About Alan Franzi and Creative Edge Yoga

For more than thirty years, I’ve been working with one question: how can movement become a path to living better, not just feeling better for a while?

I started as a yoga teacher and therapist. My training was classical and therapeutic, but over time my curiosity pulled me deeper into somatic movement education, neuromuscular re-education, and posture therapy. These approaches help the body and brain relearn how to move in harmony instead of conflict.

That shift wasn’t only professional. It was personal. As my own body changed with age and experience, I began to understand something: true resilience isn’t about how strong or flexible you are. It’s about how intelligently your body responds to life.

I’m a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). I also hold advanced certification in Clinical Somatic Movement (Level Three) through Sarah Warren’s Somatic Systems Institute program. My work draws from the Feldenkrais Method, postural alignment principles, and decades of teaching. What I’ve built is a practical, awareness-based approach that helps people move out of chronic tension and back into natural coordination.

This integration became the foundation of how I now teach and practice. It also aligns with a growing body of research showing that awareness-based and neuromuscular learning approaches can help reduce pain, improve movement coordination, and support lasting functional change. Studies in somatic practice and rehabilitation sciences have begun to confirm what this work demonstrates every day: when people learn to sense their movement clearly, the nervous system itself can reset, and genuine improvement follows. (Leach, Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences, 2021)

Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of students and clients. Some are rebuilding after injury or chronic pain. Others are active adults who want to move better. Some are teachers looking to deepen their own practice and understanding. Whether in private movement therapy sessions or group yoga and somatic classes, the goal stays the same: help your body remember what ease feels like. When that happens, strength and flexibility emerge naturally without strain, but instead through understanding.

Why Work With Me (and Creative Edge Yoga)

Working with me means taking the time to learn how your body actually moves and adapts. We explore how awareness, posture, breath, and subtle shifts in effort can change the way you move and feel. It’s not a workout in the traditional sense. It’s an education in comfort, stability, and freedom.

I bring a background that blends yoga therapy, somatic movement education, and years of practical experience helping people move beyond pain and limitation. What matters most, though, is the way the work meets you.

Every session—whether private or in a class setting—begins with where you are today. We start from what’s possible right now and build from there. The process is guided but exploratory, structured yet responsive. You begin to sense what helps and what hinders. Your nervous system does the learning, and your body follows.

This approach is gentle, but it’s not passive. It invites your full attention and rewards it with the kind of progress that feels genuine—less pain, better balance, and a deeper sense of being at home in yourself.

For more than 25 years, Creative Edge Yoga has served the Connecticut shoreline—Guilford, Madison, Branford, and New Haven. Our community includes people of all ages and backgrounds, all working toward the same goal: to move with greater ease and live with more confidence and vitality.

If you’re curious whether this work could help you move and feel better, reach out. I’m always glad to talk and help you find your next step.

This philosophy comes to life in my movement and posture therapy work. Learn how this approach helps people move and feel better.

Reference

Leach, J. (2021). Moving With Pain: What Principles From Somatic Practices Can Offer Those With Persistent Pain.Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences, 1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7868595/

Next Steps

If you want to learn more about how I can help you achieve your wellness goals, please explore my Postural Yoga and Movement Therapy and Full In-Studio & Online Class Schedule for program details or Contact me to schedule a complimentary consultation.

***This information is for educational purposes only and should not replace professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor before starting any new exercise program. Please read our disclaimer for more information.