Marcia Lesser, SEP, is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, movement therapist, somatic psychotherapist, teacher, and writer. She has had a private practice on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for thirty years. A former dancer, Marcia works with those struggling with the effects of physical and emotional trauma, as well as those experiencing chronic pain and disconnection from their feelings and bodies. She combines her rich dance and movement background with the depth of psychodynamic techniques and the latest neurobiological approaches to openness, mindfulness, and change.
Marcia also specializes in working with musicians, actors and singers and is the founder of Body As Instrument (www.bodyasinstrument.com), a model that encourages body/mind consciousness in the performer. Engagement of the whole body – from the inside to the outside, the feet to the head – deeply enhances the performer’s ability to discover his/her unique voice. She guides her students to tune into their physical sensations, a crucial step in connecting to one’s feelings, creativity and, ultimately, to the audience. She helps students deconstruct and change their habituated posture; energy blocks, both physical and psychological, that may prevent this connection.
She was a guest lecturer at The Juilliard School for four years; one of her most popular interactive lectures is "Reaching The Inner Performer." Her work has been discussed in several academic publications, including, “Bodies In Treatment: The Unspoken Dimension,” edited by Dr. Frances Sommer Anderson. She has published several pieces on body/mind integration for the performer, including articles in the journal, American String Teacher.
Marcia Lesser has a B.S. from SUNY Binghamton, is a Psychomotor Therapist, certified by NY Medical College, Flower Fifth Hospital and a Psychotherapist, certified by Temenos Institute. She is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), certified by the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute. She danced with The Charles Weidman Theatre Dance Company and designed a dance competition for the Special Olympics.
She is particularly interested in neuroscience and the performer, and has co-written, with Bill Wesbrooks, Dramatic Circumstance: On Acting, Singing, and Living Inside the Story We Tell: Teaching Through The Lens of Neuroscience. Marcia has also coauthored an article with Fay Simpson entitled, “Rewiring Stage Fright, A Neuroscience and Art Conversation."