As a martial artist and someone who has trained most of my life — including at a professional level — I realize how we always expect ourselves to perform the same. I also realized how detrimental this way of thinking is for us as practitioners. As a sponsored athlete, I would compete and weight train, expecting to lift the same amount of load always, even when I couldn't. When I was unable to perform as I expected, I would beat myself up for days and hate my body for it — I would hate myself for it.

After I became a parent and had the opportunity to live and work in Abu Dhabi, my training was at such a high level, and I still felt compelled to produce — even though I worked long hours, ran a BJJ program at a school, coached a kids' competition team, was still competing professionally, and was lifting all the time, all while balancing being a referee and a pioneer for the art of Capoeira.

When I experienced my first serious injury (I've experienced many), I hated my body for it and cried so much, because now I felt I had regressed and was suddenly bad at the art I'd dedicated my life to. But this was a figment of my imagination, and I began to understand that this way of life was not sustainable. My goal has always been to age in this art — and now I noticed I wanted to age unbroken. At the rate I was going, that would not have been possible.

I had already lost so much movement — my overhead reach was gone, my ankles were stuck, my knees always hurt, and even bending down into pé do berimbau was painful.

So I began to research and educate myself, and I started walking the path of healing.

When I was pregnant with my second and third children, I desperately wanted to experience an unmedicated, natural birth — which I did — because I felt it would be an invaluable experience for me as a human. I studied hypnobirthing and learned the history of birth, along with many of the breathing patterns to reduce pain and find awareness that are part of Rooted Strength today.

My hips hurt often, so I began working on my feet to relieve hip pain and improve mobility in my calves and ankles too. I became certified in physio training built around martial arts and injury prevention for all. I took many courses to understand my own body, and then I understood that being a woman is a whole different universe — especially after I was diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovaries.

Therapy, meditation, breath, slowing down, and finding the love I needed for my body, mind, and spirit changed everything — including my body and its capability.

Being a martial artist already has its own seasons — of strength, of weakness, of disconnection — and we need to understand how to adapt so we can continue to move and do what we love. For that, we need to be kinder to ourselves and respect our seasons.

Now, if you are a woman, there is so much change that can happen. Our cycles are monthly, not 24 hours like men's, so our productivity can shift through these stages. We have pregnancy, an important moment of transformation that still needs movement, because birth is the hardest journey the body can go through, even with medication. Then there's the postpartum stage — often neglected, but bringing a loss of identity, a shift in hormones, and the demands required of you by your baby as a mother.

When we shift into the later stages of life, we reach perimenopause, which creeps in around age 35. We experience significant changes to our bodies, minds, and spirits — the beginning of a transformation that is highly uncomfortable, and often painful, because estrogen is leaving our bodies. We can experience a lot of discomfort and pain, and even brain fog and frozen shoulder. When we reach menopause, the signs are much the same, and we can feel like we can't perform, because we easily lose muscle and even bone density.

However, lifting weight and challenging the body is literally the magic pill that will get us through this successfully.

In Rooted Strength, we hit all the factors needed for a well-trained body, such as: jumping, explosive power, balance, time under tension, weight bearing, and proper breath that involves our pelvic floor muscles (our pelvic diaphragm), our diaphragm, and our third diaphragm — our tongue's posture during nasal breathing.

This is a path that was created through self-searching and growth, one that has been successful for many years and has helped so many people find their power. I'm here to help you become your body's best friend, so that together you can have a beautiful journey — unbroken and resilient, in martial arts and in everyday life.