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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]