About Martha’s Studio
Martha’s Studio was founded by Dr. Martha K. Helliesen as a result of three decades of working with clients from all walks of life, in NYC and Miami.
Experience has made it blatantly clear to Martha that the conventional modalities of treatment, such as physical therapy, medical care, and clinical psychology, often fail to nail the source of people’s problems and rather send the clients in a never-ending cycle of different clinicians treating various symptoms.
Human beings are unique and complex and very often their pain and aches don’t fit into a set category. Thus, what is needed is a professional who can understand the client’s life situation and integrate all the variables that impact their well-being. Rather than focusing on the symptoms, Martha sees the whole person, and thus finds the imbalance underlying the problem. She is driven by a profound curiosity and interest in people, and she sees human beings as art in motion.
She holds degrees and certifications, but what really makes Martha different is her ability to put the pieces together and get to the bottom of a problem, rather than silencing the symptoms. Her educated intuition allows her to see the client as a whole from which emerges the transformative process. She meets the client in the interpersonal field and applies her skills in neuroscience, theater, Gestalt therapy, movement, bodywork, and sexology.
It is in Prata Riverside Village, Lisbon. The meeting between Martha and the client can take place in the studio or out in the world, or, if needed, a meeting on Zoom is also available. Martha discovered that clients benefit greatly from doing the work out in the world, which is ultimately the place where they will apply the skills they develop. Thus the meeting can take place where there is a desire to meet, be it in a park, at a plaza, or in a museum. It is the meeting between you and Martha that matters. She refers to the aesthetic field that emerges when you meet, encompassing connection, novelty, spontaneity, creativity and transformation.
Where is Martha’s Studio?
More about Martha
Martha was born in Norway and lived in the U.S. (NYC and Miami) for three decades. She has also tried living in the Netherlands, but it was too cold to think clearly, and she escaped to Lisbon. She has the highest academic degree one can have, and she is also licensed to do therapeutic body work as well as train people to get functionally stronger. She has a deep understanding of the brain as she is a former neuroscientist. In order to feed her creativity, she devoted several years to studying experimental theater. In addition, she spent many years studying Gestalt therapy, which is a creative body/mind modality that gave her a good framework to cultivate her skills.
Martha doesn't exhibit her artistic work in art exhibitions. Her creative work is first and foremost experienced, but also displayed through the changes seen in her clients as they move through the world. She is a renaissance woman of the modern world.
Whatever Martha does, she does it to the fullest. She had her own successful studio in NYC and Miami for over 25 years, and has helped numerous people find more fulfilling and less painful ways of being in the world.