Our Team
Founder
Stacey founded BIG Mindfulness & Meditation in 2017 to make mindfulness practice accessible and powerful for everyone.
Stacey has worked as a mindfulness specialist for school districts, private special education schools and on a grant-funded project to ameliorate punitive practices in schools— which was featured in the documentary film "Divided Attention: When the Children Who Need the Most Receive the Least." She has transformed many closets into Mindful Moment Rooms where youth can practice self-regulation and emotional wellness.
Stacey is a certified Professional Mindfulness Teacher (CMT-P) through the International MIndfulness Teachers Association, and a certified Trauma-Competent Professional. She interweaves best practices from her diverse training including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) through Thomas Jefferson University's Myrna Brind Center for Mindfulness, The Still Quiet Place with Dr. Amy Saltzman, Mindful Education with Daniel Rechtschaffen, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness with David Treleaven and Prison Mindfulness Institute.
Having spent 15 years teaching grades K-8 as well as five years as a literacy instructional coach, Stacey is credentialed to teach elementary school and grades 7-12 English. She holds a Master's degree in Social Foundations of Education from California State University and a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
As a volunteer, Stacey teaches mindfulness to incarcerated youth and women, is a Prison Monitor for Pennsylvania Prison Society and a Pardon Coach for PA Pardon Project. She is a core member of the PA Ombuds Campaign in order to create an independent oversight office of the PA Department of Corrections. She serves on the Board of Directors at CMP Radio Foundation and International Mindfulness Teachers Association.
Stacey lives in Philadelphia, and is a proud mother of two young adults plus Big. She loves to create artistic expressions of mindfulness, is a Level II Reiki practitioner and has trained in medicinal essential oil use.
Stacey Mandel
Special Assistant
Big is over 100 pounds of present moment, open-hearted- minded awareness—part American Bulldog and part English Mastiff.
On his walks, Big is known to simply plop, cross his paws and just be. When he meets small dogs, he is present and responds to their needs. He practices gratitude for every moment with me, each pat, and meets long waits at the vet without judgement. He is adept at taking in the full experience of a breeze, using all of his senses.
Big is a helpful meditation companion. He working on calming his amygdala when he sees an out-of-place trash can.
Big Mandel
