...because they want to?

6/6 But bottom line- I do marital arts for fun and a bit of fitness. It doesn't mean I'm not serious, focused and technical! I just want to do this as long as i can and bring as many along as want to come along. Compete! Don't compete! Come train:)

#bjjwomen #bjj #grappling #jiujitsu #bjjblackbelt #bjjblackbelt #jiujitsulife #blackbeltwomen #grappling #confidence #selfdoubt #womensgrappling

1/6 I'm a black belt and have never competed. It's something I feel self-conscious about on occasion. I have this sneaking suspicion sometimes that not competing hurts my credibility as a black belt or meant wearing previous belts I'm not as good as others of my rank. I don't think we should feel that way though!

So why do I feel this way?
#bjjwomen #bjj #grappling #jiujitsu #bjjblackbelt #bjjblackbelt #jiujitsulife #blackbeltwomen #grappling #confidence #selfdoubt #womensgrappling

Kind of annoyed with everything i write lately. All of the things I've written sound sort of the same. Maybe shouldn't share my thoughts😭 Maybe i will embrace being the overthinking and self-doubt correspondent?

#bjjwomen #bjj #grappling #jiujitsu #bjjblackbelt #bjjblackbelt #jiujitsulife #blackbeltwomen #grappling #confidence #selfdoubt #womensgrappling

@timmymac
Screenshot 5-7:

#bjjwomen #bjj #grappling #hobby #bjjblackbelt #bjjblackbelt #jiujitsulife #blackbeltwomen #grappling #womensgrappling

@timmymac

Seven screenshots (2 toots) instead of 11 toots...but here's what i think i might post. Maybe?

1-4 here:

#bjjwomen #bjj #grappling #hobby #bjjblackbelt #bjjblackbelt #jiujitsulife #blackbeltwomen #grappling #womensgrappling

Title: A jiu-jitsu roll

On the mat, engage
Focus, flowing, pulse slowing-
All else fails away

No. 119 #flowing #haiku #bjj #bjjwomen #brazilianjiujitsu #bjjblackbelt #blackbeltwomen #poem @aethelshane

4/4

...like walking at night, saying no to a man, flirting, not flirting, etc.

There are tons of other reasons for practicing #jiujitsu, but i felt a familiar thread in this book. Even if we haven't experienced the worst trauma where you end up in a hospital clinging to life, we can relate - it's all around us. Still we find ways to exist and thrive.

#WelcomeToTheGoddamnIceCube #bjjwomen #bjjblackbelt #books #amreading #reading

3/4

I'm going to bring up #jiujitsu here, if i may. I'll put a quarter in the jar. I wonder if that's why some of us women are drawn to #bjj. I have heard that women who have endured trauma are likely to turn to #selfdefense classes or #jiujitsu. This is simulated violence in a controlled setting. There are risks there and we are fully accepting/consenting - unlike the risks in daily life...

#WelcomeToTheGoddamnIceCube #books #amreading #reading #bjjwomen #bjjblackbelt

Can't wait to get back to the mats now that I'm not a walking biohazard. Eating real food and disinfecting everything in sight. Nasty stomach bug going around. Be safe out there.

Positional sparring drills tomorrow i think. They'll love/hate me, lol. Pls be an odd number so i can play.

#bjj #bjjwomen #bjjblackbelt #jiujitsu #brazilianjiujitsu

I want to make a joke on one of the social medias because today is our wedding anniversary and it was #internationalwomensday yesterday that there secret to a happy marriage is make sure your wife does lots and lots of #jiujitsu. (Advice brought to you by the n=1 Institute for Anecdotal Evidence.)

But i think half the ppl on my FB wouldn't get it and would want to "just check in with me," lol.

#bjj #bjjwomen #blackbeltwomen #bjjblackbelt

#bjj #brazilianjiujitsu #bjjwomen #grappling #bjjblackbelt #grogu #babu #mandalorian #thisistheway #MandalorianSeason2 #MandalorianSeason3 #baby #babyyoda #badbaby

Always my best side, lol. But why can't I look like I'm doing something cool in a photo?? Like ever😭😂

#bjj #photography #bjjwomen #bjjblackbelt #grappling

Teaching note no. 6936:

When you teach your guys a technique maybe let them have it a few times at #openmat before you crush their hopes and dreams. But it IS fun to pull the plug on their move and watch the light fade from their eyes.

We like to joke about a failed technique by saying, "see? Jiujitsu doesn't work!" But i want to keep this as a joke, not make it reality! I want them to succeed. It will involve some crushing, ngl:)

#bjj #bjjwomen #brazilianjiujitsu #teachingbjj #bjjblackbelt

🧵
but for small folks, that's a really helpful thing to learn. Your teacher is small. Deal with it. (Is how i should feel.) The times i end up being really happy with class are there ones I'm doing my favorite or most used techniques. I guess that makes sense. But also i try not to *only* teach those. I want to give them a wider variety than just what i know.

#bjj #brazilianjiujitsu #bjjwomen #teachingbjj #bjjblackbelt #spiderguard
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🧵
I can do my favorite sweep, teach them a different than expected way to build the triangle off the failed sweep and then do a funky lasso thing. The only question, then, is how will i fuck this up.

As it happened, it went fine, the uke fell in the expected fashion, and some people seemed to like the variations. Some kinda thought the slow triangle was stupid...

#bjj #bjjwomen #brazilianjiujitsu #bjjblackbelt #teachingbjj
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🧵
I'm bad at teaching. They don't like me. They don't want to learn from a woman. They don't like the smaller person's perspective. Maybe none of those is even true, but the longer i try to think of a class plan and come up blank, the more the thoughts invade and poison everything.

Luckily, i remembered my teacher's teacher's seminar i wanted to revisit eventually and decided on spider guard for a theme.
#bjj #bjjwomen #bjjblackbelt #teachingbjj #blackbeltwomen #brazilianjiujitsu
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🧵
I need to continually remember that the old things for me are things they might have a tenuous grasp of. That's the entire point of me being there. Lol. Why can't i remember that?

When i don't have a plan or can't think of one for whatever reason, i always have those negative thoughts that seem to snowball into an avalanche, which just further solidifies the mental block. I should quit. I need to take class, not teach. I'm not cut out for this.

#bjj #bjjwomen #bjjblackbelt
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🧵

--those are great moments when you teach a new thing or help people with something & the light bulb goes off. Weirdly, against my training, my brain tells me to find a new shiny object to make this happen.

But i know for a fact we need lots of repetition. It's how i learned & refined little things here & there each class i saw the technique again. And wowing them just happens as they refine what is to me an old technique.
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#bjj #bjjwomen #brazilianjiujitsu #teachingbjj #bjjblackbelt

3/?

... thinking he was going to ticket me (or who knows what) for some rule i didn't know i was breaking, i said "I'm trying." Lol.

Dudes be duding hard out there. Stay safe!

#feminism #stalking (or maybe it's just human interaction I'm objecting to, it's possible) #bjj #bjjwomen #bjjBlackBelt #SelfDefense #BrazilianJiujitsu

And now i can talk about what i was listening to in the first post of this chain.

Got stopped today on my 3 mile #walk by a guy in a big van who wanted to tell me i walk fast, lol. I took out my earbuds for that. I was right in the middle of getting annoyed at Mike Schur's book, #HowToBePerfect **. He was sort of encouraging me like I'm an old lady. 😂 I did not tell him I'm a #bjjblackbelt and I'm avoiding my circuit strength training today because i feel lazy. In a slump of sorts. But i objected in my head.

I thought he wanted directions.

Which reminds me of another --
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