The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 31 August 1912, Munich

Notes on the Origin of Eurythmy

Lory Maier-Smits, from: “The First Seeds of Eurythmy”

But day after day I waited for Dr. Steiner to send for us [Clara and Lory Smits] and for the “lessons” to begin. Finally, one day, I met him in an open doorway. Perhaps I looked at him with great curiosity and expectation, because he put his hand on my shoulder and said: "Yes, my dear, it requires the wisdom of the whole world, I cannot tell you yet. I cannot take the time I need for this during these weeks here. Would it be possible for you to come to Basel in September when I am there? I will have time then." And so it came about that the first chapter of eurythmy was given in Basel. One day before our departure from Munich, however, we were called to Dr. Steiner quite unexpectedly, and in this meeting he gave the first concrete details about three vowels.

He said something like the following: “Stand upright and try to feel a column from the balls of your feet to your head, and learn to feel this straight line, this upright position, as i;” — I think he was not satisfied with what I was doing, he repeated while I was still trying; “The weight rests on the balls of your feet, not on your heels!” — I would now like to ask every reader to try this for themselves and to bring the difference to their consciousness by feeling and listening. And then I would like to mention a sentence that Rudolf Steiner later said in Basel, introducing the teachings and underpinning the whole of eurythmy with it, and which he put into the mouth of Mrs. Felicia in his speech at the first eurythmy performance on August 28, 1913, in Munich: “You must learn to let the heart rise up into the head.” So I stood there in the indicated posture, felt an uprightness rising from my feet (balls of my feet), I felt it in front of my body, not in my spine, through my chest and heart, up to my forehead, from which I had the feeling that it must begin to shine.

“Now shift this column so that your head is behind the point of your feet, and then you will have a posture that you should learn to perceive as a.” This is now a completely different experience. The weight shifts to the heels, and the column that had risen outside the body, yet still straightening it, grasps and penetrates the spine, so that one now has a clear experience of one's bone structure and with it a certain heaviness and earthboundness. In return, however, the chest and heart are as if opened to all influences. The whole world and the whole sky send their rays in. And all these rays meet in the heart. Compared to the sensation in the first posture, it is a quiet pain, a feeling of being struck. Open and exposed to the outside world.

“And now comes the third posture: to do this, bring the top of the column in front of the base, and learn to feel this as 0.” - This is a very big difference from the first two sounds when you do it sensitively. From the a, from this immersion in the physical body to an experience of the spine, the ribs, to the clear realization: yes, the arms are actually ribs that have freed themselves, that are no longer attached; from this a, one comes via the i, which overcomes heaviness and is experienced in the upright position, to the o. There arises, in a delicate yet convincing way, the feeling that the feeling soul, released from its attachment to the body, can experience itself outside in the other, to whom it inclines itself in this quiet gesture.

The third member of the human organization, the instrument for eurythmy, was addressed by this exercise, and a first quiet awareness of how the feeling soul can connect in three different ways with its own body and with the outside world was made possible. Again and again, from a wide variety of perspectives, Rudolf Steiner mentions these three sounds and emphasizes their fundamental significance.

Lory Maier-Smits, notes from 1965

That evening, Dr. Steiner gave the first concrete details for the three characteristic vowels, i, a, and o: "Stand upright and try to feel a column whose base is the balls of your feet and whose top is your own head, your forehead. And learn to feel this column, this upright, as...“ While I was still trying, he interrupted again, emphasizing strongly: ”The weight rests on the balls of your feet, not on your whole feet!" Then it worked better and led to a very strong experience, especially in contrast to the first, unsuccessful attempt.

“Now move the top of the pillar behind the base, and learn to feel this as a.”

And thirdly: “Tilt the top of the pillar in front of the base and learn to feel this as an o.”

Only these three sounds and only in this form did Rudolf Steiner give that evening in Munich. So still no arm movements, and yet these three different orientations in space gave rise to an urgent desire, no, an impulse, to release the arms and hands from this column in order to express the experience even more clearly and in a more differentiated way. In addition, Rudolf Steiner had added, one must try to experience the sounds in color.

Lory Maier Smits, from: “The Beginnings of Eurythmy”

[...] in this evening discussion, he gave the first concrete details about three vowels [...]:

“Stand upright and try to feel a column from the balls of your feet to your head; learn to feel this column, this uprightness, as i.” I don't think he was satisfied with what I was doing, because while I was still trying, he called out: “The weight rests on the balls of your feet, not on your heels.” - Now I was halfway there. I stood in the indicated posture and suddenly felt an upright rising from the balls of my feet; I felt it in front of my body, chest, and heart, as if rising to my forehead, which I felt must become warm and begin to glow.

“Now shift this column so that your head is behind the point of your feet, and then you will have a posture that you should learn to perceive as a.” - This was now a completely different experience. The weight shifts to the heel, and the column, which had risen as if outside the body and yet straightening it, now grasps and penetrates the spine, so that one now has a clear experience of one's bone structure and with it a certain heaviness and earthboundness. In return, however, the chest and heart are as if opened to all influences. The whole world and the whole sky send their rays into me. And all the rays meet in the heart. Compared to the sensation in the first posture, it is a quiet pain, a feeling of being struck; one is open and also exposed to the outside world.

“And now comes the third posture: to do this, bring the top of the column in front of the base, and learn to feel this as o.” - This was again a very big difference from the first two sounds when one brought it to feeling through practice. From the a, from this immersion in the physical body, to an experience of the spine, the ribs, to the clear realization that the arms are actually ribs that have freed themselves, no longer attached, from this a one comes via the , which overcomes heaviness and is experienced in the upright position, to the o.

In a delicate yet convincing way, the feeling arises that the feeling soul, released from its physical bondage, can experience itself outside in the other, to whom it inclines itself in this quiet gesture. The human organism, the instrument for eurythmy, is addressed in this exercise in its third member, the astral body, and a first, quiet awareness of how the feeling soul can connect in three different ways with its own body and with the outside world is made possible.