T H E   T E A M

Our Healers

Erica Benedicto

Ashley Maltz

Avril Amaya

"Be the change you wish to see in healthcare" is my motto. I learned that early on from my father who spent his days as a medical social worker in the busy hospitals and clinics of Chicago. When I started practicing, I was focused on the world and industry of medicine. I followed all the rules, earned all the degrees, did exactly what I was told to do, I played THE game.  Until I realized that it wasn't helping. I was stuck on a hamster wheel and I didn't believe there was a way out. Then I went part-time and found a whole new world and began to play my own game, one that was healing and full of compassion. I explored my love and passion for helping others heal in different modalities and techniques that were Ivy League-studied, medical community approved. From meditation to yoga and essential oil therapy to Reiki, from food as medicine to pranayama, simple tools that didn't break the bank and had zero or little side effects. I realized in the last five years, it's not what I do, but how I do it.

I began to practice in the way that was beneficial for me and my patient, but maybe not the administrators or insurance companies. I spent time listening, praying, meditating, teaching my patients in the underserved areas around El Paso and Austin. Eventually I became empowered and held the space for my patients to feel the same. I became a leader in my clinic and nurtured others healing through my work and my example. Now I partner with powerhouses in the field to come together and help you tap into your source, inner teacher and sage and help turn up your parasympathetic nervous system. We believe our world needs more healers who are thriving, shining, and living on purpose. We guide you towards finding your heart and art of medicine again. One sweet, calm, connected retreat at a time.
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Dr. Ashley Maltz was born and raised in Houston, TX, to immigrant parents who taught her the value of hard work, generosity and compassion for those who are less fortunate then her. She learned these lessons with hands-on work feeding the homeless, adopting endangered species and assisting her mother in charitable causes. 

As she grew older, she transformed this passion for service in to a career that goes straight to the heart of others and truly helps them create a fulfilling, productive life. She wanted to transform the way people view health and wellness. She wanted them to fall in love with wellness the same way she had while in college and saw herself as a preventive medicine advocate.

She chose to go to medical school with the intention to focus on healing and helping people discover the root causes of disease. 
She began to seek out additional studies in nutrition, mind/body medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Native American healing and Western herbalism, after residency. These Integrative Medicine modalities  are safe, effective and evidence-based. She blends the best of Western medicine with a penchant for Eastern medicine and philosophy. To her, no rock goes unturned when seeking out the best and most effective treatments for patients. Having suffered from chronic pain, depression, lifelong anxiety and often debilitating fatigue, she knows what's missing in allopathic medicine and she's on a mission to change it. 

Avril Amaya is a multi-passionate 'food doctor', plant-based chef and educator, health and nutrition coach, lover of Nature and animals, and poet/singer/dancer. 

She has been practicing and sharing food-as-medicine for over five years, working with individuals, teaching workshops to groups, and chefing/teaching at international retreats. She began her personal chef and health-consulting service in 2013 to assist people with healing, in addition to co-running a popular vegan pop-up restaurant there for a year.

After traveling the world for a decade, studying with masters in yoga, meditation, permaculture, Qi Gong, Thai massage, and Reiki, and healing herself from constant illness and a life revolving around doctor visits, she has found vibrant well-being and is passionate about spreading health and happiness, through deep connection to Self and Nature, with the support of real foods and plant-based nutrition.
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Equipped with a Harvard degree and a high-speed blender, Avril passionately shares the benefits of a fruit-and-vegetable-based lifestyle, for the health of the human body, delicate balance of the environment, and welfare of billions of animals.