Eric Franklin

Eric N. Franklin (born February 28, 1957) is a Swiss dancer, movement educator, university lecturer, writer and founder of the Franklin Method, a method that combines creative visualization, embodied anatomy, physical and mental exercises and educational skills. He lives in Wetzikon, Switzerland.

He earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Zurich and his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After many experiences as a dancer and a choreographer, and Breakdance, a dance book written with William Watkins in 1984, he has founded the Franklin-Method Institute in Uster, Switzerland.

He is a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science. He has taught at the Zurich Neurological Institute, the New York University, the Royal Ballet School, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Ballet School of the Zurich Opera, the University of Vienna, the American Dance Festival. He has coached both world and European athletes that became champions, and the Cirque du Soleil artists in the Franklin Method.

The Franklin Method (in German Franklin-Methode) was founded in 1994, and was originally for dancers. It was inspired by Mabel Elsworth Todd's ideokinesis, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen's Body-Mind Centering and Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga. Extended from dance field to every kind of human movement, this method combines dynamic science-based imagery, touch, anatomical embodiment and educational skills to create lasting positive change in body and mind, using a range of simple tools, like balls, Theraband, and other daily life objects.

The Franklin Method activates body and mind function through the use of imagery, experiential anatomy and reconditioning movement to improve function. It maximizes neuroplasticity to relearn body posture and movements by practicing movement with activation of unused musculature. The principal goals are how to obtain dynamic body alignment and how to move the body with maximum efficiency . In every moment, the ideal combination of limbs, joints, gravity, moving parts, connective tissue, and muscles must be found and directed by the brain and nervous system by help of appropriate imagery.

Imagery promotes a neurogenic changement of muscular condition which allows immediate results, before any myogenic (muscle tissue) one. Connective tissue and inner organs are also directly stimulated, with touch and visualization, in order to change posture and to obtain an inner and outer balance.The exercises have a considerable impact on lowering structural stress, too.

The method is taught all over the world, including the Universities of Vienna, Cologne, Karlsruhe, The Boston Conservatory and the Juilliard School in New York City. It is recognized by the health providers in Switzerland and courses are regularly offered at Dance, Pilates, Yoga and Physiotherapy conferences.

Eric Franklin is author of 18 books, mainly in the mind/body field, which have been written in German and English and translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Here are mentioned the publications in English:

• Publications by and about Eric Franklin in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library

• Hundert Ideen fur Beweglichkeit Einfuhrung in die Ideokinese
• Le corps et l'énergie
• Visualizzazione e movimento, cento idee per correggere la postura, sciogliere le articolazioni e migliorare le prestazioni fisiche
• Danza: acondicionamento fisico
• Czech translation of Relax your Neck, Liberate your Shoulders
• Dutch translation of Pelvic Power
• Chinese translation of Conditioning for Dance
• Japanese translation of Pelvic Power
• Korean translation of Conditioning for Dance
• Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance
• Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, Human Kinetics (1996)
• Relax Your Neck Liberate Your Shoulders
• Conditioning for Dance, Human Kinetics (2003)
• Pelvic Power
• Pelvic Power review
• Inner Focus Outer Strength
• Franklin Method Ball and Imagery Exercises for Relaxed and Flexible Shoulders, Neck and Thorax
• Beautiful Body, Beautiful Mind
• Happy Feet – Dynamic Base, Effortless Posture
• Rethinking warm-up exercises for the lower extremity for patients active life styles article by Tracey Vlahovic DPM on Podiatry Today, 2012
• The Psoas – Integrating Your Inner Core

• The Franklin Method: Pelvic Power for Core Integration DVD (2010)