S2 #6: This episode felt like a conversation I'd been wanting to have for a long time — one that goes beyond the highlight reel and into the real, sometimes messy, always human experience of building a sustainable life as a professional musician. Theresa and I talk about injuries, burnout, rejection, perfectionism, and the surprisingly beautiful things that can grow out of our hardest professional moments.

Theresa Rudolph is in her 15th season as Assistant Principal Viola of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and she's also on faculty at the University of Toronto and the Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music — the gifted high school program at the RCM. She's a chamber musician, a mother of three, and someone whose depth of self-knowledge and body awareness genuinely stopped me in my tracks more than once during this conversation.

What Theresa shares here is hard-earned. From recovering from a fractured bow arm early in her career, to navigating the emotional complexity of taking auditions while already holding a wonderful job, to learning what it actually means to practice smarter instead of harder — she brings honesty and warmth to all of it. And her perspective on professional disappointment and rejection as a pathway to self-trust? I wasn't expecting to get a little emotional, but here we are.

You'll Discover:

-Why breaking her bow arm became a turning point in how Theresa listens to and cares for her body
-How stress and emotional strain can show up as physical pain in the same spot as a past injury — and what to do about it
-What it really means to give your all when you're a working orchestral musician, teacher, and parent
-The role that professional disappointment and rejection played in building Theresa's sense of self-trust
-Why excellence over perfection isn't just a nice idea — it's a practice that changes how you play and how you feel
-How strategic scheduling protects your body and your playing — and why rest days deserve to be treated as sacred
-What the inner critic sounds like for both of us, and how to stop fighting it and start hosting it instead

Timestamps:

(00:00) welcome and introducing theresa rudolph, violist and educator
(02:00) musician parents, growing up in vancouver, and how theresa found the viola
(05:30) studying with gerald stanek, being pushed with kindness, and falling in love with the inner voice
(08:30) winning detroit symphony at 21, the freedom of not knowing how hard it was
(11:00) the fractured bow arm in 2007, ignoring the signals for 18 hours, and what she had to learn
(16:00) finding a smaller instrument, having babies, and eight years of zero injury
(19:30) the push push push culture, people pleasing on the front stand, and redefining giving it your all
(23:00) playing schubert 9 in cleveland, less is more, and learning not to muscle your sound
(27:00) body care mid rehearsal, athletic taping, bouncy balls backstage, and normalizing the small things
(31:30) when stress shows up as physical pain, breathwork and alexander technique as tools
(36:00) professional disappointment and rejection as the unexpected path to self trust
(40:30) excellence over perfection, working with the same coach as her dad, and why perfect auditions don't exist
(44:00) the inner critic, who do you think you are, and giving anxiety an armchair and a blanket
(47:30) scheduling as a body care tool, keeping days off sacred, and listening before you practice
(50:00) rapid fire, favorite moments on and off stage, spaghetti bolognese, and the gift of sunshine

Learrn more about Therersa:

https://www.tso.ca/about/orchestra/members-of-the-orchestra/theresa-rudolph

Interested in diving deeper into this work with me? Visit mindfulopus.com to learn how we can work together.

MindfulOpus has a video podcast! Visit our YouTube channel to watch:
youtube.com/@mindfulopus

Come say hi over on Instagram @mindfulopus

S2 Ep #5: The Four Pillars of Well-Being for Performers

Most of us who pursue music or are seeking excellence in any endeavour have been told at some point that it has to be everything. That if you're not living, eating, and breathing the work, you're not serious enough. But I've found the opposite to be true, and this episode offers concrete ways of implementing lasting change in support of your life and well-being.

In this solo episode, I'm sharing the four pillars that sit at the core of my coaching philosophy and at the heart of this season's inner compass work. These are the practices I return to in my own life and the framework I use with every client I work with. Together, they offer a way of supporting your inner work, so your outer work is rooted in sustainable well-being.

The four pillars are mindfulness, somatic work, mindset, and self-compassion. I break each one down in depth, share a prompt you can use right away, and at the end I tie them all together into a simple tool called the STAR method that you can carry with you into your everyday life. Whether you're heading into a high-pressure audition, just trying to get through a hard practice session, or looking for equanimity in your life, this episode is for you.

You'll Discover

- Why tending to your well-being off stage support you on stage
- How a simple daily mindfulness practice builds the muscle of intentional focus over time
- What polyvagal theory reveals about your nervous system and how to work with it rather than against it
- How breathwork can help you calm down or energize depending on what the moment calls for
- Why your thoughts are creating your feelings, and how one small shift can change everything
- How to relate to your inner critic with curiosity instead of resistance
- How the STAR method brings all four pillars into one on-the-go practice

Timestamps:

(00:00) Season two theme: the human behind the art
(02:47) Defining well-being and why it matters for performers
(04:45) Why zooming out actually enhances your work on stage
(06:20) Pillar one: mindfulness and living in the present moment
(07:30) Using your instrument as a daily mindfulness practice
(08:27) Pillar two: somatic work and the mind-body connection
(09:35) Polyvagal theory: the three nervous system states explained
(13:14) Breathwork for calming down and for activation
(16:26) Pillar three: mindset and the CBT thought model
(18:30) Perfectionism vs. excellence and shifting the inner narrative
(22:35) Pillar four: self-compassion as the lens for everything else
(24:00) What to ask your harshest inner critic
(26:14) The STAR method: a simple tool that ties all four pillars together
(28:00) Closing thoughts and an invitation to share this work

Interested in diving deeper into this work with me? Visit mindfulopus.com to learn how we can work together.

MindfulOpus has a video podcast! Visit our YouTube channel to watch:
youtube.com/@mindfulopus

Come say hi over on Instagram @mindfulopus

S2 Ep #4: There comes a point in any creative life where pushing harder stops working. Where the effort that once felt necessary begins to feel depleting, and the question starts to shift from "How do I make this work?" to "Is this actually aligned with who I am?" This conversation explores that turning point—what it means to return to yourself, and the courage it takes to choose that path even when it comes with uncertainty.

Host Jo Zakany is joined by cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, whose career has spanned some of the world's most renowned stages, including Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Barbican Centre. After years within the traditional classical music path, she began to listen more deeply to her own inner compass—ultimately stepping away from misaligned structures to build a more meaningful, self-directed creative life.

Together, they explore the difference between grind and alignment, the body's role in recognizing what isn't working, and how small moments of authenticity can begin to reshape everything. From improvisation and deep listening to creating music as a form of connection and reflection, this conversation offers a grounded and honest look at what it means to trust yourself—and create from that place.

YOU'LL DISCOVER

• Why authenticity can feel risky, even when it's true
• How the body signals misalignment before the mind understands it
• The difference between pushing through and actually being aligned
• How small moments of truth can shift your entire creative path
• Why improvisation can reconnect you to your voice and intuition
• How deep listening transforms both creativity and connection
• The role alignment plays in attracting the right people and opportunities

Timestamps:

(02:10) authenticity, fear, and showing up as yourself
(06:35) early career pressure, fitting expectations in music
(11:20) fear of losing opportunities, choosing yourself anyway
(16:45) academia path, stability versus alignment
(22:10) burnout, resistance, and the body saying no
(27:55) leaving academia, uncertainty and trust
(33:40) why you cannot find the new while in the old
(39:15) starting small, finding moments of meaning
(44:05) improvisation as a turning point
(49:30) rediscovering creativity through play and sound
(55:10) three levels of listening, self, others, and environment
(01:01:25) creating from truth instead of judgment
(01:07:40) soul resonance sessions and meaningful music
(01:14:10) alignment versus grind, expectation versus fulfillment

ABOUT THE GUEST

Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir is a cellist, improviser, and curator who has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Barbican Centre, and has been praised for her "riveting" performances by The New York Times.

Today, she creates deeply meaningful music through her online offerings, The Music Portal and Soul Resonance sessions, and serves as the Artistic Director of Tertulia in New York City—a series that brings world-class chamber music into intimate drinking, dining, and art spaces.

CONNECT WITH SAEUNN

Website: www.saeunn.com

Instagram: @saeunncello

Music Portal: www.saeunn.com/music

Soul Resonance: www.saeunn.com/soul

Interested in diving deeper into this work with me? Visit mindfulopus.com to learn how we can work together.

MindfulOpus has a video podcast! Visit our YouTube channel to watch:
youtube.com/@mindfulopus

Come say hi over on Instagram @mindfulopus