Taruna College New Zealand is a centre for Adult Education offering an exciting range of formal and informal holistic courses and subjects inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner PhD. such as: Waldorf Teacher Education, Biodynamic Organic Agriculture, Anthroposophical Nursing, Art of Health and Coaching and Biography Workshops.

About Taruna

Location
Taruna College, on the semi-rural edge of Havelock North village, on a sunny ridge below the famous 'giant' Te Mata Peak, looks north to the fertile Heretaunga plains covered with fruit orchards, vineyards and the city of Hastings.

Three rivers emerge from the westward rolling sheep-covered hills and Ruahine mountains and meander over boulder strewn beds to the eastern coast where the sun rises out of the Pacific ocean.  There are nearby stony beaches and, a little further away (20km), long golden sandy beaches with rolling surf.

The clear and unpolluted atmosphere of New Zealand enables us to see myriads of sparkling stars and the 'Milky Way' galaxy at night.

Near the entrance to Taruna College, opposite the bright red flowering eucalyptus trees, is our self-service hostel - a short stroll from the classrooms.  The veranda catches the morning sun and keen gardeners can grow vegetables in the garden, or pick flowers, or gather citrus fruit from the trees.

Taruna College is located at 33 Te Mata Peak Road, Havelock North, about 3km from the shops in Havelock North village. The small city of Hastings is 8km away, and Hawkes Bay's Napier airpot is about 30km and runs a shuttle bus service. New Zealand's captial city, Wellington is about3 350km to the south, and the major international airport is 500km north in the city of Auckland.

Mission Statement
Taruna College is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, who developed a path of spiritual development that he called the Wisdom of the Human Being or Anthroposophy. This path of knowledge sets out to guide the individual to a conscious understanding and experience of the spiritual foundations of life.

It involves a discovery of self, the world and what it means to be human. From this there has developed a holistic and creative approach to education, health, art and agriculture.

What is Anthroposophy
"Anthroposophy is not a belief or confession but a path of Knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe."

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), a forward thinker of his time, gave exercises and advice, not as a guru or secretly, but in publicly available books and lectures. These enable striving individuals to develop higher levels of objective consciousness of spiritual, transpersonal realms, which contain the archetypes of all existence.

The results of his spiritual researches, conducted with scientific rigour, form a large body of knowledge.  It offers a comprehensive interpretation of human and world evolution, the reality of spiritual worlds and deep insights into Christianity and the world's religions and philosophies.

Rudolf Steiner wanted no one to accept what he presented in blind faith, but asked that everyone objectively tested for themselves what was offered.  He also insisted that individuals be able to work in complete freedom with what he presented.

All Taruna College courses are transpersonal in nature, inspired by Rudolf Steiner's work and founded on his endeavours to investigate matters of soul and spirit in a scientific way with methodical research. This study has been called Anthroposophy. From it have arisen many practical, holistic, life-enhancing activities. These include:

• Rudolf Steiner Waldorf Schools and Kindergartens giving infant, primary and secondary education for children as well as adult training in preparation for this work (such as the Diploma in Rudolf Steiner Education offered at Tauna).
• Curative and Social Therapy Homes and Centres for children and adults with disabilities such as Down's syndrome and autism - "People in need of Soul Care".
• Biodynamic agriculture and horticulture producing healthy organic, chemical-free and genetically-modified-organism-free food in a sustainable manner and in tune with the rhythms of nature.
• Anthroposophical medicine and therapy as an holistic extension of regular medicine, taking account of the interrelationships of the human body, soul and spirit.
• Anthroposophy - a way of observing and interrelating natural and spiritual phenomena and thereby developing inner faculties of insight.