IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED TO HEAR WHY EURYTHMY PLAYS SUCH A BIG ROLE IN THE FIRST 7 YEARS .

ARTICLE ABOUT A BOOK FOR EURYTHMIST. I think you can only get in German

' Eurythmy in the first seven years; an elixir of life in our time- basis from a study of man with practical examples' by Elisabeth Goebel . Verlag Freies Geistesleben 2005.ISBN 3-7725-1868-0 EURO 24.-

It rays out joy ( they relate that to the book not to the Eurythmy), joy in the world of children in their first seven years: joy in the art of movement, eurythmy: joy in educational activity carried by Rudolf Steiner's concept of the human being. ( I know the person who wrote it,. She is very positive and enthusiastic. Anyway I think the article is valid, particular for our kindergarten teachers.)

Sensitive, and in a language with humour, the chapters can be fluently read and in a language which shows poetic insight. She has achieved the eurythmy lesson in the kindergarten, and at the same time showing the background to it that can be gained from observation of the children and the effects of eurythmy...

The content and structure of the book is woven like a tapestry. Practical examples ( verses, stories and exercises, with indications how to carry them out in movement and with musical accompaniment) are artistically woven with the eurythmical task of accompanying the being of the child through the sounds of speech carried by moods and pictures, and to practice skill in bodily movement. The structure of lessons, embedded in the cycle of the seasons, is developed with examples and variations illuminated in method and teaching technique. They are brought to the attention of the eurythmist as stimulation to his/her own creativity. A loving, serious, joyful encouragement is the prevailing tone, awakening a deep trust towards the creative and healing formative forces of eurythmy.Here the arts of eurythmy and of education flow together, deepened through points of view out of anthroposophy.

In this book a path is described leading through all four seasons. The respective education aims are formulated and eurythmically fashioned out of the moods of mature, the various human activities, the elemental beings and the experience of the human inner and outer worlds. The realms, for example,of the seven life -processes, of the ether-body and its meaning for the work with children are carefully described, through lessons for spring.In the light summer stories there lives the refreshing and nourishing forces of the sounds of speech, which can be equally experienced by the children and the eurythmists and most stimulating through their teaming imagination. The stimulation of the senses( Steiner's teaching of the 12 senses) is awoken in the example for the autumn. Further lessons for autumn , Advent and winter deepen the inner world of experiences of the incarnating personality ( the 'I” of the child).

1. Illumined through the stages of development expressed in walking, speaking and thinking. Here moral forces are fostered, which as pictures or in the rhythmical breathing of movement can have their strengthening effect throughout puberty right on till adulthood. It becomes clear what support for the individual path in life can be given through the short eurhythmy lessons in early childhood..........