Eric  Franklin

PELVIC  POWER:

MIND/BODY EXERCISES
FOR STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY, POSTURE, AND BALANCE
FOR MEN AND WOMEN

Hightstown, New Jersey. Princeton Book Company. 2003.
127 pp. Paperback.      
      
        ISBN-10: 9780871272591

Reviewed by Patrick Killough



(1) biblio.com 04/20/2011

Would you recommend this book to other readers?  Yes. * * * * *

review:

I have not found by googling a good biographic sketch from birth to today of Eric Franklin, author of PELVIC POWER. But it seems probable that he was born and educated in Switzerland, where he now works. He also later studied dance in the United States.

Eric Franklin appears to write in German and then have his books translated into good, idiomatic English. PELVIC POWER is largely a reference book. You are free, admittedly, to leaf through it and read it from cover to cover in two or three hours, with an hour or two given to sampling well illustrated physical exercises. But you can also treat PELVIC POWER as an encyclopedia of anatomy and anatomical English, with focus on the human pelvis bones and their related muscles and nearby organs, especially diaphragm and lungs. It is a book to return to again and again.

It was news to me that "sit bones" and "pelvic tuberosities" are interchangeable in meaning. But tuberosities goes beyond simply sitting; they connote  attachment to certain pelvic bones of ligaments or muscles. And so it goes with dozens of other technical descriptive words, such as os coccygis, pubic symphysis,sacrum, ilium and on and on. A reader's eventual mastery of systematically presented, repeated and illustrated anatomical terminology may be the single greatest empowerment of PELVIC POWER.
 
PELVIC POWER is a detailed, systematic look at the human body within the author's patented conceptual framework called "The Franklin Method." That method specializes in the use of imagery. Imagery, however, is a broad term. Sometimes it seems synonymous with mental. Emphasis in PELVIC POWER is on the brain, on thinking and how the mental is a living component of the physical body. Personal or student advancement in good posture, health and flowing movement requires an ever growing awareness built up through exercises of mind, organs, skeleton, ligaments, joints, muscles and more. Such awareness is promised and delivered in PELVIC POWER.   -OOO-

http://www.biblio.com/books/401927224.html
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(2) lunch.com  04/30/2011

name of review: "Why have the ribs in the lower area of the spine disappeared in mammals?"

rating: * * * * *

review:

Have you done some tai chi? A bit of chi kung (qigong)? A touch of Feldenkrais or a little Pilates?

If so, then you are ready for Eric Franklin's paperback book of 2002, 2003 PELVIC POWER. Its subtitle is MIND/BODY EXERCISES FOR STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY, POSTURE, AND BALANCE FOR MEN AND WOMEN. In another of his four published books, health expert Eric Franklin focused on the human neck and shoulders as sources of tension. PELVIC POWER zeroes in on our pelvic basin with its collection of bones, channels, ligaments, nerves and muscles. But after thorough dissection of the pelvis, Franklin, in Chapter 5, tackles "The Stomach and Respiratory Muscles." He moves up along the spine from pelvic floor to jaw, ending in 5.11, "the pelvic floor of the mouth" and even the vocal chords.

Along that journey up the spine, Franklin describes four important muscles: diaphragm and  transverse abdominal and the "Siamese twin" iliopsoas. "The psoas originates in the lumbar spine and the iliac muscle at the ilium."

Eric Franklin believes not only in the reality of general evolution of species but in that theory's ability to explain why we humans, descendants of fish, sea creatures, reptiles and quadruped animals, now have the organs that we have WHERE we have them. Let me share with you a typical evolutionary-historical passage:
"Why have the ribs in the lower area of the spine disappeared in mammals? On the one hand, to improve flexibility, but on the other hand to be able to breathe better. The invention of hte diaphragm, which actively pushes the organs downward during inhalation, was an essential evolutionary step in mammals. This solution only became possible through the removal of the lower ribs, since otherwise there would have been no space for the organs, which are pushed aside by the expanding lungs.

In this sense the stomach muscles serve as elastic replacement ribs to the organs, like a living hammock, so to speak. ..." (Ch 5, p. 61).

PELVIC POWER is lavishly illustrated in black and white: both by photographs and drawings. Indeed, the concept of "imagery" and imaging is seminal to the author's thinking. The brain is a neuroplastic organ; and improving all other organs, posture and general health begins with retraining the brain. And what our brains to is think, imagine, image. Applying brainwork consciously to muscle work is a large part of what PELVIC POWER is about. Bone by bone, we learn standard anatomical jargon allowing us to identify every separate and united part of the pelvis basin. We learn to manipulate our "sit bones" also called "pelvic tuberosities." If we don't know how to talk using commonly accepted terminology about every major organ and muscle group in our body before we begin studying PELVIC POWER, we certainly shall by the time we close the book.

We learn to sit  properly and rise from sitting to standing. We learn to lift our head using not just our poor overworked neck but, by loosening our chest, to lift the head with our upper spine. And as we tune our bodies by improving the actions of our pelvises, we also decrease or banish pains in our shoulders, lumbar area and elsewhere. The practitioner of tai  chi, Feldenkrais, Yoga or Pilates will feel perfectly at home in the pages of PELVIC POWER. Franklin speaks of chi (qi) blockages, chakras, third eyes and other concepts drawn from Eastern wisdom and healthy practices. And for western philosophers and phenomenologists, Franklin even takes ideas from Maurice Merleau-Ponty. His bibliography is not large, but ranges widely, And the Index presented by author Eric Franklin amply covers every point he makes, every body part that he describes.

I find very little to criticize in PELVIC POWER. The text skips along, clearly written, well illustrated. I have to slow down a bit over some of the exercises he describes. Some few might be more clearly expressed or illustrated. But it would be hard to get more colorful than Franklin's descriptions. Thus in Ch. 4, "The Muscles of the Pelvic Floor,"  we are taught to sense filaments widening within

"the muscle triangle between the public bones and the tuberosities." "You can ... imagine a flying carpet under the pelvis which lifts the pelvis. However, if you think of dust when you think of carpets, then you can imagine the perineum as a kite. It carries the pelvis downwad when the legs bend, and helps to life it when the legs stretch. Focus your mental power on the perineum and feel the lift of the kite" (4.4).


-OOO-


http://www.lunch.com/Reviews/d/Eric_Franklin_PELVIC_POWER-1731431.html
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(3) bn.com 05/01/2011

title of review: "Ligaments and Connective Tissue Help The Pelvic Floor."

rating: * * * * *

review:

PELVIC POWER by Eric Franklin surveys the human body from the point of view of its pelvis. How minutely detailed the book can be is conveyed by the title of Chapter 8: "Ligaments and Connective Tissue Help The Pelvic Floor."

In the eyes of health guru Eric Franklin, the human pelvis is the product of evolution from sea creatures and reptiles through vertebrates and quadruped mammals to homo sapiens. In the process, our ancestors shed the lowest ribs, replacing gills by lungs which then crowded the more ancient organs. Once erect, the torso organs of homo sapiens fight against gravity held up by the pelvic floor. And to hold those organs, including the bladder, in place, many ligaments must do their work. Think also of the diaphragm and its suction, as well as the entities that attach the intestines to the back of the stomach wall. Remember, too, that big bag the peritoneum.

Eric Franklin claims to be almost alone among fitness trainers in presenting exercises to strengthen ligaments. He provides a few, arresting ways to strengthen loose bladders.

PELVIC POWER abounds in precise, standardized anatomical jargon. But author Franklin also has a powerful gift for colorful, concrete language. Here is an example from Chapter 8:

"Our connective tissue is like a bookshelf, but instead of books, there are muscles, organs and skin nicely lined up -- depending of the body posture. If the shelf is crooked or slack then the 'books' fall over or drop off the shelf.'"

And a major home to both ligaments and connective tissue is the human pelvic floor. Ligaments and supportive tissues can be trained. And Eric Frank tells how.

PELVIC POWER is all about understanding human anatomy, especially of the pelvis and the organs it supports. Learning the jargon precedes sensing and feeling the location of bladder, diaphragm, lungs, etc. And finally comes exercising them one by one to perform as they were meant to. PELVIC POWER is elegantly illustrated in black and white. It presents a short, helpful bibliography and as useful and thorough a topical index as you could ask for. A masterly treatment of an important subject. -OOO-

Recommended Reading:

-- Peter Gilligan - WHAT IS TAI CHI?

-- Pam Grout - JUMPSTART YOUR METABOLICM: HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT BY CHANGING THE WAY YOU BREATHE

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Pelvic-Power-for-Men-and-Women/
Eric-Franklin/e/9780871272591/?itm=1&USRI=pelvic+power
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(4) amazon.com 05/01/2011

title of review: Feel energy flow from hands into kidney, bladder and entire pelvic floor

rating: * * * * *

review:

Eric Franklin's treatment in PELVIC POWER of the human pelvis and all its anatomical links within the body is encyclopedic. The book is vividly written, often in language more literary than clinical, copiously and clearly illustrated in black and white and is anything but devoid of intellectual slants, practical exercises to make energy (ch'i, qi) flow more strongly around or through aching joints and elsewhere. Here and there the author claims to be original or nearly so, e.g. in proposing a few exercises for ligaments.

Eric Franklin sketches the surmised evolution of the human pelvis from ancestral sea creatures with gills to vertebrates and air-breathing mammals both quadruped and biped. When space was needed for the new-fangled air breathing lungs, the lower ribs made way.

The pelvic basin, its bones, nerves, ligaments, muscles, etc., constitute the ground zero of PELVIC POWER. But the author traces most key connections to the pelvis in loving detail. Thus we study the 3.5 pound liver, the 29.5 feet long intestines and much more.

The author also draws on Eastern wisdom and theories, especially Chinese views of yang, yin and ch'i (energy).

Consider as a typical example Chapter 7 "Organs, the Pelvic Floor and ch'i." A characteristic passage begins

"Touch the kidneys and imagine that energy is flowing from our hands into the kidneys. The image and the breathing guide the ch'i. We can also visualize the ch'i as light blue light, a color similar to a sky strewn with wispy clouds. Feel how this images charges the kidneys with ch'i. ... The breathing immediately deepens, the shoulders relax, the back loosens, the mind and thoughts calm and we feel that we are resting more on the pelvis. ... Anyone not in the mood for a light blue light and who wants to wake up rather than relax can try it with red with a hint of gold in it" (7.7).

PELVIC POWER is more than amply illustrated in black and white. It also describes a decent number of exercises, albeit fewer than some readers would like. The Index is fine. The bibliography is not large but draws on philosophers, scientists and exercise practitioners. All in all a reference book to treasure.

-OOO-

http://www.amazon.com/Pelvic-Power-Exercises-Strength-Flexibility/
dp/0871272598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303737767&sr=8-1
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(5) epinions.com 05/02/2011

Review Title: It's High Time We Train Our Pelvises

Product Rating: * * * * *

You should read Swiss fitness guru Eric Franklin's PELVIC POWER if ............. 

-- (1) You are into yoga, chi kung (qigong), Feldenkrais, Pilates, Chinese medicine and want to make your body perform better in one or more of those areas;

-- (2) You want to learn the technical jargon for the major anatomical elements of the human body, e. g., discovering "pelvic tuberosities" as synonyms for "sit bones";

-- (3) You are a woman and want tips on stength exercises before and after childbirth;

-- (4) You are a skeptical man and believe that "'real men' don't train their pelvic floor";

-- (5) You believe in the theory of evolution of species and wonder how and why our ancestral fishy water dwellers begat vertebrates, reptiles, land-dwelling air breathers, quadrupeds and finally erect, tail-shrinking, pelvis-demanding bipedal humans;

-- (6) You are not above having an essentially Western text scatter nuggets of Eastern wisdom: yang, yin, ch'i (energy), chakras, third eye, muladhara and such;

-- (7) You love good, colorful, didactic writing regardless of subject matter;

-- (8) You appreciate spot-on black and white photographs and drawings bringing front stage exercises for thoroughly described incontinence, organs, muscles, glands, sphincters, bladders, brains and breathing, coccyx and lungs,  hips and hernias, and friendly muscles like the bulbospongiosus and  the ischiocavernosus -- and many, many more;

and finally

-- (9) You demand that a teaching book contain a helpful bibliography or texts referencing -- beyond the obvious -- relevant thinkers and their works, such as Sri Aurobindo's Body-Mind Centering, Merleau-Ponty on Phenomenology and Jung on Kundalini Yoga; as good and thorough an Index as anyone could want; and a basic text that points you to other works by author Eric Franklin, such as his 

-- RELAX YOUR NECK, LIBERATE YOUR SHOULDERS, 

-- DANCE IMAGERY FOR TECHNIQUE AND PERFORMANCE 

and

-- DYNAMIC ALIGNMENT THROUGH IMAGERY.

In short, PELVIC POWER delivers a high quality product in all nine areas sketched above. It is a reference book, encycyclopedic, a genial, vivid, middle-brow but accurate treatment of materials that in less gifted hands would guarantee the reader a quick snooze.

Author Eric Franklin asserts or modestly implies originality in at least a couple of areas: insisting

-- (1) that real men (not just child-bearing women) do well to learn all about the pelvic floor and its neighborhood, including the prostate

 and

-- (2) that even ligaments can be trained.

In PELVIC POWER Franklin lays out three kinds of exercise: 

(1) conscious noticing and deliberate movement of internal organs (e.g. livers, kidneys, bladders); 

(2) touching with fingers areas of the epidermis nearest internal organs to be exercised; 

and

(3) visualizing what is going on.

The author draws on his copyrighted Franklin Method and "ideokinesis," which strengthens the body drawing heavily on "inner images," dance technique and the theory and ideas of Sri Aurobindo.

Other reviewers have complained of the (relative) paucity of concrete exercises. I, too, would be happy to have more than the four score or so sketched in the book. But the author presents more than enough, it seems to me, to get us deeply into anatomy and fitness. 

Here is how his very first example begins (read the book to see how it ends and what is its point):

"Hold your right arm horizontally out in front of you. Visualize your arm as a floating balloon, or your hand, forearm and upper arm as separate gently connected balloons. Now move your arm slowly up and down, maintaining the image of a floating balloon or balloons. If you don't like the image of balloons, you can also imagine the arm as a floating cloud, or feather carried by a soft breeze ..." (Introduction).

Or consider:

"The other symbol for muladhara is a four-leafed lotus flower -- if you are not familiar with this, you can visualize a lucky four-leaf clover; each leaf represents a corner of the pelvic floor." (Ch. 2)

Sometimes, the author's imagination soars in the tradition of 17th century  European Jesuit stage productions and in a secularized spirit of meditative "composition of place" found in the SPIRITUAL EXERCISES of Jesuit founder Saint Ignatius Loyola. Such extravaganza may or may not help you or seem tasteful. Thus,

"Touch the kidneys and imagine that energy is flowing from our hands into the kidneys. The image and the breathing guide the ch'i. We can also visualize the ch'i as light blue light, a color similar to a sky strewn with wispy clouds. Feel how this image charges the kidneys with ch'i. ... The breathing immediately deepens, the shoulders relax, the back loosens, the mind and thoughts calm and we feel that we are resting more on the pelvis. ... Anyone not in the mood for a light blue light and who wants to wake up rather than relax can try it with red with a hint of gold in it" (Chapter Seven: 7.7).

Bottom line: don't let the author's light touch fool you. PELVIC POWER is a serious teaching manual of anatomy, showing how the pelvic floor holds or interacts with many organs and how we can use that knowledge to improve our health and sense of well-being. Try it!

-OOO-

Pros:
The legend-shrouded pelvic floor. How to improve its neighborhood by visualizing, moving, touching.

Cons:
More exercises, please, MORE, I say! "Visualizing" at times high kicks into show-biz extravaganza.

The Bottom Line:
Stylistic gusto and relative stinginess in concrete examples notwithstanding, PELVIC POWER is an extraordinary read: tripling your active vocabulary of human anatomy, describing and challenging every organ in your torso

Recommended:  Yes.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_Pelvic_Power_Mind_Body_Exercises
_for_Strength_Flexibility_Posture_and_Balance_for_Men_and_Women_
Eric_Franklin/content_549362503300
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