Movements Afoot’s Blog

Martha Eddy, RSMT, CMA, Ed.D., founder and director of the Center for Kinesthetic Education (CKE), brings to the fields of health, wellness and education, her strong belief in the power of movement and somatic awareness to enhance lives. She received her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University in movement science and education in 1998, and has a Masters of Arts in Applied Physiology and a Bachelors degree in Dance Education. She was an adjunct assistant professor in the Teachers College, Columbia University Dance Education Program for ten years.

At CKE, in New York City, she maintains a private practice as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT) that involves teaching clients to bring awareness to their movement coordination to enhance functional and expressive capacity. She especially enjoys her work with infants and children with behavioral, perceptual, and/or motor dysfunctions, and adults with neurological challenges, chronic pain, and interest in life transitions. This practice draws on her decade of training and teaching in neuro-developmental movement therapy with occupational therapist, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and physical therapist, Irmgard Bartenieff. Her practical application of this work provides a foundation for her Somatic Movement Therapy Training (Eddy”s Integrative SMTT) held biennially in New York and Massachusetts and affiliated with Moving On Center in California, a professional training program that she co-founded with Carol Swann.

She maintains her position as founding co-director and Director of Somatic Studies at Moving On Center — The School of Participatory Arts and Research (MOC) that opened in September 1995 at Malonga Caselourd Cultural Center (formerly Alice Arts) in Oakland, California. The school’s mission is to train movement professionals to be leaders who use mindful physical activity in new, somatic approaches to health, education and performance in their communities around the world. MOC is unique as a somatic movement education program that integrates creative expression inclusive of performance in its educational methods. Eddy continues to provide curricular oversight for the school.

Moving On Center provides all of the introductory courses for the Somatic Movement Therapy Training (SMTT), Eddy”s professional program that teaches her “dynamic intervention cycle” as well as her unique integration of principles and therapeutic strategies from Body-Mind Centering and Laban Movement Analysis. The SMTT can be studied in NY, MA or CA and in part through independent study in various locations around the world.

Martha Eddy has designed and taught courses in major universities including overviews of the field of somatic education and the relationship of kinesthetic learning to:

anatomy & physiology
dance and dance pedagogy
choreography
exercise physiology
fitness and weight loss
kinesiology
movement analysis
movement science
neuro-muscular re-patterning
perceptual-motor development
physical education pedagogy
qualitative movement research design
violence prevention
vision enhancement
Her academic positions have been with Antioch New England Graduate School, Columbia University, Connecticut College, Hampshire College, Hope College, New York University, the New School for Social Research, and San Francisco State University. She has provided curricular oversight to the development of somatic movement education and therapy programs including Springfield Colleges in Massachusetts and Luther College, in Iowa.

She is currently on the faculty of the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College (ESC) where her SMTT is affiliated, and many of her courses are part of the doctoral level program at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute in Somatic Psychology. She teaches a course for NYC educators and therapists on Conflict Resolution through Movement and Dance through the Dance Education Laboratory in New York City, also affiliated with SUNY ESC. She guest teaches at diverse training programs and universities internationally as well as having taught in most of the major dance festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

She has taught conflict resolution, movement, dance, physical and somatic education pedagogy to teachers and to youth in schools, universities, independent studios, and at conferences nationally and internationally. She periodically teaches open classes at Movement Afoot and at the Riverside Church Wellness Center where she served as Coordinator of the Wellness Center for two years.

Martha Eddy serves as a consultant to the NYC Department Education (e.g., developing the K 12 dance curriculum, Blueprint for Dance; providing in-service training for Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists who work in the school system; advising principal). As a result of her ground-breaking doctoral research on “The Role of Physical Activity in Violence Prevention Programs for Youth,” Martha Eddy works as an independent educational consultant or in conjunction with Educators for Social Responsibility and Project Renewal/The Tides Center in schools and community centers throughout the country inclusive of New York City public and independent schools. She played the role of Senior Program Advisor in the development of Project Renewal’s Stress Reduction Days for the NYC public schools in the Ground Zero region post 9/11.

She continues to deepen her research and teaching methods regarding violence prevention in schools and recreational centers across the country by implementing her Peaceful Play Programming. She is currently writing numerous articles and a teaching manual on this topic. As part of her Embodying Peace classes she leads workshops with adults or children in conflict resolution, violence prevention, body awareness, non-verbal communication, neuro-motor strategies in education, stress reduction, the use of the arts in socio-emotional education, as well as related fields.

Martha Eddy has also been a research associate of the Kinesiology Department of San Francisco State University and is a Senior Research Associate with the Laban Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. She has piloted a study of the effects of aerobic exercise on aerobic capacity and self-perceived vitality amongst women who have been treated for breast cancer. This has involved pre and post surveys of participants’ experiences in a flow-based aerobics program with special attention to lymphatic drainage through full rhythmic dancing that Dr. Eddy designed called Moving On Aerobics. She is currently involved in two research projects. In one study, sponsored by the Body-Mind Centering Association, Martha is working with Dr. Christine Kris (neuropsychologist, researcher, and educator) on quantitative polygraphic and correlated qualitative study of the developmental movement performance of people with brain disorders. The other study is with the Medical School and Dance Department of the University of Calgary and involves the integration of qualitative movement observations in the detection of special needs for the young child. The goal of each study is to develop a movement based assessment tool that has validity in diagnostic and therapeutic environments.

Martha Eddy is an avid arts advocate with a specialty in dance. Through the power of physical movement she has found that any person or group can become better at feeling life’s satisfactions, embody peace, and contribute to creating stronger and happier communities.

Martha lives with her family in New York City where she is active in her daughter’s public school.