“I would call myself a compassionate companion,” says Renata Kaczoruk, a breath work and sound meditation facilitator intent on helping herself and others work with anxiety and ADHD through these time-tested healing modalities. Just don’t call her a healer. “That suggests that I am healing someone, and what really is happening is you are your own healer,” says Kaczoruk. “I am a guide. I can create a safe space conducive to having a ‘breakthrough’ experience and guide you through the process, but the agency stays within you—it’s not someone outside of you that is healing you; it’s you on your path.”
Her own path has been a fascinating worldwide whirlwind: She began modeling with IMG Models at 17 in her native Poland, a career that led to globe-trotting for shoots and runway shows, years before settling in Poland and becoming a TV personality. She moved to San Francisco when she was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression. A fascination with neurocognitive psychology and getting her master’s degree in psychology fueled a desire to work through her own emotional landscape, while helping others.
“It feels like a pandemic of anxiety we are all facing to some extent,” she says. “I want to help people using my academic background and my own experience.” Merging her understanding of neuroscience and Eastern traditions of mindfulness and meditation, she began working on a tech startup to address the emotional and cognitive issues plaguing our modern lives.
Research with in-depth interviews with women searching for help with anxiety encouraged her to pivot, going out of the digital world and into the present with people in community. “From the research, I learned that what people are longing for, and need, is connection. It’s the sweet spot where healing is happening—it’s a place of empathy, self-compassion and forgiveness.”
Her gatherings bring people together to individually and collectively heal, using the breath first and then sound vibrations for emotional release and to reset the nervous system. It deepens connection with yourself, helping one gain mental clarity and expand awareness, she explains. “It’s a music experience crafted with harmony and audible mathematical ratios. Focusing on sound helps quiet the monkey mind, disengaging from undesirable habitual patterns and empowering positive cognitive change.” She also follows research in usage of psychedelics in therapy, and works with doctors applying them in practice.
After a recent four-month stint in Nosara, Costa Rica, the lifelong nomad and her miniature poodle, Whisky, found themselves on the East End, where Kaczoruk held breath work and sound meditation sessions at a Purist women’s retreat this fall. “I go wherever I grow. I am where I feel that I am learning—and where there are people that I can safely grow with.” This year that’s meant Montauk, a mere block away from the surf at Ditch Plains, where nature’s own sound healing is on full glorious display every minute of the day.
Follow her on Instagram: @renul_ka
