Attention is a key benefit of integrative education. And there is a strong connection between music and attention. Sara Parkinson, a long-time friend of Integral Steps and professional musician, teacher, and executive leader, shares her experience: 
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• “Music is a recalibration. It is for me and I see it with my son too. He’s now a teenager and he’s played his violin since he was a kid. Whenever he’s struggling with a paper or something I tell him ‘Go play the violin’ and I see how the recalibration occurs, even after 5 minutes of playing the violin.”  
• “As I reflect on my childhood, I see that I was drawn to music and piano because it was a place for me to shut everything else out and be totally engaged in one activity… Today, I still look for ways to re-create that environment [a music practice cubicle] to be focused. I’m a hyper-productive person when I’m in that zone.”
• “There’s no other place where I feel more stimulated than with a music score, be it a piano score, vocal score, or a full score as a conductor. [In front of a score], you experience the creativity, the mathematics, the sound, the direction of the phrase, the feeling... It’s a whole world of things that you explore as a musician. [In the ‘outside world’], this translates into being a person who is creative and can see things from different perspectives.”
  
  

Sara shares the role of music as a way to connect with, and get to know, ourselves:

• “Music was a place to safely express myself as a young girl and is a space where I allow my own students to express themselves.”
  
  

Music, and its wholeness, truly connects us with our mind, body, and emotions - creating a unique environment for us to create neural pathways to enhance attention.

Leah Biber, Integral Steps’ Board Member and parent, shares what it means to build a community through music, and why it is so important for her to include music in her son’s education. 
Leah shares:

• When a child creates relationships through music, they carry those relationships into adulthood. That was the case in my music education and I already see it with my son.
• Kids have other adults to go to, and that’s something they will always cherish. That’s also important for me as a mom, knowing that my kid has other adults he knows and trusts. As a parent, the wider you can make their community the wider they can make their perspective. 
• To create a community, you have to provide consistency and stable relationships. Both things are important for a child to foster as they create a safe space for them.
• Music provides useful skills for life. For example, after I played professionally for a long time, I transitioned to a job in farming as an urban farmer, and the skills I had from learning and performing music translated into my work ethic, my discipline, and how I present information to other people. All skills that have been key to my new job. In other words, music provides skills to adjust to different situations in life.  

Now we ask you, what does it mean to build a community through music? Why is it important for you and your family?

As the year draws to an end and the holiday season approaches, we’d like to take a moment to thank you for being with us and for trusting us. We have been reflecting on why we do what we do; why we chose music to promote integrative development and to create a community. As Miss Emma greatly expressed: 

“[Music] is a language that can be heard, felt, seen, and even touched. Through all these senses, we can be connected and therefore we can learn deeply that we are part of a whole. We are moved by an experience together. To me, this is the growth of our humanity and a type of active listening that can draw us together despite our differences.”

​We couldn’t be happier to be connected to you in a way that involves all of ourself and its three centers: the mind, the body, and the emotion. All threaded by music and its magic. 

To "see" our children is a crucial building block in their development; neurologically, psychologically and emotionally. 
We are social beings, and thrive by having meaningful connections with others. 
During the early childhood years a child’s brain needs a safe adult to be observing them and responding in attunement to their needs. An effort to see the child for who they are, and an ability to respond appropriately, and in a timely manner.
To really see a child though -or any other person- requires a level of introspection. A recognition that, usually, we see the world through our own needs first. 
The energy and effort used to put ourselves in the background, for a moment, while we listen and see a child or another, is another way to use our attention. To relate to someone attentively, is to care. Attention is a form of love.
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We’ve interviewed Arianna Orozco, a team member who is a new mother and this is what she has to share:

“How can I truly see someone else?
Since becoming a mom I have been sitting with that question. There is a tremendous aim to be present and show up for what my baby really needs. 
Interestingly, I have found that in order to see her I must learn to truly see myself first, without judgment. Here are three questions that have helped me do so:

• Am I truly seeing her or a reflection of my fears? — fear often plays a role in how we see the world and others around us. 
• Am I truly seeing her or a reflection of an expectation I have? (About her, about our relationship, about me around her…?)
• Am I truly seeing her or am I listening to outer noise? Like (un)solicited advice, opinions, cultural beliefs, etc. 

Dismantling these questions can be a powerful tool to get rid of the blur that often gets in the way of seeing others. I have given the example with my baby, but I believe this exercise is valid with anyone we would like to truly see.”

What is your experience when you try to see your child or any other person?

​As parents or teachers we often wonder how to motivate a child to move forward when they want to quit. Though there’s not “the one” solution for all children, we want to share tools to support resilience in our children, and ourselves!
Let’s each begin by identifying the skills we want our child to develop, while allowing for flexibility in individual learning styles. Often, it is our idea of what we want them to learn and how we want them to learn it that gets in the way. For instance, if we had wanted our child to develop musical skills by playing the flute, we might find that the flute isn’t the right tool, but that our child thrives by developing musical skills through other tools (i.e. movement, violin, piano, singing, etc.).
How do we truly see a child and understand their needs as they grow? Sometimes the greatest gift we can give our children is the consistency of returning to a learning space and a structure where they can work on their resilience, through their relation to themselves, their peers, and understanding that the way they relate and use this space varies. 
Learning in this space, however, may not always look like the picture we have in our adult minds of what learning should be. For example, in a parent-child classroom like our Music Together programming, the adult may be modeling the movement and participation of using an instrument while keeping the beat to a song. At the same time, their little one is exploring the space, seeing how their peers are moving, singing, playing. This may look to our adult eyes like they are not participating, but in fact they are developing important social-emotional, and community learning skills with their peers and caregiver models.
In our older classrooms, we see students bounding into class, thrilled to learn the next skills in a sequence of learning with which they feel a connection. In other cases however, they are hungry for the connection to their peers through the medium of music - a shared language and a new way to connect!
Have you encountered a situation where your child or student did not want to continue? How did you overcome it?

This month, we talked to Ann Suda, an Integral Steps fellow and instructor, about a real-life experience of engaging our three centers: 
“In our classes we encourage families to make music in their everyday lives. Music engages all areas of the brain – vision, hearing, language, cognitive and emotional functions.”
In the past, we have discussed the positive impact on our brains that comes with using our mind, body, emotions and senses in a given experience. Also, we have considered the importance of learning in different ways, through varied learning modalities. The more senses involved equates to more brain connections, and richer experiences with more solid memories. 
Ann continues, “For example, my daughter Sophia’s high school choir teacher told the class they were going to learn a song in Hebrew, and that it might be a bit challenging to learn the words in the short time they had. Sophia came home surprised and said, “Mom! How did I already know ALL the words?” It was “Hine Ma Tov”, a Music Together song she had learned in class as a preschooler. When we talked about it, Sophia remembered dancing in a circle to that song in class when she was little.” 
When we learn something by experiencing it, it becomes deeply-rooted knowledge. As a parent, we can ask ourselves, what are the types of memories I would like my children to save in their brains? Sophia’s story makes us understand the importance of creating positive memories that may not show themselves on a daily basis but are, indeed, enlarging our understanding. Music is the key!

The beginning of the year always feels like a place of opportunity: we mean to follow through on our resolutions, there’s a sense of renewal, and something in the air just feels different for the first few weeks. Often, however, we simply jump into our schedules without much of a pause. This is why we thought it would be interesting to use our first newsletter to reflect on how the theory behind Integral Steps plays a role in our daily and personal life.
In past newsletters, we have discussed the three centers of integrative education: the mind (intellect), the body (senses) and emotions (feelings).
As Alejandra, Integral Steps co-founder explains, when all of our parts - mind, body and emotions - are taken into consideration, and are harmoniously balanced and stimulated, our core capabilities as human beings become more accessible. We increase our capacity to pay attention, to feel empathy, to love, to be patient, learn something new, problem-solve, etc…

Inner imbalances create tension and hinder our perception of the world around us. These imbalances of the self occur when there is an excessive engagement of one part of ourselves to approach a broad range of situations, like intellectual engagement for example, and a marked underuse of other parts of the self, like integration of the body or the emotional world.
With this in mind, we want to invite you to take some time to reflect on your personal tendencies. Do you approach life more from an intellectual standpoint? Emotional? How do you tend to integrate your body and be aware of its needs?
As a parent, teacher, or individual, reflecting on this question could be an opportunity to make a conscious plan to strengthen one of your centers or those of your students or children. 
For 2023, we invite you to join us for an integrated year!

The holiday season is here! (can you believe it?). For some of you, this may be a time to plan/attend parties, buy presents, and reconnect with family and friends. For others, this may be a quieter time. Regardless of where we focus our energy during this time of the year – inside or outside – it is an interesting exercise to plan how we want to do it: “what is my intention for this holiday season?” Taking some time to think about this allows us to choose our narrative and decide how we want to live this time, instead of allowing the season to happen to us.
From our team’s experience, the holidays can become a little hectic. This often occurs when we focus on the “stuff”, like presents. Rather, the holidays can be a time to connect, enjoy traditions, and experience true inner joy. Joy can be different from happiness, which comes and goes. Joy comes through deep and truthful presence. The holidays, then, are truly about the experience – our ability to feel, hear, and learn in the company of loved ones who are present.    
With this in mind, Nicole, our fabulous Program & Communications Manager and mother of four, shares with us a few ideas on how we can create an intentional holiday season. We hope you try it with us! 

'An intentional holiday translates to an intentional life. We can work with a top-down approach, creating a plan to achieve whatever desire we have for this time of the year. We can focus our energy and activities on reaching that goal"

1. Start by answering the question: “what is my intention for this holiday season?” Be specific about the answer. For example, help others in my community, or give daily opportunities to my children to feel empowered during these five weeks. This goes at the top of your planning, anything else will focus on reaching this goal. 
2. Create a calendar of the activities you’ll do to reach those intentions. It may be daily or weekly pursuits. 
3. Focus your energy into being present when enjoying the fun of looking  toward your holiday intention. 

Some ideas to answer the “top question” based on an integrative education:

• Empower children. Activity: go to a recital and support young musicians with your presence and attention.
• Connect. Activity: Discuss an experience you had and exchange ideas about it with someone in your life.

Have you ever smelled something that immediately transports you to specific memories of your childhood? A place that you used to live? The feeling of a summer afternoon?… That’s because our senses are fundamentally linked to our memory. 
In our brain, memories are stored in different areas. When we learn something through music or movement, for instance, that specific piece of knowledge will be stored in multiple parts of our brain, and thus will be “easier” to access. Let’s say you learn a math concept while engaging in a rhythm exercise. That piece of knowledge will be connected to the musical part of your brain as well as the more analytical parts. If the exercise is fun, then hurray! The concept will also be "highlighted" so to speak, making it stronger and more readily accessible.

Moral of the story (and Integral Steps’ motto): the more parts of ourselves that are involved in learning, the more parts of our brain are engaged in storing our knowledge…and the easier it will be to recall it later. 
So, to answer a question that we are often asked: an integrative education is one that involves the whole human person. The mind (intellect), the body (senses) and the heart (feelings), are the three pillars that an integrative education engages to create deeper and more real learning. 

Experience an Integrative Learning Exercise Yourself!

Churning ice cream! 
No better way to learn the states-of-matter together.  
Sometimes, there is nothing better than a cold, refreshing treat to invite some fun and delight to our kitchens! 

The Science
The ice will be melting at a much faster rate due to its contact with salt.  Therefore, the cold inside the ice will escape more rapidly and freeze the milk.
While making your ice cream, talk about liquids/solids/gases and see which states of matter are represented in your recipe. Discuss how there is a reversible change happening: when you make ice cream, the liquid milk freezes into a solid. But, if you leave the ice cream out...it will revert back to its liquid state!

The Heart
Your ability to affectionately and joyfully discover with your child is like warm rays of sun. Hum a tune together.  Giggle.  Go slowly.  Sharing moments of delight together helps your child open up as well as feel safe, valued, and ready to learn ways to share positive emotions. Later on, when difficulties arise, they can use this established channel of safe, honest sharing and problem solving.

The Body 

Can you handle all ingredients with your hands in one way or another? How heavy is the measuring spoon? Can you pour without spilling? Finding creative ways to feel helps include your body in all aspects of life!
The Recipe
1) Combine 1⁄2 cup milk with 1 Tablespoon sugar and 1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract in a sandwich-sized plastic bag.
2) Combine 4 cups ice cubes with 1⁄2 cup salt in a gallon-sized plastic bag.
3) Put the small bag with milk inside the gallon bag (make sure both are secure) and shake for 5 minutes or until milk is frozen. Cover your hands in mitts as it will be very cold.

As many of you know, Emma, our founder and Executive Director, had a beautiful baby 5 months ago. She’s now coming back to her role as a teacher and executive at Integral Steps, in addition to her new role: being a mom! So, we wanted to take this opportunity to talk about adjusting. Though we’ve all experienced it, adjusting can feel difficult.  With many expectations around it and resistance to it, adjusting is a central part of how we live. That’s why we asked Emma three things she has learned about adjusting during these months. And, as the world demands more adaptation everyday, we invite you to think about how you adjust to new experiences, what parts of you resist, and how do you deal with that. 
From Emma: 
Three things being a new mom taught me about adjusting:

1. How to be more flexible: sometimes what we had hoped for doesn’t happen in that exact way, and that’s OK. It’s better if we accept the change without suffering from it, which brings me to the second thing I've learned...
   
2. How to abandon a good plan: it may be the most beautiful plan, but it will change. It’s better to stick to the bigger goal than the details about how to get there. Getting stuck to a plan because it feels more perfect, may not bring the best outcome at the end of the day. 
   
3. How not to take things quite so seriously: this sums up my last two points. It focuses on our reaction, rather than the situation, that needs adjusting.  It’s really not such a big thing. 
   

Now, being flexible and changing our plans is not always easy. It’s also important to be comfortable with the part of yourself that you don’t want to change. Accept that truth just as much as you open up to accept what’s new. 
When planning for my leave at Integral Steps, for example, we had to adjust many things – positions, expectations, plans – that, today, I realized made us stronger and better at what we do. However, we had to be open and flexible for that to happen. 
Reflecting on my role as an executive, at an organizational/professional level, sometimes we think we have to do everything and have all the answers. Being open to change can unlock the possibility to discover people in different ways, realizing they have abilities that otherwise would not have been shown, and now, we can learn from those skill sets. 
Just as we often talk about the importance of developing our personal three centers – body, mind and spirit – organizations and communities are made of people who represent those centers or pillars, and making sure they’re all strong is a key aspect of being able to adjust. As a new mom, I often need help either in this role or in others that I carry, and being part of an organization with strong centers has definitely been key. 
Let’s keep the good work, inner and outer, to strengthen our centers and pillars, so that we can be better at adjusting and living a happier life.