 Blog curtousy of Michele Nicolini: http://bjiujitsu.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-lungs-new-gi-and-bjjs-feminity.html some funny (but, true stuff) 
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I was looking through the list of competitors for Masters Worlds next month and saw a female competitor from Lotus Club. I was impressed to see she was listed in Senior 3. I went on FB and sent her a friends request. After accepting my request and a couple of messages back and forth I realized that her competing in Worlds was the least of what I was impressed with!! Elena is a 47 year old competitive Blue Belt. (That is impressive!!) She trains at Foster BJJ in Kent WA Lotus Club!! But what is most impressive is Elena's journey, after her fifteen-year-old daughter Carly died suddenly ,by some combination of miracle and necessity, she walked into a Seattle area Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym and rolled for the first time in her life. Through that experience Elena discovered the healing in martial arts. PLEASE take the time to read this! And her book "Flowing with the Go" http://www.prlog.org/11982850-grief-coping-book-rooted-in-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-goes-global.html For more on Elena you can also check out her website. http://Elena-stowell.com/     I've recently been talking with American Top Team's Purple Belt, Rachel Beach. After talking for awhile, I was very inspired by her and decided to do a blog on her! I'm sure you will feel the same, she's amazing on and off the mats! I'm hoping to get a chance to train with her in the future!  Rachel is currently a full time nursery school teacher and part time brazilian jiu jitsu instructor. She was introduced to BJJ by a friend who was training as an mma fighter who then recommended to her to visit Master Luigi Mondelli's Academy(her first trial class was a no gi class). Although she had no intentions of competing, that quickly changed and 3 months into training she had her first competition(At this point she was hooked)! I know how this is ;) Rachel is the only family member that is involved with martial arts. Her family (especially her father) are 100% supportive of the goals She has set for herself as a BJJ competitor and instructor..."it is no longer a hobby but my life!" "Competing not only is a humbling experience but it is the best way to learn and evolve as a martial artist !" Rachel's biggest goal for BJJ is to be her teams first female black belt. Rachel currently trains under an instructor under Master Luigi Mondelli of Kore BJJ/American Top Team CT since December of 2007 and teaching since October 2009.  Rachel is mainly a childrens instructor but teaches seminars for women from time to time in the states she travels to for competitions. Rachel says "Being an instructor is the biggest blessing because it inspires me to be at my best as a person and competitor. My team is my family and I enjoy sharing my passion with them!" It can be very hard to get in enough training when you have to work lol Rachel trains BJJ Mon/Tues/Fri/Sat(will be adding wed training as well) Between theirheadquarters and affiliated schools. IShe also teaches BJJ Thurs&Sat and work with with a resistance training coach on Fridays as well(adding another day for rt soon)...if She had it my way she said she would do BJJ 24/7 :) A day in Rachels life involves getting up at 5am every morning going to work, training and then bed time! Rachel works for Earthplace, it is a wild life sanctuary located in Westport CT to which She has worked in different departments for about 10 yrs (in the nursery school about 5) It has about 62 acres of land with trails as well as a live animal exhibit(Most of the animals living on the property are permanently injured which keep them from being released back into the wild...they are used to teach the public about wild life and how we can help). For the remaining time of the year Rachel plans on registering for a few more tournaments and then making a special training trip to florida and train with some amazing people at the ATT Headquarters..."Knowledge is a powerful tool...and you can never learn enough...I am a student for life!" In addition to her passion about BJJ She is also passionate about nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle. She will be going back to school to become a certified nutritionist and personal trainer in the near future. Thanks for being an inspiration Rachel!! Keep up the great work!  ATTITUDE
by: Charles Swindoll The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. 
After going to Inspire last weekend I realized a lot of women experience some of the same issues I do when it comes to balancing training, work, kids, house, husbands/boyfriends etc.... Fitting in Jiu Jitsu and managing some or all of these other important things can be really stressful and can really effect your training. I've written a blog in the past about peaks and valleys. This can really put you in a "valley". I've been told "leave your stress and problems off the mats". "Make the gym your happy place" but, as much as I try that doesn't always work. Here's a couple of good answers that were given at Inspire that may work for some of you and maybe take away the guilt of leaving the family to train, that I wanted to share: 1. Remember that taking this "me" time makes you feel more relaxed which in turn makes a better mom, employee, wife/girlfriend, student, WOMAN! 2. Keep training, the nights you go in feeling your worst sometimes end up being your BEST nights of training. 3.You teach your kids by example. You have committed to training BJJ and you are staying dedicated and following through with your commitment. 4. Take a week off (no longer though) sometimes taking a break makes your mind clear, heals your sore muscles or minor injuries or lets your family see you are INSANE when you don't have BJJ in your life and they may insist you go back ;) Please feel free to put in your comments, personal experience or helpful tips!  Inspire Sept. 2012 It was a great turnout yesterday at Inspire! 60 girls from all over AZ and a few from out of state. There was also several mother/daughters including Tori and I. 7 girls from siege/lotus club attended. Nessa and Katie got to work hands on with Luca Dias (female Black Belt) for over an hour while Kaitlyn, Tori, Lilly, Pam and I learned a few new techniques from Kristina Barlan and Mackenzie Dern. After and Q&A session we all had the chance to roll. I was honored to have my 1st roll be with Luca :) all in all a GREAT experience for me and hopefully my girls feel the same way! Looking forward to the next Inspire in Feb. 2013, hopefully taking place at Siege MMA!   Makenzie Dern expert of the month! http://www.bjjweekly.com/blog/post/mackenzie-dern-fancy-omoplata-sweep-bjj-weekly-issue-117  As anyone who trains BJJ knows, your training partners become kind-of like an extened family. We spend time outside of the gym at tournaments, birthday parties, fights, team trips etc....Lucky for me, I have the best of both worlds, my kids and boyfriend train too! This is a collection of some of my favorite photos from the past year. Enjoy!                                   |
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