Meet Maya Benattar, LCAT

You deserve to be loud, messy, sensitive, angry - and loved for exactly who you are.

Music therapist Maya smiles at the camera. She is standing on the steps of the NYPL at Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, and is wearing an emerald green shirt.

I know what it's like to try to control your world through endless schedules and to-do lists, to power through, to live on auto-pilot. To ignore long-held family stories that influence how you show up in the world. To criticize yourself so harshly.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

 
 

There's wisdom in your story and creativity in your bones.

I'll help you slow down and reconnect with your body and your breath in a meaningful and creative way.

I was painfully shy as a child and teenager - so shy that I couldn’t ask the kid in front of me in math class to borrow a pencil, but I could sing in front of 200 people without batting an eye.

Music allowed me to feel confident, to feel accepted, to be heard. As a shy kid growing up in a small rural town, with an unusual name, an “exotic face”, and a dad with an accent, this was everything. 

I’m not a nod-and-smile, vanilla sort of therapist — you’ll find that I curse, laugh loudly, wear jeggings and my “Nevertheless she persisted” necklace.

I know that if I’m not real, I can’t expect you to be either.

And when you feel safe to be real with me, we can work on how that carries over into the rest of your life.

If you’re looking for therapy that allows you to stay in your anxiety loop and talk endlessly, I’m probably not the right therapist for you.

I'll invite you to move out of your head (where you probably spend too much time anyway) and into your body, using mindfulness and breathing and your own music to help you slow down and reconnect with your inner world.

Music and creativity can connect you directly to yourself -
cutting through stuckness and stress
straight to authenticity and hope.

You can get by with how things are now, but you’re ready for more.

You’ve gotten used to living with your anxiety, but it’s a struggle. Things are hectic and your mind just never stops.

If you’re waiting for the world to slow down, you may be waiting for awhile.

Now is the time to show up as a more bold, bad-ass, kind and loving version of yourself than ever before.

It starts with slowing down enough. And getting curious about what’s working and what’s not. When you get curious about how you show up in the world – in your work, your relationships, the way you talk to yourself – that's how change begins.

Feeling calm and confident is your birthright. I can show you how.

If you're ready to get unstuck & reclaim your rhythm, let's talk.

Training & Education

 

  • NYS Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) #001407

  • Music Therapist-Board Certified (MT-BC) #08318

  • Masters in Music Therapy, New York University - 2009

  • Bachelors in Music Therapy, SUNY New Paltz - 2006

  • Post-graduate training in vocal psychotherapy with Dr. Diane Austin, in creative arts and trauma treatment at the Kint Institute, and Music & Imagery (Levels 1 & 2) with Dr. Lisa Summer at Institute for Music & Consciousness