COMMENTS BY THE EDITOR
OF THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION
The present edition of this course — which Rudolf Steiner gave
in 1921 in order to bring to realization the hygienic-therapeutic side
of eurythmy, which, as he explained in his introductory words to eurythmy
performances, was given this name to distinguish it from artistic and
pedagogical eurythmy — is the first edition to appear in print
and be available to a wider public. Since those days curative eurythmy
has become much used on a worldwide scale as a therapy in connection
with medicine, and it takes its place alongside other recognized therapies
in the same way as, according to Rudolf Steiner, artistic eurythmy does
among the other arts.
In the
main there are two things to be said about this edition. Firstly, —
and Rudolf Steiner said this very strongly — curative eurythmy
must only be given when a doctor prescribes it and is in charge of it.
Secondly, a proper training in eurythmy is required as a preliminary
to learning curative eurythmy for use as a therapy. Rudolf Steiner said
that at least two years should be spent on a thorough study of eurythmy.
The normal eurythmy training takes four years at present. As this course
is now available to everyone, it should be said that it is quite impossible
to study curative eurythmy on one's own with the help of this book.
Collaboration with a doctor and the study of eurythmy are both inescapable.
Rudolf Steiner puts it in the following way in the “Course for
Curative Education” (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1981)
“When
you bring curative eurythmy into curative education you are bringing
the whole of eurythmy into it. So you should be aware that you must
acquire a living connection with it, and this should be such that anyone
who does curative eurythmy ought to a certain point to have learnt basic
eurythmy. Curative eurythmy ought to be based on a general knowledge
of speech and tone eurythmy, even if artistic perfection has not been
attained. Then, above all, people must be filled with the conviction
that they must work with others, and therefore, when curative eurythmy
is going to be put into practice the therapist must get the support
of a doctor. When curative eurythmy was given to the world it was
stipulated that it should not be put into practice without the
collaboration of a doctor. All this points to how inter-connected
in a living way, things have to be when they come out of
Anthroposophy.”
The present lectures — with the exception of the one given on
April 18, — were made available in manuscript form by Frau Marie
Steiner in 1930. They were edited by Elisabeth Baumann, who had taken
part in the course. Rudolf Steiner's executors produced a new edition
in 1952 edited by I. de Jaager. The lecture to doctors given on October
28, 1922 was included in this edition. Both these editors made important
comments on the course and summaries of these will follow.
For the present edition the notes were examined and the whole text checked
against the available shorthand reports. Some additions and corrections
could consequently be made. Some parts that had been revised now follow
the shorthand notes more closely.
Where the story of eurythmy is concerned a detailed account is given
in the volume of Rudolf Steiner's complete works “Die Entstehung
and Entwickelung der Eurythmie” (the origins and development of
eurythmy).
The following
words are taken from Frau Baumann's introduction: “Children
of all ages grasped and carried out the movements of eurythmy so naturally
that we experienced every day of our lives that the visible language
of eurythmy movement is a language that is in genuine harmony with the
laws and requirements of both man's spiritual-soul nature and his bodily
nature. We also experienced daily that hindrances the children had,
whether in the realm of the will or in the realm of thought —
the thinking activity — could be loosened up or actually overcome
by eurythmy. At the Waldorf School we had to deal with children, almost
from the very beginning, who had hindrances of this sort. Sometimes
these difficulties were only slightly in evidence, sometimes the children
were so overwhelmed by them, that they could not keep up with the lessons
of their class, and a special remedial class was started where they
could be given what Rudolf Steiner prescribed for their care.
Experience
showed that for children of this sort eurythmy more than anything else
could get across to them and they could take immediate hold of it.
Therefore we asked ourselves whether it would be possible to find
exercises that would help the spiritual part that was having such
difficulty in incarnating because it met with such strong bodily
resistance — exercises that would give the physical sheath a
better form, movement exercises which would help the etheric formative
forces to penetrate better and give their support to the creative
upbuilding forces of the organism.
Out
of our close connection with so-called difficult cases, with retarded
children, with those in need of special care, we acquired the most intense
desire to discover and take hold of the hygienic, curative element of
eurythmy. From many conversations with Erna van Deventer-Wolfram, who
was actively engaged in eurythmy in various parts of Germany, it transpired
that through the work she was doing she, too, had been powerfully drawn
to this curative aspect of eurythmy. After due reflection we decided
to ask Dr. Steiner for instructions on curative eurythmy. Rudolf Steiner
agreed with alacrity and promised to think about it. It was not long
before Frau van Deventer and I were requested to go to Dornach in April
where he wanted to give lectures on curative eurythmy alongside the
doctors' course he was going to give at the Goetheanurn.
And so
during the clays of April 12 to 17, 1921, Rudolf Steiner presented the
gift of the third element of eurythmy, and the doctors and eurythmists
who were present experienced a whole new world of possibilities for
therapy opening up before them, which, in its variety and effectiveness
and the way in which Rudolf Steiner presented it, is bound to have made
an unforgettable impression on them. Instead of the few instructions
and indications we had asked for we were given a complete and detailed
method of eurythmy therapy in which we could directly experience that
even today the creative and curative power of the Word, with its capacity
to take hold of the movement potential in the human body, is still at
work. It often happened that it was not easy to find our way into it,
for even those of us who had been familiar with the eurythmic art of
movement for many years found that the exercises Rudolf Steiner either
performed himself or asked Frau van Deventer-Wolfram and myself to perform
were utterly new and surprising. It was especially difficult for the
doctors present, as only a minority had had anything to do with eurythmy
up till then. Two eurythmy courses were organized where we discussed
and practised basic eurythmy with the doctors, and also the exercises
that had been given by Dr. Steiner in the curative eurythmy lecture
that day.
Regular
work at curative eurythmy now started up in various places. In the clinics
in Arlesheim and Stuttgart and also at the Waldorf School, Rudolf Steiner
gave several more indications for the use of curative eurythmy in special
cases, he himself varied one or another exercise, and he gave certain
sound sequences that were to be practised with individual patients under
his special observation. These indications offer doctors and curative
eurythmists a rich opportunity to learn more about a methodical approach,
adapting of exercises to the individual needs of patients, and the
scrupulous observation required for this.
The real basis of all curative eurythmy work is given in this course,
as is clearly stated in Rudolf Steiner's own words. In October 1922,
on the occasion of a medical week in Stuttgart he was again asked to
speak about curative eurythmy, this time by doctors. That lecture is
included here with the 1921 course. Right at the beginning Rudolf Steiner
says ”I have been requested to say something more about this curative
eurythmy of ours. Fundamentally speaking I presented the empirical material
for this curative eurythmy at the last doctors' course in Dornach (see
“The Spiritual Scientific Aspect of Therapy”), and it is hardly
necessary to go further than that. For if it is put to proper use it
can have far-reaching significance.”
From Frau I. de Jaager's epilogue (1952 edition):
“It
will soon be evident to the reader that unless you make a
thorough study of Anthroposophy you will not get very far with this
curative eurythmy course. Curative eurythmy arises out of Anthroposophy
just the same as artistic eurythmy does. A living grasp of Man and the
world is a necessary basis for its use. Only on this assumption will
it avoid becoming a system or something that is grasped and applied
in an abstract, intellectual way; a danger that is ever present in our
times. Curative eurythmy also requires an extensive knowledge of artistic
eurythmy. Imaginative forces, the coming into motion of the whole being
of man, are prerequisites for the application of this therapy, where
it is essential to have an artistic understanding of the patient. All
the delicate and minute nuances we need in order to help a sick child
or adult come to us out of artistic eurythmy. You will continually find
new inspiration there.
I would like to stress that a young person should not devote herself
exclusively to curative eurythmy. Up to the age of 28 a person should
be able to give her imagination and creative forces free rein. The more
this can happen the better she will be able to develop devotion, patience
and empathy when doing eurythmy later on. It is essential to devote
oneself wholly to the patient and carry him with artistic warmth of
heart.
As Rudolf
Steiner often mentions in the course, curative eurythmy should never
be used without a doctor's thorough diagnosis. The greater the
collaboration with the patient's doctor the more effective the
curative eurythmy will be.”
|