At the Academy, you will receive hands-on training from nationally recognized experts in the field of bodywork. The faculty has an average tenure at the school of over ten years. Not only are they specialists in their prospective fields, but they are also practicing bodyworkers bringing into the classroom their experience in private practice, spas, resorts and hotels. The value of their collective knowledge and expertise will be brought to bear as they guide you through your studies.
CORE FACULTY
Charlotte Cook, ND, LMT
Anatomy and Physiology
“A friend once said to me, ‘Massage is a synthesis of everything you learn in your life’. Over the years I realize how true that is for me as well.”
As a licensed massage therapist and naturopathic doctor, Charlotte specializes in chronic illness prevention through a healthy alkaline diet. Charlotte is also a passionate gardener and beekeeper. She lectures and writes about the politics of food.
Carla Cross, LMT, Hakomi Therapist
Professional Ethics & Business
Communication & Professional Ethics
Carla works with small business owners to develop and organize their businesses. She is dedicated to helping students create a successful and balanced career in the bodywork field. Her experience includes over 20 years of private practice in massage incorporating Hakomi Therapy. She has taught massage, anatomy and physiology and communication skills as well as business. Carla also provides bookkeeping and tax preparation services.
Elisabeth Farley, LMT, RMTI
Certified Trager® Practitioner
Clinic Supervisor
“Touch the Body, Teach the Mind, Reach the Spirit.”
Elisabeth combines more than 30 years of teaching experience, somatic explorations and dance to create a rich experience in movement education. She has been a Trager practitioner for body/mind integration since 1985 and is also a Trager Introductory Workshop Leader. Since 2002 Elisabeth has supervised student clinics at the Academy. She also maintains a private practice in Santa Fe.
Vicki Hawse, LMT, RMTI
Massage Therapy, Medical Massage
“I enjoy the sense of exploration, intimacy, and wonder at the possibilities of touch and the human connection.”
Vicki incorporates Deep Tissue, Craniosacral and Structural Massage. She has been practicing Massage Therapy since 1999, became a massage instructor in 2003 and began working at Santa Fe’s Ten Thousand Waves spa in 2004. Vicki also has training in Elementary Education and experience as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Susan “Tanya” Leherissey, NTS, LMT, RMTI
Shiatsu & Oriental Theory
“Ancient Taoism arose from an earth based culture which understood the human body as a chi filled landscape, like the earth it is mountains, woods, plains and sea.”
For more than ten years, Tanya has studied and practiced Japanese and Chinese Meridian Therapy. She delights in exploring how nature expresses the ancient Five Element Theory in real people with real imbalances. With more than eight years of teaching experience, Tanya offers the student a practical style of Shiatsu with an understanding of chi movement and balance in the body.
Shanna Marsh-Martinez, MA, RPE, RPP
Somatic Polarity
“I love teaching Polarity! It is so exciting to witness the blossoming of each student throughout the course. I am honored to be a part of the teaching and the polarity profession.”
A former public school educator, Shanna now brings her practical, passionate, and playful approach to all learning arenas. She also practices Polarity and Cranial Sacral therapy in her private practice in Santa Fe, NM.
Virgil Cain Reed, BS, LMT, cNMT, OBDS
Communications
“Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as often as you can, as long as you can.” ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Virgil blends Emotional and Social Intelligence teachings with an ability to understand the direct implications of “hands-on” work. Virgil’s passion for instruction and leadership encourages a student-centric experience and the most well-rounded learning environment possible. Teaching from the heart, he often recommends his students “stop intellectualizing a feeling art form.”
Virgil is originally from Maine, but has resided in Santa Fe for 7 years. He considers this space home and is drawn toward the authenticity that is Santa Fe. Virgil’s background toward bodywork includes 4 years of athletic training curriculum and 2 years of Physical Therapy curriculum, 13 years of experience working directly on and with the body and 8 years as an LMT, currently holding advanced certificates in Neuromuscular Therapy and Optimal Breathing. Virgil’s passions include exploring this wonder-full geographic area, mindfulness practices and snowboarding the deep and steep in Taos.
Kristi Seibold, LMT, RMTI
Massage Therapy, Aromatherapy
“I see myself as a cosmic tailor, making room and freeing parts of the body to create space for the spirit to be free within it’s home.”
Kristi has studied Massage, Esalen Massage and Aromatherapy. She has taught Swedish Massage, Spa Treatments and Aromatherapy since 1986 and has been a practitioner since 1987. Kristi also offers private workshops and apprenticeships in Santa Fe and NYC and is the owner of a natural perfume and essential oil business.
Jeffrey Thompson, LMT, RMTI
Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner
Anatomy & Physiology, Body Mechanics
“In order to do what you want you must first understand what you do.”
Jeffrey has taught Massage, Anatomy & Physiology and Body Mechanics since 1998. He maintains a private practice in Santa Fe, where he works with the Feldenkrais Method of movement education, Deep Tissue massage and Thai Massage. Jeffrey has additional training in Medical Massage, Lomi-Lomi Massage and Myofascial Release.
Ben Thomson, MA, CHMT, HHP
Trauma Healing and Communications
“Maya is Nirvana.”
Founder of the Self-Care/Corporate Wellness training company, Universal Self-Care Solutions, Ben has been an active participant in the health community for over 16 years. He serves clients from many walks of life including The State of California (Office of Emergency Services), Local Health Care Organizations, and Internationally renowned performers, artist, researchers and social activists. He teaches simple, daily practices for cultivating vitality, presence and well being as well as proven ways to integrate these into a busy lifestyle.
Ben has a background in a variety of healing approaches from psychiatry to music to Vipassana meditation. His certificate programs include Master of Arts in Developmental Psychology, Holistic Health Practitioner, and Holistic Massage Therapist. He is committed to sharing the path to optimal vitality, effective, heart-based communication and the realization of deep, inner resources. He does this by guiding and training people in accessing their own Self-Care that he believes is a necessary part of life today. Ben is the author of the upcoming book, OHM; Optimal Health Management (A Manual for the Humanizing of the American Workforce).
Bernard Treynet, LMT, RMTI
Massage Therapy & Intuitive Bodywork, Teacher Training
“There is an aspect to massage that fascinates me…when I become present I’m getting in touch with some kind of energy that has nothing to do with me. And at that point something really wonderful happens.”
Bernard Treynet has taught Swedish Massage and Intuitive Bodywork at the Academy since 1991. He has a private massage practice in Las Vegas and Santa Fe and is a Master Massage Therapist at a local spa. Prior to his career in the healing arts, Bernard was a sculptor of stone and exotic woods showing in several Santa Fe galleries.
ADJUNCT FACULTY
Ivan Block, LMT, MTI
Massage Therapy
“The sharing of wisdom and compassion is one of the greatest gifts we can experience as humans. My intention as a massage professional is to hold a space for that experience in all I do.”
For Ivan, teaching and giving massage are ways to honor his core value of serving his community. A caring, kind and witty therapist with 10 years of experience, Ivan specializes in a holistic massage approach that integrates Swedish, Neuro-Muscular Therapy, Core Myofascial Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy and Sacred Spaces Therapy techniques. He is also an instruction staff member of the International Academy of Neuro-Muscular Therapies.
Zarna Carter, Dip App Sc BM & H
Ortho-Bionomy Instructor
Equine Positional Release™
“Horses demand honesty, offering rich rewards to those of us who enter into dynamic, humane equine partnerships. I applaud all who pursue methods of horse training and horse care with the aim of advancing the quality of life of horses and people.”
Zarna devised Equine Positional Release from a lifelong passion for social justice. In the EPR Program, Zarna combines the non-force, self-corrective approach of Ortho-Bionomy®, her experience as a Homeopath, and background in non-violent horse handling. Shaping the NMAHA Equine Positional Release Program is a stimulating process as the body of work continues to grow. Zarna teaches EPR in the US, New Zealand, and Australia, where she is based.
Ursula Hofer, LPC, LMT
Advanced Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy®
Ortho-Bionomy Practitioner & Advanced Practitioner Programs
“I love Ortho-Bionomy because the principles go beyond the classroom and into everyday life. We learn to honor the intelligence in all things. This kind of understanding allows an authentic relationship to evolve between ourselves and everything and everyone around us.”
For over 22 years, Ursula has taught classes and workshops in Ortho-Bionomy. She is the co-founder of the Ortho-Bionomy Certification Programs at the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts. A core faculty member with NMAHA since 1984, Ursula travels throughout the United States to teach Ortho-Bionomy and train new Ortho-Bionomy instructors. For the last 10 years one of her main interests has been working with trauma release through the body. Her private practice in Santa Fe, NM includes Ortho-Bionomy and Trauma work.
Samantha Jennings, Dr.TCM, R.Ac
Ohm Therapeutics: Sound Healing Foundations™
“Our natural, balanced state is one of joy and laughter, of being happy with who one is and how life is. When we are truly healthy in body, mind and spirit, we can know and express the joy of our true self. That is the intention that I hold for everyone.”
Samantha began studying with Marjorie de Muynck, creator of Ohm Therapeutics, in 1999 and is an international teacher in North America & Australia. As a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Registered Acupuncturist (Canada), Practitioner of Sound Healing & Educator, Samantha incorporates Sound Healing into her practice of spiritually-based acupuncture & acupressure and offers instruction in Ohm Therapeutics and Classical Five Elements.
Marjorie de Muynck, M.Mus, LMP
Ohm Therapeutics: Sound Healing Foundations™
“When I hold sacred space and listen with earth and sky, the wisdom of the vibration comes forth.”
Marjorie received her certificate from a 2.5-year program at the Seattle Shiatsu Institute in 1985, where in addition to Shiatsu she studied Oriental Medical Diagnosis and Theory, Jin Shin Do, ERT, and Qi Gong. She has a Master of Music in M. Education from Boston University and was the co-founder of Acutonics Sound Healing and the founder of Ohm Therapeutics Sound Healing. She continues her studies at the Southwest Acupuncture College as well as research in Sound Healing. Marjorie has been teaching Sound Healing for 15 years, and has written two books on the subject.
Christina Montes de Oca, LMT
Advanced Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy®
Ortho-Bionomy Practitioner & Advanced Practitioner Programs
“Ortho-Bionomy has taught me to trust the deep resources and self-healing capacity within us and to recognize dynamic, respectful interrelationship as a medium in which healing can flourish.”
Christina began teaching and private practice in the healing arts in 1982. In addition to Ortho-Bionomy and Massage, she is trained in Tai Chi and other Chinese internal arts. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. A co-founder of the NMAHA Ortho-Bionomy Programs, she teaches Ortho-Bionomy throughout the United States and in New Zealand and Australia, working with both Practitioner and Instructor trainees.
Etienne Peirsman
Craniosacral Certification Program
“The techniques are the most simple that exist. You lay your hand on the body and if that body moves, you move along with it, and if it doesn’t move, then you don’t move but rather, you wait till the movement happens. This is the basis: respect for what the body is telling you and the trust that the body develops because of that respect.”
Etienne Piersman has been a certified craniosacral therapist for over fifteen years. He has taught craniosacral therapy at the Multiversity Amsterdam since 1997 and regularly teaches throughout Belgium, Holland and South Africa. In North America, Etienne offers his 700 hour certification course of study only at the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts He and his wife reside in Antwerp, Belgium and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Ginny Weppner, BA, LMT, RPP
Orthodox Anatomy and Physiology
“The body is the teacher.”
The first time Ginny Weppner lifted her arms and started a T’ai Chi form, her body decided it was time to open up the lines of communication. “Thank you so much, this is it, this is what I need,” it said. T’ai Chi eventually led to learning Anatomy and Physiology, and doing massage and polarity. The true ability of the body, it’s knowledge, wisdom and knowingness are her focus. Ginny’s bodywork is guided by intuition, which she describes as quietly listening with her whole body as well as her ears.
Jim Williams, MAR
Reflexology
“The more I practice, the greater my appreciation and respect for the potential and efficacy of reflexology grows. I consider it an honor to represent, and promote this noble therapy.”
Jim is a certified Reflexologist who qualified in London, England in 1997. He is also a schoolteacher with 30 years experience, and has lived and taught in Mexico, Japan, England and the United States. Over the past 10 years, Jim has established his practice in Santa Fe and taught numerous short courses at the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts. He has a great affinity for reflexology, and hopes to impart his knowledge and interest in this field to as many people as possible.
