It was in the magical, crisp autumn setting of the Tauhara Retreat Centre in Taupo this year that members and friends from all over New Zealand came together to immerse ourselves in a meditation course with Arthur Zajonc.

In a mood of tranquillity, yet sparkling alertness and a keen sense of humour, Arthur took the fifty participants through a simple, archetypal process of meditation, developing the path through inspiring pictures, stories and different exercises. It was not a group meditation but a shared and guided process which helped each of us to enter into and achieve the simple steps outlined. Arthur's presence was encouraging and reassuring, yet he left everyone free.

This first of two workshops was a timely reminder for many of us of the core role meditation and the inner path has in Anthroposophy and how such constant practice, bringing a spiritual presence into all we do, can help us to become more positive in our attitude, and make life more meaningful. We do this work for ourselves, to develop our intuition, trust and acceptance of what comes to meet us in our destiny, to be at ease in our endeavours and feel the divine participation and guidance in our life; but it is also for the world. We want to dedicate our efforts and the grace we receive in the inner stillness, with love, to the world.

In the second workshop, which showed us how we could introduce meditation to others in creative ways, Arthur gave us some questions to work with:

• What is the inner aspect of your work

• How can meditation serve/support a deepening (general and specific) an

• What change might this bring to your work?

We were challenged to prepare and guide a sample meditation session with a specific group in mind. I was in the arts group, where we imagined a group of 18-year-olds interested in the spiritual dimension of the arts. From a host of different ideas, we found a simple thread to follow, guided by different people: the theme was point - periphery: awakening to a point that radiates out and disappears, through a bell sound, taken up in eurythmy, in an expansion and contraction exercise, then expressing it by drawing our experience in forms, and returning through the bell sound again into the point. Our creativity was strongly awakened in the inner space prepared through those key activities we experienced.

For myself, in working on those three questions Arthur gave us, I am realising how much the activity of constantly and gently letting go, making decisions and setting boundaries, which we need in meditation in order to focus our minds, are also what everyday life demands of us in order to be efficient and reach our goals. This is a new, gentle way of inner discipline, which teaches us patience, tolerance and respect for our own learning process to unfold. The wisdom of this attitude will reflect also in a growing capacity for interest and love for others.

These and many other positive skills for life arise from an ongoing dedicated practice of meditation as the hidden but equally valid and important part of life. I wish to thank Arthur and Sue, as well as Catherine and Nasir, our hosts at Tauhara, for bringing us such enriching and useful experiences through this workshop retreat and the tranquil, beautifully cared-for surroundings.

Astrid Anderson