The night before my 31st birthday I was having a drink with friends at a sports bar. UFC was playing on several of the TVs and, after admiring the strength and athleticism of two of the female fighters, I tipsily mused that MMA looked like a whole new kind of fun. Offhandedly, David quipped that he thought I would be good at it, but I blew it off with a smartass comment about how I valued my teeth too much. I meant that: I do have really nice teeth, but nonetheless the seed was planted.
Recognizing that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was a component of MMA, I started my research. I found a gym near me that not only had a schedule that would work with mine (see: late night classes), but a great reputation within the community, a competitive fight team and lots of opportunities for beginners to learn everything from BJJ and Striking to Kickboxing and MMA. After several weeks of intimidated excuses, I walked through the door with a lot of New Years resolutioners and took my first class on January 7.
I cannot say enough about the staff and members at High Altitude Martial Arts. They continue to make me feel as comfortable as a complete newb can feel. I have never once been made to feel stupid or inept – Jiu Jitsu does the whole “keeping you humble” thing well enough on it’s own.
As someone who owns and runs two steadily growing businesses on top of a part time job, all of which are in the “helping” field, I can only describe the time I spend in classes as complete freedom. There is no room, time or energy to spare to think about anything other than the task at hand: the intricate dance of pressure and placement and where the hell do my legs go and oh yeah I forgot I have hands to use too…. I leave feeling exhausted and invigorated. I spend over 80% of my waking hours giving my all to other people – to have something that is just for myself is invaluable.
Today I earned my first stripe, and as I was told, “you only get your first stripe once”, so you better bet I put my embarrassed pride aside and asked for a photo to chronicle the moment. Excited to continue the journey – hopefully by my next stripe I’ll have better mastery of the traditional “tough” look for pictures.
Written by:
Rachel Glaser Lawrence, MOT, OTR
