Become a Moving for Life Instructor

The Art and Science of Teaching Somatic Movement and Dance to Older Adults and Cancer Patients of all ages

Fully Online Program: Moving for Life Certified Instructor (MFLCI) with Dr. Martha Eddy, Sherry Greenspan, Dana Davison, and Ana Leon Bella

MFL Pedagogy 2024 Dates

Saturday Afternoon Sessions  ONLINE
Dates:  May 4 - June 29  (3.5-hour sessions x 8 days = 24 hours of pedagogy). 

Times: 1:00 - 4:30 pm EST ONLINE


Program Structure: 

Attend Workshops to get a TASTE and Learn the UNDERLYING THEORY:

Get started with your Pre-requisite workshops now!  Scroll down for the details. 

While studying the pre-requisites, you may also start toward your MFL certification, learning a new approach to teaching movement and dance, TODAY by:

Filling in your application and begin attending the following FREE & REQUIRED classes:

We assume you have studied some anatomy.  If not it is expected you will also take an online or in-person anatomy course.  One resource is SomaticAnatomy.com

Learn The Choreography and How to Teach It:

The Moving For Life Certified Instructor "Pedagogy" Intensive begins in May 2024:

Pedagogy: Attend 24 hours of synchronous online classes, together with other students and the teacher, to learn the routines, the logic behind them and how to adapt them to different populations, beginning in May. You will learn about how Moving For Life addresses a multitude of health issues, as well as how to bring joy into the classroom. A key goal is to learn the science of safe movement and how to guide your students to pace themselves using body awareness.

Note: Only 25% of classes may be attended by watching recordings, and only IF you have time zone or work challenges. Live synchronous online attendance allows for you to ask questions and for us to move together! 

Tuition: $1850 includes Pedagogy and supervision of your classes and lectures (60+ hours), your practical teaching assessment and a review of the final take-home written exam 

Discounts are available for BMC/SME or SMTs, LBMS certified (DE-SMTT), DEP, CTBMDs, and graduates of  Moving On Center Somatics Module, St Mary's MFA, Marymount BS&M, Montclair MFA, ASU MFA or UCNG-MADE who have studied with Martha Eddy or Dynamic Embodiment faculty.  (see discount codes below) Payment plans, too. 

For NYC area Dance Professionals moving into new careers, we can direct you to potential scholarships - check out the Theatre Development Funds career change application. Scholarships for Spanish-speaking teachers, Staten Island teachers, and a small discount for Choreographers.  Also, apply for Work Exchange as needed.

For more information about any aspect of the above email: teachertraining@movingforlife.org

The Pre-requisites our underlying theory taught using experiential strategies  

EACH MFLCI prospective student must study the five somatic theory courses listed below, often offered in 2 - 5 day intensives. These courses are paid for separately (not included in the MFLCI tuition) because many applicants have already fulfilled one or more of these requirements.


Pre-requisites are offered in partnership with Dr. Martha Eddy's Dynamic Embodiment program, which trains somatic movement therapists and Certified Teachers of BodyMind Dancing. Other options: the pre-requisite courses are offered through Moving For Life, Moving On Center, Laban Institute, and in your local colleges or studios online or in person. You may supplement this study to focus on how to work with older adults and people with cancer by taking our Integration/Application classes. See below.  


Dates don't work? Ask us. These classes are often also offered online through MFL, Moving On Center, Laban/Bartenieff or BMC® teachers around the world, and possibly in-person in your local areas, at colleges or studios of acting or dancing. 


Bartenieff Fundamentals

Bartenieff Fundamentals (BF)  is a set of principles and movement sequences that can be used to observe and analyze the body in motion as well as to re-pattern habitual movement that does not serve us. Immerse yourself in an extraordinary, integrative movement experience that goes beyond technique, extends to all types of movement, and maps new kinesthetic possibilities. All of our introductory workshops support somatic dance pedagogy and are useful in all areas of life. 

March 2024 Dates

Five Fridays for a total of 12  hours of ONLINE study

Dates: Friday, March 8 
Friday, March 15
Friday, March 22
 Friday, March 29
 Friday, April 12:  Master Class with Martha Eddy
Propulsion Sequence -- Getting Up from the Floor or Chair.

Times: 11 am - 1:30 pm EST 

Instructors: Ana Leon Bella and Martha Eddy

Tuition: $350 (Five Sessions)

(Partial scholarships are available by writing to officeofmarthaeddy@gmail.com) 

You receive a 50% discount for all classes if auditing and/or visiting as a CTBMD, MFLCI or DEP-SMT.  

Embodied Physiology: Moving through the Body Systems 

Body Wisdom: Skills for Relieving Stress & Anxiety 

15 hours detailing seven body systems as experienced in Dynamic Embodiment and Body-Mind Centering®. Learn the location and embodied function of our physiology. Experience movement that brings consciousness and health through skeletal alignment, muscle strength, balanced hormonal glands, sensing diverse organs, activating varying fluid rhythms, embracing our fat, and calming the nervous system, all at the heart of BodyMind Dancing and Moving For Life. 

Dates: 4 - 8 Sessions = 12 hours of Study + 3 hours of Advance Study

Times: 1- 2.5 hours between 10:00 - 3:00 pm EST

Instructors: Michelle Cohen-Cote, Martha Eddy, and/or Sherry Greenspan, or Lorella Rapisarda in Florence, Italy (also online or hybrid):          

Body Wisdom: Skills for Relieving Stress, Anxiety & Insomnia

Begins April 23rd!  More info here 

Separate fee for the application class with Martha Eddy on June 11, 2024


Email: officeofmarthaeddy@gmail.com for more information

(Partial scholarships available by writing to officeofmarthaeddy@gmail.com) 

If you have already taken the Body Systems course with a BMC® teacher or DEP you may take a single day of the workshop for $40. You receive a 50% discount for auditing and/or visiting as a CTBMD, MFLCI, or DEP-SMT.  For videos of Embodied Physiology courses, you must be a certification student or graduate and apply for access.

Please contact officeofmarthaeddy@gmail.com with any questions about discounts, etc.

Laban Movement Analysis: Body, Effort, Space & Shape 

Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) uses a comprehensive vocabulary and analytical framework with which to identify patterns and changes of movement. Learn to analyze the body in motion to become a more dynamic mover and communicator through understanding your movement preferences and how you relate to your environment. Investigate the many ways the body can shape itself and project into space. Discover the qualities of your own movement and how to balance them through the work of Rudolf Laban. All of our introductory workshops support somatic dance pedagogy and are useful in all areas of life.

Dates:  Four Sunday Sessions = 12 hours + 3 hours of Advanced Study 

The Advanced Workshops like these are offered to demonstrate the application of the subject and for any one who wants to review their studies of the LMA.  

 + Sunday, May 7th (Special Application Class with Martha Eddy can be taken independently by students who have studied Body-Mind Centering or the DE approach to Embodied Physiology for at least 12 hours.)

Times:  2:00 - 5:00 pm EST (Five Sessions)

Instructors: Ana Leon Bella & Michele Minnick, and Martha Eddy

Tuition: $350

(Partial scholarships available by writing to officeofmarthaeddy@gmail.com) 

You receive a 50% discount for all classes if returning for review or because you are a CTBMD, MFLCI or DEP-SMT, Moving On Center Somatics Module, St Mary's or Montclair SU MFA, Marymount BSM, or UNCG MADE student/graduate repeating this study.  

The Heart of Shaping: Deepening Relationships with Movement Awareness
This session is also open to students with at least 12 hours of LMA or graduates interested in deepening or reviewing LMA with former faculty, Ex-Director, and President of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute:  Martha Eddy, Moving For Life's program designer, exercise physiologist, author, and internationally renowned somatic movement therapist. 

This class reviews LMA from the perspective of how we relate through our movement, including the meaning we make from gestural and postural movement.  The focus will be on different ways of forming our bodies in relationship to each other and our world - animate and inanimate. 

Date: Workshops like these are offered to demonstrate the application of the subject and for those who want to review their studies.  
Time: 12:30 - 3:00 pm EST
Instructor: Martha Eddy, CMA, RSMT, CTBMD, DEP, MFLCI, RSDE, EdD

Tuition is $85    (Some partial Scholarships available) 

Learning to Move: Introduction to Developmental Movement

Neuromotor Development

Go back to the beginning of life, from cells to pre-birth, with a basic introduction to embryology from a Body-Mind Centering®* perspective, to the earliest memories of our very creation, and see how it informs our movement patterns today. This work helps in "movement repatterning" - opening up new neural pathways, which are keys to slowing down aging, keeping aging healthy, and helping in recovery, especially from the toxicity of chemotherapy and other brain-altering treatment experiences. 

15 hours with DEP and Certified Teachers of Body-Mind Centering®

Dates/Times:  Coming in the late summer or early fall


Instructors: Michelle Cohen-Cote and Martha Eddy - online// 

Dana Davison and Mandy Chan in person

Sometimes also offered through MFL, Moving On Center, or BMC® teachers around the world, and in your local areas. 

To learn about all classes, go to: https://drmarthaeddy.com/calendar/. Select the first calendar date & event

Socially Conscious SOMATICS FORUM (SCSF)

Learn cultural sensitivity, speak to racialized tensions, and gain awareness and appreciation of the experiences of people of different cultures, gender identities or with different body sizes and physical abilities.  


Moving for Life has added Socially Conscious Body as a requirement for all Moving for Life instructors so that we are more available to lead and be with people from around the world. You are required to take a minimum of 8 hours of study to satisfy this requirement. One way to satisfy this would be to attend online forums that meets approximately every two months, often on Friday or Saturday afternoons or a midweek evening. 

  

However, the next upcoming SCSF session is special: 1-3 day event, which will be hybrid in the afternoons. Join online or in-person in Birmingham England  June 28 - 30. Crossing (Racialized) Borders Respectfully with Sandra Golding, Martha Eddy and special guests.  This meets 3/4 of the course pre-requisite.


You could begin your supplement your study by watching or reading any of these books:

My Grandmother's Hands - Resmaa Menakaem or

How to be an Antiracist - Ibrahim Kendi

White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo

Understanding Gender Identity  - Braxton Stock

Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Kimmerer (Native American)

On the subject of Fat Phobia/Fat Acceptance 

For more information email: teachertraining@movingforlife.org


MFLCIs become part of the MFLCIC - our professional community which meets twice a year to exchange ideas and get updates from Moving For Life, inc.  These sessions have been online but may become hybrid again in 2024.  


Training Hours can also be credited towards applying for registration with the professional association ISMETA.org as a Registered Somatic Dance Educator (RSDE).  Benefits include access to conference discounts, a professional community,  e-news, advocacy for the field & more! 


Discount Codes

Group 1: $200  (Code SOMA1)

Group 2: $300 Discount (code SOMA2)


Group 3: $500 Discount (code SOMA3)