BACKGROUND:
“A
Call To Arms on a Vermont’s Heroin Epidemic” – NEW YORK TIMES, February
27,2014
“The
New Face of Heroin” ROLLING STONE,
April 3, 2014
“Vermont
Tackles Heroin with Progress In Baby Step” –NEW YORK TIMES, February
25,2015
REPORT OF TEACHING RUDOLF STEINER’S :”SIX SUPPLEMENTARY
EXERCISES”:
TO JAIL INMATES IN RUTLAND, VERMONT 2015
In
February 2014, the New York Times and
regional television news channels unofficially dubbed Rutland, Vermont (my
hometown) the “heroin capital” of the U.S. Like many areas, loss of jobs, bad economic
times, and other social factors, made our area easy prey to dealers. This was
not news to us who were residents of Rutland, but we were shocked to learn how
bad it really was. We were naïve and “asleep”.
My son who moved in with my wife
and I that February asked me if I knew what was really going on with frequent,
short stops by cars at my neighbor’s house. I had to admit I didn’t know.” My, son, who had joined us after his own
“rough patch” at age 29 who lived for months in a ghetto in Florida, informed
me that it was a good bet that the boy next door was selling drugs. I was
stunned.
Within a
year, the community reacted to this apparent epidemic and began a large-scale
effort of police, city policy wonks (housing), everyday citizens, business
people and mental-health workers to attempt to change the dynamics within the
community. A project “Vision” was launched which is underway today and. I have
been a volunteer in this effort since it was launched. Everyone has been
encouraged to get involved in any
way.
SIX EXERCISES – EIGHT WEEKS
We
moved to Vermont from Michigan a number of years ago. When I lived in Michigan,
I taught an 8-week introduction Steiner’s “Six
Supplementary Exercises” to inmates in maximum security prisons. In April
2015, I proposed to offer this program at our local jail in Rutland, the Marble
Valley Correctional Institution (MVCI). I use the pamphlet, “Self Development In The Penitentiary” by Fred Janney, Board Chair
of the Anthroposophic Prison Outreach (APO) program sponsored by the
Anthroposophical Society in America.
This
time I was to incorporate material from David Kahneman’s book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow”. Kahneman put important
scientific research “wheels” under Steiner’s exercises in that Kahneman
articulated two systems within the human psyche: System 1 (S1) an “automatic
system” for thinking, feeling, and willing. S1 is our automatic “set-up”
practices about which we are casual. And, research identified System 2 (S2) an
“effortful” system by which we challenge our in-built, automatic system.
Steiner’s exercises are all about moving from S1 behavior to S2.
Steiner offers something Kahneman
doesn’t - specific exercises for S2 thinking, S2 intentions, and S2 feelings,
S2 openness, S2 positivity. The exercises represent the kind of an “architecture”
which actually gives inmates meaningful experiences of change which in being different – no matter how briefly.
The six exercises are like spokes on a wheel which revolve around a central hub
of personal integrity – a subject of much conversation – how to have a chance
to change and rebuild a life.
The architecture was identified by
the late John Davy many years ago when he compared the six exercises to
Kűbler-Ross’ steps to recovery in Death
and Dying: denial requires new
thinking, anger is a rebellion of the will, bargaining requires equanimity,
depression is healed with positivity, acceptance needs openness and hope comes
from harmony. Certainly, the men incarcerated will go through these steps at
some time, consciously or not.
Jail is
different from prison. In prison men are incarcerated for years. In jail, weeks
or months.I had 25 inmates over the 8 weeks. Five of those completed all eight
weeks and were given “certificate” of completion which may have value in their
parole process. The ages were as young
as 20s and as old as 50s. Most crimes were non-violent.
The
weeks were:
(1) Introductions /
Overview, “Rules Of The Road”,
(2) Control of Thinking
– practice in concentration, focused thinking, overcoming “flighty” thoughts,
distraction and finding an undisturbed period.
(3) Control of
Intentions – mastery of impulses, regularity, accomplishment.
(4) Control of
Feelings – tolerance, forbearance, equilibrium and equanimity.
(5) Positivity –
looking for the good, the true, and the beautiful in each situation. (The guys
said to me, “Are you kidding, Jean? We’re in
JAIL!” So, I replied: “Okay – what’s your option? Look for the bad (evil),
the false and the ugly? Lots of that around here. Your choice.)
(6) Open mindedness
– the ability to not let the past dictate the future, staying flexible, meeting
other minds.
(7) Harmony / Balance
– repetition of exercises.
(8) Maintenance - Creating
choice architecture which eliminates S1.
The
weekly sessions became opportunities for men to discuss the experience of
incarceration and how to make choices to improve their experiences – inside and
out of jail. Shared problem solving emerged regarding all sorts of issues:
recovery, dysfunctional family dynamics (“That teenager just pushes my
buttons!) and internal jail pressures were handled within Steiner’s framework.
Following
the 8-weeks, I conduced a follow-on 4-weeks of “Communication Skills” which
added listening, questioning, and presentation skill building. Written
evaluations of the 8-week program were provided to Jail Administration and we
intend to repeat the program on an ongoing basis.
I
encourage each of you to get involved where you live. By teaching these very
simple exercises, we get to practice them again and again, and some of us (me)
need that. Are they really “supplementary”? “Supplementary” to what? These ARE the exercises.
-
Jean Yeager. Rutland, Vermont
THINKING, FAST AND SLOW, Daniel Kahneman, Farrar Strauss and
Giroux, NY, 2011
SIX STEPS IN SELF-DEVELOPMENT The Supplementary Exercises, Rudolf Steiner, Selected by Ates
Baydur, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2010
HOPE EVOLUTION AND CHANGE, John Davy, Hawthorne
Press, 1990 
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