Methode
ABOUT THE FRANKLIN METHOD
The Franklin Method® uses Dynamic Neuro-cognitive Imagery™, anatomical embodiment and educational skills to create lasting positive change in your body and mind. The Franklin Method was founded by Eric Franklin in 1994 and is taught all over the world, including the Universities of Vienna, Cologne, Karlsruhe and the Juilliard School in New York.
The Franklin Method® is recognized by the health providers in Switzerland and is a regularly seen at Dance, Pilates, Yoga and Physiotherapy conferences. One of the greatest discoveries of the 21st century is the plasticity of the brain; that the lives we live shape the brain we develop. The Franklin Method® is at the forefront of practical neuro-plasticity; showing you how to use your brain to improve your body’s function. It teaches you how to harness the transforming power of the mind. It can be applied to improve all of your abilities. It all starts with the knowledge that we have the power to change.
The Franklin Method® teaches dynamic alignment and how to move your body with maximum efficiency to keep your body youthful and energized. Your whole body is part of a symphony of coordinated movement. In a sense, your posture is reinvented at every instant. In every moment, the ideal combination of limbs, joints, gravity, moving parts, connective tissue, and muscle must be found and directed by your brain and nervous system.
- Increases jumping height in dancers (Heiland et al.,Research in Dance Education, 2012).
- Improves plié arabesque performance in dancers (Heiland et al., Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity, 2012).
- Improves mental imagery ability in people with Parkinsonʼs disease (Abraham et al., Neural Plasticity, 2018)
- Improves disease severity and motor and cognitive functions in people with Parkinsonʼs disease (Abraham et al., Neural Plasticity, 2018).
- Improves pelvic schema and graphic-metric representation in people with Parkinsonʼs disease (Abraham et al., Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2018).
- Improves mental imagery ability and characteristics in dancers (Abraham et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 10:382, 2019. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00382)
- Improves developpé performance, hip range-of-motion, and pelvic postural alignment in dancers (Abraham et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 10:382, 2019. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00382)
About Dynamic Neuro-Cognitive Imagery (DNI)™
Dynamic Neurocognitive Imagery (DNI)™ is an imagery-based systematic method for movement and postural control retraining. DNI uses progressive movement exercises combined with various methods of imagery to draw participants’ attention to anatomical structures and locations, body biomechanics, as well as spatial and functional relationships between body segments during movement. Thus, participants are trained to observe, contemplate, and use enhanced anatomical knowledge to enhance movement quality and optimize the movement of the body part (e.g., acknowledging the pelvis location and its counter-rotational motion during gait to facilitate normal gait patterns within the pelvis and lower extremities.) DNI practice integrates movement experience, anatomical and biomechanical knowledge, movement-related imagery inputs and sensory cues, proprioception, self-talk, and self-touch.
DNITM is a novel, academic term comprising the “Franklin Method” (the imagery method developed by Eric Franklin) and its associated knowledge together with current updates and advancements from our clinical experience and related academic research.
To-date, DNITM is the only comprehensive imagery training approach that provides participants and students with a systematic approach towards learning and using imagery for sports, dance, and daily life performance. As such, it can be applied to all movement techniques and exercise regimen, including Yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais, etc. DNI is also the only approach that offers regulated teachers’ training courses with well-established syllables and a faculty of officially trained teachers.
Scientific studies have shown that training to DNITM resulted in improved biomechanical and qualitative aspects of dance movement performance in 18 college dance students and resulted in a significant improvement in jump height in 13 college dance students. Recently, we determined that performance of developpé (a complex dance movement), as measured by leg lift height, was significantly improved in 34 college dance students following an intensive, 3-day DNITM training. This training also improved participants’ imagery ability (measured with a standardized questionnaire) (Abraham, Gose, and Hackney, in preparation).