Product Description

Destined to become a classic text and reference, Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery shows you how to use imaging techniques to improve posture and alignment and release excess tension. The book's 195 illustrations will help you visualize the images and exercises and show you how to use them in a variety of contexts. Part I of Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery discusses the origins and uses of imagery and includes 36 exercises that demonstrate dynamic alignment in practice. You'll explore the importance of posture and dynamic alignment and discover how to use imagery to affect body movement. Part II explains the biomechanical and anatomical principles behind complex imagery and illustrates 52 exercises to bring these principles to life. You'll learn how to use basic physics to create a strong yet fluid balance in your muscles and joints. Part III provides 250 anatomical imagery exercises to help you fine-tune alignments and increase body awareness. The exercises focus on different regions of the body--the pelvis, hips, knees, lower legs, spine, shoulders, arms, hands, head, and neck--as well as on breathing. You can select specific images to address individual needs or follow the sequence presented in the book. And Part IV provides 23 holistic exercises to sculpt and improve alignment in various positions--standing, supine, and sitting. These exercises will help you establish a body image that facilitates dynamic alignment and releases excess tension. By practicing the techniques described in Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, you'll tap into the power of imagery and create better movement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31302 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Eric Franklin has more than 20 years' experience as a dancer and choreographer. In addition to earning a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a BS from the University of Zurich, he has studied and trained with some of the top movement imagery specialists around the world and used this training as a professional dancer in New York. Franklin has shared imaging techniques in his teaching since 1986. He is founder and director of the Institute for Movement Imagery Education in Lucerne, Switzerland, and professor of postgraduate studies at the Institute for Psychomotor Therapy in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a guest professor at the University of Vienna (Musikhochschule) and has been on the faculty of the American Dance Festival since 1991. Franklin teaches at universities, dance centers, and dance festivals in the United States and througout Europe. Franklin is coauthor of the bestselling book Breakdance, which received a New York City Public Library Prize in 1984, and author of 100 Ideen für Beweglichkeit and Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance (both books about imagery in dance and movement). He is a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!
I love this book. As a yoga teacher and teacher trainer I find the techniques he uses invaluable for helping students work into postures, and for offering teachers ways to think about the energy movement within posture. For personal use the text is also helpful in guiding more delicate alignment and in engaging the mind with the body's work. I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone working with yoga, pilates or similar body alignment techniques.

Franklin strongly based on Sweigard
Franklin offers a second version on Sweigard's (1974) ideokinesis. Especially useful are his illustrations and psychological mentionings from child psychology.
He fails to mention important scientific reserach by Hanrahan on this topic. After thorough explanations I desired often a summary and guidance what to do with the presented knowledge and why it was important, eg. exercises are often given without explaining their practical usage.

I find his approach quite based in Western dance tradition and Western philosophical context.

Nevertheless his book is an essential introduction to a revolutionary way of thinking through instruction.