Current Lesson
Course Content
Course Content

Taurus: R

Recording of the Lesson 2: R and H
0:00 I-A-O, Light and Weight
07:15 Repetition Aries and W
14:06 Questions on Aries and W
22:45 Therapeutic R exercises
55:20 Therapeutic H exercises
1:12:05 Taurus - R / Gemini - H

Audio in Russian - Аудио-перевод на русский  

 

Bäschlin Eurythmy Figure Consonant RTaurus

  • Eurythmy: Action
  • Worldview: Rationalism
  • Skeletal Structure: Seven cervical vertebrae and larynx
  • Planet: Venus
  • Element: Earth
  • Sound: R
  • Senses: Thinking Sense
  • Metal: Copper
  • Colour RS: Orange
  • Colour WW: Blue
  • WzQ: Self-responsibility
  • Care: Nourishment
  • G major
  • E minor

    Abbreviations, Sources

Zodiac

Taurus: Will and Action

Colour: Orange, flowing, powerful

Taurus Gesture: The area around the head and neck is drawn back, while the space around the chest and below expands significantly. This becomes particularly perceptible after dissolving the gesture and then sensing downward.

Eurythmy

The Sound R

The "R" is the only air sound!

  • It is important to produce the R sound without making it "grating".
  • The movement should also be experienced internally as airy, as if one had no bones.
  • The goal is to transform heaviness into lightness through movement – to illuminate.
  • To become light, one should move more slowly.

R is about becoming light

  • How does one become light?
  • Through slowness!

Arms carried by large wing-like movements.

Eurythmy Figure
  • Movement: Red
  • Feeling: Yellow
  • Character: Green

The backward bent shape of the Eurythmy figure must be understood: The orientation of the "R" figure upwards and backwards is a visual representation. It shows the forces of lightness, which one draws inside with the rolling movement. One senses the impulse upwards and backwards but remains upright. The lower part of the body contracts pleasantly; the abdomen is drawn in. It feels like holding reins in one's hands.

The impetus of the R is the "Downwards" and towards ones body, "inwards": Differently to artistic eurythmy, where you have the impetus of the movement on upwards and outwards, the R in Eurythmy Therapy down and towards oneself.

Card Set A5: Raffael Verlag
Large format edition: Verlag am Goetheanum, antiquarian

 

Therapeutic Eurythmy Execution
is demonstrated and practised in the live sessions.

Therapeutic Considerations
are developed together during the course.
1. R in connection with threefold eurythmic stepping
  • Threefold walking: Lifting - Carrying - Placing
  • Extended carrying in the air
  • Stork walk (for children)
  • With a circle in the air
  • With two circles in the air
 

Bringing lightness into the body and soul

  • Bringing lightness into the perception of the legs,
  • and in ascending into the body.

Stork Steps (for children)

  • First, let children take large strides, forming a big semicircle before stepping down – strutting like a large bird or stork. 
  • Image: The stork is uncertain whether it will take the step. A circle, then placing the foot down again.
 
  • The stork step helps develop balance.
  • Only when the stork step is mastered, transition into circling movements.

2. R with the arms while walking

  • Performed around the hips
  • or in the middle, sometimes even above
  • A deep "R" automatically involves a knee bend. Fingers extend far downward, drawing light forces upwards.
  • For a high R, consciously integrate the knee bend, keeping it light and lively.
  • R at the top influences the metabolic-limb system, as it lightens the will area.
  • R at the bottom influences the nerve-sense system, as it connects it with the will.
  • R in the middle influences the rhythmic system, e.g. breathing problems, sinusitis, and blocked nose.

3. R with rocking step

  • Large R movement of the arms in the lower body
  • Rocking step forward and backward

Indication from Rudolf Steiner:

  • For promoting the movement of food through the intestines

4. R extending forward

  • Emphasising the outward movement and releasing of the arms
  • For individuals who struggle with willpower
  • For people experiencing depression
  • Stimulating the liver

5. R drawing inward from below

  • Emphasize the "coming-in" movement at the bottom, but keep it very light, allowing inner space to be ventilated.
  • Connect its airy, light quality to the body.
  • Accompanying speech: pronounce the "R" when drawing inward, then let it ascend lightly.

Effect

  • Brightening
  • Stimulating inner digestion

Perception

  • The body becomes noticeably thinner in the abdominal area, drawing inward.
  • A sensation is noticeable like bubble water.

6. R movement backwards

  • Above towards the body, below streaming forward
  • While walking backwards
  • For logorrhoea ("verbal diarrhoea")
  • For individuals who are not present in themselves and constantly talk

7. R with the toes

  • Gently pulling the foot forward using the toes
  • For better mobility, preferably without eurythmy shoes

Encouraging the astral body, restoring its formative force,

  • For elderly people with cramped toes
  • For loss of sensation in the foot and toes, to regain feeling
  • For deformities, e.g., hardened, thickened, or misshapen toenails
8. R with the legs (sitting or supported)
  • While seated, alternately perform large "R" movements with the feet, left and right.
  • While standing, hold onto a support and allow the leg to become light in a rolling movement.

For elderly people:

  • To introduce the movement while sitting
  • To first practise balance

In therapeutic education

  • R with the legs to enhance thinking capacity.


Indications

Overweight

  • For very overweight individuals who are externally warm but lack internal warmth for digestion:
  • Start high, do everything at the top. See tonal eurythmy recommendations for such individuals.

Constipation

  • Regulates bowel movement (for constipation).
  • For diarrhoea, use "N".
Speech Disorders
  • For children with poor articulation (mumbling).
  • If articulation is impaired, i.e. if speech or speech organs are deformed in the child, practising R can be beneficial.

Miscellaneous

Duration of the Exercise for Adults
  • The exercise is complete when the movement feels "juicy" and fully embodied.
  • Then, come to rest and stand still with closed eyes to sense the aftereffects.

Texts

Rhyme for R with Fingers and Toes

In Hamburg lived two little ants,
who wished to travel to distant lands.
By Altona, on the old highway,
their tired legs gave in for the day,

and so they wisely did decide
to let the final stretch subside.

So oft we wish, but cannot quite,
and then renounce without a fight.

Joachim Ringelnatz (Translation Theodor Hundhammer)

Sea-Fever

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

By John Masefield

Eurythmy Therapy Course

R

When we perform an R – (Miss Wolfram), and now I ask you to do the R clearly by stepping forward, stretching, then stepping forward again with the left [leg], stretching [here, Rudolf Steiner personally demonstrated the bending and stretching movement]. While continuously attempting to step forward with bent legs, try to perform the R. This should be practised regularly. This R, when practised for a few minutes with a person – and it should be practised several times a day – is something that directly influences the discharge rhythm if it is not functioning correctly. It is something that directly affects and regulates the discharge rhythm.

It is also crucial for observing the entire dynamics of the human being to take these connections into account, as they emerge in this way. However, it is, of course, necessary that these movements are not performed in an amateurish manner, but rather that they are carried out correctly and appropriately according to diagnosis.

Eurythmy Therapy Course, 4th Lecture, GA 315, 2003 Edition
Translation Theodor Hundhammer