Inner Focus, Outer Strength Using Imagery and Exericse for Health, Strength and Beauty

The mental technique of imagery--demonstrated, for example, when a dancer pictures a sunflower reaching toward the sun as he/she stretches upward--is thoroughly explained in this guide to daily stress-relieving routines. Movement, coordination, flexibility, and posture are discussed as external characteristics that can be improved significantly with a strong inner focus, and the same conclusion is reached in chapters on the benefits of good mental health for circulation, breathing, and even individual body cells. Practical advice proceeds from this background information, including how to choose and use an assortment of personal mental images, how to use tricks such as "mental recycling," and how to set up an imagined "portable fitness studio" during stress-inducing dead time waiting in line, climbing stairs, sitting in an airplane seat, talking on the telephone, or running the vacuum cleaner.

Eric Franklin is the director of the Franklin Method Institute in Uster, Switzerland, and travels worldwide conducting workshops. He is a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and has taught at the Institute for Psychomotor Therapy in Zurich. He is the author of  Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance; Relax Your Neck, Liberate Your Shoulders; and Pelvic Power.