Social life relates center and periphery. Eurythmy arises in this same oscillation. Is this why it’s so fruitful in interpersonal relationships? Noëmi Böken has been working as a eurythmist for many years, exploring the potential of eurythmy for businesses, organizations, and continued education with “movement-based process consulting.” Franka Henn in conversation with Noëmi Böken.
Franka Henn: My dear Noëmi, in one word: What does eurythmy mean to you?
Noëmi Böken: Active anthroposophy.
FH: How did you come to that?
NB: I often visit Nepal and have had the opportunity to work with a Rinpoche there. He told me that eurythmy is meditation with the will. I was completely fascinated by that. We had just done two hours of eurythmy together, and that was his insight. Today, depending on who I’m with, I think about how I can shape everyday situations more consciously through eurythmy and how I can teach eurythmy in such a way that people arrive at new insights, be that in social contexts or simply for themselves.
FH: When you think back to your childhood, can you see this motif already present and leading you to eurythmy?
NB: I started doing eurythmy in a Waldorf kindergarten when I was four, even though my parents weren’t interested in anthroposophy, and then again, later on in my Waldorf school experience, when students aren’t always into eurythmy. I always sensed a kind of holy seriousness in my teacher’s approach to eurythmy, a reverence toward the archetype of eurythmy. For me, this atmosphere of seriousness relates and connects all kinds of work; it’s the bringing of an awake consciousness to the activity of work. However, it doesn’t have to mean that one is always overly serious when they do eurythmy in my work.
FH: What do you mean by “holy seriousness”?
NB: One of the first books I read by Rudolf Steiner was How to Know Higher Worlds. Right at the beginning, he talks about the sense of reverence that children need to experience. I experienced this reverence with my grandparents, for example; they came from Hungary and had a strong religious influence. For a while, I even wanted to become a nun. When I read this in Steiner’s book, in my early twenties, it reminded me of these feelings of reverence, and I found them again in eurythmy. One can hardly say such things in Europe these days because people take it as airy-fairy or sectarian. But when I did eurythmy work with young prisoners in Thailand, they told me: “Eurythmy is a real being, and it doesn’t allow you to think negatively.” That’s holy seriousness.
FH: Today, you often do eurythmy work within interpersonal relationships, in businesses, corporations, social projects, and schools, for example. Is this focus you found for the “meditation with the will” something that can be brought to these kinds of work environments? How do you approach it when people stand in front of you who don’t want to participate in such things?
NB: There are very strong prejudices, of many different kinds, both among people who know eurythmy and those who don’t. It’s not necessarily easier to talk with people who are familiar with it since they can already have preconceived notions. We could talk much more courageously about spirituality, in general. Eurythmy is a modern path of development—one of many paths, but for me, it’s “the” path. I always have to be sure that I leave people free in adult education. But it’s also important that a spark of eurythmy’s potential shines out. There is a “holy seriousness” in it, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to be serious. A lack of humor is actually usually more of a problem in the world of eurythmy. Teaching requires tact and sensitivity: How do I speak to each person? How can those I’m working with have an experience, connect with it, and reflect on it? If this succeeds, the spark is lit.
FH: So, no matter who you do eurythmy with, you first ensure that there’s space for individual, personal experience? Is that like a seed for a person to embark upon a spiritual path? Not necessarily with anthroposophy, but any kind of spirituality.
NB: Yes, exactly. If you look at Waldorf education, for example, it was never about bringing anthroposophy into the classroom, but rather about giving children a foundation for their individual soul development, including in their eurythmy lessons, so that later, they could follow their own spiritual path—or not; they must be free, of course. But in order to give that foundation and opportunity, you first have to offer experiences to the soul that open this sphere and enable the individual to make their own decisions later on.
FH: That can lead to misunderstandings. You emphasized that even the freedom to decide for or against a spiritual path has to be present. You mentioned how there’s often the accusation that children in Waldorf schools are indoctrinated into anthroposophy. Unfortunately, there are negative examples of classes where students truly were not given this space for freedom. But what’s important is that’s not the original intention. You drew a parallel with eurythmy. When you work with eurythmy as a modern path of self-development, mainly with adults, what do you do to ensure there’s a possibility for these experiences while allowing for individual freedom? What are some important interpersonal prerequisites to achieve this?
NB: Above all, it’s always a question of courage. Sometimes you have a vision. (And I would advise everyone to take their visions seriously, even if they happen to scare you.) Bringing eurythmy out into the world clearly involves this question of courage, because eurythmy is not empty movement; it includes the soul and spirit. But everyone can do eurythmy, regardless of physical abilities. My task is to find ways to reach people, to get them to participate. I’m given a task, then there’s a space, and then there are the people. I have to create conditions together with the people in front of me so that we can take hold of the space, and eurythmy can happen, so that “holy seriousness” can be present—even if just for a moment.
FH: Do you remember a specific situation where you had to be brave?
NB: Oh, thousands! When I started my work with social eurythmy, I collaborated with a mediator who actually started me on this path. I accompanied him to a seminar for Asian executives. He did most of the talking, and I assisted him. Suddenly, he whispered to me: “In ten minutes, it’s your turn! The topic: leadership.” He really threw me in the deep end because I had to quickly come up with a practice exercise for these forty executives. But that remains one of my favorite exercises to this day.
Recognizing Oneself in Others and Others in Oneself
FH: In order to be able to take hold of these moments with courage, our maturity and life experiences play a significant role. How did you first come to eurythmy, and where did you find your courage?
NB: I often ask my eurythmy therapy patients what the most important moment in their lives was. Mine was when I was sixteen and, without my class knowing, I rehearsed a solo eurythmy piece and planned to perform it at a monthly celebration. I rehearsed it without really considering what it would mean for me to stand in front of 800 to 1,000 other people and publicly declare my commitment to eurythmy at my school. When I was ready to go on stage, I saw the hall full of people, and my classmates saw me, and they all started laughing. It was the worst moment of my life. And in a fraction of a second, which felt like an eternity, I wondered whether I should laugh too or stay true to myself and stand by my decision. It was a life-changing moment, and I decided to remain true to myself and to eurythmy. After that, I was never teased again, and from that moment on, I knew that I wanted to become a eurythmist. And at the age of 21, I began my studies. At the age of 28, I had another crisis in which I asked myself whether this was really the right profession for me. And yes, it was! And still is today. There’s nothing better!
FH: Did you have doubts during your crisis? What helped you get through it?
NB: For over a year and a half, I took a part-time dance course, which was quite intensive. It was mainly about improvisation. In eurythmy school, there are many things you aren’t allowed to do, and basically, I just wanted to have a chance to explore some of these things. I was the only eurythmist in this advanced dance course, which was made up of professionals mostly, and it was once again a kind of death experience. When the music started, we were told to “move,” and everyone was able to move except me. I wasn’t used to it at all because in eurythmy we always need a soul experience for our movements. During the course, I realized that dance is also limited, that it’s a lot about counting, perfection, choreography, but very little about what’s inside the soul. In this course, which I did as a kind of rebellion, I again recognized the value of eurythmy—that it’s the soul that dances. It is a part of dance, too, but it’s not as central as the outer appearance, which perhaps is less present in eurythmy. This was a very essential phase for me because I was able to free myself and live life to the fullest, but decided to come back to eurythmy all the more. And today I have found my freedom in eurythmy.
FH: And today, how would you describe this value or potential that eurythmy holds in concrete terms? What’s special about it, or is it more or less the same to offer Tai Chi as it is to offer eurythmy in a work setting?
NB: I think, in general, if a company offers anything to their employees beyond the usual workload, that’s already pretty modern. Tai Chi, eurythmy, Pilates, and so forth are certainly all beneficial. The difference lies in the question: Is this just about me feeling good physically, or is there something here about us as a “we”? Just the other day, I had a situation in a company where things could have quickly drifted into a workshop for self-discovery, but that wasn’t my job. Eurythmy can offer that, but the focus on the “we” is really the unique work of eurythmy. If the team or group is already reasonably congenial and then does eurythmy together, it can lead quite quickly to a frank and open atmosphere. In some situations, it’s good to do this with a mediator, especially if there are strong tensions between people. These situations can stretch beyond the scope of eurythmy. But in eurythmy, this mirror for interpersonal relationships and processes is made present. All our strengths and weaknesses become clearly visible. As I heard in the youth prison in Thailand: Eurythmy needs and works with truthfulness. Eurythmy doesn’t lie. And so, through eurythmy, one sees very deeply into social situations—if you want to. You don’t have to see these things; people can also experience them more lightly.
FH: So, eurythmy allows us to engage in an experience and awareness of self. In the best sense, it can also be a way of recognizing ourselves in others, of others in ourselves, and the “we” among us.
NB: Yes, exactly. That’s what anthroposophy means to me in the modern world. That we recognize ourselves and our tasks. And that we recognize each other and encourage each other, and that we don’t create obstacles for each other.
“Preparations” for the Social Process
FH: In social eurythmy, the fields of creativity and health are actually in constant exchange with one another because social life thrives on the fact that each individual is unique and that we’re all in constant interchange with one another, and we want to encourage each other. At least, that’s the positive direction we aspire to. And in social life, it also becomes clear which connections are healthy and which are suffering or even dying. From your biography, I see you were very interested in stage eurythmy in your younger years but later became a eurythmy therapist. So, you personally made this connection between creativity and health in your own life and are also very active in the social field. Not that you go to a group and talk about health or healing relationships in this context, of course, but isn’t eurythmy also a kind of therapy for the social world?
NB: We have to be very careful and actually shouldn’t refer to it like that exactly. A group of co-workers at a company is not inviting eurythmy as a kind of therapy. But then, what is a healthy organism? What is a company where people work enthusiastically under some guiding principle? What kind of charm does an individual employee experience or give off, for example, simply by being part of an organization? When people start work in a new environment, they’re often highly motivated, but then, after a few years, this tends to wear off a bit. How can we keep this initial enthusiasm alive, rediscover it, and share it with others? The fact that I’m passionate about what I do and don’t just “get the job done” is a huge, untapped potential.
FH: Does that mean that one can harness their potential for the benefit of their work community? Through the eurythmy you offer in work environments, for example, does it become more apparent that this vital connection exists between us and our working community, and not that we’re just performing a function?
NB: To give an example: Sometimes I’ve done a relatively challenging eurythmy exercise in a mixed team, which everyone thought we wouldn’t be able to do at first, and then in only twenty minutes we managed to do it after all. Everyone is surprised that it worked, and immediately the whole team feels connected with a new solidarity. Afterwards, when people who don’t normally work together go back to their jobs, they’re much more inspired and feel connected with the team and the organization as a whole. It becomes a little seed of potential for the entire enterprise.
FH: It’s actually like applying biodynamic preparations, only for social purposes! But what if you come to a company where the atmosphere is not so good, where there are conflicts, or where enthusiasm is dead—is this when a kind of healing comes into play? One can’t avoid that entirely in social work.
NB: In these situations, I prefer to work in tandem with someone who takes on the role of mediator. I also have experience with this kind of work. What usually happens then is that the mediator will conduct more lengthy discussions with the groups. My role becomes that of a process consultant. I listen to the conversations and find exercises that take what’s already been discussed and bring it into an experience, into activity, opening up its depths. When we include eurythmy, these work processes can often progress much more quickly because they have the initial conversations, but then immediately bring it into an exercise that provides an experience. The experience offers something concrete that can now be reflected upon, compared, and connected with the previous conversations.
FH: Can you give an example?
NB: Once, I spent three days with a mediator at a company. The first day was about the history of the company, its intentions, etc. The second day was about the present, and the third day was about the future. The process included all employees. It was focused on values and the question: Which values do we let go of and which ones do we take with us into the future? And how could these outdated values be redeemed and reimagined? The group wrote down their ideas. Instead of burning the pieces of paper, as is sometimes done with this kind of process, we worked with the eurythmy meditation “I think speech.” In place of the word “speech,” we used words they’d written down and carried them through the eurythmy exercise. We placed everything they wanted to let go of into the space and then, together, we “handed it over” to the spiritual world. There were twelve items and twelve rounds, and it was a large group—it took time, but it was a ritual that was fully satisfying for everyone.
FH: You have also described eurythmy as a path of experience among other kinds of spiritual paths. Your example reminds me of rituals that used to be performed in communities, which were actually needed by the members of the community. Eurythmy can also tie in here in a modern and, perhaps, more spontaneous way.
NB: Yes, and it was important that all 45 people were there—not just the CEOs sitting around discussing the company’s values. In that experience, it really sank in for everyone, and so it was then able to truly transform.
Bringing Eurythmy Courageously into the World
FH: That brings me back to the concept of “movement-based process consulting.” You and Rachel Maeder, Sonja Zausch, and Lea Tsangaris launched a continuing education eurythmy course on this topic in 2023/24. I actually took part in it. And now a second course is going to be given in the fall. How did you come up with the term “movement-based process consulting [bewegte Prozessbegleitung]?
NB: Our first course was very mixed. There were newly graduated eurythmists mixed with older, more professionally experienced eurythmists. The focus was clearly on working with adults and on how I could find my way into this work with adults. That’s what the title refers to on one side of it. On the other side, it’s also about the attitude we carry into our work, that we don’t place eurythmy at the center, but that it is accompanying a process. We listen to the processes currently present and find eurythmy exercises for the group from the processes themselves.
FH: Another innovative part of your course is the collaboration with a very experienced organizational consultant, Hans Ruijs, who taught some of the modules where participants can study and practice Spiral Dynamics, the developmental model for working with organizations and companies.
NB: Yes, with Spiral Dynamics, you learn to recognize the values of an organization. And we build on that by asking ourselves how we can incorporate these values into the processes present in the organization through eurythmy. This provides tools that enable people to become actively creative with eurythmy themselves and to find the right approach for every situation.
FH: In my experience, it was also a challenge, even a kind of requirement, to develop social intuition. On the one hand, to perceive what’s happening socially in a space, to listen and look closely, and not just to respond with thoughts and feelings, but with eurythmy, something tactile.
NB: Yes, exactly! It’s a sensitivity that nearly everyone has, but which we can cultivate and become much more aware of. Eurythmy is basically something very down-to-earth. I don’t “submerge” myself into some subtlety of sensitivity, but rather I apply this sensitivity to something useful. Eurythmy makes visible situations where everyone can learn. And when this happens, eurythmy is clearly present for all to see.
FH: Is there anything you learned as lecturers in the first course that you’re planning to change in the second, or anything new you’re going to add?
NB: We’re starting in September with a new team constellation. We want to focus more on what’s called “didactics.” Communication will also be a main focus—how can I communicate eurythmy? We want to offer even more tools than last time. In this respect, this new round will focus more explicitly on the “how” and not just the “what.” And we’re now organizing it for an international audience, meaning, in English, if necessary, English and German. This will allow people from all across Europe to participate.
FH: Sounds great. And lastly, do you have any advice for young eurythmists who want to follow this path?
NB: Be brave enough to go everywhere with eurythmy—let yourself be still and quiet for a moment—and then, just do it!
Link youwithme. July 15 is the deadline for registration in the training course: Bewegte Prozessbegleitung [Movement-Based Process Consulting].
Podcast You can also listen to this conversation in the podcast Anthroposophie zur Sache [Anthroposophy to the point]. Visit our website dasgoetheanum.com or your podcast provider of choice.
Translation Joshua Kelberman
Images Eurythmy at work with the kitchen and housekeeping staff at the Arlesheim Clinic; Photos: Nicolai Rissmann
