by Michelle Cohen

Martha Eddy’s SMTT program truly reflects her movement experience, in depth knowledge of the body, and responsiveness to connecting to community. Using her creativity, compassion, and intellect she weaves a dynamic system that is accessible for learning and provides a strong foundation from which practitioners can then layer their own movement perspective.

As a movement specialist and dancer, I fuse Pilates, Yoga, and Gyrotonics along with the Bartenieff Fundamentals to create a movement vocabulary. I tend to work from a sensing/listening approach which can sometimes be challenging to contain and shape from exploration into pro-movement action. The SMTT program gave me a structure and a tangible way of assessing movement, listening and perceiving the nervous system, organs, and glands as well as taping into movement expression along with movement function. This focus on motion and emotion helped me recognize how I can better support and hold the space for my clients so awareness and change can manifest from within the client. This work helps me create more on point custom programs for each client where I can address their specific needs.

Martha is a natural community builder and the program is truly a moving community that functions in the same way as we work. I feel we are all participating and energetically adding to thus huge web of movement approaches and communication. We are truly creating a support system not only for our clients but for us practitioners as well.

Michelle Cohen, a professional modern dancer, is a Pilates and movement instructor. She is a senior teacher at Movements Afoot as well as a senior teacher and teacher trainer of Pilates at the Kane School. She has conducted international teacher training workshops for the Kane School in Brighton, England and Tokyo, Japan as well as nationally in Indiana, New York, and Florida. Michelle’s own workshops in nutrition, dance, yoga, and Pilates have been received in places like California, New York, and Belgrade, Serbia. She initially received her Pilates certification with Kelly Kane through the PhysicalMind Institute in 1998 and has been a certified Gyrotonic® and Gyrokinesis® instructor since 2001. Michelle is also a Kettlebell Concepts™ Level I Instructor and integrates momentum training into her teaching practice. Michelle has studied anatomy with Irene Dowd and continues to study Pilates and Bartenieff Fundamentals with Lesley Powell. She has been studying the Alexander Technique with Nancy Wechter since 2001. Michelle has expertise in working with professional dancers and has worked with company members from American Ballet Theater, Limon Dance Company, Royal Danish Ballet, and Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She has been quoted in Pilates Style Magazine (July 2005) in the article ‘Healing Practice’ for her work with clients with disc herniations. As a dancer, Michelle continues to perform locally and internationally with several New York based dance companies. She holds a BA from the American University in Washington, DC and a dance certificate from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is presently receiving her yoga certification at Laughing Lotus in New York City. As a teacher, Michelle uses her listening skills to hear the body and then fuses her movement sensibilities with sound biomechanics to create customized programs and classes.

(212) 904-1399

By Dr. Martha Eddy, CMA and Lesley Powell, CMA

Movements Afoot brings together workshops for trainers to have a deeper understanding of the body, introduction to unique body therapies/systems such as Bartenieff Fundamentals, BodyMind Centering and Laban Movement Analysis.

Become a leader in the greatest approach to fitness - the whole person,intelligent fitness program:
Body-Mind Fitness.

Students will learn to carefully observe and accurately describe movement, and how to integrate anatomical, physiological and neurological information into movement protocols. We will review the importance of the bones in initiation, and how the muscles interact in specific movements. This program also includes a bodymind approach by exploring “internal support” - how the organs and the other autonomic body systems affect posture and movement habits. Once observations are made hands-on and movement techniques for enhancing core support at this deeper level are shared. Teachers learn when to direct their attention to muscles, organs, glands or fluids to get the most meaningful results.

Using Laban’s theories of how the body moves 3-dimensionally in space, the importance of the balance of stability/mobility for every action, Bartenieff Fundamentals and biomechanics, students gain a more profound understanding of how to move the body with efficiency.

Throughout the training we apply the principles of biomechanics, Laban’s and Bartenieff’s theories, and other body-mind principles to our movement practices, fitness training, Pilates, yoga, dance, wellness, etc. All participants will practice how to “train without strain.”

Learn:

* Biomechanical principles of the joints and musculature
* Improving efficiency and increasing healthy functioning
* Dynamic stability to improve mobility
* 3-dimensional understanding of the whole body
* Practical applications to your teaching

And more! Sunday workshops:

* Integrating the Pelvis October 21 Doris Pasteleur Hall
* Integrating the Upper Spine November 18 John Chanik
* Integrating Breathe December 16 Amy Matthews
* Integrating the Legs January 20 Lesley Powell

Sunday and Monday courses are part of the required course of study for Soma II BodyMind FITNESS Certificate.
Monday classes are led by Dr Martha Eddy, exercise physiologist and motor learning specialist and former president of the International Somatic Education and Therapy Association and Director of Center of Kinesthetic Education

Join us on weekends for Soma I throughout the fall to learn the basics and get a taste!

• Fundamentals of Fitness (Bartenieff work)
• Evolution of Fitness (Motor development)
• Body-Mind Fitness Coaching (LMA)
• Functional Anatomy and Physiology (BodyMind Centering)

Learn more at Movements Afoot
(212) 904-1399

The bennies of 2x’s per/week over one.

“Two times per week is more than twice the benefit. Your nervous system gets the opportunity to learn an develop at a much deeper level. This will have greater carry over in all areas of your daily activities and you will be able to progress into more challenging repertoire. One time per week is a great benefit but it’s fairly slow for progress.”

Tom McCook, Director of Center of Balance in Mountain View, Ca.

by Lesley Powell, Director of Movements Afoot
Tom and I are both directors of Pilates Movement Centers on both coasts. We are both committed in teaching people the rewards of taking care of their bodies through Pilates, yoga and different body therapies. Movement is essential for health. It does not have to be always heavy duty workouts. Poor workouts can diminish natural range of motion and create injuries. Movement should enhance your fitness and your longevity.

Especially as I get older, my practice includes Pilates, yoga, Hanna Somatics and a daily practice of constructive rest. Sometimes I will do some floor exercises as I watch TV or listen to music/radio just to take my joints in a gentle range of motion.

Even though I am a fitness professional, taking class with other teachers takes my body and mind to a different place. It is so easy to be distracted by your work and chores. Taking time out to work under a teacher deepens your practice. The teacher will guide you through a warm-up and forcing you to concentrate on what you are doing.

Lesley Powell, director of Movements Afoot

I appreciate Pilates more today than 20 years ago. My body is changing with menopause. As a dancer, I was hypermobile. My sacrum goes out of whack and my body compensates for this. Dancers typically overstretch which creates ligament laxity. Once a ligament is stretched, it will not return to its original length. That is why people with sprained ankles are proned to hurting their ankles again.

Hitting my 40’s and perimenopause, my flexibility is changing. One side feels very flexible and the other, very tight. Pilates has given me back the stability my spine needs with working on flexiblity as I strengthen. I feel balance after my Pilates workout.

Some of my other clients have problems when they overstretch without any stability training. Pilates uniquely works on stability/mobility at the same time. For the hypermobile, it creates a foundation. For the tight client, it brings the joints back to a normal range of motion.
I regularly take reformer classes at my studio. It is a beginner/intermediate class taught by Molly Wilson. Even a beginner Pilates Class is a great workout. I feel absolutely great after the class.

I still do a yoga practice. Sometimes the overstretching in a yoga class puts my muscles in spasm. I have learn to bring the Pilates principles of stability in my yoga practice.

Lesley Powell, director of Movements Afoot

Lesley: I love how my somatics knowledge has changed my practice in yoga and Pilates and centered my mind. When I go to my competition to experience other teachers/studios, there are a lot of generic cues out there.

“Pay attention to your breath.”
“Be in the moment.”
“Feel your powerhouse.”

I try to pretend that I am a beginner with no experience. With those phrases I might not have a clue what is being said.

Somatics has offered me a roadmap to lead my nervous system (mind) to my body. Let’s take breath;

Good breath affects the entire body. There is the real function of the diaphragm moving up and down with the inhalation and exhalation. The compression of the diaphragm moving down on the inhalation puts downward pressure on the organs, the pelvic floor and the rib bones expand. The exhalation is like a gentle hydraulic press. The diaphragm moving up on the exhalation creates a suction to lift the pelvic floor and the organs. Did you notice how just reading this changed your breath?

This understanding puts my attention inside of myself. It brings me into the moment. This is one way somatics changes my practice. As I breathe with this understanding of how breath works, I release tension. My body starts organizing its natural intentions.

Martha: I am interested by your last phrase – natural intent or natural intentions. What are the body’s natural intentions? I feel a clue to the wisdom of the body-mind relationship lives here. As we become more aware of our bodily sensations using our proprioception (the receptors in our nervous system that help us feel ourselves) we have more clues to how take care of our selves, move, or what to do. This type of decision making is an integration of body and mind processes.

So often during the day when we aren’t registering our body sensations we just move forward with no conscious and subtly hurt ourselves – developing physical imbalances in any overused or underused areas. We all know that if we hold our head in an odd position while feeling stress that our shoulders and neck often become tense. It is also possible to use too much tension while looking. This overuse causes stress in the eyes themselves but also in the rest of the body. At CKE and Movements Afoot we offer classes where we can become aware of sensations in the body (Pilates) or the eyes (EyeYoga), for instance. In these classes we have a chance to reengage with our physical sensations and to practice new ways of organizing the body for efficient use. This process involves a change in attitude – so once again we experience that body awareness is affecting the mind. “The mind can refer to emotions, cognition – thoughts or feelings. At CLE we encourage people to relax first, then to use the mind to tune and feel the body. Once there is an open state of awareness we can move in new ways and express new parts of ourselves, from this we can move into more potent action, most likely more comfortably as well.

One of my clients just mentioned that she was surprised by the fact that after her table work session rather than acting calmly she went home and pursued a difficult conversation and was able to bring a longstanding problem to resolution. She attributes this to having relaxed enough to feel stronger enough in herself to speak honestly.

So one of the CKE mottos is - Relax, Feel, Move, Take Action!

I would love to talk about how this type of awareness helps us in our practice of yoga. It would be fun to introduce everyone to the type of somatic movement classes that we do at CKE and Movements Afoot as well.

Lesley Powell, director of Movements Afoot

I have just heard interviews and the audiobook of the sellout book, “The Secret”. The bodymind connection has gone mainstream. My movement practice has taught me how to focus my mind. This concentration, once reached (a type of meditation for me), has changed my body and brought about relaxation.

To keep your mind focuses is a daily practice with successes and failures. Life and the stresses of work can take your mind into dark places. Movement has been my savior that teaches me how positive thoughts changes me.

As teachers of movements, we are teaching clients how to concentrate. We have to balance how much our clients can focus. Sometimes getting our clients moving with flow is the way to change the thought process.