Franklin Method Fellowship franklinmethodfellowship

In this episode we discuss Parkinson's Disease and some of the common symptoms associated with it. We share exercises that can help improve rigidity, a flexed posture, proprioception, balance and coordination. We kept this episode short as there is so much information about Parkinson's Disease and it affects many systems of the body. Our previous episodes on the heart, lungs, breathing, and pelvic floor are also beneficial for Parkinson's Disease. Make sure that you've checked with your doctor, and you have a safe setup when practicing the exercises. We show a lot of modifications to make them very accessible for all levels. If you do not feel comfortable with the exercises you can still benefit by watching the exercises and imagining that you are doing the movements. Enjoy the episode! 
The Franklin Method is also called Dynamic Neuro-Cognitive Imagery. There has been research done on using imagery with people with Parkinson's Disease. Here is the study below for reference.
Abraham Amit, Hart Ariel, Dickstein Ruth, Hackney Madeleine E. "Will you draw me a pelvis?" Dynamic neuro-cognitive imagery improves pelvic schema and graphic-metric representation in people with Parkinson's Disease: a random controlled trial. Complimentary Therapies in Medicine. 43 (2019) 28-35.

In this bonus episode we have Susan Lowell de Solorzano on the podcast. Susan is an expert in the new and fast-growing field of Biotensegrity. She is co-founder and board member of the Stephen M. Levin Biotensegrity Archive. She is show-runner and co-host of BIotensegriTea Party episodes. She is the author of Everything Moves: How Biotensegrity Informs Human Movement and other books. Susan has a background in Tai Chi Ch'uan and internal Chinese Martial Arts, music and kinesthetic learning.
Susan discusses what Biotensegrity is and how it relates to the human body. She gives experiences of how we can feel Biotensegrity with the tensegrity Skwish toy and a breathing exercise. She talks about how Biotensegrity offers a different perspective from conventional biomechanics and what brought about the shift away from the biomechanical model dating back to the 1600s. Please take Susan's advice as a hands-on teacher and build a tensegrity model where the compression elements and tensile elements don't touch each other. Please make sure you visit her YouTube Channel (Susan Lowell de Solorzano) and build a tensegrity with common household items.
You can watch the live recorded zoom meetings of the BiotensegriTea parties on the Biotensegrity Archive YouTube channel. Just search Biotensegrity Archive on YouTube and subscribe. Visit https://biotensegrityarchive.org/ and click on mailing list to join the email list.
Show Susan your appreciation by leaving comments. Enjoy the episode!

In this episode we continue with the spine and look at the facet joints. The facet joints are where movement occurs in the spine. We look at how the orientation of the facet joints changes as we move from cervical to thoracic to the lumbar spine. We look at how the individual vertebrae slide and glide on top of each other and get a sense of how the vertebra move in flexion, side bending and rotation. We bring our new facet imagery into the spine dance and band exercises for the spine. Lastly, we notice the positive changes we feel in the spine after this movement practice.  We encourage you to bring the imagery of facet movement into your daily life and exercise practice. Enjoy the episode!
 

In this episode we look at the design and function of the spine. Our spine is incredibly important to the health of our body yet many of us don't know a lot about it. We also tend to have negative associations of pain and injury with our spine. We hope this episode will change your outlook and give you a better understanding and felt sense of how your spine can support you and movement can be freeing and healing for the spine. We finish with the Franklin Method spine dance which is a nice routine to incorporate into your daily practice. Enjoy the episode!

We have noticed in prior episodes that exercises for the pelvis, breathing, heart and lungs improve our head and neck posture and give us a sense of a relaxed jaw. In this episode we look more closely at the muscles of the neck. We begin with an embodiment of where the cranium sits on top of the spine and get a sense of nodding our head moving the occipital condyles and rocking back and forth on the sit bones. We do exercises for our SCM (sternocleidomastoid muscle), Trapezius and Scalenes. Lastly, we look at the movement of the trachea with neck flexion and extension. These exercises in series create an incredible relaxation in the neck and shoulders and an openness across the chest. Enjoy this practice and share your experience and images in the comments! 

This is the replay of our live pelvic floor Q&A this week. We answered questions about the pelvic floor exercises in episodes 5 and 6 of the podcast and our attendees came with some great questions about the pelvic floor. We answered questions including how to use the exercises in the podcast to help with urinary urgency from pelvic organ prolapse, what are the best exercises for incontinence, and should we be practicing Kegels? If you have questions that weren't addressed in the Q&A please email them to franklinmethodfellowship@gmail.com.