In this inspiring conversation, we meet Janina Papas, who works with the healing modality known as Extra Lesson. She supports children with learning, social and behavioural challenges to address developmental problems, the knots in the cord of life that happen along the way from before birth, through birth trauma and the physical and emotional events and experiences of our lives.
Janina talks frankly about her own experience of learning difficulties throughout childhood. By following her own vocational path over many years, Janina patiently and gradually addresses her own learning and life challenges. She identifies the importance of reflex integration and healthy movement as paths of healing.
What Janina describes in this conversation demonstrates the power of working through life difficulties with patience and devotion. Janina’s humility, skill and experience shine through this conversation.
Listen to my conversation with Janina here. You can check out the other human wisdom conversations here.
Janina’s practice Threefold Educational Support is based in Mansfield, Victoria, and she also shares her work internationally. She works with individuals to integrate movement and developmental difficulties which can interfere with learning and childhood development through specifically selected movement exercises, as well as drawing and painting.
Extra Lesson derives its name from work begun in the 1970s in England, by Audrey McAllen. You can find out more about Extra Lesson practice in Australia here. Contact information for Janina and other Australian practitioners can be found here. Developed in Sweden, Rhythmic Movement Training uses gentle rhythmic movements to help develop coordination, emotional stability, mental wellbeing, muscle tone and primitive reflexes. You can learn more about it here.
Photo of Child Sweeping by Yan Krukov from Pexels
passion for speech and drama, and his personal research into the deep roots of anthroposophy, he continues to offer adult education experiences through a course called 
Jane Bradshaw is a clinical nurse consultant in hepatology and the Tasmanian branch secretary for the Anthroposophical Society in Australia. I was interested in interviewing Jane when I heard her describe her approach with her patients suffering liver disease. She talked about her focus on allowing them to tell their stories. In our conversation, Jane explores this further and describes the power of self-reflection and self-care which enables this kind of work.
Pippa White found her vocation attending to those at the thresholds of life. As a palliative nurse with additional training in anthroposophical nursing care, she has a range of roles. Pippa teaches home-based treatments for parents of young children and offers anthroposophical nursing treatments.
Julia Wolfson‘s life and work are inspired by her own background, experience and challenges in addressing crisis and difficulty especially in human services organisations through developing our innate powers. Julia is inspired by the work of Arnold and Amy Mindell around the principles of deep democracy.
Former accountant, Peter Kearney is a gardener, biodynamic practitioner and enthusiast for urban agriculture. We spoke earlier in 2018 about his passion for encouraging food gardens in our cities and the wonders of biodynamic gardening and farming. In this interview, Peter talks about his understanding of biodynamic agriculture, and urban agriculture and shares his experiences, particularly around the development of Millen Farm in Samford, Queensland, as well as in his own gardening practice.
Dawn Langman, educator and actor, shares her life experiences with great insight, frankness and wisdom. In this conversation, Dawn places her traumatic early life experiences in the context of her understanding of reincarnation. She shares her own mystical experiences and the experience of dissociation and disembodiment and the impacts these have had on her life. She also relates her experience as a homosexual and her insights from anthroposophy about homosexuality.
Ray Roborg-Sondergaard is a young educator with a clear sense of what’s vital in life. How do we have the courage to find our path through crisis and indecision? How do we behold others and ourselves honestly and in ways that allow our individual gifts and challenges to be addressed and worked with? How do we turn our spiritual beliefs into something that we practice not just uphold? These are questions that Ray has considered to help her navigate her twenties and reveal her path in life.
Susan Vos describes herself as a healing facilitator. Her work involves helping people who are seeking to transform their grief. This work is based on her own life experience. In October, 2006, 24 year old Simon, one of her two sons, died in a kayaking accident. As well as a profound shock and a time of grief for Susan and her family, it was also an experience of deep transformation that led her to understand her life purpose. In this conversation we explore this transformation.
human wisdom 