The document provides an overview of holistic education from multiple perspectives. It defines holistic education as an approach that develops students' intellectual, emotional, social, physical, artistic, creative and spiritual potentials. It aims to nurture healthy, curious individuals through connections to community, nature and humanitarian values. Holistic education recognizes each student's innate ability and encourages a transfer of learning across disciplines through experiential learning.

1. HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH,
EDUCATION AND PERSONALITY
CASE STUDY
BY
PROF. DR.
S.K.SHARMA
DHH, D.A.T,D.M.T,D.N.T, D.E.H
ND, D.A.M.S, D.E.H.M,
M.D (E.H), MD (NM),
Ph.D. (AM), D.Sc.,
F.R.H.S, F.R.C.P,
L.M.M.A, R.M.P
HOLISTIC HEALING CENTRE
SDS PUBLIC SCHOOL SEC-38C, CHANDIGARH
INSTITUTE :- AMP HOLISTIC HEALING INSTITUTE
SCO 114-115, Second Floor, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh
Phone:- 0172-2662180, 4672180, 0172-4646651,4633651
Mob:- 91+9888870216, 9888346088
Email:-hhcchd@in.com, holistichealingsharma@gmail.com

2. What is Holistic Education?
There is no one definition of holistic education. Indeed it could be argued that such a concept can not and should
not be defined or contained in this way. This page presents a range of views in an attempt to sketch out what
holistic education might be about.
Holistic education is a philosophy of education based on the promise that each person finds identity,
meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to
humanitarian values such as compassion and peace. Holistic education aims to call forth from people an
intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning.
“At its most general level, what distinguishes holistic education from other forms of education are its goals,
its attention to experiential learning, and the significance that it places on relationships and primary human
values within the learning environment.”
Any approach to education must ask itself, what is the goal of education? Holistic education aims at helping
students be the most that they can be. Education with a holistic perspective is concerned with the
development of every person’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical, artistic, creative and spiritual
potentials. It seeks to engage students in the teaching/learning process and encourages personal and
collective responsibility.
What is Holistic Education?
Holistic Education is a multi-levelled experiential journey of discovery, expression and mastery
where all students and teachers learn and grow together.
It is a quest for understanding and meaning. Its aim is to nurture healthy, whole, curious persons who can
learn whatever they need to know in any new context. By introducing students to a holistic view of the
planet, life on Earth, and the emerging world community, holistic strategies enable students to perceive and
understand the various contexts that shape and give meaning to life.
Holistic education recognises the innate potential of EVERY student for intelligent, creative, systemic
thinking.
Holistic Curriculum is inquiry driven, interdisciplinary and integrated, and is based on explicit
assumptions of interconnectedness, wholeness and multi-dimensional being.
It recognises that all knowledge is created within a cultural context and that the "facts" are seldom more
than shared points of view. It encourages the transfer of learning across academic disciplines. An holistic
curriculum encourages learners to critically approach the cultural, moral and political contexts of their
lives.
Holistic Learning is organised around relationships within and between learners and their
environment while empowering learners to live fully in the present and to co-create preferred
futures.
• is concerned with the growth of every person's intellectual, emotional, social, physical, artistic,
creative and spiritual potentials. It actively engages students in the teaching/learning process and
encourages personal and collective responsibility.

3. • is a quest for understanding and meaning. Its aim is to nurture healthy, whole, curious persons who
can learn whatever they need to know in any new context. By introducing students to a holistic
view of the planet, life on Earth, and the emerging world community, holistic strategies enable
students to perceive and understand the various contexts which shape and give meaning to life.
• recognises the innate potential of EVERY student for intelligent, creative, systemic thinking. This
includes so-called "students-at-risk", most of whom have severe difficulties learning within a
mechanistic reductionistic paradigm which emphasises linear, sequential processes.
• recognises that all knowledge is created within a cultural context and that the "facts" are seldom
more than shared points of view. It encourages the transfer of learning across the chasms that have
separated academic disciplines in the past. Holistic education encourages learners to critically
approach the cultural, moral and political contexts of their lives.
• values spiritual knowledge (in a non-sectarian sense). Spirituality is a state of connectedness to all
life, honouring diversity in unity. It is an experience of being, belonging and caring. It is sensitivity
and compassion, joy and hope. It is the harmony between the inner life and the outer life. It is the
sense of wonder and reverence for the mysteries of the universe and a feeling of the purposefulness
of life. It is moving towards the highest aspirations of the human spirit.
• A Brief Introduction to Holistic Education
• What is holistic education? What are the primary philosophies that distinguish it from
traditional education? Who were the pioneers in holistic education? Ron Miller provides
an introduction.
• contents: holistic education holistic education resources links to holistic organizations and
schools
• As the founder of the journal Holistic Education Review (now entitled Encounter: Education
for Meaning and Social Justice), Miller is among the best known and best informed
interpreters of the holistic education movement.
• holistic education
• Throughout the 200-year history of public schooling, a widely scattered group of critics have
pointed out that the education of young human beings should involve much more than simply
molding them into future workers or citizens. The Swiss humanitarianJohann Pestalozzi, the
American Transcendentalists, Thoreau, Emerson and Alcott, the founders
of "progressive" education - Francis Parker and John Dewey -- and pioneers such as Maria
Montessori and Rudolf Steiner, among others, all insisted that education should be
understood as the art of cultivating the moral, emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual
dimensions of the developing child. During the 1970s, an emerging body of literature in
science, philosophy and cultural history provided an overarching concept to describe this way
of understanding education -- a perspective known as holism. A holistic way of thinking seeks
to encompass and integrate multiple layers of meaning and experience rather than defining
human possibilities narrowly. Every child is more than a future employee; every person's
intelligence and abilities are far more complex than his or her scores on standardized tests.
• Holistic education is based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and
purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual
values such as compassion and peace. Holistic education aims to call forth from people an
intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning. This is done, not through an
academic "curriculum" that condenses the world into instructional packages, but through

4. direct engagement with the environment. Holistic education nurtures a sense of
wonder. Montessori, for example, spoke of "cosmic" education: Help the person feel part of
the wholeness of the universe, and learning will naturally be enchanted and inviting. There is
no one best way to accomplish this goal, there are many paths of learning and the holistic
educator values them all; what is appropriate for some children and adults, in some situations,
in some historical and social contexts, may not be best for others. The art of holistic education
lies in its responsiveness to the diverse learning styles and needs of evolving human beings.
• This attitude toward teaching and learning inspires many home-schooling families as well as
educators in public and alternative schools. While few public schools are entirely committed to
holistic principles, many teachers try hard to put many of these ideas into practice. By
fostering collaboration rather than competition in classrooms, teachers help young people feel
connected. By using real-life experiences, current events, the dramatic arts and other lively
sources of knowledge in place of textbook information, teachers can kindle the love of
learning. By encouraging reflection and questioning rather than passive memorization of
"facts," teachers keep alive the "flame of intelligence" that is so much more than abstract
problem-solving skill. By accommodating differences and refusing to label children, for
example, as "learning disabled" or "hyperactive," teachers bring out the unique gifts contained
within each child's spirit.
• A parent or educator interested in learning more about holistic education can read the books
and journals in this emerging field that have appeared since the 1980s, as well as classic
writings by Montessori, Steiner, and Krishnamurti. It is also useful to become somewhat
familiar with the more general holistic literature (for example work by Theodore Roszak,
Fritjof Capra, Charlene Spretnak, Ken Wilber). The primary publication on holistic education
is the journal Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, published by
Holistic Education Press (P.O. Box 328, Brandon, VT 05733; ph. (800) 639-4122) which also
lists several books on the subject. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Press,
in Toronto, has published work by John P. Miller that provides a good introduction to holistic
education; OISE also hosts courses and conferences. There are separate bodies of literature on
spirituality in education, eco-literacy, multiple intelligences, whole language, and cooperative
learning that address more specific aspects of holistic education.
Fundamental Principles and Concepts of Holistic Education
Connectedness
The concept of an interconnected reality which originated in the philosophy of holism and was
further developed through ecology, quantum physics and systems theory.
Interdependence - The function of each part of a system is mutually dependent on the functioning of other
parts and the system as a whole.
Interrelationship - A complex network of relationships exists among the parts of a system and with other
systems.
Participatory - The observer is always intimately connected to their environment, creating the reality they
"observe".
Non-linearity - Complex patterns of interaction, described through feedback loops, self-organising

5. systems or chaos theory, are more common than simple linear cause-and-effect interactions.
Wholeness
The concept that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts". Whole systems have emergent
properties that can't be deduced by studying their components.
Whole systems - Thinking about whole systems involves shifting our attention from the parts to the whole,
from objects to relationships, from structures to processes, from hierarchies to networks. It also includes
shifts of emphasis from the rational to the intuitive, from analysis to synthesis, from linear to non-linear
thinking.
Multiple perspectives - Complex systems interact in complex ways and can be seen from many different
points of view. There is no "one answer".
Independence - Systems can operate as largely independent autonomous wholes - that can be far from
equilibrium with their environment.
Multiple levels - Systems often include a network or holarchy of sub-systems that interact in complex
ways.
Being
Being is about fully experiencing the present moment; it is about inner peace, wisdom and insight; it
is about being honest and authentic.
Fully human - A recognition of the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, Social and Global dimensions of
being human.
Creative expression - A recognition of the importance of opportunities for creative expression of
individuals and communities.
Growth - Transformation and growth allow each person to reach for the highest aspirations of the human
spirit.
Responsibility - Personal and collective discernment and responsibility for choices and actions at local,
global and cosmic levels.

7. QUALITIES OF A HOLISTIC TEACHER
MENTOR, GUIDE AND PHELOSPHER FOR THE GENERATION
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**BEST WAY TO IMPROVE FUTURE IS TO CREATE IT**

8. In men's struggle to achieve any desired end, there is no necessity for him to turn
to external forces. He contains within himself vast resources of inherent power lying
untapped or only partially used. Because he has scattered his faculties on a hundred
different things, he fails to achieve anything substantial, despite inherent
potentialities.
If he intelligently regulates and applies them, concrete results are ensured. To use
his existing forces rationally and effectively, he need not wait for the invention of new
methods for guidance. Nature itself abounds in instructive lessons. Meditation is the
path which leads him to the invincible and never ending source of all time energy.
Once he taste the peace he never turns to the materialistic world.
- Swami Viveka Nanda
CREATOR OF ATMOSPHERE CONGENIAL TO GOOD MORALE, ETHICS AND BEING
ARCHITECT OF THE FUTURE OF THE SOCIETY
ROLE MODEL OF THE FAITH AND POETY
NATURAL ACUMEN- ARTIST OF TEACHING
STUDENTS ARE AFFECTED WITH THE LOVE & AFFECTION, CHARACTER, COMPETENSE & MORAL COMMITMENT OF A
TEACHER.
VISIONARY TEACHER CAN PLAN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE SOCIETY
SHOULD AVOID BREACH OF TRUST SOCIETY HAS IMPOSED IN HIM
SHOULD BE A WELL WISHER AND SINCERE FRIEND OF PEUPLE
SHOULD KNOW ART OF TEACHING WITH DEEP INSIGHT INTO THE CHILD PSYCHOLOGY

9. SHOULD NOT LOOSE HIS SELF CONTROLL WHILE TEACHING
1)GOAL OF A TEACHER :- PLANT A QUALITY SEED BY EDUCATING AND TRAINING THE STUDENTS.
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2) HOW TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL: PLANTATION OF QUALITY SEED-FEED BACK-LOOKING TO GROW-SUPPORT-
TELL OTHERS-QUITE AND LOOK-SIT IN THE SHADOW
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3) PUT YOUR MAXIMUM :- PERSISTANCY CONSISTANCY ACCOUNTABILITY
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4) BELIEF IN YOURSELF & OTHERS INTEGRITY HONESTY TRANSPARANCY
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5) ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL INTRICATE DUPLICATE DREAM DIVERSIFY
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Holistic Teaching & Learning
Holistic Education is not any one technique or curriculum.
The following can emphasise the development of the whole person.
Whole-Brain Learning
Multiple Intelligences
Cooperative Learning

10. Knowledge of Whole Systems
Emotional Literacy
Meta-cognition
Individual learning styles
Making the ordinary meaningful
KNOWLEDGE OF WHOLE SYSTEMS
Earlier this century ecologists who focussed on the study of animal and plant communities
observed networks of relationships - the web of life. They found a new way of thinking -
thinking in terms of relationships, connectedness and context –
SYSTEMS THINKING.
Systems thinking involves several shifts from mechanistic, reductionistic thinking:
Shift from the parts to the whole.
According to the systems view a living system has essential properties which none of the parts
have. They arise from the interactions and relationships between the parts. These properties
are destroyed when the system is dissected, either physically or theoretically, into isolated
elements.
For example, energy and matter move in cycles through an ecosystem; all substances are
continually recycled. The food chains that ecologists originally talked about are really food
webs. They are networks, and there are cycles within those networks, which are feedback
loops. All these are properties that can only be understood if you observe the whole
ecosystem. If you split it into a number of species and make a list of those, you will never
discover that there are these cyclical patterns that interconnect them.
Shift from analysis to context.
The shift from the parts to the whole is not easy because we have all been conditioned by our
upbringing, our education, to think in terms of parts. The whole enterprise of Western
philosophical thought has been mechanistic and reductionist, concentrating on the parts.
The great shock of twentieth century science has been that living systems cannot be
understood by this method of analysis. This doesn't mean that we have to give up analysis.
It's still very useful in many ways, but it is limited.

11. In the systems approach, the properties of the parts can be understood only from the
organisation of the whole. In order to understand something, you don't take it apart; you put
it into a larger context.
Only then will you understand, for example, why a bird has certain colours. If you know
something about evolution, you will know how these colours originated and evolved. You will
understand the properties within the context of the environment of this animal and within its
evolutionary context.
So, systems thinking is 'contextual', and this is the opposite of analytical thinking. Analysis
means taking something apart in order to understand it; systems thinking means putting it
into the context of a larger whole.
Shift from objects to relationships.
In the l920s physicists discovered that ultimately there are no parts at all. What we call a
'part' is merely a pattern in an inseparable web of relationships. It is of course very useful to
define parts, but this definition is often arbitrary and approximate and needs to be flexible.
Therefore, the shift from the parts to the whole can also be seen as a shift from objects to
relationships. In the mechanistic view, the world is seen as a collection of objects, and the
relationships between them are secondary. In the systems view, we realise that the objects
themselves - the organisms in an ecosystem or the people in a community -are networks of
relationships, embedded in larger networks. For the systems thinker, the relationships are
primary, the objects are secondary.
Shift from hierarchies to networks.
A striking property of living systems is their tendency to form multileveled structures of
systems within systems. Let's take our own organism as an example. At the smallest level we
have cells, and each cell is a living system. These cells combine to form tissues, the tissues
form organs. The whole organism is a network of all these relationships. Then the organism
as a whole exists within societal relationships, within social systems, and within ecosystems.
At each level, we have systems that are integrated wholes while at the same time being parts
of larger wholes. Throughout the living world, we find living systems within other living
systems.
Since the early days of ecology, these multileveled arrangements have been called hierarchies,
a misleading term derived from human hierarchies with a fairly rigid structure of domination
and control - quite unlike the multileveled order found in nature.
Since living systems at all levels are networks, we must visualise the web of life as living
systems (networks) interacting in network fashion with other systems (networks).

12. In other words, the web of life consists of networks within networks.
Shift from structure to process.
All the systems concepts discussed so far can be seen as different aspects of one great strand
of systemic thinking, which we may call contextual thinking. Contextual thinking means
thinking in terms of connectedness, context and relationships.
There is another strand in systems thinking that is of equal importance. This second strand is
process thinking. In the mechanistic framework of Cartesian science, there are fundamental
structures, and then there are forces and mechanisms through which these interact, thus
giving rise to processes.
In systems science every structure is seen as the manifestation of underlying processes.
Structure and process always go together; they are two sides of the same coin. Systems
thinking is always process thinking.
Earlier this century ecologists who focussed on the study of animal and plant communities
observed networks of relationships - the web of life. They found a new way of thinking -
thinking in terms of relationships, connectedness and context - SYSTEMS THINKING.
Systems thinking involves several shifts from mechanistic, reductionistic thinking:
1.