Martha Peterson, CCSE founded Essential Somatics (r) in 2010. It was a private practice that teaches classes and clinical sessions. Martha was a professional dancer who lost her career due to injury and muscle pain. Following her career in dance education and massage therapy, she moved on to other areas such as Dance Education and Massage Therapy. But all her "body" knowledge and dance skills did not solve her persistent hip pain. Thomas Hanna's simple science of brainplasticity and his work taught Martha how to restore movement that was lost due to the cumulative effects stress had on her body. Martha found a way to ease her pain and was able to return to an active lifestyle that is full of movement. Martha learned that one does not need to be governed by the events of life.