We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jodi Stepanek a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jodi , thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I have been a doer my whole life! Check lists, high achiever and always on the go from a young age. To give you a little understanding of that- in college I played varsity in two sports, was in a sorority, worked a campus job and also participated in student government. After I graduated college I did the same with managing a law firm and coaching college softball and waiting tables when not in season.  I was always going from one thing to the next!!  I share all of this as my world changed the moment I experienced my first meditation class in 2016. I attended a workshop and one session was on the teachings of Dr. Wayne Dyer and the power of words. The second one centered around meditation.  For two hours my world slowed down. It was uncomfortable at times yet I had this coming home feeling. That day I was forever changed! I knew I needed more of “that” in my life. After a couple months of meditating here and there I reached out and enlisted the help of a mentor, Avianna Castro. She truly made an impact in my life and why meditation was so important! I started a daily practice and after several months I felt what a difference this made in my life. I was a better mother, coach, manager, wife, and friend!!! I dove in deeper for the next three years on this self-discovery journey and it was truly amazing!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello! I am Jodi Stepanek, a certified meditation and mindfulness instructor. I am also a wife, mother, manager, daughter, coach, sister and friend!

My meditation journey started in 2016 after I attended a workshop on the teachings of Dr. Wayne Dyer and meditation put on by Avianna Castro. I was 38 years old, married with two kids and managing a law firm. I was also coaching collegiate softball and my life was BUSY to say the least. After my first meditation class it was like a light switch was flipped on. I felt a sense of calmness that I had never experienced before and have been on the meditation train ever since. I was an Office Manager at a mid-sized law firm and was fortunate to assist with the growth and evolution at that firm over the last 21 years. After becoming a consistent meditator, I shifted my management style to incorporate mindfulness into every aspect of my job. I discovered that making small purposeful shifts can have big rewards. Mindfulness allows you to have a choice point that you didn’t realize was there. It allows you to consciously reclaim your attention and intention, choosing your response and how you experience each day. My meditation practice has not only made me a better manager, it has made me a better mom, wife, coach and friend.

My passion for meditation was fueled even more after I attended a yoga/meditation retreat put on by Marsha Neiland in 2019. It was after that experience I chose to become a Certified Meditation and Mindfulness Instructor through the McLean Meditation Institute based in Santa Barbara, California. After graduating the 200-hour program in December of 2020 I started my company Big Heart Meditation and Mindfulness, LLC!

People come to meditation and mindfulness for different reasons: curiosity, health issues, stress management, anxiety, performance enhancement, or needing more balance in their life. Meditation and mindfulness are not just buzzwords or a fad, but important life skills. Instilling these tools into your daily life can help you create more emotional control, increase self-awareness, help prevent stress build up, and more! I continuously find ways to help create a more peaceful and healthy life and want to share the benefits of meditation and mindfulness with others through meditation. When you put attention behind your intention, good things happen.

In October 2021 I retired from my full-time job managing a law firm to share with others the amazing benefits of incorporating meditation into one’s life! Since that time, I connect with those around me in the following ways.

• Faculty Member of Feast for the Soul- I lead guided meditation globally during the 40 Day Feast.
• Teacher on Insight Timer- the #1 Free App for Sleep, Anxiety and Stress.
• Lead guided meditations every week in person for college students, faculty and staff at Coe College.
• Lead semi-monthly guided meditations for the public online.
• Lead group in-person meditation sessions at Vella Yoga in Marion, Iowa
• Assist collegiate teams with the mental part of their performance/game through mindfulness and meditation by in person sessions and recordings.
• Lead a walking guided meditation series and mindful (rock) painting classes at local nature centers.
• Mentor individuals with starting and maintaining a meditation practice.
• Speaker at Symposiums, Conferences and Well Being Summits.
• Speaker at multiple schools talking with teachers, students and staff about stress, how it affects our minds and bodies and ways to alleviate it through meditation/mindfulness.

I am most proud of the connection I make with people and the space I provide for them to connect with themselves on a deeper level.

Have you ever had to pivot?

While working at the law firm I had this continual nudge that I was meant for something greater. I had been there for 20 years and loved my job and the people I worked alongside me. However, I knew in my heart that I wanted more people to know how meditation had changed my life on so many levels. So, I leaned in trust and took a leap of faith and applied to the McLean Meditation Institute!

I completed my certification in December of 2020, when we were still in the thick of Covid and all the strict requirements were still taking place around the country. Most of my meditations were online via Facebook live or via zoom at that time.  The cool part during this time is that I had quite a bit of time to be in the creative space to write my meditations. I was consistent with recording every week and I seemed to develop a connection with people. It felt so right to follow my heart. This led to someone reaching out and asking me to lead guided meditations weekly at a college. From that point on, people started to take notice. I got phone call after phone call to come speak, teach, lead, etc. It has truly been amazing.

I am grateful I listened to that nudge, which I call a heart whisper! Since that time I have spoken to thousands of people about my meditation journey and how it can make a difference in your life too! I am a Meditation Teacher on the Insight Timer App-the #1 App for sleep, anxiety and stress and have published 7 meditations to date with more coming! I have combined my love of athletics and mindfulness training and work with athletes at all levels! I LOVE what I do!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn was that the negative story that played over and over in my head was not real! I realized that the thoughts in my head, whether real or IMAGINED, send a signal to my body. How I spoke to myself mattered- on an emotional level and a cellular one too! Your body listens and to change my thought patterns, I had to first have the awareness of the thought! So when I had a negative thought, I made a conscious effort to interrupt it with an I AM statement. Over time I found I had less negative thoughts happening. I was also meditating every single day during this time too. What I learned later in my meditation training is that I was rewiring my brain and I didn’t realize I was purposefully doing it. The science behind incorporating a meditation and/or mindfulness practice in your daily life are awe-inspiring. We all have stressors and how we respond to those stressors are up to us. What I found is that I started to respond vs. react because I had more emotional control. Meditation helps with that emotional control because when you practice meditation you are operating in the parasympathetic nervous system! Research shows meditation can alter the landscape of the brain: The state of meditation can change the traits (structures) in important areas of the brain, increasing neuroplasticity. While some people have a seemingly natural capacity to bounce back from stress, others do not. Fortunately, resilience can be cultivated. In humans, resilience is generally defined as the ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity. One way to increase resilience in your body is by regularly activating the parasympathetic response. This helps to increase the “tone” of your vagus nerve – activating the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing the body to rebound more quickly after a stressful event. Ways to activate the vagus nerve: Meditation, mindfulness, yoga, dance, being out in nature, spending time with pets, people you love, laugh, sing, hum, chant (get the breath moving). Long slow deep breathing, getting a massage…..all of these things help you and we all need to do more of them!!

Contact Info:

• Website: I am working on getting one up and going!!
• Instagram: @jodibigheartmm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigheartMM
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-stepanek-7443271a4
• Youtube: @bigheartmeditationandmindf8591
• Other: https://insighttimer.com/jodibigheartmm https://feastforthesoul.org/jodi-stepanek/ https://vellayogamarion.com/team/jodi-stepankek/