Jennifer Benetato is an integrative psychotherapist, transformational health and wellness coach, and spiritual teacher.
As the creator of The AMBIKA Method,® she's distilled over 20 years of supporting people's recovery from traumatic stress into a simple framework for self-healing.
As a duly-licensed psychotherapist and bodyworker, Jen specializes in touchwork for trauma release, with a special focus on supporting women with chronic illness and pain.
She has advanced certifications and training in addiction recovery, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, gestalt therapy, dance/movement therapy, yoga therapy, and the expressive arts.
As a professor, Jen has taught both undergraduate and graduate level courses in mindfulness, trauma, clinical diagnosis, human development and behavior, and clinical practice with groups, individuals, couples, and families at NYU's Silver School of Social Work.
She was invited to create an original course on community building that she taught The New School, where she was an undergrad.
Her love of movement began in childhood. She started practicing yoga in the womb, at a time when yoga moms weren’t really a thing. At 3, she took her first class at Pineapple Dance in London, where she was born, and was instantly hooked. She later studied at The Washington School of Ballet, and has training in modern and various street dance styles, but is a house dancer at heart.
Jennifer trained as a dance/movement therapist with Dr. Miriam Roskin-Berger and Judith Bunney, two of the founding members of the American Dance Therapy Association.
At age 7, Jen received her mantra in Transcendental Meditation (TM). She later incorporated Vipassana (insight), Metta (loving-kindness), and Kundalini meditation practices to her repertoire. She has taken yoga teacher trainings and intensives in the Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Kundalini lineages, and is a certified yoga therapist.
She is also a Clarity Breathwork practitioner, Reiki master, and energy worker. She is a teaching assistant at The Upledger Institute for CranioSacral Therapy, and has taught Shiatsu at the Finger Lakes School of Massage.
A spiritual quest led her to live and study with esteemed spiritual teacher Ram Dass on Maui in 2016, and while she resides in New York, she now considers Hawaii her second home.
She is a firm believer in the power of regular dance breaks and afternoon naps.
