We were lucky to catch up with Jo Zakany recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I’ve gotten in the habit of calling myself an “Artist+” these days: As a violist and classical musician, I play with one of the top orchestras in the world. I’m also a certified yoga instructor, certified health and well-being coach through Duke Integrative Medicine, and the founder/creator of MindfulOpus coaching.

But my life wasn’t always this diverse! What has culminated in me wearing “many hats” so to speak really began at what was both the best moment of my career, and also the lowest of my physical health: The day I won my orchestral job.

I was 21 years old when I won the audition to be a violist in one of the top orchestras in the world. I remember both the overwhelming joy and exhiliration at winning “my dream job”, followed by the dread of realizing I may not be able to actually DO the job… This was because, behind the scenes, I was dealing with terrible tendonitis in both my arms. I had pushed through the pain for weeks and focused solely on my training, but it got worse–to the point that I remember begging my arms to simply hold on a bit longer in the final round…

It was a defining moment in my life to realize that the actions I had taken to win the job wouldn’t sustain me through it… And so began my journey into well-being, and all that has entailed:

Finding yoga’s benefits for both the physical and mental challenges of being a high-achieving performer, and eventually becoming a certified yoga instructor.

The grounding life philosophy of mindfulness and the benefits of meditation as mental support system.

Learning about the science of mindfulness and positive psychology in my certification as a health and well-being coach.

Starting my coaching practice, MindfulOpus, as a way to use all I’ve learned in service of other fellow artists and creatives avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into, helping them create the empowered, balanced life of their dreams–one opus at a time…

Without that defining moment of my biggest win and humbling recovery, I wouldn’t have that plus sign by my name! And now, I’m grateful for the journey and wouldn’t have it any other way…

Jo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jo Zakany, and I am the founder and creator of MindfulOpus: Performance and Well-being coaching for artists and creatives!

I created MindfulOpus as a way to help fellow musicians, artists and creatives find more balance in their lives. Born out of my own journey of recovery from burnout, I found deep healing in the mental practice of mindfulness and the physical practice of yoga, meditation, and breathwork.

I deepened my yoga knowledge by becoming a certified yoga instructor, and found a yearning to study the science and psychology behind mindfulness–which I did in my health and well-being coaching certification through Duke Intergrative Medicine.

It’s the combination of all these offerings, as well as my own personal journey, that led me to create MindfulOpus!

I want to be of service to anyone who considers their work to be creative or artistic, and who may be plagued by the all-too-common pitfalls that come from working on your craft. Things like crippling perfectionism, stage fright, performance anxiety, negative self-talk, career uncertainty, constant feelings of self-doubt, and any shame-based method used to get the results you want.

Our work together is a 1:1 partnership where we shift away from this “toxic grind culture” by helping you come up with a kinder process in your work that ultimately leads to better results, so you can live a more balanced, empowered and thriving life. We do this by both zoning in and zoning out on what you’re looking to solve short-term, while helping you craft a vision for you life long-term that aligns with your true calling–all while honoring your well-being…

Geared towards students and professionals alike, I’m excited to bring these wonderful and supportive tools to you and help you create your own mindful life, one opus at a time!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Lesson: Shoot for Excellence over Perfection in your work.

As a high-performing classical musician, my life has been about putting myself and my art out there, pretty much since day one…There is a certain amount of pressure that one feels when getting on stage to perform, and that pressure only intensifies in a competitive setting like an exam, competition or audition.

I didn’t have much thought or strategy around my mental of physical well-being when it came to the hours required to put into my craft. All I cared about was the result of my work… So I did what many of my fellow musicians do as a means of getting things done:

I aimed for perfection.

Every note, every phrase, every single moment of playing was picked apart and criticized, making sure NOTHING was ever good enough. I see now that my pursuit of flawlessness was actually a shield trying to protect me from making any mistakes, which could cost me everything from feeling embarrassed to a missed job opportunity…

Here’s the big flaw in this way of thinking though:
EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES.
There is no such thing as a perfect performance.

After years of this way of working, I finally had enough. Once I acknowledged that no matter HOW HARD I tried, I would never be perfect, I was open to asking myself: “How does one work towards their highest quality work, WITHOUT the debilitating pursuit of perfection?”

The answer I eventually came to was:
Switch to excellence instead.

While perfectionism is an unobtainable goal, excellence is a wide-open experiment…

See, in both excellence and perfection, you are showing up with 90-95% of your abilities. But one makes that acceptable, and one doesn’t. While perfection shuns the inevitable mistakes that come with growth, excellence allows for them and even normalizes them. This means that in your work, mistakes are met with curiosity over harsh criticism. There’s acceptance over beratement, which invites more room for growth, self-study and play.

And excellence is nothing to scoff at! The Oxford dictionary defines excellence as “the quality of being outstanding or extremely good”. So next time you’re shooting for perfection, see if you can soften into excellence instead. All my clients who have embraced this philosophy report back feeling more joy and less stress in their preparation, and more freedom on stage.

Now that sounds pretty close to perfect to me…

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I recently came back into the world of being injured, and had to take some time off from playing my instrument to heal. It was a very humbling (and frankly, frustrating) experience to be back in the injured camp after over a decade of being “pain free”.

It was particularly painful because not only was I having to put a pause on playing, but I had recently started working with a brilliant personal trainer and was feeling some good momentum around this side of my wellness journey.

So when I called her to say I had to seeing her for a few weeks, tears flowed from my eyes. This sense of “why me?” overwhelmed my nervous system, and I felt immense doubt that I would be able to maintain my health goals, adding to the fear and uncertainty of when I would be back onstage again…

She took a deep breath, and what she shared with me stopped my tears in their tracks:

“I want you to think of this as happening FOR you, not TO you.”

At first, my brain rebelled and thought “how can this be at ALL for me?? Who on earth WANTS to be injured?” But her words sunk into my brain, and began to shift my mindset from fragility to resilience. I didn’t know the lessons to be learned yet, but I had faith that as this happened FOR me, there was a reason for it.

So I met the next few months with determination and patience. I was diligent with my physical therapy, kept up with the multiple ice/heat treatments, stayed lovingly vigilante about my new eating habits, and once I was allowed to start playing again, I took the slow-and-steady route. I was curious over what needed to change in my setup, and adapted for what my body was needing in the moment.

Fast forward to today, and I am (all fingers and toes crossed!) well into my recovery. I’m playing again, with an ease and comfort that I hadn’t felt in years thanks to my new setup. I’m super appreciative of every workout, even when it burns and I lovingly taunt my personal trainer. I faced my tendency to use food as a self-soothing balm and took the hard route of facing my emotions instead, breaking years of an unhealthy relationship to food.

All this to say, that I am so grateful for what I went through in my recovery. I learned that a mindset shift as simple as “happening FOR me not TO me” was just the resilience mantra I needed to meet the moment with gusto, patience, and ultimately, make it all for the better.

Contact Info:

• Website: mindfulopus.com
• Instagram: mindfulopus
• Other: @mindfulopus on medium

Image Credits
Meg Holiday