Hello, I'm Maria
I first performed in public at the age of five. I've known ever since what happens to a person when everyone is watching — and what it takes to show what you're capable of anyway.
Now I teach that to other people: teenagers before an exam, musicians before a concert, adults facing a day that asks more of them than they have.
How I got here
Music is my first profession — years of playing in orchestras, and teaching the violin, which I still do. It's work you do in a single moment, in front of an audience, with no second take.
I loved performing from childhood. But there were also times when sweating or shaking hands got in the way of giving an audience what I wanted to give them — particularly as a teenager, when you judge yourself most harshly.
I also remember exams where I sat with my mind completely blank, and the answers would arrive clearly the moment I walked out of the room.
As a teacher, I have watched young people struggle with pressure again and again. The longer I work, the more convinced I am that knowledge and ability aren't enough on their own — you also need the tools to show them.
I came to sophrology by accident, during the pandemic lockdown. Concert halls were closed, teaching music online turned out to be very challenging, and the stress kept building. I started looking for something that would give me my energy back and help me sleep.
I found it. And almost immediately I was thinking about my students — about what it would mean to learn this at fifteen rather than decades later.
Why this method
I chose it because it answers exactly what I'd seen in my students and in myself. The exercises are short and specific. They work with the body, rather than trying to talk yourself into believing everything will be fine.
I am the first and currently the only certified sophrologist in Poland. Sophrology is still not widely known, so for many people I'm the first person to describe it. I enjoy doing that, making a point of explaining it clearly and letting the exercises do the rest.
How I work
What matters to me is a space where you can try something without being judged. Nobody has to talk about anything. Nobody has to be fit, or know how to meditate.
I say plainly when sophrology isn't the right tool. It isn't therapy and it doesn't replace psychological support — if something in a person's life needs a different kind of help, I'll say so and point them in the right direction.
I work in both Polish and English. The beChill® Exams courses are taught in English, the programme's original language.
Qualifications
- Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Sophrology — Sophrology Academy, United Kingdom. The school is accredited by the Fédération des Écoles Professionnelles en Sophrologie.
- Member of the International Sophrology Federation — a non-profit body advancing the sophrology profession across the English-speaking world, with a code of ethics and a continuing professional development requirement.
- Certified beChill® Exams Coach — a programme delivered in schools in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia.
- Doctoral studies — Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw.
- Master's degree — Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, Katowice.
- English philology — Jagiellonian University, Kraków. Thanks to this, I teach classes and beChill® courses in English.
- Over twenty years working as an orchestral musician and violin teacher.
Where to start
I work with teenagers and their parents, with adults individually, with people who perform in public, and with schools and organisations.
Teenagers and parents Adults Stage fright Schools Organisations
Not sure where to begin? Get in touch. The first conversation is free and does not commit you to anything, and often that's enough to see where to start.
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