Community Leader Series
Dr. Betty Martin
This is the first in a series of blog posts I plan to write about leaders in our field of somatic sex education. This will give my readers some background information about the history of the modality and about the influencers who shaped and formed this field of practice into what it is today.
On my webpage about somatic sex education, I mention Dr. Betty Martin’s name twice with respect to specific somatic exercises that she created, that are taught to us in our training and that we commonly use in our sessions with clients.
This is how Dr. Martin describes herself in her website:
“I’m Dr. Betty Martin, a Chiropractor, a Body Electric School trained Sacred Intimate, Certified Sexological Bodyworker, Foundations of Facilitation trainer, and a self-propelled erotic adventurer and intimacy coach. Every one of these and more has contributed to my understanding of the nature of touch.
I’m one of those lucky people who grew up in the touch-y feel-y hippie years. Then I got serious and went to Chiropractic school and learned to touch with some clear intent. That makes about 30 years as a hands-on professional, first in therapeutics – Chiropractic, Somato-Respiratory Integration, Educational Kinesiology, Reiki, Neuro-Emotional Integration – and later in body-based erotic education, including sensual massage, Taoist Erotic Massage, Kashmiri tantric massage and Sexological Bodywork.”
The work of Dr. Betty Martin has influenced my work in the services I offer to my clients. I use the somatic exercise of Waking Up the Hands and The Three Minute Game frequently in my sessions with clients.
She is also the creator of the Wheel of Consent workshops. This course was one of the elective courses I took for my certification as a somatic sex educator. I use and teach the basic principles of this course about consent in my somatic sex education practice and I try to use it generally in all aspects of my life as well.
Her website contains an abundance of free access to learning opportunities about somatic awareness, touch, consent to touch and consent in general. I’d recommend accessing her website for anyone interested in learning about any of these topics.
The teachings of Dr. Betty Martin are simple yet profound and have far reaching impact in almost all aspects of our lives. Her essence is about accessing pure pleasure and being in authentic and respectful relationship with others. I experience her to be a humble and gentle woman with a very kind heart that she extends to all of humanity. Help yourself to her free teachings that she is generously offering to all of us all around the world.
Dr. Martin has just released a new book within the past year called The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent. Touch practitioners waited with great anticipation for the release of this book, and I see it now as being a foundational ‘must have’ resource for those of us who have chosen somatic sex education as our field of practice. The principle of this book though has wide applicability for anyone wishing to gain competency in giving and receiving consent for touch or consent for agreements in other realms too.
Here is the link to her website: https://bettymartin.org
My name is Wendy Scheirich and I am a proud somatic sex educator from Manitoba Canada. A common ethos of our modality is “Pleasure is Healing”.