Portland OR, 3

rd
-6
th
June 2010 1 Understanding Ourselves as Embryo
EMBRYO IN MOTION Understanding Ourselves as Embryo
With Jaap (J.C.) van der Wal, MD PhD, Maastricht, Holland
Portland OR, June 3 6, 2010

Orientation and introduction

This seminar will explore human prenatal development and show how biology is expressing the
essence of human spiritual enfoldment. Understanding the stages of development is a
foundation for therapeutic recognition of embryological forces in all later stages of life.
Craniosacral Therapists have been urged to comprehend embryological forces at work in
sessions because the forces that formed the body are continuously at work throughout life,
carrying the blueprint of Health into manifestation at every moment. This seminar is a rare
opportunity to hear a world authority on modern scientific understanding of embryology who has
developed a unique synthesis of this science with spiritual principles.

In the human embryonic development we are dealing with what could be mentioned as 'still
functioning in forms'. By this is meant that the gestures of growth and development that the
human embryo is performing could be interpreted and understood as human behavior. As a kind
a pre-exercising of what later on will appear and be 'freed' as physiological and psychological
functions. The embryo exhibits human behavior.

The human body gets its shape and form during the embryonic development in a continuous
process of change and metamorphosis. Using the phenomenological method of observation it is
possible to understand those gestures as human behavior. During the early phases of human
existence the processes that accompany the act of incarnation may be read from the biological
facts. Those gestures also are a kind of echo or recapitulation of the gestures of development of
man as a species. In this way of becoming a human and becoming human, biography and
biology meet. The embryo may help us to learn the real and essential patterns of human
development.

The human embryo seems to be a kind of continuous empathetic equilibrium between 'introvert
antipathy' and extravert sympathy' in relation to its context and environment. This polarity seems
to be active in various dimensions and directions a.o. between head and extremities and
between cranial (head) versus caudal (pelvis), while in the vertebral column the typically human
quality of going upright seems to be preserved. During its total development the embryo is the
expression of the presence of a being, which is able to mediate between heaven and earth.

The aim of the seminar is to let attendees share in the mighty processes that form the basis of
every human individual, participating not only with the intellect but also with the heart. This
innovative way of considering embryonic development will open completely new perspectives as
to polarities and threefoldness, microcosm and macrocosm, heredity and incarnation, evolution
and the development of mankind.



Portland OR, 3
rd
-6
th
June 2010 2 Understanding Ourselves as Embryo
Content in highlights

The Speech of the embryo Where biology meets biography
Mind and body in the womb? What are we actually doing as an embryo? The embryo as an
'introvert' existence. A phenomenological approach (dynamic morphology) reveals the embryo
as a human being, performing human behavior in the gestures of shaping and growing its body.
The body formative soul, creating and shaping the body as performance of the soul.

The gesture of Birth Being born as Coming from Heaven to Earth
The prenatal gesture of individuation, with emphasis on the processes in the first embryonic
week and on those of birth. The prenatal 'two bodies': the meaning of the fetal membranes as
'original body of cosmic origin'. Being born as a process of 'dying emancipation'.
At the background some methodological contemplation: Participator or onlooker? Two realities
in one. Two bodies? Understanding or explaining? Goethean phenomenological and holistic
science: how to overcome (not to deny) Cartesianism? What are we actually doing as embryo?
Heaven and Earth? Conception as primordial Polarity
Where do we come from? Getting more familiar with the method and approach of the 'dynamic
morphology' by means of meeting the awesome processes of fertilization and conception. How
the Goethean phenomenological view might open the eyes and mind for more 'spiritual' and
'supersensible' (transcendental) qualities in this process of 'coming to earth'. Polarization and
contrasting as instruments. Conception as image of a so-called Steigerung between two
polarities with 'turning inside out' as signature. The biology of incarnation? - Getting children or
making them? Reproduction or 'passing on life'?
From Heaven to Earth Incarnation and individuation
The processes of the first embryonic week, when only the dimension of space is present. The
zygote (fertilized egg cell) as the undivided human body. From the 'physical way of being alive
to the 'plant man' (germinating and growing out) in the second week. The first orientation in
space: the polarity of ventral and dorsal as incoming unconsciousness versus outgoing
consciousness. In the second week the time dimension appears. Man still is not 'there' yet, the
embryo as non-individualized being. The incarnation process of the heart: man is 'coming to
here'. Head and tailbone. In the third, fourth week from a being with only 'outside' to a being with
'inner content (body cavity).

Heaven and earth - The human body as equilibrium of polarities
The phase of 'animal man'. The dynamics of incarnation with the processes of de-lamination and
individualization of the fourth week as climax. Man and his fetal membranes, mirroring the
macrocosm of environment in the microcosm of the bodily organization. The development of the
extremities. The polarity between arms and legs, head and extremities with the vertebral column
as image of freedom in between.

Between Heaven and Earth The embryology of freedom
To the fourth phase with unfolding and raising up and the development of the human erect
posture. With the polarity of cranial and caudal, head and periphery now threefoldness appears
in all directions and dimensions. Man as mediator. Retardation and conservation of the upright
body axis as characteristic for the human quality of maintaining freedom and equilibrium: "An
animal gives in where a man holds back". Man as the adult embryo and as the first-born
creature. Man and animal difference or polarity? Retardation and non-specialization as clue oft
the human body and organization. Man as mediator. The embryology of freedom.

Portland OR, 3
rd
-6
th
June 2010 3 Understanding Ourselves as Embryo
Content in highlights (continued)

Dynamic Embryology and Morphology Contours of psychosomatic body organization
Based upon the methodology of the Goethean phenomenology as he applies it in his course
about human embryology, Jaap van der Wal offers throughout the course an introduction to
polarity thinking as to the form and function of the human body. The aim of this introductory
course is to help the participants to develop a more dynamic perception of the human body as a
living organism. The body shapes and functions are gestures of soul and body and therefore
understandable by means of a phenomenological approach, from the so-called participatory
stance. Out of a polarity anatomy and physiology, a threefoldness of the human body can be
developed that might reveal the body as a manifestation of the interaction of spirit and body. It is
an effort to overcome Cartesian anatomy and physiology terrorized by the notions of locality,
causality and determination. To fund therapeutic principles like Craniosacral therapy, Polarity
Medicine or Osteopathy a process morphology is needed that enables to see the whole body
as an instrument of the soul (not exclusively the brain). The phenomenological approach offers
this.

Texts and manuals
There are no special readers or texts of the course.
Next to a set of Figures and Diagrams that will be used during the course, next articles will be
handed to the participants, written by Jaap and also available on his website:
! The Speech of the embryo, A phenomenology of the embryonic existence, 2003 (15 pages),
ISBN 9080603732
! The phenomenology of human conception How to overcome reproduction? In: Energy
& Character, Vol. 33, Sept 2004
! (facultative) Chapter 4 Dynamic Morphology and Embryology. In: Guus van der Bie and
Machteld Huber (eds), Foundations of Anthroposophical Medicine, Floris Books, 2003, ISBN 0-
86315-417-4.
All slides presented are available on the website including most if the shown animations.

About the teacher - Also look at his website: www.embryo.nl
Jaap van der Wal PhD is medical doctor and works nowadays at the department of Anatomy
and Embryology at the University of Maastricht, Holland. Since his medical education in 1973 he
worked as teacher and researcher at various universities and schools in Holland. He became
specialized in the functional morphology of locomotion in particular regarding. Gradually he
became more and more interested in the philosophical backgrounds of medicine. He developed
himself as teacher in Philosophy of Science and in Medical Anthropology. My passion however
was and still is human embryology. The two domains of human locomotion and human
development (embryology) in a way are linked to each other by the concepts and principles of
form (shape) and motion (movement). The human body is a process, developing and
functioning in time. The embryo moves, behaves in forms. It is in this area that I encountered
anthroposophy. The Goethean phenomenological approach, which I met there, appeared to be
the key for bridging between the domain of 'natural science' and 'spiritual science' (or even:
religion). The method of dynamic morphology to understand the human embryo gave me the
tool to understand what we actually are doing as human beings when we still are embryo. With
respect I can find in the embryo cautious answers to questions as to the meaning of human
existence". He now teaches his Embryosophy in Europe and USA in institutes for
Anthroposophy, Craniosacral-therapy, Osteopathy, Polarity-Therapy and so on.

Portland OR, 3
rd
-6
th
June 2010 4 Understanding Ourselves as Embryo
Literature on Embryology
Bie, G. van der, Embryology Early development from a phenomenological point of view, Louis
Bolk Instituut, Driebergen, Holland, Publ. Number GVO 01, www.louisbolk.nl.
Blechschmidt, E., The Ontogenetic Basis of Human Anatomy A Biodynamic Approach to
Development from Conception to Birth. Ed. Brian Freeman, N. Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2004.
Drews, U., Color Atlas of Embryology, Thieme Verlag, 1995.
Hartmann, O.J., Dynamische Morphologie, Verlag Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt/M, 1959.
Knig, K., Embryology and World Evolution,TWT Publications Ltd., UK, 2
nd
Edition, 2000
Langman, J., Medical Embryology, Lippincot Williams & Wilkins, 1995.
Schad, W., Die Vorgeburtlichkeit des Menschen, Urachhaus, Stuttgart, 1982.
Verhulst, J., Developmental Dynamics in Humans and Other Primates: Discovering Evolutionary
Principles through Comparative Morphology, Adonis Press, Ghent NY, U.S.A, 2003
Vgler, H., Human Blastogenesis, Bibliotheca Anatomica 30, Karger, 1987.
Weihs, Th. J., Embryogenesis in Myth and Science, Floris Books, Edinburgh, 1986.
Wilmar, F., Vorgeburtliche Menschwerdung, Melllinger Verlag, Stuttgart, 1979.
Wolpert, L., The Triumph of the Embryo, Oxford University Press, 1991.
Steiner, R.: Vortrag 18. Sept.1920, in GA199, Vortrag 22. Aug.1922, in GA124, Vortrag 9.
Dec.1922, in GA218, Vortrag 17. May1923, in GA226, Vortrag 2. February 1924, in GA161.

Literature on Morphology
Foundations of Anthroposophical Medicine A training manual, Guus van der Bie & Machteld
Huber (eds), Floris Books, 2003, ISBN 0-86315-417-4.
Companions for the study of medicine, Anatomy and Physiology and more! Produced by Louis
Bolk Instituut, Holland. Look www.louisbolk.nl, choose Companions. Free download
Functional Morphology The dynamic wholeness of the human organism, Johannes W. Rohen,
Adonis Press, 2008 (available March 2008), ISBN-10 0932776361. [In this, his last major work, Rohen
presents the fruits of a lifelong study of the human organism. Viewing the various organs and organ systems as part of a dynamic
whole, Rohen arrives at new and profound insights. This book significantly expands the concepts of general anatomy and offers a
new basis for approaching the interaction of body and soul]


Publications by the author

Chapter 4 Dynamic Morphology and Embryology. In: Guus van der Bie and Machteld Huber
(eds), Foundations of Anthroposophical Medicine, Floris Books, 2003, ISBN 0-86315-417-4.
In English (75 pages).

Jaap van der Wal, Michaela Glckler u.a., Bausteine einer anthroposophischen
Physiotherapie - Dynamische Morphologie und Entwicklung der menschlichen Gestalt,
Persephone, 2
e
edition 2002, Medizinischen Sektion der freien Hochschule fr
Geisteswissenschaft am Goetheanum, CH-4143 Dornach, ISBN 3-7235-1183-X. In German
with extensive English abstracts.

Embryology and Human Conception, In: Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Volume 1,
Michael J. Shea, North Atlantic Books, 2007, Chapter 7 and 9, ISBN-10: 1-55643-591-6.