Monthly Archives: November 2020


Yoga and BJJ: The Perfect Training Partners

  Ironically, I didn’t fully comprehend how amazing yoga is for BJJ practitioners until I was no longer training BJJ. When I started my yoga teacher training, I hadn’t trained BJJ regularly for about four years. However, as I continued to learn about the kinesthetics of yoga and how the […]


Shoulders Of Giants

  With so much bad news going on these days, it’s hard to find something to celebrate.   One thing we can all be happy about is that it is a great time to be a woman in jiu jitsu. When you step on the mats, or scroll through social […]


Where There Is A Will, There Is A Way

    Earning a purple belt in jiu jitsu takes plenty of time and dedication. Imagine the commitment it would take to become a medical doctor, a purple belt, a professional MMA fighter, and a musician. . . all before the age of 30! Allow me to introduce you to […]


Out of The Comfort Zone 1

  Has someone ever told you that you could never do something? Did it make you back down, or did it ignite a will to succeed? Meet Megan Hutchings. This 33-year-old martial artist from Allentown, Pennsylvania is making goals and crushing them and letting Hemiplegia stand in her way.  I had […]


Your Journey Is Valid 2

  It is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing. Someone at your academy receives a stripe faster than you did. You go to a tournament and your competitor from last year is a completely new rank. It’s easy to put a time period to a […]


Brains & Brawns

  If you’re in the Miami-Dade area of Florida, you just may have already heard of Olivia Shand. Residing in South Florida, Olivia Shand is a mathematics professor, judo orange belt,  BJJ black belt, competitor, IBJJF and NAGA referee, fitness enthusiast, and head of Jiu Jitsu Gypsies (a women’s BJJ […]


Nerves: A Gift Or Curse?

  The only thing I remember from my first competition is the referee saying, “Combate” (fight) and everything in my mind freezing – with everything I’d learned trapped within that ice. Nearly every competition since then has featured a struggle with that nervousness-induced ice.  It wasn’t until I started to […]


How Do I Even Train After Having A Baby?

  I decided to start training BJJ again after a four-year-long hiatus, at ten weeks postpartum. I was seven months pregnant when I started teaching yoga at the gym where I used to train, so staying after class for BJJ wasn’t really an option.  However, I found myself longing for […]