Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

The word eurythmy stems from Greek roots meaning beautiful or harmonious rhythm and was used by Greek (and Roman) architects to refer to a harmonious balance of proportion in a design or building.

Eurythmy was born in 1911 when a widow brought her young daughter, Lory Smits, who was interested in movement and dance, to the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner . Due to the recent loss of her father, it was necessary for the girl to find a career. Lory wanted to do something between dance (ballet) and health gymnastics , and her mother asked if Steiner had something. He then replied “that one had to develop it, but that it surely existed, spiritually.”  Eurythmy was his hope to make spiritual life visible. So Eurythmy is "Visible" speech and " Visible" music (tone).

As preparation for this new art of movement, Lory began to study human anatomy, to explore the human step, to contemplate the movement implicit in Greek sculpture and dance, and to find movements that would express spoken sentences using the sounds of speech. Soon a number of other young people became interested in this form of expressive movement.

During these years, Steiner was writing a new drama each year for performance at the Anthroposophical Society's summer gatherings; beginning in 1912, he began to incorporate the new art of movement into these dramas. When the Society decided to build an artistic center in Dornach , Switzerland (this later became known as the Goetheanum) a small stage group began work and offered weekly performances of the developing art. Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Steiner's wife, who was a trained actress and speech artist, was given responsibility for training and directing this ensemble. This first eurythmy ensemble went on tour in 1919, performing across Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

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