own activity is stimulated and engaged, augmenting their resources for healing. These renewing forces of the spoken word affect physiologic, psychological and spiritual processes, and allow us to come more fully to ourselves and take hold of our lives in new ways.

Dr. Lisa Del Alba has been practicing Naturopathic Medicine Anthroposophically for 24 years, and currently resides in Bellingham, WA. One of her special interests is the relationship of a person's living environment to their health. She was a guest faculty member at WTEE teacher training in Eugene, OR for 7 years teaching seminars on Nature Spirits, World Evolution, and Anthroposophical Medicine and holds certifications as a Building Biology®  Environmental Consultant (BBEC) and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist (EMRS).

Helen Lubin has been working with the Art of the Spoken Word in North American Waldorf schools, adult education programs, and therapeutic practice for 37 years. MA Human Development; BS Special Educational Studies; BS Speech Pathology and Audiology; 10 years curative education, including Camphill Seminar. Role of Maria in Rudolf Steiner’s four Mystery Dramas; TESOL certification; freelance editor/translator.

2nd Webinar:

Warmth - Its Role in the Bodily Sense of Well-Being (February 8th) — This webinar live presentation has passed, but if you sign up for the series you will receive the recording.

By Elizabeth Sustick and Diane Barnes

The nurturing art of caregiving will provide useful guidance and at-home practices designed to protect and develop a sense of warmth so as to strengthen immunity and bodily foundations for health. Through Valborg Werbeck-Svardstrom, Jurgen Schriefer, and Thomas Adam, as well as several trained therapeutic singing practitioners, therapeutic singing exercises have become available to many people.  Simple singing exercises will be shared, which will deepen breathing, bringing warmth, clarity of thinking, and strength to the immune system.

Elizabeth Sustick is an Anthroposophic Nurse practicing and teaching in the field of caregiving in NA and abroad.  She serves on the board of the International Council of Anthroposophic Nursing Associations and as president of the North American Anthroposophic Nurses Association.

Diane Barnes is an Anthroposophic Therapeutic Singing Practitioner who is a member of ATSANA  (Anthroposophic Singing Association of North America).  She works weekly with clients to heal and develop their voices.

3rd Webinar:

Showing up Nourished and Awake to our environment (March 14)

By Debra Gambrell, DO and Skeydrit Bahr

When we are depleted and overwhelmed, we make poor choices that are often convenient but not so healthy for ourselves or our environment.  By contrast, when we feel nourished and energized, we are able to show up awake and aware of our needs and what is happening in our environment.  This awake presence helps us make choices and decisions that help our internal and external environments. Come learn some self-nurturing tools that can help increase your vitality and help you be more awake to yourself and the world around you. Afterward, learn a simple movement technique you can do at home that can help nourish your vital forces.

Debra Gambrell, DO, has been a pediatric anesthesiologist since 2009 and has a variety of experiences working and teaching in multiple surgery centers.  As an osteopathic physician, she has also trained in Pediatric Biodynamic Osteopathy.  Since 2015 she has been studying Anthroposophic medicine and became certified in 2022.  Over the last few years she has been teaching about Anthroposophic Medicine to various Waldorf communities and also contributed to Jeannie Schirm’s book, “Essentials of Homecare''.  Dr. Gambrell just completed a three-year term serving on the PAAM board as Treasurer and is the current Chair of the Association for Certification in Anthroposophic Medicine.

Skeydrit Bähr, was born and raised in the Ruhr Valley in Germany where she attended the Hibernia Waldorf School in Wanne-Eickel. This upbringing inspired her to train as a Eurythmist at the Institute of Waldorf Pedagogy in Witten Annen and worked at the Mülheim Waldorf School. In 2000 she moved to the States, worked at the Kimberton Waldorf School, and was a member of the PA Eurythmy Ensemble. In 2009 she moved to California to work at the Summerfield Waldorf School. In 2019 she finished her Therapeutic Eurythmy Training in Copake NY. 

4th Webinar:

Facing Inner and Outer Thresholds Through Self-Care (April 11)

By: Susan Guida and Sheila Phelps Johns

We meet thresholds throughout our lives. Some arise organically in the course of human development, and others insert themselves unbidden as events in the world around us. The personal impact of both kinds of thresholds can be strongly influenced by our ability to self- nurture during times of biographical or circumstantial challenges that require meeting thresholds of change. In this webinar, we will focus particularly on self-care strategies for addressing the threshold presented by our ongoing global situation, and how the resulting stress manifests and can be supported across the various ages and stages, from children to elders, out of the disciplines of both rhythmic massage and music therapy.

Susan Guida is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Feldenkrais Practitioner and Clinical Herbalist with twenty-five years of experience, uses touch as a living art form to facilitate healing. Using her diverse skills, Susan has developed a series of classes on the subject of Health and Nutrition to inspire individuals to be actively responsible in their own well-being. She currently serves on the Educational Committee for The Rhythmical Massage Therapy Association of NA and acts as the intermediary for the North American Group and their International Affiliates.

Sheila Phelps Johns has two degrees in music performance and has also completed anthroposophical trainings in both therapeutic singing and music therapy.  As a music faculty member at the Washington Waldorf School for over 12 years, she served in the Care Group, offering music therapeutic activities as well as developing a lyre program for the early grades and a program in sound-exploration for the middle school. She currently lives and works as a community musician and therapist in Cuenca, Ecuador.

5th Webinar:

Self Care as a Foundation for Helping Others Heal (May 9)

By: Donna Webb and Tonya Stoddard

Cultivating a practice of emotional self-care can form the basis of peaceful soul life that allows one to connect with the pain of others on their healing journey. Meditative practices and using color expressions to either express or counteract feelings in the soul can support these self-care practices. Please join Donna Webb in exploring artistic expressions of "Light, Color and Darkness" charcoal and watercolor exercises and Tonya Stoddard in cultivating pathways towards inner peace to support an ongoing practice of emotional self care.

Donna Webb is an artist whose works are in the permanent collection of The Walker Art Center, The Plains Art Museum, and numerous private collections. She taught art at Normandale Community College for ten years, Spring Hill Waldorf School for seven years, the Center for Wholeness for twenty years, and currently teaches in collaboration with the Edina Art Center and at her studio #302 at The Casket Arts Carriage House. Donna’s studies of the Hauschka Therapeutic Painting Technique became the cornerstone of her Master’s Thesis on Wholistic Arts, blending art therapy techniques with studio arts. Donna is currently working with the Collot methods of “Light Color and Darkness”. www.donnawebb.com

Tonya Stoddard is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a master’s in social work and a certification in anthroposophical psychology. She has more than 20 years’ experience working with diverse populations and issues, including parent-child relationships. She likes to help others work toward transformation by leading them to develop the capacities of thinking, feeling, and willing through cultivating a rich inner life, making healthy environmental choices, and creating a positive path toward healing. Tonya is the Educational Support Specialist at the Waldorf School of Tampa Bay and is an associate faculty member of the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology and BACWTT’s Healing Through Art program as well as a member of the Leadership Team for the Anthroposophic Health Association.