MARTHA EDDY, RSMT, CMA, Ed.D., founder and director of the Center for Kinesthetic Education (CKE) is the author of Mindful Movement – the evolution of the somatic arts and conscious action.  She brings to the fields of health, wellness and education, her strong belief in the power of movement and body awareness to enhance lives.  As a featured alumnus of Columbia University’s Teachers College she has been creating curricula in a wide range of interdisciplinary topics such as embodied approaches to conflict resolution, wellness, perceptual-motor enhancement, neuroscience for all, Moving Toward Peace, movement re-patterning and dance education for over 30 years.  She specializes in working with people with physical, emotional and learning disabilities and has an on-going passion for helping people see better-with socio-emotional intelligence.  She has created ground-breaking programs to improve focus, attention and visual skills.  Her mission is to train the public as well as health and educational professionals to be leaders who use mindful physical activity and somatic approaches in health, education and performance in their communities around the world. www.DynamicEmbodiment.org

Her first vision related curricula were developed in 1980 after researching the Bates Method of Vision Improvement from a holistic perspective, and working as an assistant with Dr. Richard Kavner in his developmental optometry office.  She developed Three-Dimensional Observing using Laban Movement Analysis to make the Bates Method a more full-bodied, neuro-developmental approach to enhance acuity, focus, eye convergence, and eye-body coordination.  She has continually developed and piloted approaches to visual exercises for children or adults including:  Eye RelaxatonTM, EyeYogaTM, EyeaerobicsTM (reviewed in Time Out New York), and Eye Openers are Mind OpenersTM.

Dr. Eddy has been providing professional development as well as direct services for children for the New York City public and independent schools since 1991. She began by working with Educators for Social Responsibility–Metro working closely with Tom Roderick, Linda Lantieri and Janet Patti. She collaborated with the New York City Department of Education in the writing of the Blueprint for Dance as well as the Blueprint for Dance for Students with Disabilities. She continues to serve as a consultant to the NYC Department of 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 principals). As a result of her ground-breaking doctoral research on “The Role of Physical Activity in Violence Prevention Programs for Youth” she played the role of Senior Program Advisor in the development of Project Renewal’s (now the Inner Resilience/TIDES) Stress Reduction Days for the NYC public schools. This work began at Ground Zero in the days just after 9/11 and aspects of the work continue today. She served as Coordinator of the Riverside Church Wellness Center for three years following 9/11 and has worked on numerous trauma recovery teams, most notably Inner Resilience with Linda Lantieri.

She has taught her internationally sought-after courses regularly at Teachers College, Princeton, NYU, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, the State University of New York, St. Mary’s College in the Bay Area, Montclair State University, Hampshire College, International University of Professional Studies in Spiritual and Somatic Psychology and Arizona State University as well as presenting at academies, conferences, festivals and many other universities around the world.  She was central in developing the curriculum in Participatory Arts for Moving On Center with Carol Swann as well as her own Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Therapy Training certification curriculum. 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. For more information on her coursework in movement, dance, physical and somatic education pedagogy visit DrMarthaEddy.net.

She also maintains a small private practice as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT) specializing in Dynamic EmbodimentTM that involves teaching clients to bring awareness to their movement coordination to enhance functional and expressive capacity. She especially enjoys her work with infants, children, and teens with behavioral, perceptual, and/or motor challenges. Her private work 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 unique synthesis of BodyMind Centering and Laban/Bartenieff studies provides a foundation for her own method – Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Therapy.  This program has been partnered with the non-profit educational arts organization Moving On Center - School of Participatory Arts and Somatic Research that she co-founded with Carol Swann in 1994 where she maintains her position as Vice President, and now is affiliated with Montclair State University, SUNY-ESC, and UNC-Greensboro.

Research: 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 been part of the NYU Langone team that demonstrated that the program Dr. Eddy designed  for breast cancer patients and survivors called Moving For Life DanceExercise for Health® (formerly - Moving On Aerobics, Moving On from Cancer®) has a positive and powerful impact on Body Mass Index – a key to reducing the recurrence of cancer.  She also piloted with Dr. Alison Rosen a study on the effects of Moving On from Cancer® on aerobic capacity and self-perceived vitality amongst women who have been treated for breast cancer. This involved pre and post surveys of participants’ experiences in Moving For Life’s flow-based aerobics program with special attention to lymphatic drainage through full rhythmic dancing.  

Other research projects:  Sponsored by the Body-Mind Centering Association, Martha worked with Dr. Christine Kris (neuropsychologist, researcher and educator) on a quantitative polygraphic and correlated qualitative study of the developmental movement performance of people with brain disorders. With the Medical School and Dance Department of the University of Calgary research involved the integration of qualitative movement observation methods in the detection of special needs for the young child. Dr. Eddy has since developed a movement based assessment tool that she uses in preK (HeadStart in Columbus OH) and early childhood programs.

Martha Eddy is an avid arts advocate with a specialty in dance and perception.  She serves on the board of the Yard – among America’s premiere dance residencies for emerging choreographers. 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.