Martha Eddy, CMA, RSMT, EdD, is an authority within the field of Somatic Movement Education & Therapy (www.DynamicEmbodiment.org) & and the various sub-fields of somatics. She has co-created curricula and published on the bodymind connection, including how to apply somatic awareness to neuro-motor development (www.WellnessCKE.net) & socio-emotional learning (www.InnerResilience.org), peace education/ conflict resolution (www.EmbodyPeace.org), social somatics (www.MovingOnCenter.org) and environmental issues (www.GlobalWaterDances.org). Her studies at Columbia University Teachers College (MA in Applied Physiology and EdD in Biobehavioral Studies) culminated in research on the Role of Physical Activity in Violence Prevention.
Dr. Eddy created the Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Therapy Training in 1990 combining knowledge from her studies with dance therapist/physical therapist and dance anthropologist Irmgard Bartenieff (Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies) and occupational therapist and somatic movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body-Mind Centering®). In 1999 Eddy developed Moving For Life Dance Exercise for Health® with a focus on breast cancer recovery. Moving For Life (www.movingforlife.org) is now its own non-profit organization and has been featured on National Public Radio, NY1, CNN, the Today Show and CBS, and Forbes magazine for its help with people recovering from life-threatening illnesses.
She's taught worldwide and since 1984 has served on the faculties of NYU, Princeton, Columbia, SUNY- Empire State College Graduate Center, Antioch Graduate School, UNC-Greensboro, SFSU and IUPS. She founded and consults with the Center for Kinesthetic Education providing professional development and workshops for the NYC Department of Education teaching educators and administrators how to use somatic awareness, movement and dance within diverse settings in schools. She provides a special focus on how to engage children with disabilities including those on the autistic spectrum.
She serves on the board of The Yard Dance residence on Martha’s Vineyard, Moving On Center in Oakland California and Moving For Life, and has been on the boards of NDEO, CORD, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute, and the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (past-President). She likes to perform and most recently tours a solo work called This Old House – a tribute to her somatic lineage and ecological action.
Her course work at IUPS is offered in NYC including the courses related to Dynamic Embodiment, Moving For Life, and BodyMind Dancing such as: Listening to the Body, Readings in Embodied Spirituality, and Approaches to Somatic Human Sexuality.
Eddy’s new book, Mindful Movement The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action is in the University of Chicago catalog slated to be on shelves summer 2016. In 2014-15 she published chapters in Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities (Intellect Press) and Attending to Movement (Triarchy Press).
Body-Mind Centering® is the licensed trademark of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Martha Eddy has been a licensed Teacher of BMC since 1984.