ABOUT
MEET Malena
From a young age I was drawn to human connection and the healing power of love. Intuitively I always knew that being seen, loved, and cared for was the most sacred and powerful experience in this life. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina with Italian and Spanish roots. I grew up sharing life with my siblings, my parents, extended family and friends. I graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Law School and I practiced corporate law at da Rocha, Gene & Munraba Law Corporation for several years in Buenos Aires until 2004. Throughout my law career I was blessed to encounter multiple career and personal challenges that inspired me to explore and learn more about myself and my life journey. I learned the importance of fostering personal, spiritual, and physical practices that could support the continual pressures and needs to successfully perform. Psychotherapy, regular meditation practice, exercise, and the arts provided me with a solid base to support myself as a whole, and allowed me to live life from my inner wisdom and intuition.
I moved to California after marrying my husband in Buenos Aires. We integrated the Eastern and the Western traditions; his Chinese ancestry, as well as the unique traditions of the Northern and the Southern Americas. I am curious and passionate about how cultures, ancestry and early experiences in life impact how we love and connect with the world. Becoming a mother is the biggest gift and inspiration in my life. It guides me to continue my life long journey of self-exploration and study. I want to honor this life by having the courage to see every joyful and painful experience as a profound learning opportunity for me to learn, grow and share. The experience of making a home away from home allowed me to open to a life full of possibilities. I went into my own hero journey, from the distress of living in between two worlds far from my loved ones to returning to an inherit wholeness with the desire give back to the world. I graduated from Pacifica Graduate Institute with a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with emphasis in Depth Psychology. I have worked extensively with adults, teens, and children in the community, schools, homeless shelters and in private practice. Although I had the fortune to study with great teachers in my training, undoubtedly my best teachers have been my cliens.
EDUCATION &
Experience
Graduated May 2018
Pacifica Graduate Institute
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology Program
Graduated Dec. 1996
Law School, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
(Licensed in Province of Buenos Aires and Federal Courts since 1997) (Post Graduate specialization, Medical Liability and Corporate Law)
2008-2010
Yoga Alliance E-RYT 200 Yoga Instructor Training
Santa Barbara, CA. (Graduated as Certified Yoga Instructor, 2010).
2020
The Body Knows
Certified Somatic Psychotherapy Practitioner
2022-2023
Certificate Program in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy affiliated with Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital and Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Mindfulness and Compassion
October 2021
Licensed Marriage Family Therapist
ONGOING TRAININGS & Education
Somatic Psychotherapy Study and Consultation Group, with Somatic Wendy Elliot MA, LPC, SEP, BC, DMT, Ojai .
Certificate Program Traumatic Stress Studies, Trauma Research Foundation, Bessel Van del Kolk, MD
Creative Mediation, San Luis Obispo, CA, 40-hours Mediator training, 2004.
Yoga Alliance E-RYT 200 Yoga Instructor Training, 2008-2010, Santa Barbara, CA. (Graduated as Certified Yoga Instructor, 2010).
Studied with Erich Schiffmann, Scott Blossom, Lisa Walford, Anne Van de Waters, Arturo Pearl, Judith Hanson Lasater, Ravi Ravindra, and Kat Connors-Longo.
Yin Yoga training, including restorative yoga, pranayama, Iyengar Yoga, and Yoganesha (Yoga for Kids).
Shadow Yoga School (Shandor Remete), (studied with Catherine Halcomb)San Luis Obispo, CA: 40 hours, 2015; 40 hours, 2016; 40 hours, 2017.
Shadow Yoga School (Shandor Remete), (studied with Catherine Halcomb)San Luis Obispo, CA: 40 hours, 2015; 40 hours, 2016; 40 hours, 2017.