Eurythmy as Personal Practice

by Cynthia Hoven

I have worked in the Goetheanum stage group, worked for decades with eurythmy therapy in hospitals and private practice, taught in schools, founded and led a eurythmy training program, and taught thousands of people at Rudolf Steiner College and in my overseas workshops. I deeply understand that eurythmy comes alive through the power of presencing.

Yet in 2014 a group of people asked me to use the carefully crafted teaching style I had developed to offer an online curriculum—an opportunity for people who might never take a live eurythmy class to learn how to do it at home. I knew I could only do so if the presentations could help people internalize the power of eurythmy, the power of the Logos, and thereby resurrect the teachings through their own understanding, their own practice.

So EurythmyOnline.com was born. My aim was for people to have their own “eurythmy as a personal practice.” It took nearly two years to create a comprehensive website curriculum that offered the quality of work I wanted. Since then, thousands of people have visited my website, and hundreds have written to thank me for what they found. Some object that eurythmy should never be shown online, but those who actually followed the lessons found that this method of learning worked for them.

My own personal learning journey in this has been profound. I prepared my words, my pacing, my delivery style, and my handouts with great care. And I had to learn to work with my own etheric forces very carefully. Hundreds of people around the world were moving with me in real time, yet not in the same place. If I extended my consciousness too far, I felt fragmented. I learned to use peat moss body oils and copper ointments to help protect me. I learned to speak softly and not project my voice too broadly. I learned to be very calm, in order to project a truly heart-centered energy to those who were out there, “in the dark,” where I could not see.

Many anthroposophical initiatives have now turned to the internet to deliver programs. Even school eurythmy teachers have tried teaching eurythmy through Zoom projects. EurythmyOnline seems to have come of age. This summer a generous gift of the Rudolf Steiner Charitable Trust allowed ATHENA (the Association for Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America) to support several eurythmists in creating videos to share across the country. I was honored to be the first presenter in this project. For the Eurythmy as Personal Practice classes that I offered, over 600 people registered, and hundreds participated in the six hour-long eurythmy lessons.

The sessions covered: » Laying the Foundation: Learning to move from the Heart » Harmonizing the three centers in the body: head, heart and limbs » Overcoming stress, increasing immune strength with Reverence » Learning to ground into the body with Hope » Finding Peace with Love » Tying it all together: the Immune sequence

Again, the most important factor is that people must watch the lessons and aspire to internalize the experience—and then turn off the computer and re-create everything out of their own inner initiative.

Scores of people have written to describe what they experienced. Their words confirm that it is possible to convey the depth of the eurythmy experience online. The essential is that they be given all the keys they need to internalize the movements, to discover their own power of heart and will.

It’s a good thing you have a large and powerful presence that can reach around the world. There are spiritual forces and beings that really want us to succeed. —MH

Thank you for these sessions! At this time in life, I wouldn’t be able to receive Eurythmy any other way. I appreciate your light through the digital world. —BA

My soul has been starving for this experience. I drink in your words of experience and explanation. They bring the art to life in such a beautiful way. I have loved eurythmy for a long time. —JH

Your teaching has brought my being into a new movement towards wholeness ... a daily practice of uniting spirit with physicality. —SL

It’s the only movement modality I’ve experienced that engages both our human place on the earth (and all that entails—form, matter, weight, the senses, time, space) with our spiritual source (and resource). All by engaging the body and the imagination. —JJ

In response to the gratitude and eagerness to continue, I am designing an ongoing journey of weekly or bi-weekly “live” online webinars through EurythmyOnline.com, on a donation or a membership basis. Please, join us!

Cynthia Hoven lives in fair Oaks, California, where she had been core faculty at Rudolf Steiner College SF for nearly 30 years, teaching eurythmy and lecturing on anthroposophical studies. Recently, she has been traveling and giving workshops in China and Taiwan, and directing the Waldorf teacher teaining in Guatemala City. She especially enjoys offering joint workshops with her husband, Harald Hoven, a specialist in biodynamic agriculture. Essential Webinars from the Anthroposophical Society in America