Those who walk the path of heart will discover...

Probably you noticed that I was posting less and less in 2010. There were multitudes of reasons for it. My life has changed remarkably with my daughter’s leaving for university. Suddenly I had TIME which I have never had since she was born.
I ran and organised my life since her arrival (what a blessing it was and still is!) with so much to fit in and with so much to accomplish. I have got used to it…in a way I have got addicted to multitasking.
And as it happened suddenly there were so much space…quiet times…and silence unknown for 19 years that confronted me in my life.
I sat in silence looking for new adventures…and after my busy schedules of the past; the time had come to really look within. In the past I was so busy learning from ‘unconventional outside sources’ which I valued enormously…and with all that knowledge, experience and wisdom I just sat there and asked; so what now?
Habits die-hard… What can I say? I found a new teacher…and this teacher in a very unconventionally tough and at the same time gentle way ‘reminded’ me to look within.
All my life I wanted to be a ‘healer’ and with this teacher’s help the realisation came… ‘Heal’ the healer. It wasn’t about that I was sick it was about understanding the inner healer and taking her to full command of the a subject at hand.
Through these months of 2010 I mainly kept in touch with people and projects, that I know very well and with those that I value very much. I am sorry if you still waiting for my response to e-mails and calls. They are on my waiting list to be answered and dealt with.
During this time I have travelled, visited new places, studied a different kind of healing to my previous knowledge, and as ususal I ran conductive education programmes and healing sessions and also I was drawn towards nature and animals. The wild animals were a real eye-opener for me. So little is known and understood in the 'conventional world' about their feelings and communication to us.
I cannot promise that I will write more often in the near future. It will happen when I will have something valuable to say.Thank you my readers for visiting my blog. There is much to say about conductive education and also about many other things related to the subject
of‘disabilities’…The time will come… and if it is not going to be me there will be other conductors…

Úgy legyen!

Photos from Google Images. Full credit and copywrite to individual publishers.

This is a worldwide issue…but Australians make a stand and take the first step

"Parents are mad as hell. Parents want their kids with disabilities to have decent services, all their necessary equipment and a good education. We want the opportunity to create a good life for our kids. We're mad as hell about a broken system that wastes scandalous amounts of taxpayers' money and places endless obstacles in the path of our kids' potential progress.

People with disabilities are mad as hell. People with disabilities want inclusion, services, equipment, housing, jobs, transport, equality and the right to the ordinary life everyone else has.
The real obstacles are not our disabilities but the lack of relevant services, infrastructure and opportunities.

Family carers are mad as hell.We want good accommodation for our adult family members, respite and a decent level of government income support when we can't earn an income ourselves due to our caring responsibilities. Why are 80 year old parents STILL the sole carers for their 50 year old disabled children?

Families, friends and support workers are mad as hell.Friends, neighbours, relatives and thousands of disability workers see every day how families coping with disability are in crisis, and often torn apart by the lack of decent support services. The physical, emotional and financial hardships take their toll. Millions of us demand real change. "

Professionals who commit their lives to truly support children, adults and their families should be mad as hell…

and Yes millions of us must demind real change!

References:

http://australiansmadashell.com.au/index.html

http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/03/mad-as-hell.html

http://fightingchancefund.org/

One of the ways to motivate your colleagues…

This morning I received this clip from a colleague with a request to get to work like Amy Williams did for England at the Women’s Skeleton, Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She reached the speed of 143 kilometres per hour.
I better obey and get to work.
I wish you all a good and productive day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwOTbxO44j8

References:

Emma Lincoln-Smith Pictures & Photos
(AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

The Horse Boy

"When parents say they would go to the ends of the Earth to help their children, it's usually a figure of speech. But that is literally what Rupert Isaacson does with his wife and their five-year-old autistic son in The Horse Boy, the story of an American family's quixotic journey to the far reaches of Mongolia. It's a film that will both captivate and divide audiences.

The emotionally stirring feature documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, then went on to play the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., (where it won the audience prize) and Toronto's Hot Docs before Isaacson's autobiographical book of the same title was published in May.

So the film is not based on the best-selling book but is an essential travel companion, providing lyrical moving images of a landscape and people rarely visited by outsiders and, more importantly, the editorial “distance” of director-cinematographer Michel Orion Scott's lens.
Isaacson is the driving force behind both book and film. A journalist and human-rights activist who has written non-fiction books about the Kalahari Desert bushmen, Isaacson was living outside Austin with his wife Kristin Neff, a psychology professor, when their son Rowan was born in 2001. At age two, he was diagnosed with autism. The feeling, Isaacson says in the narration, was “like being hit over the head with a baseball bat.”

As Rowan began “drifting away,” his inconsolable tantrums growing worse, he also developed a profound bond with animals, in particular a neighbour's stubborn old horse. Isaacson, who trained horses when he was young and had witnessed the Kalahari bushmen solve health and spiritual problems through shamanic healing, hatches a plan to take the family to Mongolia, where horseback riding and shamanism remain strong traditions with its nomadic peoples.

Isaacson received a hefty publishing advance, allowing him to finance the 2007 trip and hire Scott, with whom he was collaborating on a different project. (Most of the advance was used afterward to found an equestrian centre.) To some, this will smack of a vanity project, and indeed Isaacson, the film's producer, is cast as the central romantic figure. But Scott's choices in the field and with the editor allow room for viewers to decide whether Isaacson is a humble father-hero or reckless, self-absorbed dad.

At a few key points, a chorus of leading experts interjects to help define autism (typically described as a spectrum of neuro-developmental disorders) and its behaviours – some of which we see through flashbacks to Rowan's home life. More interestingly, the experts reflect on the notion of using animals for healing, how environmental change can “spike” development, and how differently Western and traditional societies treat people with neurological and psychological issues.

While it's clear Rowan's parents aren't expecting to cure their son – the mother's role is the reluctant but loving skeptic – you feel keenly that they hope for some kind of miracle. As the trek progresses, they reveal more modest dreams: Isaacson would like Rowan to feel the “freedom” of riding by himself; Neff would like him to be toilet-trained.

Various breakthroughs (Rowan befriends their guide-interpreter's son) and setbacks happen on the journey, which culminates in a fascinating encounter with the nomadic reindeer people and their legendary shaman.

While The Horse Boy does not suggest parents should emulate Isaacson – indeed few would have the luxury or the nerve – or eschew Western-style treatments, the film's particular story serves as a powerful reminder to all parents that a child's unique strengths and personality may suggest the best path toward healing."

by Jennie Punter

Published on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 1:28PM EST

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/the-horse-boy/article1361043/

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/movies/30horse.html


http://www.horseboymovie.com/Book.php

Sure Start staff could opt out and be in a co-operative, say Tories

Staff at government Sure Start centres will be the first in the public sector to be able to opt out of their current employment and sell their services back to the taxpayer through co-operatives or as partners with a charity if the Conservatives win the next election.

David Willetts, the shadow minister for universities and skills – with special responsibility for families – outlined the plan today, claiming public sector employees had failed to help the poor.

The Conservatives say that Sure Start was meant to focus money, nursery staff and health visitors on pre-school children in poor areas. Labour has, however, pumped around £1bn a year into the programme, whichby March will see 3,500 centres covering all under-fives in England.

"There's evidence that [we] have lost the focus on the families who most need the help," Willetts said.

He also said that the government had spent £70m to hire outreach workers in disadvantaged areas but that the National Audit Office had shown that more money had not seen a rise in the amount of time spent actively targeting hard-to-reach families. Willetts told a conference organised by the charity 4Children that the Tories would focus on health visitors to identify the most needy and then get them to work with co-operatives and charities to reach some of the hardest cases, win their trust and tailor services to their particular needs.

The "co-operative" message fits a Conservative agenda, he said, to prise control from government and put it into the hands of third-sector organisations which are an attractive source of "competition, innovation and localism".The Tories said that they were looking at setting up an "early years unit" in government to fund the co-operatives. "I think quite a lot of the early years budget is stuck in the hands of local authorities without ever reaching the hands of the parents," he said.


Reference: http://www.parenta.com/story.aspx?storyID=404

Forgiveness...

"The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions." Thich Nhat Hanh

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
Mohandas Gandhi

“Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.”
Sara Paddison

Loreena McKennit The Mummer's Dance

For School Business Managers

Practical Tools to Support Professional School Business Managers on a CD-ROM



CD-ROM CONTENTS:

Organised for easy reference according to the key areas of responsibility, the documents provide comprehensive support to school business managers (SBMs).
All documents can be adapted, saved or printed off.

The role of the SBM
- Template job descriptions and adverts: School Business

Manager
- Checklists: SBM tasks and areas of responsibility; Certificate of School Business Management; Diploma of School Business Management; Advanced Diploma of School Business

Management
- Table: Senior leadership team; Senior members of staff; Who does what

Strategic Leadership and School improvement
- Checklists: Inspection; The role of the SBM and SIDP; Extended services

- Diagrams: Single Integrated Development Plan (SIDP) front cover; Single Integrated Development Plan (SIDP) strategic level plan

- Tables: SIDP organisational level plan; SIDP Operational level plan sample; The SBM role in school inspections; Self evaluation timing plan; Common purpose (purchasing); Links with other schools; E-procurement collaboration; Job titles in LAs; Outsourcing services; Voluntary organisations; RAISEonline: key features of the report; Useful data to keep to hand; Key terms you need to know; Age-related expectations; Tracking sheet; Progress sheet log

Financial management and FMSiS made simple
- Checklist: Evaluating services for value
- Template policy: Procurement procedures and VFM
- Diagram: Asset Management System
- Tables: School capital plan; Register of assets; The budget setting timeline; BBudget tracking; Demonstrating best value principles

HR management
- Checklists: Recruitment; Clearance of new staff
- Forms: Safeguarding central record example

Facilities/estate management
- Checklists: Equipment maintenance; Reporting equipment costs and issues to governors; Handling lettings bookings
- Case studies: Building schools for the future; Green Flag award for sustainability; Minibus maintenance; Extended schools provision; Safety and maintenance of equipment

Risk management
- Forms: Major health and safety acts; Health and safety regulations; Risk assessment matrix; Health and safety policy
- Policy: Risk assessment

COMPANION HANDBOOK CONTENTS
The companion handbook includes guidance on the law and good
practice, including:
- Every Child Matters
- FMSiS
- Safeguarding
- Financial planning
- Models of working for SBMs
- Career development and qualifications
- Self-evaluation and school improvement planning and
inspection
- Managing partnerships with other schools, the local authority,
local services and for extended services
- Data for learning
- Pay
- Budgeting
- Asset management
- School status
- Marketing and communications
- Copyright
- Sustainable schools
… and much more.

Reference:

http://www.forumpublishing.co.uk/

Forum Business Media Ltd, Unit F3, Kingsway Business Park, Oldfield Road, Hampton,
Middlesex TW12 2HD, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 8941 8589,

Ofsted to privatise nursery inspections

'The inspection of nurseries and childcare in England is to be privatised, Ofsted has confirmed. The inspectorate for education and children's services is in the final stages of selecting private companies to run the checks. Tribal Group has been made the "preferred bidder" for one area of England, it is understood, but further announcements are expected. '
I received the above information yesterday via e-mail.

To be able to read more about this announcement, one has to register and login via these links. The registration is a three steps procedure as follows:

http://thenurserynetwork.parenta.com/main/authorization/signIn

http://thenurserynetwork.parenta.com/main/authorization/signUp

http://thenurserynetwork.parenta.com/main/authorization/newProfile?target=http%3A%2F%2Fthenurserynetwork.parenta.com%2F

To be able to read any other information which is included on the list of announcements doesn’t require registration and login. I am not sure why one has to register and login to access this information where as the other links require no login at all.

The other announcements were:
56 Local Authorities Have Been Chosen To Pilot The Early Years Single Funding Formula

http://www.parenta.com/story.aspx?storyID=402

EYFS rules for playworkers threatens holiday provision

http://www.parenta.com/story.aspx?storyID=401

Linda Gilroy MP says ‘Shout out for a sure start’

http://www.parenta.com/story.aspx?storyID=398

"It is not what you are called, but what you answer to."
African Proverb
This morning I received this quote…
It made me look at things in a different light today. I thought I would share it with you.

Conductive Education *Standards*

…There is much thought put in when designing the classroom set up for conductive learning.

As we take a distinctive interest in designing the classroom set up, we take the same care with a focused intent when actually physically setting up the room. The physical environment in conductive education encourages active participation and clearly reflects the standards of the set up.

I often recommend it to my colleagues and willingly participate in completely emptying classrooms with them and start from scratch.
I wonder if are there any of you who are reading this would also like to give it a go?
If you do I am sure that you will find many needles pieces of equipment, which could be stored away and unnecessary for the seamless flow of your programmes. Many useless bits and pieces are just distractions to the mind and holdbacks to active participation.

…The same applies to the children’s home environment…how many homes are ‘user friendly’ for actively functioning? …

I can still clearly hear the voice of Dr Hári with her unique way of breathing between words and sentences telling us that -‘Doktor’ Petö viewed neurological problems as organisational problems; he believed that a better organisation needed to be taught.
Organisation cannot be taught in a disorganised environment…when there is a chair in the way… or when the equipment you need is not at hand so you have to search for it, you loose the precious momentum of connection and the flow of problem solving.
Our children have to face unsuccessful attempts many times in their lives…what they need to experience is success.
She also talked us about that a child could feel ‘shipwrecked’ in the middle of a conductive programme if it is done badly, which is unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs…It is the conductors’ job to make sure that it never happens-

As we never let a child to be carried into the classroom, or lifted onto the plinth, or to crawl on the floor… we also never give out a pencil, which is not sharpened, and never start a programme unless the children are clean and their garments are tidy.

We never start a programme in a disorganised environment. Everything has its place and everything is positioned in a way to prevent failure in learning and encourage the use of the whole body in every direction in time and space.
to be continued…

Questions we should ask ourselves:

Does my classroom/home 'emphasise disability' or active functioning and problem solving?

Do the children I work with understand the concept and the difference between 'seeing myself as a walker or a crawler'?

New Year's scribble *Teamwork*

…It is very uplifting and tremendously rewarding to work in a highly skilled, dynamic conductor team.

When it happens I often forget that I am at work and I am completely absorbed and carried forward by a certain stream of energy.

An energy, which strives to create learning conditions that soothe anxiety, inspire curiosity, problem solving, and enthusiasm towards searching for new solutions through actions.

Trust, respect, confidence, playfulness and light heartedness amongst the team members create an invisible web of matrix, which sets the scene for success.

It is so reassuring when each conductor knows the whole programme and every little details of the programme by heart, which ensures a natural flow.

Dr Hári often spoke us about the programmes as theatre performances. -You leave your everyday garments in the changing room along with the everyday worries of your life…when the curtain goes up you are ready and prepared to play your part fully. The audience is not interested in the technical side of the production…only the smooth running and the enjoyment of the play.

Teammates leave their disagreements outside the classroom and they are in full agreement to be there for the children…-

It cannot be in any other ways, as conductive programmes require precision, focus and intense participation in the ‘production’ from the beginning to the end. Conductors in such a team are players with initiatives in everything that is done from the greatest to the smallest.

The designs and the structures of the programmes create a seamless flow and lend themselves to be fully engaged with in a creative and artistic manner.

The art of Conductive Education has very little literature. Distilling the essential theory and practice and writing it up in a more accessible language is still to be accomplished…

A New Year’s Eve message of the heart…

It seems that it has been a truly challenging year for many, locally and globally. I most certainly went through a lot of pain, self-searching, self-healing and a process, which came from a true desire to clarify many aspects of my life and my work.
It was not just this last year but also many years in the past when I looked for the traces of the mysteries in hidden books in vanished cities, forgotten monasteries and available libraries. I collected, copied and studied banned, often damaged books.
I discovered that there is a reverse side to a face, and that an entire life cannot be found in books, as you already know.

I sacrificed my life, strongly believing that my salvation will come through my cognition of the world.
I lost everything…it is true… and I remained alone. But the little I know, I‘d like to share it with you.

There is no ‘secret book of answers’. There is a secret book in each man’s heart. We all carry a part of the ‘secret book’ at the bottom of our hearts, but rare are those who can read it and therefore it should be preserved at any price…
The ‘secret book’ is inscribed in the heart of every man. One need only be awake to read the divine signs.

Cognition as you know it is always of a dual nature. There is morning and evening, day and night, shadow and light…average and perfection. The path you take only depends on you. Cognition is joy, but the path leads you to it here on Earth … is a long lasting pain.

True search brings answers you might not like to hear, but when you step on this path with devotion you will find what you need to know at that particular time of your life.
On this path the tapestry of your true life will unfold slowly and gradually. Patience is one of the keys and also keen observation without any judgement and by discarding of everything what you were previously taught. Our institutionalised mind from early childhood will want you to obey… don’t give in to it! Your ego will want to ‘protect’ you from true knowledge and from finding your authentic self. Don’t give in to it!

Never be afraid to be your own 'prophet' your own master!
May the natural forces of health and well-being which Petö taught us about and which he utilised in his work guide you and protect you in this New Decade’s of humanity.

Judit

Ps. please also read http://juditszathmary.blogspot.com/2009/12/peace-i-leave-with-you-my-peace-i-give.html one of my previous postings to understand that posting better and for more clarification. The two postings are related and Pushkin summed it up all, much better than I could.

Once in a Blue Moon…

‘I wonder if you are interested in the moon?
If you are, you may already know that something unusual is happening tonight.
Scientists say a blue moon is exactly what we will see in the skies this New Year's Eve.
This doesn't mean we will see a 'bluey' glow over the moon, the term "blue moon" simply means something very rare and refers to the second full moon in any one calendar month.
Something that hasn't happened on a New Year's Eve for nearly 20 years and won't happen again until 2028.
On this New Year’s Eve there will be a full moon, a lunar eclipse and also a blue moon.

Some believes that "This is a vitally important time for all of us to empower what we want to co create in our individual lives and on this planet. Not only will our hopes, dreams, visions and Divine Intentions be expanded a thousand times, they will be exponentially expanded by the tremendous influx of Light we will experience on this sacred day".
This is a time for letting go of the old and bringing in the new. This may mean an emotional end to the year, but allow it to happen and flow; it's all part of the healing process.'S Stone

Claro de Luna - Beethoven


Notes:
Photo from IStockphoto rotalty free images
Music Beethoven Moonlight Sonata (one of my favourite composers)

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." -- John 14:27

The Prophet (Prorok)

Burdened by my soul's thirst

I dragged myself through a dreadful waste to

a crossroad where, six-winged, a seraph touched

my open eyes with dream-light fingers -

and they opened to prophecy like a startled eagle.

Again it touched, my ears, and they were filled

with ringings and roars: I heard heaven's shuddering,

the flight of angels in the rocky heights;

heard monsters pressing through the sea-deep,

heard the vine quickening in the valley.

Over my mouth it bent,

tore out my tongue so false, so prone to gossip

and deceit, and with its bloody right

implanted in my lifeless mouth

the serpent's knowing tongue.

At last with a sword it clove my chest,

plucked the faint heart out and thrust

a flaming coal into my open breast.

Like carrion flesh I lay in that waste

until God's own voice called out:

"Rise up now, prophet!

See this all, and understand!

Be filled with My Will, and so

Bear across the land and sea

Words to light again the fire

In every human heart!"

A. S. Pushkin, 1826

Пророк

Духовной жаждою томим,
В пустыне мрачной я влачился, -
И шестикрылый серафим
На перепутье мне явился.
Перстами легкими как сон
Моих зениц коснулся он.
Отверзлись вещие зеницы,
Как у испуганной орлицы.
Моих ушей коснулся он, -
И их наполнил шум и звон:
И внял я неба содроганье,
И горний ангелов полет,
И гад морских подводный ход,
И дольней лозы прозябанье.
И он к устам моим приник,
И вырвал грешный мой язык,
И празднословный и лукавый,
И жало мудрыя змеи
В уста замершие мои
Вложил десницею кровавой.
И он мне грудь рассек мечом,
И сердце трепетное вынул,
И угль, пылающий огнем,
Во грудь отверстую водвинул.
Как труп в пустыне я лежал,
И бога глас ко мне воззвал:
"Восстань, пророк, и виждь, и внемли,
Исполнись волею моей,
И, обходя моря и земли,
Глаголом жги сердца людей".


Photo: Восход двойного солнца (Sunrise dual sun) by Salomeya
http://www.photosight.ru/users/38365/

And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why can't I?

Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue. And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true...








It's OK to sing while watching the slideshow :)

'CONDUCTIVE WORLD JOBS' ON FACEBOOK

A New Job Centre for everyone in the world of Conductive Education has been set up on Facebook, by Andrew Sutton.

'CONDUCTIVE WORLD JOBS' has been created in response to the growing demand for a Conductive Education jobs service.

On Facebook search for 'CONDUCTIVE WORLD JOBS'

Direct Link:
http://bit.ly/cwjobs

Related websites:

http://www.conductive-world.info/

http://www.conductive-world.com/

Winter Dreams...May all your dreams come ture...

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." Edith Sitwell

A daughter is a gift of love. ~Author Unknown