I have a little journal that surfs around my gym bag. I’m a messy, inconsistent person, so I don’t always write in it, but in the weeks leading up to my blue belt test, (aside from techniques I was trying to make pretty,) I wrote down some in-the-moment feelings […]
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is growing in popularity, and for good reason. The self-defense, health benefits, and friendships formed on the mats— the list of benefits could go on and on! While this sport has been male-dominated for quite some time, women are finding their ways to the mats in […]
We all know there are certain things that are good for us: getting the proper amount of sleep, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, training jiu jitsu. But what do you do when you just don’t want to do it anymore? Did you know that by February, nearly 80% […]
We all know in 2020, many gyms and personal training schedules were impacted because of COVID. If you took time off from training, perhaps you’ve experienced (or are experiencing) the “COVID blues.” You enjoy jiu jitsu and miss your time on the mats, yet circumstances have kept you from training […]
Long before starting BJJ, I did karate in a small dojo on the upper west side of Manhattan. My instructor at the time was well known (in karate, anyway) and our Friday night sparring class was where all the champions were- big black belt men with dark eyes, quietly taping […]
As a clinical psychologist, I support the work people do to improve self-esteem, to better themselves, and to take responsibility for their mental health and life circumstances. However, there is a general flavor to the self-help industry—especially those that include martial arts and sports—that ignores the impact of systemic racism […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The sisterhood. The brotherhood. Our mat family. Any way you put it, jiu jitsu is all about community. Sure, we talk about armbars and triangles and that sick takedown that our professor taught us last week. But when you ask your average jiu jitsu athlete what keeps her coming […]