Article in Pilates Style Magazine

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Katie feels empowered after Franklin Method

Victor’s experience with Franklin Method

Victor is a dancer at Juilliard. He has been stuggling with tension and tightness in his hips. Since 2 weeks of Franklin Method, his whole body has transformed!

Hanna-Lee’s life as a dancer has changed after Franklin Method

Hanna-Lee has ben dancing for 21 years. She experienced her first Franklin Method class at Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) in NYC with Laura Hames and feels like her whole life has changed.

Upcoming workshops in NYC in December with Eric and Morten

WORKSHOPS FOR ALL

Franklin Method: Torso Dynamics for a Liberated Upper Back

With Eric Franklin & Morten Dither  $120
December 6, 2009 10 AM – 1 PM

The ribcage involves itself in our breath but also serves as a mediator between spine and upper limb movement. In the first part of the workshop we will discover the dynamic movement of the ribcage and its  50+ joints in breathing and spinal movement. The organic, ligamentous and muscular involvement will be explained through imagery and simple movement.

In the second part of the workshop we will explore the bone rhythms of shoulder girdle and upper limb we will experience how to successfully integrate this movement into the ribcage, spine and core of the body. This will result in greater ease of movement, improved coordination and a natural sense of core stability.

• Understand and embody the dynamic relation of ribcage, shoulder girdle and arm to produce
• Not all arm movement are equally fit to produce power! Learn what  a “Neutral” or closed pack arm lift is.
• Experience the ease of motion and freedom possible of the ribcage, shoulder girdle and arm in breathing and movement.

 

Move Your Body Well–The Franklin Ball & Band Fest

With Eric Franklin & Morten Dither  $120
December 6, 2009 2-5 PM

In this class we will learn the unique Franklin-Method approach to conditioning with imagery, balls and bands and learn exercises that will create an immediate sense of strength and flexibility. With the help of balls we will improve our balance, alignment and coordination and increase the flexibility of the shoulder, back and hip-joint. The band exercises presented in this class will improve dynamic and static strength, trunk strength, extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility as well as motor and perceptual timing. Imagery is used with every exercise to increase the efficiency by which the nervous system directs the movement helping to achieve maximum strength and flexibility gains during the conditioning routines.

Learn:

• How to make your workout fun.
• How to use dynamic Imagery in a work out routine to modulate tension level, movement quality and muscle recruitment.
• How to use Franklin Balls and Bands to tone the whole body.

To register click here

Franklin Method debuts at the Cirque du Soleil show ‘O’

Last week, we had the pleasure to work with 90 Cirque du Soleil cast members over two days at their home in the Bellagio theatre Las Vegas. We watched them perform in the show which was breathtaking and their talent unbelievable~ diving from 100 feet up, swinging from the high trapeze and a school of synchronized swimmers all perfectly pointed and dynamic. The show was beautifully packaged in stunning scenery, moving floors, a huge 18 foot deep pool, and moving music and theatrical expression.

Thanks to director, Luke, the full cast of 90 acrobats, divers, trapeeze artists and syncronized swimmers in the cast of ‘O’ had the opportunity to experience an intense 4 hour workshop in the Franklin Method where they learned about their bodies and how to take care of them. It was astonishing, despite their incredible skills, that they lacked basic know-how and awareness of the function of thier bodies and how to take care of them. Eric started by asking them how they would like to end their career~ either by them deciding to do something different, or by injury. Obviously they all wanted the first, but despite that, they all expressed aches, pains and injuries in many of their body parts- especially spine, pelvis and knees.

We looked at the pelvis and spine and embodied it’s function, so that they can actually start to use it as it’s designed rather than wearing it out due to mis-use. Even though the performers can do incredible feats with their bodies, the fundamental understanding of movement and simple awareness was very compromised. It was a new perspective to be able to achieve the same movements with less stress and resistance.

In each session, we opened the second half of the workshop with teaching them how to balance their cortices. Both times, the artists were immediately more able to concentrate and be present in their bodies. they expressed feeling more centered, relaxed and present. There was a huge shift in the energy of the whole room, and they were able to stay far more present for the second section of the workshop.

These performers do 478 shows per year, and so their schedule is incredibly intense. Even this workshop was long for them to give their time to, but the response was so positive and full of appreciation and insights. It was an honor to work with these incredible people, and we look forward to doing more work with them.

One of their favorite parts was rolling on the Franklin balls and releasing tension all over their bodies. As they are able to give back to themselves rather than always being ‘outward’ and performing for others, they said that they started to feel the magic in their own movements again, rather than being lost in the spectacle of a magical show.

Musical spine

The spine is a keyboard playing beatiful music. As you move, every joint, tendon and muscle produces wonderful sounds . It is the music that moves you from within.

c. Eric Franklin September 2009

Year One Franklin Method Graduates

Eric and Morten just completed the year one Franklin Method teacher training in Boulder, Colorado. As usual, all the participants are excited and thrilled to get out and start teaching this work. Hear some of they had to say about the experience!

John. Chiropractor, Colorado.

“My pilates class has transformed with the Franklin Method”

Diane Miller, dancer teacher, pilates teacher
“I been searching for 40 years, and now… I have finally found it!!”

“I have gone from being dis-functional and aging to growing younger again!”

Master class at Colorado University

Eric taught a master class for the students of the dance program at Colorado University. The overwhelming response was one of completely new experiences. “I have never felt anything like it” was the phrase that we heard over and over again. “My leg felt so light and effortless, and my movement was much more balanced and co-ordinated.”

The most exciting part of this workshop was that the dancers felt empowered to really become their own teachers and take responsibility for their progression. Dancers are particularly good at ‘beating up on themselves’ in their minds (negative self-talk), and everyone experienced how this created a negative result in movement potential. If you can maintain a more positive inner diolgue, then the result is more confidence, ease of motion, enjoyment and more self expression, which in turn equals better technique.

Hear what these 3 dancers had to say:

Jan Dunn shares her experience teaching Franklin Method

Franklin Method at the Inner Idea conference 2009

What an image! 80+ movers, shakers and teachers experiencing their new movement possibilities and ways of thinking. When you experience your movement potential improve instantly before your eyes, it’s quite a big leap to recognize that was inside of you all the time, just waiting to be expressed and tapped into!

That was the over all response from the attendees of Eric’s 3 workshops~ ready to take the leap! For most people it was their first experience of Franklin Method, and to watch Eric present this profound information with simplicity and humor was inspiring and transformative. When you have the opportunity to experience first hand that simply changing your mind, changes your entire movement experience, it is life changing. There a a few people who said that their lives had changed in this hour and half workshop!

Magnificent laughter that flowed from the huge ballroom and the classes were over capacity due to word getting around that Eric’s workshops must be experienced first hand! You are not just learning anatomy in a fun and experiential way, but you are really being given the tools to become your own teacher and start being your potential. By looking at the design and function of the body- that is inside of us all, we can start to come closer to this magnificent design. When we use our body’s how they have been designed, they are obviously going to work better!

The question is, are you images and thoughts supporting this design or hindering it? We all experience thoughts that do not support our ‘highest good or potential’, so what are we going to do with that? In such a short time, we experienced the ability within to turn that around- and this is really truly mind-body!

Hear what some of the participant had to say:

Improve your plie NOW! Pelvis… pelvic floor… why do you need to know?

Do you want more ease in your plie? More freedom in your hips and lower back? To jump higher? To feel like you are working with your body, rather than fighting it? More flexibility? More strength?…

We will explore the dynamic anatomy of the pelvis, as well as how the pelvic floor supports (or fights) our movement. If you can see the movement that is happening within your body more clearly, and embody that function, then you will instantly see improvements in all aspects of your movement, co-ordination and flow. Most dancers are not aware of how the body moves, and if you can’t see it well, you can’t use it well.

Learn some of the theraband exercises for instant improvement in strength, flexibility and movement ease.

Experience an instant transformation in your movement that you can apply to all dance and movement forms.

Where: 280 Broadway, 2nd Floor (entrance on Chambers), New York, NY 10007
Phone: 212.625.8369- Call NOW to register!

When: Saturday October 10 & Sunday October 11: 11am – 2pm

Workshop fees: Members: $95 Non members: $135

From Redheads to Red Balloons

Kate Watson, from Inner Idea wrote about us in her blog

Click here to read the whole article

It’s getting late, and it’s time for me to wind this up. I spent the afternoon helping my co-worker Mike Bannan with a photo shoot. We were shooting Eric Franklin and Laura Hames demonstrating moves with red balloons and pelvic bones and dozens of other props and toys. We had fun. At the end, Laura snapped us all—maybe her pictures will show up on Facebook in the next few days. Many thanks to our Visionary Sponsors, without whom this conference would not have been possible. Now I’m going to join the Moonlight Meditation on the grass, and then Scott and I will head across the mountains for home. It’s been lovely. My “list of gratitudes” is long—I’ll whisper it to the night sky as we drive.

Eric Franklin leads a heart meditation at Inner Idea conference

Don’t just watch this… do it!
(cos you are anyway, whether you know it or not :-)

By experiencing what is going on inside our body’s we can experience a whole new level of embodiment and joy that really allows us to experience ourselves with much more potential and simplicity.

Try this simple exercise of experiencing your heart, and how it moves inside of you as you breathe. You may well notice how much more relaxed, aligned, easeful and buoyant you feel.

To learn more about the Franklin Method, see http://www.franklinmethod.com or http://www.franklinmovement.com

Embodying function improves function.

c. Eric Franklin.
Inner Idea conference September 2009

Shannon shares her experience teaching Franklin Method to kids

Shannon Murphy is a Franklin Method Educator and dance teacher based in Philadelphia. Here she shares her experience of teaching Franklin Method to kids.

The Art and Science of Plies by Eric Franklin

Dance Teacher Magazine

What is a good plié? That’s the million-dollar question I often ask students at ballet companies and academies throughout the world. But even though the plié is one of the most common movements in dance, I often get contradictory responses. The correct answer: A successful plié takes the center of the body down and up along the plumb line (central axis) in an efficient manner, without bracing, tension or excess effort.

When done correctly, the plié enables students to perform transitions, jumps, balances and turns. Understanding how the body works (coordinates) to produce the most efficient dance movement is key to improving technique. Since the mind controls the body, change has to first happen in the brain to be permanent—in the way you feel, picture and experience the movement. Imagery allows you to improve control of your body.

Few dancers realize that the subtle changes that happen in the pelvis during a plié are essential for maintaining alignment and turnout without gripping or forcing the joints. The human pelvis is designed to be elastic and respond to the movement of the legs and spine. Holding the pelvis rigid and tightening muscles increases tension, making movement more difficult and the body prone to injury.

To help students, ask them to imagine a flying carpet under their pelvises. In plié, the carpet carries the pelvis down and lifts it back up, greatly reducing the effort in the legs. Then, have them visualize the action of the bones and joints on the descent and move their bodies accordingly:

The three points of support in the feet—the center of the heel, the ball of the big toe and the ball of the little toe (fifth toe)—move away from each other. The feet must remain dynamic and involved in the movement. (See Figure B on page 131.)

The feet spread on the floor like butter melting. This prevents students from lifting their arches in plié, which causes the joints of the legs and pelvis to grip and reduces turnout.

The pelvic girdle is made up of two halves (innominate bones) and a sacrum (bottom part of the spine). Have students think of these halves as twisted plates or spirals. Point out that the top rims of the pelvic halves are on a different diagonal from the bottom of the pelvis, or the sitz bones (ischial tuberosities).

The sitz bones move apart (widen). This allows the pelvic floor (between the sitz bones) to stretch and the hip joints to bend (flex/fold) properly. Gripping the pelvis during plié will cause tightening in the hip joints and knees, which reduces turnout.

The back of the pelvis widens like a spreading fan, and the front of the pelvis narrows like a fan folding up. (See Figure A on page 131.)

The femurs (thigh bones) rotate outward. This is not abduction, or moving the legs sideways, but an external rotation that occurs naturally on the descent due to the design of the leg.

On the ascent, students should feel the weight distributed equally on both feet as they allow the upper body to ride up on the strength of the legs. The femurs naturally rotate inward without gripping the muscles, and the sitz bones move together. The back of the pelvis narrows (folds up) and the front widens.

Whether it’s a plié or another movement, all dancers have problem spots or areas in which they’d like to improve. Students can meet these challenges by learning anatomy and then using imagery to understand it in their own bodies. The end result: greater technical ease, strength and flexibility—all with less tension and effort. DT

Inspired dance

I am so inspired to dance every day with new images and embodiments catalyzing my potential and making everything so much more enjoyable. When you start to really feel the flow from the inside out, and become more in tune with how the body is designed it’s amazing how things transform in an instant.

Today, in Franklin Method class at Dance New Amsterdam in NYC, we were embodying the spirals of the pelvis bones, and how the pelvic floor then becomes an energy storage device. As you start to see and embody the movements that naturally occur between the bones,  it allows the system to absorb and release energy for movement- creating more efficiency, increased flexibility and ease. It also allows a wealth of otherwise untapped energy for movement with dynamic, elastic propulsion.

How can you block that energy transference? Unfortunately, as we discovered, a lot of dancers, movers, athletes and people generally do block that movement (either consciously or unconsciously) which creates tension and wear and tear on the body. We are often taught to hold ourselves in a certain position in order to create stability and alignment. The question then is… what is alignment? Do we want to move and be aligned? Now is that possible….?

Supportive springy sternum

Inspired by yesterday’s shoulder workshop, I was feeling the support of my sternum in ballet class today. Rather than the weight of the arms going down my back, I connected to the feeling of the forces being transfered into a supportive and springy sternum. From the sternum, the forces can be gracefully transferred into the ribs, to through the spine, and into the legs and feet. This creates an entirely different feeling in my whole upper body and connection to the floor.

In piroettes, I really felt the support and ease that this image created… and I also noticed my tendency for my weight to fall behind me, making me feel unstable, and like I need to ‘hold on’, and therefor produce excess tension. Feeling support creates freedom for movement. Connecting back to the support systems that are present in the body, and allowing them to take the weight, allows my movements to be far more elevated and free. 

Ann feels her bones moving :-)

Flexible, happy, mobile spine… today at DNA :-)

Come and experience the wonderful possibilities in your spine. Your spine is your support. It needs to be strong and flexible. We will be looking at the design and movements of the spine, and you will be zinging with a new effortless dynamic strength and spring-like quality in this most important area of the body.

Today (and every Monday) at Dance New Amsterdam 12pm-1.30pm

280 Broadway 2nd floor (enter on Chambers Street)

The Franklin Method teaches you how to use imagery effectively to improve alignment, flexibility, balance and use the body as it is designed. By embodying the function of the body, we improve function, movement potential with efficiency and ease. Each class consists of a warm up, exercises that improve posture, awareness, movement and dance. You will learn Eric’s Theraband series- (as seen in ‘Conditioning for Dance’ by Eric Franklin) as well as other exercises with the balls to increase feedback, increase flexibility and strength in a balanced way.