130: Music Therapy: Reclaim Your Rhythm

Women In-Depth: Conversations about the Inner Lives of Women

In this episode, therapist and pychotherapist Maya Benattar and I talk about her intriguing work in music therapy. Maya is in private practice in New York City and online in the State of New York. (01:24) She specializes in helping women who are ready to work through trauma, “stuckness,” and long-held anxiety. In addition to her clinical work, she offers online and in-person “Reclaim Your Rhythm” workshops for helpers and healers and is a frequent presenter and speaker at conferences and trainings.

Maya received her Bachelors in Music Therapy from SUNY New Paltz and her Masters in Music Therapy from New York University. (01:54) She completed post-graduate training in vocal psychotherapy with Dr. Diane Austin, in creative arts and trauma treatment at the Kint Institute, and Music & Imagery with Dr. Lisa Summer at Institute for Music & Consciousness. (2:12) Maya believes that women deserve to be loud, messy, sensitive, angry, shy, and so much more. (2:23)

Topics discussed in this episode:

• How Maya found music therapy as her calling (3:05)
• What is music therapy? (4:24)
  • A working definition of music therapy (5:09)
• Maya’s approach to music therapy (6:48)
  • An overview of the theoretical approaches to music therapy (7:15)
  • Maya’s psychodynamic model of generational influence on how people show up in the moment (7:43)
  • The impact of trauma and influence of untold stories (7:43)
• Hypothetical approach to working with a woman with anxiety (8:14)
  • Approach is individualized
  • Maya’s tagline “Reclaim Your Rhythm” (8:39)
  • Often women with anxiety or trauma have become disconnected from their core rhythms (8:49)
  • Gentle mindfulness and body based sematic work (9:11)
  • Creating music in the moment to reflect or deepen a certain feeling or idea (9:24)
  • Using musical instruments and art supplies to facilitate sessions (10:14)
  • Adjusting to online sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic (11:13)
  • Exploring the relationship between lack of control and anxiety through music (11:29)
  • The differences between talk and music therapy (12:42)
  • The struggle with the unknown for women (14:24)
    • The gifts & challenges of rediscovering play as an adult (15:29)
  • Musical improvisation as the work of therapy (16:34)
  • Music as an access point to different aspects of ourselves (17:39)
    • Benefits of using tactile objects during in-person sessions (19:00)
    • Ways to make the abstract real (19:56)
  • Reclaiming Your Rhythm as a big process as well as gentle tending (21:00)
  • How musical therapy surprises and inspires (22:16)
    • Discovering and returning to the big wins for clients (24:23)
    • Unexpected benefits of telehealth (24:42)
  • Music Listening in Music Therapy (25:05)
    • Most accessible way to explore musical therapy on your own (25:25)
    • What works for one person does not work for another (25:25)
    • Challenges of working with preconceived notions & assumptions (27:19)
    • Anxiety and the need to feel grounded and a release (28:25)
    • What works for a client on a particular day and in a particular moment may change (29:20)
    • Develop playlists rather than leaning on a particular song (29:36)
    • Practice listening to the music and paying attention to what it evokes (30:10)
    • Creating space to explore and recognizing what you need or want (30:10)

Resources:

Maya’s website: https://www.mayabenattar.com/

Dr. Diane Austin’s website: http://dianeaustin.com/music/?page_id=7

The Kint Institute’s website: https://kintinstitute.org/