David Thomas France is a Movement Therapist, researcher, and senior yoga instructor with over 25 years experience. He is a certified practitioner of Body-Mind Centering®, a form of physical and sensory education that encompasses all the body systems and developmental aspects of human experience. David has studied yoga with masters throughout the world, particularly influenced by Rodney Yee, Donna Farhi, and Erich Schiffmann, and now focuses on personal research and deep listening to his guide practice. In tandem with his movement studies he has studied the Ayurvedic and Osteopathic traditions of healing and bodywork. Uncompromisingly eclectic and interdisciplinary, he brings to his lessons a broad range of experiences from athletics, martial arts, contemplative arts, dance, and healing arts. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, David teaches internationally, and has lived in Japan since 2007.

 

運動療法家、研究者、そして25年以上に渡る経験を持つ上級ヨガインストラクターであり、身体および感覚教育の一形態で、あらゆる身体システムおよび人間として経験される発達学的側面を網羅しているBody-Mind Centering®の認定プラクティショナー。世界を巡り様々なヨガの師に学び、とりわけロドニー・イー、ドナ・ファーリ、そしてエリック・シフマンの影響を受ける。現在は自身の研究と、内側からのプラクティスにじっくり耳を傾けることに心を注いでいる。動きの研究と並行し、ヒーリングとボディワークに関連するアーユルヴェーダやオステオパシーについても研鑽を積む。各種専門分野に渡る多様性に満ちた要素を妥協することなく取り入れ、運動競技、武道、座禅、ダンス、そして様々な治療技法といった幅広い経験を自身のレッスンに活かしている。米国サンフランシスコベイエリアに始まり、国際的に指導を展開。2007年より日本在住。

 

Particularly interested in the intersection of health, self-regulation, consciousness and self-transformation, David’s work focuses on educating people about the joys of developing intimacy with ourselves.  First introduced to Somatic Practices in the radical educational and political environment of Antioch University, he was impressed by the realization that sensory awareness formed the foundation for personal and social transformation.  He has pursued a broad spectrum of studies in body-mind practices ever since.  It was at Antioch that he began studies in Classical Yoga, Contact Improvisation, African Dance, Body-Mind Centering, and Zazen.  David eventually trained as a Yoga teacher with Rodney Yee and Donna Farhi.  He is now certified in Somatic education through School of Body-Mind Centering and is a trained bodywork therapist specializing in Thai, Ayurvedic, and Orthopedic massage.  Since 1993 he has practiced Zen Mediation with Yvonne Rand and Reb Anderson of the San Francsico Zen Center.  In 2006 he moved to Japan from San Francisco to advance his studies in Martial Arts and Zen.  He currently teaches yoga and embodied anatomy to movement and bodywork professionals in Asia and North America, and works privately with individuals doing bodywork and somatic therapy.  David’s Freestyle Yoga training teaches students to express yoga from the inside out – contacting the source of yogic movement within themselves.  The program is modeled after Integral Theories of transformative practice put forth by American Philosopher Ken Wilbur.  David’s current research projects include natural functional movement inspired by the French Physical Educator Georges Herbert and Parkour, the phenomenology of Hara, and crosscultural expressions of spontaneous healing movement.