Healthy Buffalo/Crying and Writing

  One of the things that seem to stand out for everybody when doing any of the Shivworks courses like the one I did this weekend in Charlotte, NC is the evolutions. Everyone attending ends up learning unbelievably internal things about themselves where they previous thought very differently. An evolution or “Thunderdome” is where you put on a couple of soft shell helmets with a clear face guard and basically go to town using the skills you have learned up to that point. You might be set up with a specific situation, or you might have a training weapon, but everyone there is going pretty much 70-75%. I am not going to lie, I felt I was going 90-100% out of desperation. You are basically getting the crap beat out of you in the safest way possible for the sake of training. It’s fast, gassing no matter how athletic you are, and eye opening. The thing that is the most interesting is that no matter the experience in the room, and I have been privileged enough to watch several certified a...

  A couple months ago I started researching female led martial arts for the Northwest Arkansas area.  I have heard so many times from women that they would feel more comfortable with a female instructor.  There are not a lot and usually the picture that unfairly comes to mind of the female leading that class is one of the intimidating looks of Miss. Trunchbull. I know this is rarely the case, but that is where my brain strangely goes.   I had the pleasure a couple months ago to attend Elle Jackson’s women’s jiu jitsu as well as her coed Krav Maga class. I then meet her for coffee a month later to pick her brain and get to know her. I also attended again with my teen daughter a couple weeks ago and again was impressed.   Elle has noticed several of the issues with women’s self defense and knows how to say, “well this isn’t working, so lets try a different way.” She doesn’t follow blindly and wants to constantly meet women where they are at. During her w...