Hello, I’m Jodi.
I’m a certified meditation and mindfulness instructor. I’m also a wife, mother, manager, coach, daughter, sister & friend.
Like for so many of us, my path to meditation was born out of a personal need for its benefits. I had no idea what was in store for me at my first meditation workshop, but afterwards I knew I needed more of what I just experienced! There was power in the pause. Once I started meditating regularly, it changed everything about the way I lived my life.
From meditation, I discovered the joy that comes from living in the moment, I learned the skills needed to live intentionally and cope with stress, and I was able to replace judgment of others with compassion and grace.
In 2015, my husband and I had a wake up call. Our good friend was diagnosed with a glioblastoma grade 4 brain tumor, which is highly aggressive. He had four kids at home. It really made us take a look at ourselves and our lives. We made some big changes, including what we were putting in our bodies, totally cutting out soda, and living by the 80/20 rule.
Perry passed away in June of 2016. After his death, a friend of mine told me I should check out this workshop that Marsha Nieland was hosting featuring Avianna Castro, a renowned intuitive and meditation teacher, who would be speaking on intuition and the teachings of Dr. Wayne Dyer.
Now, at this time, I had never meditated before. It was the first time I had even heard of meditation. I had a go-go-go personality, I worked a fast-paced job as a manager of a law firm, coached college softball, and I was never in the present moment. I had even dealt with anxiety and high blood pressure from stress. But I attended that workshop on August 12, 2016, and it was like a switch flipped for me that day. I walked outside and the sky was bluer; I noticed the trees around me. The present moment was right in front of me. And I knew I needed more of that in my life.
I didn’t become a consistent meditator right away, and I didn’t know much about it, but I knew what I felt after that workshop. So I asked for help and set up my first session with Avianna Castro on October 1, 2016. She said to me, “You are missing it. You are so far ahead of everybody, you are missing what's right in front of you.”
From that day on, I’ve been more present. I began a consistent meditation practice. I limited my TV watching – I journaled, meditated, and really went into a cocoon. I realized that it’s okay to be different, that the friendships I had earlier in my life wouldn’t be supportive forever. I learned how to get reciprocity from nature, yoga – and not just other humans. That first meeting with Avianna was really the catalyst to my transformation. I am so grateful to her for that!
In 2017-2019, I drove multiple times to Avianna’s meditation studio in Michigan, I started writing my own meditations, I really got into that creative space. I meditated for 20-30 minutes every day, had a gratitude practice and mindfully said affirmations multiple times a day. In 2019, I did a 40-day meditation challenge called Feast for the Soul for the first time – 40 minutes of meditating every day, for 40 days straight. WOW, was that powerful.
On the last day of that challenge, I left for a meditation retreat with Marsha Nieland in Troncones, Mexico. I had so many “aha’s” on that trip. I had perspective about how I used to be so intense, but I had started to parent differently, manage at the firm differently, and coach differently. I used to sit in a space of being annoyed because people couldn’t get things done as fast as I thought they should, but I had stepped out of a judgment space, and landed in a space of grace. And it was all because of meditation.
After that retreat, I applied to meditation teacher training with the McLean Meditation Institute because I wanted to dive into the science of meditation. That training was even more instrumental in my growth as a person; it was deep and very rewarding. I graduated in December of 2020, and started Big Heart Meditation in January of 2021. My goal is simple: I want more people to know about meditation and mindfulness, and how it can completely shift your life.
“Jodi is a leader with a big heart who lives in her integrity, and always finds a way to help others rise. I'm so grateful I've had the chance to work with her.”
-L.F.