Eurythmy Movements and Meditations: A Journey to the Heart of Language - Paperback

by Renée Parks (Illustrator), Cynthia Hoven (Author)

Eurythmy is a modern movement art developed by Rudolph Steiner in which the sounds of language and music are expressed through gesture and dance. Drawing from decades of experience as a performer, teacher and therapist, Cynthia Hoven offers new and inspiring insights into how the practice of Eurythmy can awaken our creative spiritual powers and lead to a deeper understanding of the meaning of life and our place in the universe. This book features full color pictures accompanied by inspirational meditative essays that describe the essential nature of 24 major vowels and consonants and how they are expressed in Eurythmy. Offering an entirely insight into Eurythmy, it offers inspiration for anyone who loves the sounds of language, including artists, poets, class teachers and spiritual seekers.

Author Biography

Cynthia Hoven has been working with Eurythmy for over 35 years. She began her studies in the sciences, however, gaining degrees in Science and Psychology with the intent of doing postgraduate work in Parapsychology. She interrupted her studies to travel the world. She spent two years traveling through Europe, the Middle East, India and Nepal, Indochina and Japan. Upon returning to the United States, she shifted her focus to work with the healing arts, and began her studies in Eurythmy, with the intention of doing postgraduate work in Therapeutic University. Completing these trainings in 1982, she worked in as many situations in Europe as possible, performing Eurythmy and practicing Therapeutic Eurythmy with psychiatric patients (Friedrich Husemann Klinik), children with special needs (Camphill Community), and general medicine (Ita Wegman Klinik). She returned to the US in 1983, where she joined with a medical doctor and others to co-found the Raphael Therapy Center for anthroposophical treatments in Sacramento, CA. She simultaneously sought collaborative opportunities for working with Rudolf Steiner College and with the Sacramento Waldorf School. To continue her deep commitment to eurythmy as a performing art, she co-founded the Sacramento Eurythmy Performing Group, and helped direct, organize and perform in tours throughout the west coast during the 1980's. In 1992 she became a faculty member of Rudolf Steiner College, lecturing on anthroposophical topics and teaching eurythmy in all programs. In the 1990's she gained her Master's Degree, based on the thesis "Eurythmy: Making Speech Visible." In 2002, she founded a professional eurythmy training at Rudolf Steiner College under the sponsorship of the Eurythmeum Stuttgart in Germany, through mentor Michael Leber. The four year training graduated its first course in 2006, and continued to grow through Dec. 2010. Since the folding of the eurythmy training, Cynthia continues to teach eurythmy at Rudolf Steiner College, travels widely to teach adult and children's classes, and has an active eurythmy therapy practice. Her further spheres of interest include collaborative work with Impulse Youth Group, Oasis Games North America, playthecall, and many other ventures of cooperation and vision for serving the future of the planet by attending to deep spiritual, social and ecological values. Cynthia is grateful to share her life with her husband Harald, a leader in Biodynamic Gardening, and daughter Katrina.