The Immune Sequence
I began working with the Immune Sequence in October 2019 when I offered a course through Eurythmy Spring Valley to the public to prepare for the cold and flu season. I worked with the exercises every day through June 2020. After eight weeks of daily work I noticed a marked difference in my breathing, which tends to be shallow, but deepened considerably. In addition, I experienced the first winter where I did not get sick once –– not even a sniffle (a miracle when passing copper balls back and forth to children with colds and flus who don’t cover their mouths when they sneeze!). When I would begin to feel under the weather, I would do the sequence an extra time and the next day felt well. As of September 2020, I still have not been sick.
When I began working with the sequence in October 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic was not yet a reality for the United States. The exercises were originally given as a sequence during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, when Rudolf Steiner (the man behind Anthroposophy, Waldorf Education and Eurythmy) made the sequence widely known to all members of the Anthroposophical Society and the Anthroposophical Hospital.
The immune sequence exercises engage self-movement and meet the human being on a conscious level, working with imaginations that relate to our experience of the world and impact the physiological workings of our rhythmic system. The movements involve both the feet and the arms, while the imaginations deepen and warm our breathing, warm our digestion, warm our circulation, and build resilience. A balanced rhythmic system supports the health of the nerve-sense system and the metabolic system helps our bodies to be a comfortable home in which to live on the earth. Warming through the circulatory system and respiratory system helps our Ego (highest self) to stay connected, grounded, and in control, and helps us to regulate the emotions of anxiety and fear which are rampant during a pandemic.
Overall, the sequence helps strengthen our immune system through gestures and imaginations that embody strength, love, hope, and letting go. It takes about 10 minutes to do and is always followed by a rest to allow the healing influences to work deeply.
Sickness is sometimes unavoidable and sometimes unnecessary to prevent, but when faced with a pandemic we can choose to be our healthiest self, building our resistance and resilience to illness with both inner and outer care. Inwardly we can build a supportive environment with health-giving content that can lift people’s spirits. This cultivates inner strength and clarity and combats stress, which can present itself on a physical and emotional level, making us more vulnerable to illness and affecting our decisions and our ability to get things done. Outwardly, we can spend more time outdoors, enjoy connecting with the earth and each other and engage in conscious warmth- giving movement activity. This can help us to feel well situated within our body.
In the midst of the fear and turmoil surrounding the pandemic, people who worked with the sequence daily found that they were empowered through the ability to take their health into their own hands by doing something self-directed and proactive. They found that the sequence offered them a deep sense of wellness and calm that lasted throughout their day. Several experienced a difference in their breathing and circulation, and most people who did the sequence every day did not get sick or found that if they did it was much less severe than normal.
At Otto Specht School, the Middle School Group has been working with the immune sequence twice a week and the High School Group does this together every day before going home. If you are interested in learning this sequence, please let us know. I would love to offer a course to teach it to you!