Meet Renee Dumouchel

We were lucky to catch up with Renee Dumouchel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Renee, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I think about this question a lot – where does resilience come from? I tend to be a ruminator… I turn things over in my mind many times over, sometimes to positive effect, though often to detriment. My ability to analyze and see things from myriad perspectives is one of my greatest strengths… in observing people and experiences I gather data that helps me see the world through a nuanced lens. Ironically, it is this data gathering that feeds my empathy. And yet, rumination can be crippling. ‘What could I have done to engender a different, more favorable outcome.?’ ‘Was that the best way forward?’ ‘Why didn’t I do more of / less of / a better job of…?’

I have had the great fortune to live all over the world, experiencing various cultures and “humaning” in a lot of contexts – some banal, others inspiring, and a few that elicit fear. I can recall from a very young age feeling overwhelmed by the immense beauty of the world… so porous I wasn’t sure how I could take it all in, and simultaneously not wanting to miss a moment of it. I was so enthralled with BEING in this world I developed a fear of NOT BEING… not experiencing, not connecting, not learning. I have certainly encountered plenty of experiences that required me to adjust my mindset, persevere, and reimagine myself. But when I really get quiet and connect to that “inner knowing” we all have, I understand that my resilience is deeply connected to wonder. A vast, joyful, breathless bow to all that is bigger, and deeper, and wiser, and unknowable about the world that sets of internal alarm bells of spiritual FOMO. Despite my ability to over-analyze, and my ability to feel things until they are almost unbearable, my curiosity and desire to be a card-carrying member of our great big universe propels me forward when I am out of my depth, feel beaten, broken, bruised, or face failure. Because the alternative – not getting to experience the beauty, and hope, and surprise that the world has to offer is too terrifying a burden to bear. So I get up and try again, dig deep for a truer more beautiful version of myself so that I get to experience moments of wonder, big and small, over and over and over again.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

So many of us feel broken. Not enough. Less than. Bruised by circumstance and overwhelmed by our culture’s shrine to productivity and outcome. We allow the stories we tell ourselves and that others tell about us to become the narrative we live by, often burying the deep, wise, capital T Truth of who we are. Some of us live our whole lives dancing around that capital T, brushing up against it only to dart away because it is unfamiliar, inconvenient, or uncomfortable. We tell ourselves that it is indulgent, or fanciful, woo-woo, or selfish to spend time noticing how we feel, what we desire, what feels good and aligned. Very few of us are taught how to withstand discomfort, discern what is “for us,” and discard what no longer works.

The “what do you do” answer is that I am certified C-IAYT yoga therapist, transformative coach and group facilitator, retreat leader, YA certified yoga teacher, Energy Medicine yoga practitioner, reiki practitioner, and Emergenetics Associate with over 20 years of dance, performance, movement studies, facilitation and communications training,

Though I think the “how does it feel” answer is far more compelling. I believe that we are not broken… we are becoming. Always evolving. Always changing. Always shedding and growing. My work – the work that gives me a full body yes, makes me come alive, and keeps me hungry and curious – is using all the tools at my disposal to help people find and befriend that capital T truth, and all the lower-case truths along the journey so that they can live a truer, more beautiful version of their lives.

Someone important (Heraclitus) said “the only constant is change.” We all do it, all the time. Sometimes it is invisible, and sometimes it is deeply painful. When you change – whether you’re gently flowing into a new version of yourself, or you’re breaking open and leaving ashes in you’re wake – you’re still you, just rearranged. Same parts, different expression. Sometimes these shifts happen with ease, unfolding in the background. And sometimes you need active evolution. You yearn for support as you crack open, shed old skin, and reforge a newer, truer version of yourself. You desire a companion to walk alongside as you alchemize your transformation. Someone who has walked through her own shadow and fire, submerged to the depths and emerged a more vibrant, true, and beautiful version of herself. That’s where I come in.

I know this journey, because it is one I have walked, time and again. Sometimes the solitary path is the one that has led me to illumination. And yet, the moments of ascension that have shaken up my world and left a lasting impact have all been accompanied by another – someone who could hold up a mirror and deliver earth-shattering truth in equal measure with uncommon compassion and wisdom.

With over a decade of experience in somatic healing, conscious facilitation, mind/body integration practices, and trauma release, I take an embodied, values-based approach to support my clients to unearth the most powerful, grounded, and authentic versions of themselves. My classes, workshops, 1:1 coaching, leadership training, team-building, and group experiences explore expressions of power, vulnerability, accountability, beauty, and surrender. I believe that developing vulnerable, open-hearted, values-based communication skills is the foundation of a vibrant, healthy, and compassionate connection – with self and others. I love creating ritual and exploring the unexpected. I’m not afraid of the “messy middle,” because I’ve been there too. I dive deep with curiosity and compassion to help individuals move through limiting beliefs and align intention and action to live the life they desire. I will meet you where you are so you can ascend to where you want to be.

I see clients 1:1 virtually and in my studio in Wethersfield, CT, for embodied coaching and yoga therapy, lead retreats and facilitate somatic healing experiences. I am currently designing a 12-month program of personal, day-long retreats that explore themes of veracity, insatiability, presence, love and compassion, playfulness, power, and wonder. I’m will also be co-facilitating a retreat in Portugal May 2026 with Wondershift founder and retreat designer Judy Goldberg. I LOVE collaborating onsite and online, and am incredibly passionate about the ways we can utilize and honor our bodies and lived experiences to move through the world with more wonder, more ease, and more alignment. I have a set of workshops that are incubating in my head and heart, and if any of this has sparked curiosity, maybe you’re my next partner.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Pause: Cultivating my ability to notice what is happening within and around me is the single most important skill I possess. It requires cultivating curiosity rather than reactivity, and it allows me to discern what is actually happening in the moment (feelings, reactions, activations, sensations) to the choices I want to make. It also allows me to observe and absorb, which has fed the development of empathy.

Embodied Listening: This is like “active listening” but it really is listening with your whole body. Using ALL of your senses and tools to put everything else aside and take in every nuance of what another person is saying or communicating – body language, vocabulary, actions, tone.

Movement: Learning to move my body in different ways gave me access to information from the neck down. I studied movement in the form of dance, theater, and yoga, but taking time to notice how you FEEL in your body and let that guide your awareness of what is happening or true for you is a superpower!

My advice is two-fold: Give yourself the gift of learning who you are… what makes you tick, what you desire, how you know when something isn’t working, what sensations let you know to trust your gut. The relationship you develop with yourself with be the guidepost for every other relationship that you have. It is your most accessible and immediate training ground, and the more you practice how you notice, communicate with, and respond to yourself, the more adept you will be at connecting and communicating with others.

And… nothing is every your last best thing. If an opportunity, moment, feeling, experience, job offer, relationship doesn’t feel right, don’t take it just because you think nothing else or better will come along. Trust that a gut/heart felt No is as powerful as any yes.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

Build a deep bench. My single biggest asset is the circle of trusted, self-aware, compassionate and vulnerable mentors, leaders, and kindred spirits I have surrounded myself with. I take pride in and care with the relationships I have developed, and it is the people in my life who I turn to again and again when I need insight, connections, tough love, someone to hold up a mirror, training, collaboration, celebration, and a safe haven.

My friend, colleague, collaborator, and mentor Judy Goldberg has the most abundant mindset I’ve ever experienced. Her generosity, creativity, resilience, expertise, and curiosity are second to none. Find yourself a Judy… someone who can meet you where you are, and push you to be the best version of yourself in your every day moments, knowing that your best version will change day by day.

Treat yourself and your people with deep reverence and respect. Be more generous than you think you can, and learn how to set loving, clear boundaries. A boundary is something you will do in a given circumstance. If it is contingent upon someone else doing something, it is a request. It is something that I am still working on, and that my “circle of trust” helps hold me accountable to in moments when I falter and when I want to celebrate.

Contact Info:

• Other: Most of my social and digital assets are in development – people can always contact me at renee.dumouchel@gmail.com or +1 917.992.6974.

Image Credits

Jean Laurent Gaudy
Madeline Arnoldy
Dana Boll