During the pandemic, when in-person gatherings were restricted or entirely prohibited, a mother and son teamed up to create an on-line project that brought people together for the sake of helping others. Sarita Sanghai and Shashwat Agarwal initiated Nurturer’Studio to help parents, educators, councilors, therapists and other nurturing professionals to connect with each other and develop their understanding and skills.
Sarita Sanghai is a longtime Waldorf kindergarten and class teacher, and co-founder of Kathmandu Waldorf Kindergarten in Nepal. She did her Waldorf teacher training at Sunbridge College in Spring Valley, New York and completed a variety of international trainings since then. Shashwat Agarwal, a Sloka Waldorf School alumni, youth-entrepreneur and podcaster, founded a company as a high school student that provides leftover restaurant food to the homeless (a concept unheard of in India).
During the pandemic, while stuck at home together in Hyderabad, India, the mother and son hit on the idea of bringing together people who nurture others. Focusing mostly on education and health, Nurturer’Studio began slowly by offering Zoom classes on Waldorf educational practices and anthroposophical medical approaches. Presenters Michal Ben Shalom (Israel), Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna (India/Australia), Stephanie Cleary (USA), Thanh Cherry (Vietnam/Australia), Dror Schneider (USA), Vishwas Parchure (India), Nancy Blanning (USA) and Van James (USA), among others, have offered Master Classes on topics such as ‘Working with the Twelve Senses’, ‘The Four Temperaments’, ‘The Joy and Meaning of Song and Circle in Early Childhood’, ‘The World of Waldorf Kindergarten’, and ‘The Transformative Power of Art’. One area where Nurturer’Studio particularly excels is in artistic and hands-on practical activities. Courses in needle felting, black and white drawing, form drawing, veil painting, singing and movement have been surprisingly successful in the virtual medium.
Due to the wide range in time zones, courses are mostly attended by Asian and Pacific region participants. However, there are often a few late-night and early-morning people who take part from America and Europe. Specialist courses attract between 30 and 60 participants but as many as 80 to 200 people from 12 to 15 different countries regularly take part in Nurturer’Studio classes. Besides the livestream courses, replays of most courses are offered during the following week at a time more suitable for other parts of the world. Video recordings of all the courses remain available for later playback.
Although the popularity of the courses has required upgrading their website and taking on tech-support, Sarita and Shashwat are happy to see Nurturer’Studio expanding and improving. They plan to continue their work of nurturing an ever-growing online community well into the future.
Image Drawing of parents. Source: Website Nurturer’ Studio
