Jiu-Jitsu is Therapy
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been one, if not the most, stable and supportive relationship I’ve had in the last nine years. When something is going wrong in my life, I go train. When something goes right in my life, I go train. When I feel helpless, alone, afraid, angry, sad, have a crappy day at work, whatever it may be, I go train. For me, that meme “Train Jiu Jitsu, it’s cheaper than therapy”. You may be someone who saw the meme and laughed it off saying to yourself “so true”. Maybe you tagged a couple teammates, shared it in your Instagram story, or simply scrolled past it not giving it a second thought. I’m a brown belt who’s been doing BJJ now for over nine years. My relationship with BJJ has lasted longer than my engagement to my ex, recently surpassed the number of years I played lacrosse which until BJJ was the only sport I could dedicate myself to. Jiu-Jitsu has been there through relationships starting and ending, new beginnings, deaths and illnesses. I’ve even been doing BJJ longer than I’ve been employed in my career!
A little over a year ago, I hit my biggest obstacle. I suffered a stroke with no apparent cause. For a healthy, active, competitive 30 year old, this for lack of better words, was a “mind fuck”. I thought “How did I have a stroke? I am in the best shape of my life! I don’t smoke, do drugs, drink excessively, eat like crap... so how in the world did I end up sitting in a hospital bed hearing a doctor tell me I’m being admitted due to evidence of stroke?”
I walked around the hospital 3 times a day. I was told to “take it easy”, a funny thought for someone used to training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu over an hour a day. Being the youngest person on the hospital floor by a few decades made the stay extra weird and I felt even more out of place. All I heard for the next couple days was that everything looked normal, and I by all accounts was a very healthy 30 year old. The only thing wrong was I had a stroke. I remember asking every single doctor who I saw “When can I train? When can I get back to the mats?” I wasn’t able to get a clear answer, I’m not sure the doctors really understood what Jiu-Jistsu really entailed. I finally saw a doctor who knew was BJJ was, but he was hesitant to say I could train. I made it clear to him that not training was not an option, and that he was better off giving me limits than saying no all together. I finally got my restrictions and only a week out of the hospital I was back on the mats. I finally felt like I was normal, something that I had not felt that past week, or even really in the coming weeks. I only felt normal, I only felt like myself when I was training.
BJJ gives me something conventional therapy can’t. Once I step on the mats, I think of nothing else until I get in my car to leave. All my problems seem to go away while I’m on the mats. Can you really think of anything else while another human being is trying to choke or break your arm? For me, I can’t. I can’t think about anything else except my next few moves, and how I need to adjust the movements for my opponent and all the “what ifs?” that come with how I will react based on the reactions of my opponent.
I also want to make sure I make this clear; this is my experience and I am in NO way bashing traditional therapy where you go and sit down and talk to a licensed professional. I myself have a Master’s degree in Counseling, so clearly I know and see the benefits to traditional therapy. For me however, traditional therapy has never worked, and yes I have been in traditional therapy before at different points in my life and I have tried it, but it never did what BJJ does for me. So for me BJJ is my therapy.
If you are someone who is struggling with your mental health, please find someone you can talk to. Please find something or someone you can turn in moments of weakness. I do encourage seeking the help of professionals to steer you in the right direction, especially if your mental health is at a low point. Just know there are ways to get “therapy” without the traditional one-on-one sit down in an office and talk about your feelings.
Stephanie is 31 years old and a brown belt training out of “The Cage JSA” in Cromwell CT under Diogo “Moreno” Araujo. She’s also a full time Spanish teacher and is active in rescuing cats, fostering them and helping them to find their “furever” homes.
