about
Inner Work Path
“Even before we are called to the stages of higher development we can prepare ourselves by understanding the way and the truth of the unfolding schooling we shall take. Recognising the power and place of the inner exercises and meditations means we work with them in a way that they bear fruits of genuine transformation.”
Lisa Romero
LISA ROMERO is an author of inner development books and courses, a complementary health practitioner and an adult educator who has been offering healthcare and education enriched with anthroposophy since 1993. From 2006 the primary focus of her work has been on teaching inner development and anthroposophical meditation.
Through Inner Work Path Lisa offers lectures, courses and retreats for personal and professional development. Lisa’s most recent initiative is the Astral-Arc, a YouTube channel offering a place to hear from young people asking questions on the path, practicing the work of love through awakening the mystery centre of the heart, and hearing various artistic expressions of both.
Through Inner Work Books Lisa has published ‘The Inner Work Path’ focusing on meditation practice, ‘Developing the Self’ written after many years of working with Waldorf teachers to support their inner work and pedagogical understanding of child development, ‘Living Inner Development’ offering an understanding of the inner experiences and results of various inner development exercises, ‘Sex Education and The Spirit‘ to help awaken an understanding of our communal responsibility for the healthy development of gender and sexuality within society, “Spirit-led Community” which introduces spiritually healthy guidelines for lessening the negative influence of technology on the inner life, and “A Bridge to Spirit – Understanding conscious self-development and consciousness-altering substances“.
Through EduCareDo Lisa has authored and tutors a year-long course – Inner Development for World Development.
For several years Lisa was the lecturer of Health & Nutrition and Gender studies at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College and for many more years delivered inner development training to College Tutors. Since 1999 she has been presenting on the subject of gender, sexuality and spiritual life. She has been working with Waldorf schools as a part of their health and wellbeing curriculum, working directly with the students, teachers and parents on this theme. Lisa has contributed to and is an adviser on Health and Personal Development for the Australian Steiner Curriculum Framework. She has developed training courses, and facilitates professional development on this subject for teachers and health professionals.
Lisa designed and facilitated EduCareDo ‘Towards Health and Healing’ which has offered 8 year-long courses focused on working with therapists from all modalities, as well as Waldorf teachers, toward cultivating the depth of anthroposophical insight through practical applications of therapeutic and pedagogical methods.
Lisa is a contributor, tutor and director of Inner Work Path, EduCareDo, Developing the Self Developing the World and the Y Project. EduCareDo delivers self-directed distance-learning courses based on the principal ideas of Rudolf Steiner. Developing the Self Developing the World delivers community education, and the Y Project supports the bridging of young people into healthy community life.
Lisa’s capacity to deliver esoteric wisdom with insight and understanding allows her to meet the diverse needs of a range of communities and professions. Essentially, her work springs from the inner work, meditation and exercises, together with a dedication to the path of unfolding consciousness.
Lisa speaks with Matt Burns on how she came to anthroposophy and how the work lives in the world with her colleagues at Inner Work Path, Developing the Self Developing the World and EduCareDo. It includes an introduction to each of the books. This interview was recorded for the 2018 Bio-dynamic conference of North America.
“Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge aiming to guide the spiritual element in the human being to the spiritual in the universe.”
anthroposophy
Rudolf Steiner
RUDOLF STEINER (1861-1925) brought a ‘science of the spirit’ based on his direct knowledge and perception of the spiritual world. Through his spiritual investigations came ideas that reinvigorated many activities including medicine, education, agriculture and the arts. His research into the spiritual nature of the human being and the evolution of humanity informs his many published works.
Steiner called this science of the spirit Anthroposophy, meaning “wisdom of the human being.” Anthroposophy is non-denominational and enhances many aspects of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other traditions.
He initiated Steiner/Waldorf education, bio-dynamic farming and gardening, an approach to the care and education for those with disabilities and special needs, anthroposophic medical work and an art of movement called eurythmy.
The Goetheanum was designed and commissioned under the direction of Steiner. It is the home of the School of Spiritual Science and the General Anthroposophical Society and it supports the exchange of ideas on spiritual issues and training in artistic and scientific fields.
The Conditions of Esoteric Training
It should be emphasised that the complete fulfilment of any one of these conditions is not insisted upon, but only the corresponding effort. No one can wholly fulfill them, but everyone can start on the path toward them. It is the effort of will that matters, and the ready disposition to enter upon this path
The first condition is that the student should pay heed to the advancement of bodily and spiritual health.
The second condition is that the student should feel themself coordinated as a link in the whole of life.
The third condition is that the student must work their way upward to the realisation that their thoughts and feelings are as important to the world as actions. It must be realised that it is equally injurious to hate a fellow being as to strike them.
The fourth condition is to acquire the conviction that the real being of man does not lie in their exterior but in their interior.
The fifth condition is steadfastness in carrying out a resolution.
The sixth condition is the development of a feeling of thankfulness for everything with which the human being is favoured.
All these conditions must be united in a seventh: to regard life unceasingly in the manner demanded by these conditions.