Yoga for Grapplers: Building Strength, Flexibility & Resilience on the Mat

In this episode of Native Yoga Toddcast, Todd sits down with Mika Britt, Aurora Stoll, and Nati Eckersley of the Gi Squad Podcast to explore the powerful crossover between yoga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Together they unpack how these two practices share deep roots in discipline, respect, and community while offering complementary tools for body control, balance, and mental focus.

The conversation highlights the real advantages of cross-training yoga and grappling: improved flexibility and mobility for BJJ, stronger core stability, better injury prevention through clear communication on the mat, and the confidence that comes from consistent practice. The guests also share how the belt system in jiu-jitsu mirrors personal growth, teaching perseverance and resilience that transfer far beyond the gym—especially for women seeking empowerment through self-defense skills.

This episode sets the stage for an upcoming collaborative Yoga for Grapplers class designed to blend the strategic movements of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with the strength, flexibility, and recovery benefits of yoga.

Visit the Gi Squad here: https://www.youtube.com/@GiSquadPodcast

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Subscribe to Native Yoga Center and view this podcast on Youtube.

Thank you Bryce Allyn for the show tunes. Check out Bryce’s website: bryceallynband.comand sign up on his newsletter to stay in touch. Listen here to his original music from his bands Boxelder, B-Liminal and Bryce Allyn Band on Spotify.

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Transcript

Todd McLaughlin: 0:33

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage, bodywork, and beyond. Follow us at @ Native Yoga and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com All right, let's begin.

Unknown: 1:04

Hello,

Todd McLaughlin: 1:05

welcome to Native Yoga Toddc ast. Today I do something a little bit different. I have had the honor of being invited onto a podcast called the Gi Squad Podcast. Three amazing women named Mika Britt, Aurora Stull, and Nati Eckersley, and they invited me onto their episode number 20, and to talk about yoga. And from that conversation, we organized to do a Y oga for G rapplers because the Gi Squad-they're a group of women that are interested in having conversation around their grappling community, and if you don't know what grappling is, it's kind of like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu style wrestling, grappling, and self-defense. And so we're going to be doing a Y oga for G rapplers class here at Native Yoga Center on Sunday, A ugust 2nd at 2p.m. in which the Gi Squad crew are going to be coming here, and and I'm designing a yoga practice specifically for them. And so, with that being said, my idea was well, let me bring you guys onto my show. And you know, I I see a lot of similarities in all the all of our different communities, and I think that's part of my goal here with this channel is to let's look for what we have in common. Let's build bridges between our communities, even if we think that we don't have anything in common. And conversation is a great way to share ideas and realize that we all are very much the same, and we have a lot in common. So I learned a lot from listening to these these amazing women, so I'm really excited for you to be here. And let's go ahead and get started. I am really excited because today I am being joined by the Gi Squad podcast. Which for those of you that are only listening and not watching on YouTube, I am joined by three amazing people, Mika Britt, Aurora Stull, and Nati Eckersley, and I'm so happy you guys are here. This is the first time I've ever tried to interview three people at once. So let's see how this goes. And and just thank you so much for all being here. Let's go around the circle. I'll start over. I'm looking at the computer, and I can see Nati. Nati, how are you doing?

Nati Eckersley: 3:24

I'm doing great. Really excited to be here. Thanks, Todd. We we really appreciate it. It was really awesome meeting you when you joined us on our podcast, and we've been looking forward to this one. So yeah, well,

Todd McLaughlin: 3:35

thank you. And then if those you were watching see Mika, Mika, Mikat, you've been practicing with us for a long time here at the studio, and so I feel like I've had a long time to get to know you. So I'm so excited. I feel really comfortable getting a chance to speak with you here. And but can you tell me how you're feeling today?

Mika Britt: 3:53

Hi, Todd. Thank you. It's awesome. Like happy to be here. You know, I know you for like I don't know, 15 years probably. I think you're right. I've been since when I moved to the states, so it's been a long time. Yeah, doing good. I'm can't wait for the conversation.

Todd McLaughlin: 4:09

Cool, yay! And Aurora, I'm so happy you're here. How are how are you feeling?

Aurora Stull: 4:16

I'm good. Yeah, thank you for having me as well. I'm pretty good. I'm excited. This is our first interview, like as the Gee Squad, by you know someone from that we've interviewed interviewed before, and then from the outside, kind of. So I'm I'm excited to see how it goes.

Todd McLaughlin: 4:32

Awesome. I know. I think one of the greatest ways to learn how to get better at podcasting is to be interviewed as well, and that's why I was really grateful that you all gave me the opportunity to be on your show. And then for everybody listening has an idea of how, what, why, where, and when is you all have a podcast called Gee Squad, and the three of you are actively involved in grappling and or Brazil. In jujitsu and/or maybe there's other names we could go with. Would you even clump yourselves into the category of being MMA people, mixed martial artists? No, they're shaking their head. No, is that because that's way more aggressive than the type of stuff that you all are doing, like grappling? Like, can you help me understand? I mean, part of my goal here to have you on the show because I typically interview people that are like yoga practitioners and body workers, you know that I just want to build a little bit of a bridge between the work, the kind of physical practices that you all are involved in, and see if we can find any sort of similarities between what yoga is and what yoga presents and what grappling presents and to see if do we have a connection here? Do we have similarities? Do we have similar things that we're working through? Do we have within your community? I want to ask you questions about like what you see your community facing. I'm happy to talk about what I notice in the yoga community and and ultimately build bridges because I feel like you know we're we have a lot in common, and I really enjoy being on your podcast. Everyone, go check out the G G G Squad podcast, and you guys are published everywhere, so it'll be easy for people to find. It's spelled G I and then squad. So on that note, to get started, what sort of like? What can you? How do you? Let me start with Aurora. How would you explain what you all do? What is grappling?

Aurora Stull: 6:31

Oh man, grappling. Well, first we do majority of our movements and techniques on the ground, and I believe that MMA, from what I've seen, and you know, like what I've heard, and you know what I've watched, doing jujitsu as opposed to anything that has to do with MMA, we don't really do a lot of striking with our hands. We don't do like a lot of striking with our elbows. It's more so like they call it the gentle art because we do a lot of, we do a lot of chokes, we do a lot of sweeps, submissions, but I don't think it's as intense as MMA is. If that makes sense. Yeah, that does make

Todd McLaughlin: 7:11

sense.

Aurora Stull: 7:12

We do a lot of self defense movements too, but it's mainly grappling on the ground.

Todd McLaughlin: 7:17

Gotcha. Very cool. Yeah, like

Mika Britt: 7:20

MMA is kind of like more a combination of other arts together. Like we don't do kicks or punching, you know. So ours is like grappling, takedowns, positions, submissions, you know. When I think MMA is more like a compilation of everything and more everything allowed, not like you know jujitsu, like AK said, is like more on the floor and trying to control the opponent. You know,

Todd McLaughlin: 7:49

how would one? Yeah,

Unknown: 7:50

question time.

Todd McLaughlin: 7:51

Thank you. Just yeah, the

Nati Eckersley: 7:53

name is please. MMA stands for mixed martial arts, and involves everything. And I have no interest in getting punched in the face at all. Maybe

Aurora Stull: 8:01

same. Me

Todd McLaughlin: 8:02

too. Me too. I

Aurora Stull: 8:05

want to defend against that. I want to like counter that movement. Well, it

Mika Britt: 8:11

also involves like you know nowadays ghee. Now, like when you start, we use the ghee. You know, the ghee is the the the clothes that we use, but nowadays more we have no gi also, which is another. It comes from the jujitsu, so we don't use gi. Normally, like a shirt and a short, but they all they all mixed with jujitsu. You know, like they all can consider also jujitsu. No gi and gi. That's how the the division. You know, between gotcha

Todd McLaughlin: 8:42

gotcha is it because the gi gives you more leverage to be able to grab onto something and and have strong leverage or like what's the benefit to grappling wearing a gi versus grappling wearing street clothes

Nati Eckersley: 8:57

we have a whole episode on that

Todd McLaughlin: 9:01

I'm sorry, I didn't listen to that one. Can you condense that?

Nati Eckersley: 9:06

It's a great. It's um. There's you're gonna have different people. You know, everybody has different boats on and what they prefer. It's always a preference. Yeah. But with the ghee, you do have kind of more control, right? You have those grips that you can grab onto, and it's the traditional, so it's more classical kind of jujitsu, but with that control also comes. It kind of slows it down as well. Whereas the nogi is very fast paced and just it is it can be almost a little bit more athletic in the sense that you're you're going faster and it's a lot slipperier. You have to get those controls have to be really really tight. Also with the gi, but it's just a little bit slower. I think

Todd McLaughlin: 9:46

interesting.

Mika Britt: 9:46

That's where you see like a lot of young young people. They prefer the no gi because it's way faster. You know, the moves is way faster. Like the gi, you see like more old style. Like there is everything. Younger and older, but like the old older prefer that because it's slow down and it's the tradition, you know. And the young one, they is fast, you know. They fast, stronger, like explosion. So they prefer the nogi most of them.

Aurora Stull: 10:16

I think you have more ability to like there. It's almost like you have more tools at your disposal too, because you can also use your gi to choke and your opponent. You know, like the pel chokes. There's all different kinds. I've been in them plenty of times, so they it's and it's pretty powerful. I mean, you can subdue an opponent with it. You can choke an opponent with it. You can sweep an opponent with it, I believe. So it just I think it gives you more tools, and it also allows you to, like Natalie and Mika are saying, slow your opponent down.

Todd McLaughlin: 10:50

Yeah, interesting. Like there's a little bit of a thing in the yoga world where there's this idea that old school yoga in India was practiced in a quiet space without a lot of external stimulation, and then in our current sort of scene in the yoga community, we can go into a yoga class where there'll be really loud pumping music that can seem just like intense and distracting, and a lot of the it seems like a lot of folks love that, and it really they're attracted to it. But then, like the traditionalist is like, you know, we don't. Why do we need all that really loud music? I thought we're practicing to kind of hear our internal dialog and come to grips with that, and maybe work with it. And it sounds a little bit like there's in this grappling community that there's almost this old school guard, and then there's this new school sort of trend. And what other things have you noticed within the your community where there's this older and new way of doing, where there's like a little bit of tension between these these opposing ways of going about it. I'll direct that to yeah, whoever can think of something first. Maybe

Aurora Stull: 12:07

I've I've noticed that I haven't per se been to like another school and have attended another one regularly besides the one we go to, which is known to be very classic and you know, very, it has like that more old school approach as as opposed to all of these other these other gym or these other schools. Yeah. And a lot of these other schools have more nogi. I notice, and they bring in kind of like a younger crowd, which I've also noticed. But I think that's because there are more rules. There's more respects that you pay with the the gi. It's um you know we bow before we get on the mats. We bow when we get off.

Todd McLaughlin: 12:47

Got it.

Aurora Stull: 12:47

Um, there are certain things like you you do not ask a higher belt to roll with you. They need to ask you. Like there are a lot of things that are that kind of come into play more that you need to abide by for respect.

Todd McLaughlin: 13:01

How important do you feel that is to your own personal practice of grappling?

Aurora Stull: 13:07

Huge.

Todd McLaughlin: 13:08

Yeah. What would you

Nati Eckersley: 13:10

respect? It's everything.

Todd McLaughlin: 13:12

Yeah. What do you think, Mika?

Mika Britt: 13:14

Yeah, I think you know there is place like if you talk about yoga and jujitsu. There is place that's more family oriented because you know if you think like you there and you kind of you wrestling with each other. You know, so there is kids, there is families there. So you know, there is. I think that's a little bit division. There is gyms that's all like for more competition. You know, for more because grow a lot, jujitsu it just expand like like there is competition every weekend if you wanna find out in the United States you know like around us, so I think that that division also is just like yoga, you know. There is the tradition, the the thing, and like nowadays there is all these they they call like I don't know what they call they call some kind of name and like what is that you know? Yeah, because these are different people that wants those. You know, wants those different things. So, but we are on a very family and traditional gym. You know,

Todd McLaughlin: 14:14

got

Mika Britt: 14:15

it. Very, I think so.

Unknown: 14:18

Well, that's cool. I think

Aurora Stull: 14:19

so too. Yeah, I agree.

Nati Eckersley: 14:20

Which is nice because there, there's different. Everybody has different personalities, so it's like you can find a gym that kind of suits your personality and what you're looking at to get out of this journey, right? So, like for us, we want to. Some of us want to compete. Some of us want. We all of us, I think, want to be in this for the long run, especially at our gym. You know, because like we said, we're very family oriented, so we're all kind of geared on the long term journey, and a lot of us are older. We're not in our teens or 20s, so we have this kind of different mentality about it. But it is nice having such a nice variety nowadays. That if if it doesn't suit. It is

Aurora Stull: 15:03

really for everyone now. That's cool. It

Todd McLaughlin: 15:05

kind of broke up a little Nazi, but what I I think you were saying is that like you know if someone goes to one gym and doesn't have a good experience, there's so many different ways to experience to go about it, and that's something that's super common in yoga, where you know there's so many different aspects of yoga, and people have ideas of what they're going to get when they go. So when someone comes into our studio and and if they didn't like it, I usually encourage them to definitely go try somewhere else because there might be a completely different approach to it that you'll then gravitate towards. So I I definitely see that as something that also is similar. I'm curious because of the you reaching out, Mika, and inviting me onto your podcast. We brainstormed and came up with the idea of doing a yoga for grapplers class that we're going to hold here at our studio on August 2 at 2p.m And so, with that being said, as a I'll be the one that's going to be teaching the class, so I'm curious. What do you guys deal with the most physically? what What do you think you need? What What do you think yoga could help with? I guess I'll start with that one question. What What do you guys get? What do you face on a regular basis? And what do you, in your mind, see yoga as being something that could actually help you facilitate your practice.

Unknown: 16:24

I think it helps elongate

Aurora Stull: 16:25

your muscles. Honestly,

Nati Eckersley: 16:26

we're constantly in this kind of like in the ball. We curl into a ball.

Aurora Stull: 16:31

Yes, yes, exactly.

Nati Eckersley: 16:32

So I'm looking forward to yoga. You know, help us stretch this out, kind of expand, opening up that elongating.

Todd McLaughlin: 16:39

Is there what other type of workouts do you guys do as a cross training for your grappling experience?

Aurora Stull: 16:47

I started swimming again.

Todd McLaughlin: 16:49

Cool, swimming. So

Aurora Stull: 16:51

a little bit less like gravity on my on my joints and my muscles. Yeah,

Nati Eckersley: 16:55

those are

Aurora Stull: 16:56

joints. And if you have like a more like buoyant type of muscle mass, like I do, I'm I'm shorter and my muscles are a little bit more like compact, I would say, and already being in like compact positions all the time, kind of like sonic. I think Natalie said that to me one time, and it does make sense. We're always all balled up, and I think a lot of yoga from some of the classes I've taken in the past couple of months, is more about like opening and stretching and elongating your muscles. So

Todd McLaughlin: 17:27

cool. I

Mika Britt: 17:28

think I think yoga is a is a huge complement for jujitsu. You know, because if you think about it, like if you're on the floor, we on the floor. We always like that. We always like that. Elbows are always close to the body, or you always like that on the top. And then, like I think, the fact that yoga opens a lot, opens your chest, your heart, and shoulders. It's is is amazing, you know. I I try to go to your class every Wednesday, the Wack Wednesday class that I love it, and when I get there when I leave, it's just like wow. It just it changes the way because you don't realize, but we always like kind of like that, you know.

Todd McLaughlin: 18:13

Yeah,

Nati Eckersley: 18:14

yeah. Jujitsu teaches us so if you extend a limb, you're exposing it. So we don't. We are constantly trying to train ourselves to not extend the limb until it's absolutely necessary. So we're constantly defending by keeping our limbs nice and close to us. But then, because of that, I think we're not getting that you know extension. Yeah,

Mika Britt: 18:33

this is this is a great thing. That's what he said. It's exactly that. So we're always protecting in, but then yoga you always open. We always extend. So I think it's just huge.

Todd McLaughlin: 18:45

Very cool. Well, that's great information. Thank you for that. I'm curious what I'll give you a yoga example, and then maybe it'll make it easier to answer this question. Like in so most people are going to go to yoga because they're thinking that they want to not be in pain, not have the problems that they have, and then you can get really serious about your yoga, push too hard, and then realize that you have to heal from going a little too big in the yoga practice. One really classic place in yoga that people complain about pain within the world of vinyasa yoga, where we're going from a high push-up position down into a low push-up position is people sometimes get shoulder pain right where the kind of long head of the biceps attaches up into the up into the kind of clavicle area, and so I'm curious: is there something like like one, two, or three of the most common pain points from grapplers that you hear of, because like I'll always hear people say, "Oh, my shoulders, you know, that's a real common one. Is there something that, you know, we could probably go through the entire body and go like, "I've had my whole body hurt" at some point since I started grappling and doing yoga. But I'm just curious if there's like like key core places so I could help to design. Something for you, all that that makes sense.

Aurora Stull: 20:03

Right now, it's my rib.

Todd McLaughlin: 20:05

All right, so ribs. Okay, what happened to your rib? What did you do?

Aurora Stull: 20:10

It's just I popped some of the cartilage in the lower part of my rib, but that's from it's my own fault from staying in a position and then moving before I push someone off of me to move. So it's like I contorted in a funky way.

Todd McLaughlin: 20:23

Pop cartilage where the rib head meets at the facet joint on the spine, or pop cartilage in the in the front, and where the rib attaches onto the sternum.

Aurora Stull: 20:34

Yeah, kind of like in that area. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 20:37

So, how much pain are you in?

Aurora Stull: 20:39

I'm okay right now. It's a re-injury, and I just I just didn't let it heal. And then we did some stuff on Monday night, and we were in certain positions, so where you know we were on top of each other, like you know it was a weird position, and it kind of just popped it back out of place a little bit. Okay, I mean ribs take time too. Yeah, they do.

Todd McLaughlin: 21:01

Yes,

Aurora Stull: 21:02

it's just a it's just a healing waiting game.

Todd McLaughlin: 21:05

All right, so we have dislocated ribs. Mika, what is your what is your current what's your current challenge?

Mika Britt: 21:13

Currently doing okay, but I think shoulders is a yeah, you know shoulders is a big thing just because the position that the people like is wishing you all the time, knees I think is a big a big thing and a lower back also. Lower back is a big thing, but I think the most is just the opening. You know, always the opening and try because it always makes. I think it's like

Todd McLaughlin: 21:44

that makes sense. It sounds like you're saying you're more using your pec majors to kind of keep your body in close like this, and very rarely are you stretching the front part of your body. You're and pulling your shoulder blades together on your back. That's not going to happen. You're going to be kind of forward rounded, interesting, Natty. I saw that your back end. I see a little movement. Oh, I don't see a movement. Can you hear us? All right, we'll give Natty a little chance to kind of work with her internet. So, and and then I'm I'm also really curious. Do you, you know, if I have a injury and I'm gonna practice yoga, I just have to kind of wrestle with my own ego to hold myself back. Yay, you're back, Nazi. Where I was mentioning that if um if I have an injury and I go in practice, I really only have to contend with my own ego to hold myself back from pushing into an area that hurts. However, I'm imagining that when you're grappling, if you have an injury and you're now interacting with another human force, is it smart, possible, or impossible to still grapple and take care of your injury, or do you have to just step away from grappling until you heal? You know what I mean. Like, wouldn't it? Isn't it really risky?

Mika Britt: 23:17

Listen, that from Natalie. I think.

Todd McLaughlin: 23:20

Yeah, she's got personal experience in this department. Well, what? I do.

Nati Eckersley: 23:27

So hopefully, I won't lose you guys again. But I had a recent back injury myself about three or four months ago, I think it was, and it was it was hard to hear because one one of the things that I I pretty much got told by my doctor was to just come back and do injections, you know, and that was it. No other advice, really, nothing. And like you said, it's hard. How do we go about this, right? We want to get better. And luckily, I reached out to other people who have gone through similar situations, and also met you in the process who had a similar back issue, also, which was really nice to hear. You kept going, you know. You find a way, so I had to do just that. But for as far as with grappling, I did have to take some time off actually having pressure on me because I can do the techniques. I could do them for a long time, and luckily I work with people who worked with me. All you know, A.K. and Mika, all all my training partners, I would have to tell them like, hey, just don't put any pressure on me, which is hard to do if you're grappling. So we could do it just technique wise. So I could practice the motions and do everything, but I had to take that time because like any excessive force on me could make it worse, right? So, like you said in yoga, you might be able to practice on your own little baby steps, but then if you actually had someone on top of you, it'd be different. With grappling, you definitely have to take a little bit of time off. But one thing that I'm hoping people hear here is that it doesn't mean it's forever, because you know that's a very scary moment at first when. You hear it, and you think it's going to be forever, but it's not. It took baby steps. So first, I had to remove the additional weight, and then slowly I could do a lot of the techniques, and then now I'm back to being able to roll, and it's great. But it took time, and I had to do very baby steps with everything. You know, start from little no weights with anything, and did a lot of, I did a lot of cross training right now in my injury process and learning what I could and couldn't do, and then now I'm able to do a lot more. But I did, you know, I did some Pilates as with Mika too. I did some Pilates and swimming. I've done a lot of mobility work now, so I've I've been focused on that. So now I'm trying to re get back into the game, but still being smarter about it. Nice. I think that is one thing that we noticed. We had a lot in common in jujitsu and yoga is that if you if you love it, you are going to find a way, and you can still absolutely practice it by listening to your body. Which is maybe it's that's the bigger picture. That's what we're supposed to be learning is to listen to it very well, which we don't do when we're younger. But now we do, and it it kind of guides you. Like, oh, my back's a little tight today, so maybe I'll do a little bit more mobility today and less grappling. You know, it it's nice. I'm in a good place now, which is great.

Todd McLaughlin: 26:15

You know, it's interesting. I remember as a kid taking Taekwondo with my dad and go into class, and someone came and kicked him really hard on the side of his knee and made his knee buckle, and he suffered knee pain pretty seriously after. And I remember the sensei or the teacher at the time was like, he said, you know, like basically reprimanded the guy big time, kind of like you know, that's completely inappropriate. Why would you do that? Like that, that clearly was going to injure that individual, and it just really seemed like the person was getting off work and had a lot of steam and anger, and he was just unleashing his fury in the in the room. I'm curious, do you witness that in your grappling environment? It sounds like you guys are consciously choosing an environment that's more family orientated, where there's this respect and you know care for one another, and that that obviously has to be cultivated by the person that's running the space to make sure that everybody stays on par with that. But I'm just curious, like in relation what you were saying to Natalie and what both Aurora and Mika, what you guys have experienced, if you communicate with someone, like, do you choose to not grapple with someone that you don't feel like is honestly going to listen to you? You know, is that part of it, or like, and like, what is the communication process that has to happen to keep it all safe and and and healthy? Absolutely.

Aurora Stull: 27:42

Yeah, and you can go first because she's she's the queen of like she is good at saying no to things that

Unknown: 27:49

you know

Aurora Stull: 27:49

and creating that boundary.

Todd McLaughlin: 27:51

Nice.

Mika Britt: 27:51

I think we all do, you know. I

Aurora Stull: 27:53

yeah.

Mika Britt: 27:53

I think it's always. I mean, so you want to be there, right? So you wanna like yoga. You wanna be there. So you have to advocate for yourself. The only person that's gonna protect yourself for yourself, right? So like for you to be able to be there, like I mean, I'm not in my 20s. I'm my 50s. You know, I'm old. So if I don't say that, or if I don't tell what's going on? Like, I mean, the the the the chance that I'm gonna get hurt is like bigger, right? So I normally say I I I mean there's another thing also there's the girls and there's the guys, right? So there's guys that knows how to handle us and you know how to go slow or how to you know there's no cannot compete there, right? There is no competition between us and them. So, but there is people that don't understand that they don't know. They're not used to train with girls. They came from another gym, or they don't like, or they don't want, or they don't want to learn. On and and it's difficult. So you have to try to book it for yourself. You know, you you need to know what you can, and even with between me and Kay and Natalie, which you know, I think we are always kind of more together and trying to do the things together because they wait also, right? So we always tell. I tell all the time, Natalie, you know, like get out from my chest or whatever,

Todd McLaughlin: 29:17

get off me,

Mika Britt: 29:19

get off me now, because it's reality. Sometimes I, you know, we can, and there is other thing also that is age. You know, it's it's reality. You getting old, and the things get a little bit more complicated, and you don't want to get hurt. So

Todd McLaughlin: 29:35

understood. What would you say, Aurora? Do you agree with all that?

Aurora Stull: 29:39

Oh, I agree with that completely. I. I've. I mean, actually, honestly, when I started jujitsu, I don't know if it was just a fear of getting hurt or or me just. I don't know if it was strategic or the fear, maybe a little bit of both. And after having Natalie and Mika to kind of again. I learned from a lot of what they were doing too,

Nati Eckersley: 30:02

from our injuries,

Aurora Stull: 30:03

in the injuries that they were experiencing, and I was like, okay, I'm not gonna roll with that person for a little bit. I'm not gonna roll with this person maybe for a little bit, you know. And sometimes you have the ranks of the belts, and I mean, I'm I'm a culprit of it too. You just have to go through it when you're a white belt. You're extremely spastic. You know, you're going through something where you know someone may be choking you, or is or is you know putting pressure on you. And some at first you have a little bit of these freak out moments where you you go spastic, and that's actually like a normal human response for a lot of people. It's that fight or flight response, and a lot of jujitsu is learning how to tame that and and to channel it appropriately and and positively. And when you first start out, you know you have a lot of blue belts, purple belts, brown, and obviously black, who are there to kind of try and mold and teach you the best way that they may know how. But at the same time, if you're rolling with these white belts, and even people who are just so much bigger than you, sometimes they don't even realize that their weight, that they're they're them being very spastic and and and not being able to control them with your own body, it you can get seriously hurt, and they just don't. A lot of them don't realize that. I've come into contact with some people who really, really don't get that until, you know, they get the popped rib, or they get the the hurt wrist, or their shoulder. And most people there learn from that. But I will say it's, yeah, it's ah, it's happened a few times in our gym. I just

Nati Eckersley: 31:42

want to add, like like Mika said, super important. We we and I think through the journey you learn to really advocate for yourself. So at first it's like a little bit and it's uncomfortable, and but as time goes by, you get an injury, you get better, you you know all these things happen. You realize how important it is to really speak up, even if it's a little uncomfortable. But also the importance of we can't do this alone. So it really brings up that community factor where I can't. If Mika and AK and then everybody who's the same similar size to me, if they're all out injured, then I what do I have? I have absolutely nothing. I don't have anyone to train with. So I want to. So I take care of myself, but I also want to take care of them, and same as vice versa. That's why, and I think that's where a lot of the respect comes from. So when Mika tells me, like, "Hey, my shoulders kind of bother me, then I try to keep it in mind because I don't want her getting hurt. I don't want her to be out forever, you know. And so we kind of eventually start evolving together, and it's a it's a beautiful, you know, symbiotic relationship.

Todd McLaughlin: 32:42

That's really cool. I love hearing it from the angle that you're you're pointing to. One makes me think. Like this morning, I noticed that I have someone that'll come into the Ashtanga room, and Ashtanga yoga is a very traditional type of yoga practice, at least within the Hatha Yoga like posture yoga world, and and there's two things I want to kind of point out. I'll come back to this one, which I think is fascinating. The whole belt system in martial arts and yoga does not have that. I actually think in some ways we could benefit if we did, but I'll come back to that one second. The other thing that I want to point out, though, first is that I'll notice that there's somebody who comes in and she's really strong. She's got a really strong practice, and she puts a lot of energy. She's there six days a week, and that another student who came in slowly started kind of gravitating towards setting up near where she is, and they become really I feel like good friends, and they kind of push each other in a way where, even though it's a very unique and individual practice, each person is doing their own thing. We're not physically contacting, apart from the fact that personally, as an instructor, I'm walking around and helping physically. Like if someone's lifting their leg, I'll help assist and lift their leg up, so there is some contact between the instructor and the student or the practitioner, but the practitioners themselves pretty much don't nor typically. But what I've been trying to cultivate a little bit in the my sore room is that if I'm busy or if I'm having a day where my back is really sore and I physically know that if I try to lift bodies, it'll probably not be good for me. I'll kind of can you take one of the students and bring them over and say, "Can you please help and assist this person for me today? So I do feel like we do have kind of a camaraderie in the room that you're talking about. So I guess I'm just enjoying noticing like the the real difference of the fact that you guys are literally locked in with each other and kind of moving forces around. As opposed to like when we're practicing on the mat, it's a very individualized thing. But now to go back to the whole belt thing in India, when you go practice Ashtanga Yoga, there's a first series, a second series, a third series, and a fourth series. And when you are a newbie, kind of like what you were saying, Aurora, like the white belts just have to kind of we're spastic. Like as a new practitioner, we walk in, we're spastic. Like we want to try so hard to be as good as the black belt right away. But as you guys probably have noticed, you can't just go from white belt non skill level to black belt in one day. Like there is a process that goes down to finally get to that point where you probably feel really proud. I bet putting a black belt on, and in similar in yoga with the Shanga yoga, it's kind of held the way it's held in India or was for a long time. Is that you don't get to move into the next pose until you exhibit a certain level of proficiency in the pose that you're on, so you'll be moving through a series of poses. You'll get to a specific place, and then if you're working on that pose, you really won't add any more on. And then you'll look at the person that's doing four series and almost be in awe of what they can do. You know, you watch them, and it's like, how is that even possible? Could I even poss? Could I do that? And they're like, Yeah, I started just like you did. If you keep working, but then you'll look at your body and you'll feel your body. You're like, But my body is so different to your body. Like, how are you? Like, I think you were born with that ability. And they're like, No, no, no. I had to work just as hard. I mean, no one really comes in with the perfect setup. Everyone's got to kind of work if you're really interested and keep doing, so I guess with a point I want to bring a little bit about the belt series is that a lot of people want to start teaching yoga before they've actually practiced a lot of yoga. In your world of grappling, is it you don't start teaching until you become a black belt? Do you have to go through a certain level of like rank and file before you're accepted as a teacher. How does that work?

Nati Eckersley: 37:28

So you also I I teach I coach. So and I'm a blue belt. So I'm nowhere near the black belt. You know I'm just one stage up from white belt. But I coach classes. So you do have to go through like a certification process, and there is I think, everyone at once. You get past white, you start kind of coaching people, and just like you said, it it is wonderful, like to see how a blue belt, a purple belt start helping the white belts, and you kind of start. Everybody needs everybody, right? Like we need the white belt to practice on too, and then they need us to kind of guide them along. So there is a process for certification purposes, and then you know training and whatnot. But it's kind of at least in our school, it was it's almost more like if you start showing an interest in teaching, you know, and then you kind of have to try to find your journey and go about it, and and then do everything required for it too. Cool,

Todd McLaughlin: 38:24

interesting.

Nati Eckersley: 38:25

But I think generally most people start teaching around purple belt and above. Obviously, like I teach the little kids class, and then I teach the women self defense. So I wouldn't, you know, you don't want to be. I don't want to be teaching like brown belts and black belts because they know more about what they're doing. But I like know the general concepts of the basics, right? That makes sense.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:45

Yeah. So

Nati Eckersley: 38:46

yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:47

Awesome, Mika. Do you notice that there is a like? I don't. Okay, I'll just throw my question out first before I start picking it apart. Do you notice that there is like snobs or ego involved in the black versus the white, and how does how do you personally and or your community try to keep everybody on a relatively what's the right way to say like make keeping it accessible where you know like if you walk into a room and you see a bunch of black belts, they're just like,"I'm not even gonna look at you. I'm not even gonna talk to you. Like, you are not worthy of my time. You're just a fledgling beginner. Do you get that, or people? How is that kept at bay in your community?

Mika Britt: 39:38

I think with the black belts, I don't think they have that anymore because they are right on a level, you know. They just the level that they can look out for you or teach you, you know, be together. But I think there is more that in between the belts, you know, in between people. Our gym is pretty reasonable, but I go to Brazil and like when I go to the gym, that there is like 1015, black belts, like the same of the color belt, you know, 1015, black belts, and the color belts also 1015, and you know, I I think it's it's um it keeps very on that difference between white and blue and purple for the black. I don't think. I think it's between more the color belts together. You know that's get a little bit more

Todd McLaughlin: 40:29

interesting. All right. Also,

Mika Britt: 40:31

you you talk about in yoga for teaching. You know, you gotta be there. Like jujitsu has something different. Jujitsu has something that you know. Of course. You move your belts because you know your knowledge, your your skills, but also time on the mat. You know what I mean? Because there's people that's there just not to compete. They're just there to to do some exercise in the end of the day. So the and there's people that there is someone that's trained with us. She's 775 years old. 7777 years old. You know, you can, we can, you know, we can compare with some of us. You know, because it's just it's reality. She does an amazing job, great, but still cannot compare with the same. So I think, like when you talk about you know Ashtanga, they they gotta be on a level there, but also can be on a level. But there is some kind of margin, like a time on the mat, on mat, consistent time on the mat, rather than maybe be on that level. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 41:38

that's probably more

Aurora Stull: 41:38

like dedication and like Mika saying consistency. Nice, nice. You know, you know, showing up every week a couple of times a week on an always consistent, consistent basis, and that is also a big thing for jujitsu. Is like the dedication that you have towards it. It's not just about you know your your ability level and your your strength or the ability to understand and comprehend all of the techniques, you know. I think there's a I don't want to say handicap, but you know, like when you're golfing, that's the only thing I can think of. You know, in older people when they're golfing, like they are given a handicap because technically they're not going to be at the same level as somebody who's you know say 30 years old as compo as compared to somebody who's 70 years old. There has to be some type of middle ground there. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 42:29

that's fascinating. Oh my gosh, it's so interesting. I I like that. I like that concept of thinking of that 77 year old person that you're speaking of, Mika. That the teacher could identify or see a certain quality of like you're showing such incredible commitment and dedication. I'd like to gift you or move you to the next belt. That that there's a different type of criteria for each one. It's not just this one thing you have to kick through 15 boards before. I mean, I'm using more of a taekwondo analogy, but like, so I don't know what the the grappling, the equivalent of breaking boards and and grappling is what is there is there a certain thing like a certain crazy skill thing that you can do that's like whoa that person pulled that off is it in grappling is it like with a a move like to be able to get somebody if you're if you're being laid on that you can then flip and get them down on the ground is there like a few specific moves that everybody wishes that they could do.

Nati Eckersley: 43:24

So we do those all. So I mean, there are, but it's mainly submissions would probably be the main thing that we like all are in awe of. Oh, they got that, you know, that rear naked choke, or they got that arm bar. It's like beautiful. Depending on how they did, it's different. Then there's all different types. There's like the more modern Berenbos, and there's the more traditional types to the Ezekiels and whatnot. So there, there are plenty. I wanted to really quickly say too, with the belts, there, there was one analogy that I heard once that's really stuck with me, and it really kind of seems to work well when I think about it. They once told me that a white belt is somebody who can recognize kind of like the alphabet, right? They can recognize kind of certain things, then a blue belt. Then like they can put words together, and then purple the sentences, and so on and so forth. And it's kind of it applies because for most people, like we said, the journey is different for everyone, and it shows when you meet a blue belt, a purple belt. Not everyone's gonna be. It's not gonna be the same skill. Not every purple belt is gonna have the absolute same skills as the next purple, though, but they'll have the same general concept usually. So, like once you get to purple, you can do like more sequences. So similar to what you were saying in yoga, and it would be pretty cool if yoga had kind of. Because anytime I meet anybody now that's like, you've done yoga for over 10 years, in my head I'm automatically like they're a black belt on this subject. You know, that's how I like automatically think about it, and then it means they have a lot of experience and knowledge. What whether they can do this crazy backbend or not?

Todd McLaughlin: 44:48

Yeah,

Nati Eckersley: 44:48

maybe not. Maybe yes, but they have the time, and it shows when when when people have 10 years dedicated into something.

Todd McLaughlin: 44:56

Yeah, great point, Aurora. I'm curious. So, are you aiming for black belt? That's the ultimate goal.

Aurora Stull: 45:02

That's the middle. Yeah. Do you have your

Todd McLaughlin: 45:06

sights on? Do all three? Is anyone here? What What belts are you? Wait, you you already said Nazi that you're blue. I think you said blue.

Nati Eckersley: 45:14

Nika's the highest. She's purple. It's purple. Can't have blue.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:17

And purple goes what? After purple, it's black. I think right.

Mika Britt: 45:20

Oh no no, it's brown. Brown. So you got and then black.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:23

And do you guys do the stripe thing or no? Is it just yeah? And how many stripes do you have to get on your belt before you get to go the next color?

Nati Eckersley: 45:30

Four. Four.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:32

And so, are all three of you seriously striving? Like, do you wake up in the morning and go, "Man, I'm gonna get there." I'm not giving up. I'm getting to black. Maybe

Aurora Stull: 45:44

not every morning, but at least at some point in the day, every day in my mind.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:50

Mika, what about you? I'm trying to read your facial expression. I can't tell what you're thinking.

Mika Britt: 45:54

Absolutely, absolutely. All right, all right. But you know, also like I, I kind of like enjoyed the journey. You know, I had to be there, and like, you know, there is the the part that we train, but there is the part that jujitsu is awesome because there is always something to talk about. You know what I mean? It's just Josena. Is

Aurora Stull: 46:15

that what you call it?

Mika Britt: 46:16

Always together.

Todd McLaughlin: 46:17

What would you say, or I miss that? Say

Aurora Stull: 46:20

that how you say it, Mika, in in Portuguese, Hesenga.

Mika Britt: 46:22

Yeah, we call like when we do that after jujitsu. You know, like everybody's talking, always something we call Hesenia. Hesenge is like um, like what what is that? Not Lisa. She

Nati Eckersley: 46:36

yeah, talking after the mat. You know, you're just like yeah, like I don't know. There is

Mika Britt: 46:41

not a word in English, but it's like just hesenges if you are in Brazil, they would tell like you know after jujitsu always has a hesenga, like the talk, the community, you know the community together. Jujit has a strong community everywhere. It's very nice.

Todd McLaughlin: 46:59

That's so cool. I know. I saw pictures of when you were in Brazil, Mika, and I like without reading the caption that you wrote, the aura of the photos was like, wow! What an incredible community down there! That looks so neat. It really looked amazing. I'm I'm curious. Um, I recently met a woman that said that me being a man, I didn't understand how much women like. She she said to me, "Well, when you go to your car, do you ever carry your keys and put your keys inside your knuckles, like you're ready to like for somebody to do something to? I said, "No, I really don't. And she's like, "Well, as a woman, I always, you know, we we travel differently than men do. Like, we'll we'll like, hey, we're walking to our car. Let's walk together. Or, you know, we'll think about what we're gonna do. So, I guess I would. I'm curious, since all three of you are women, how has learning self defense helped you navigate that and give you confidence. Does it does it interact? How do you how do you feel about all that? Does it you know? And then I guess any other women that are listening that maybe are yoga practitioners that would be thinking to themselves, I would never do grappling because I would I don't know I just have never even thought about it before. But can you just talk a little bit about what it's like from the female side and what sort of benefits can come for for those that are interested?

Nati Eckersley: 48:27

It's huge. The benefit is huge. I started jujitsu because of self defense. I wanted to have schools, and the truth is, I wanted to be able to. I mean, not even for myself. It was more as a as a mom, right? I I thought, what if something happened to me, and my kids were there, and I needed to buy some time before the cops could show up because nowadays cops are busy. It can take like 20 minutes, right? So I thought, what would I do in the meantime? Like, what if my phone was dead? You know, how would I stall? I'd even, I don't, and and that's the truth of it is the self defense that we learn. I'm not saying I finished the fight, but I definitely put up a really good one, so that was what I went in, and I remember I didn't know anything, so I went in and I fell in love with it immediately. But the main difference for any women is is I feel like, and that that's the same as the black belt, right? The black belts that you see a lot of that ego that Mika was saying is you see most of them are don't have the. Of course, there's some personalities, right? But most of them, it's like it's gone. And I think part of that has to do with the fact that they know they have this skill, but by the time you're a black belt, you don't really even have to prove it anymore, and you don't you don't feel like you have to prove it. And I think it's the same for women when we start doing self defense and we slowly realize that we are powerful and we can protect ourselves and protect those around us. It builds this voice, right? One of the the biggest things, black belt or a woman, for example, we realize like we might it might not get to the fight level. Most of the time, it's not going to get to the fight level. Is you are able to stop it just vocally, but most of us women don't have that voice. We don't have that ability to stick up for ourselves like that. I started doing self defense, and one of the things we practice is we practice saying like, "Hey, back off! Right, and it's funny because at the gym we all do it and we all just kind, hey, back off, and we just joke. We like say it, but we don't. None of us really want to yell it, and most of the time we don't yell it. But a few months after I started doing self defense, I was reading my book in my car, and it was like five in the morning because I was waiting for the class to start. Super dark in a in a little strip mall, you know, no one else around, and this guy came banging on my way. I immediately first words that

came out of my mouth: 50:43

back off, and he backed away. And then he was, I just need a ride to the gas station, which was two blocks down. And I said, no, back off, you know. And I can tell you for a fact that if I hadn't been taking that self-defense class, the first words out of my mouth would have been, who can I call? What do we, you know, it would have been to help because us women we just like to help, and so that was huge. And when I realized, and I did the typical woman thing a couple months, you know, later thinking, "What if you need help? No, no, there was a gas station two two blocks. He didn't need help from a woman in a car at when it was pitch black, you know. And and I think to me, whenever I think about the difference that jujitsu has done, it's that it's giving me that empowerment of knowing I can take care of myself, and that I need to take care of myself, but I'm capable of it. And just knowing I'm capable of it, knowing I have some tools which are just my body, it makes me walk a little stronger than what.

Todd McLaughlin: 51:42

Amazing, great answer. Now I think

Mika Britt: 51:43

also like there is also the like she said, you know, the physical awareness, but I think you already mental prepare. You know, like you mental prepare yourself. Training helps the ability to stay calm. So training, you you train also ability to stay calm and make decision on the pressure. You know, on those situations. So I think this is, you know, not that like you know I'm 120 pound, 26 pounds, and you know, you know, someone come like 200 and something. But you know, I think you mental prepare for that also, combine with like some skills that you have. If you like exactly like she said, you can gain some time, you know, on the situation.

Todd McLaughlin: 52:28

Yes,

Nati Eckersley: 52:29

I saw it with my kids too. You know, they did jujitsu, and I wanted them to be able to protect themselves, like against bullies. Right, that was the main focus for putting them in. And watching my son get choked for the first time, and it sounds terrible when you say it like that, but when he get got into that submission, it was pure panic. You know, when he looked at me and he tapped, which is what we do at the gym. You know, you tap as soon as you feel it, and they let go. Which is so it's a controlled environment. So it is really great that that's his first place of experiencing that, and hopefully never experiences it outside. And that's the same thing we want for women. You know, some of them come with already a lot of trauma. A lot of us, most of us, have probably been through something, and so you might be going through trauma again. But we hope that it's not your first time. That the next time, if it were to happen, that you won't have that panic mode. Because none of us think we all watch the movies and we think like, oh, I know what to do, or you know, I can do the. But no, the first thing you're going to do is absolutely panic. If you get choked or you get in a headlock, and that panic can really freeze you, or you can do something that's actually counterintuitive. If not counterintuitive, it's counterproductive because our our immediate response when's grabbing you is immediately pull, pull. If someone way bigger than me tries to pull me, they're gonna win, right? And I'm just gonna exhaust myself. But jujitsu teaches you how to use your body, how to use you know the technique properly against somebody way bigger, so that you have more of a chance. So I know I'm not going to pull. I'm going to do a certain technique. I might get a little closer. Actually, a lot of what we do is meaning we need to get closer to get away. So seeing my kid going through that first time, I saw that look of panic, and I saw what that first experience of someone you know being in a position they're really uncomfortable in, and could be very traumatic. Two weeks later, he already knew how to get out of

Todd McLaughlin: 54:09

it. He was

Nati Eckersley: 54:09

in the same position, same kid, doing the same thing, and he knew how to get out of it. Biggest, biggest, most important thing about it was that he did it without panicking. He just did step one, step two, did the things, and he got out. And that's the biggest factor. Is you don't have that panic mode, which we're all gonna have. You know, you're probably gonna freeze. Maybe very few of you won't freeze, but most of us will freeze that first time, first couple times until we get comfortable. Yeah, I agree. We kind of handle the situation a little bit.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:36

Great point.

Aurora Stull: 54:38

Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:39

What do you? I was at a gas station

Aurora Stull: 54:40

and something like that happened to me actually recently. It was during like the Easter weekend, I believe, and it was just my daughter and I. And I went to a gas station to go and pick something up for. It's always a gas station. I went to a gas station to pick something up for her and to run inside really quickly. And when I went to, I got out of my car and she was walking with me, and we were walking towards the front door, and as I was walking towards the front door, I could see out of my peripheral someone was walking towards us on the right hand side, and I immediate I looked at him very quickly, and then I looked at Kaylee and I looked at him and he saw me looking at him and he started walking directly towards us, and he didn't have a shirt on, he didn't have shoes, his shorts were were like really kind of like very dirty, and he kind of looked like he wasn't all there in the face. So and he just started brisk walking towards me. So I immediately told my daughter get in the car, and I said you need to back away. And he said, but wait, ma'am. And I said no, you need to back away. And so I immediately got in my car, and he kind of stopped in his tracks and just looked at me like this, and then he turned back around. These people think that sometimes when they're coming for you, that you're not going to say anything, and that you're not going to speak up, and that you don't really see them, and they expect you just to be nice, and then you allow them to get close enough to you, and that's when they harm you. So even just doing that, like Natalie said, and speaking up and having the confidence to speak up, and not caring if you're going to hurt the other person's feelings or not, that's a big deal, and that could save your life and in your your kid's life. You know?

Todd McLaughlin: 56:18

Yes.

Aurora Stull: 56:19

Powerful.

Todd McLaughlin: 56:19

Oh, it is. It's so good to hear that. It's interesting. I love that you said that you mentioned like it's not even going to get to you know. You learn skills that will actually buy time and make it where you're like so direct. It almost they don't expect it. Like people just don't expect that you're going to like you said stand up yourself and see me coming

Aurora Stull: 56:39

at you. Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, and you you now you're more confident to make direct eye contact with somebody, yeah. And for some reason, whenever you look at somebody dead in the face and in the eyes, like I see you, for some reason it indicates to them like, okay, this is probably somebody that I don't want to interact with because they're giving me a vibe that like

Todd McLaughlin: 57:00

yeah,

Aurora Stull: 57:00

you know, they're not backing down. It's almost animalistic at that point where you are going to a standoff with someone else or something else, and if you don't run from it, if you don't, you know, power from it, then usually they back off most of the time. I mean, from what I've seen.

Todd McLaughlin: 57:18

Yeah, that's so interesting because I feel like in the yoga meditation world, there's a similar philosophy with fear in relation to meditation. If we sit and we start sitting quietly, and different thoughts might come up, or like you had made mention that like kind of all of us have had some sort of like traumatic experience most likely, and then you know, fear can be crippling, and it can, and it it almost feels to me like it's like some guy coming at you with something, you know, and like, but when you face it and you like you you stand it clear and like really face it, and it's like fear just dissipates. It like can disappear because you were feeling bold enough to actually be strong to stand in its way, so it's really fascinating to hear you explain it. Like on the physical level, I feel like in the yoga world, we're doing a little bit more that when we're meditating, like we'll have this thought, and it's like, oh my God, that's freaking me out. I, you know what I mean. But it's more like, okay, turn toward it and acknowledge it, and and then watch what happens. And it's a it's fascinating how that occurs both mentally, but also physically, like we're in the physical world, in the physical environment. You know, you guys are amazing. You all are really cool. I'm so happy that I'm getting a chance to to further conversation with you all. I'm really excited for our yoga class, and and I feel like I learned a lot from speaking with with you all today as to like how I'll try to structure the class when you guys when you all arrive. I really want to encourage everybody listening to, even if you have no interest in everything that we talked about, but if you're still here, you probably do to go and send you guys a little bit of love on your on your podcast channel, whether it's through your social media, because you guys are on Instagram at Gee Squad, correct? Yeah.

Mika Britt: 59:14

Yes, Instagram Gee Squad podcast. Cool. Cool. YouTube. YouTube.

Todd McLaughlin: 59:20

And Spotify. So I'll put all those links in the description, so if you're listening, it's going to be easy to find them. And and you know, those of us that are working in this realm where we're like sharing conversation through the internet, every little bit of like fodder that you give us, like a little like and some love and some comments and stuff like that, is like really huge. Like we really appreciate it. So even if you might think this is so silly, like these guys don't want to hear what I have to say. We actually do. We really appreciate it, and and it's okay if everyone reaches out to you. I'm gathering right if someone has a question or someone heard something and they're like curious, and if they want to train with you, I know you know we're all local here in the North Palm, Juno, Palm Beach Gardens area, but obviously you all could connect someone to somebody probably somewhere else because there's a network. I'm sure if someone's listening in New York or California, you probably know somebody that lives out there that you could direct them to. So I just want to open up the idea that like whoever's listening, feel free to reach out to us and we're happy to assist anywhere we can. Is there anything else that you guys feel like we missed that that you? I mean, I guess usually when I end a podcast, I'll you know I'll ask you to give me some sort of like final little inspiration or motivation, or is there something you want to finish with? So I'd like to open that opportunity up for all three of you, and we can go around. Let's start with Mika, Aura, and Aurora. Sorry, and Natalie, Mika first. Is there anything you'd like. To close with Mika,

Mika Britt: 1:00:45

I don't know. Just it's should if never tried jujits, maybe you you know should come for class, learning that you can respond like effective in a difficult situation. It's empowering, you know. So having come to you know, please give a try. So it will be

Todd McLaughlin: 1:01:12

cool. What about you, Aurora? What do you think?

Aurora Stull: 1:01:16

I would say you know I wouldn't let you know maybe if you're I wouldn't say suffering, but maybe if you feel like you don't, type you're not the right age, you're not the right, you know, height, weight, whatever it may be, may have some type of disability. Like I don't want that to hinder you from ever trying jujitsu because it really has become a type of like way of life for everybody, honestly. And I think anybody and anyone could find something somewhere in it to benefit that would transfer over into your everyday life. Yes,

Todd McLaughlin: 1:01:48

thank you, Aurora. Natalie, what do you think? I think I can hear your kids over there. Are they having fun?

Nati Eckersley: 1:01:55

Sorry, they just got back to the. No, it's totally cool. It's totally cool.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:01:58

I just wanted to. I just I saw you trying to turn your microphone off and turn it on, so no worries at all. Kids are cool. We like kids. Yes,

Nati Eckersley: 1:02:07

it's part of it, right? But I think if I had to say one thing, it would just be that if anybody out there that has any fear, or has gone through trauma, or just or an injury, it all those things are part of life, and I think both jutting to and yoga have a place for that, and that you can work through with all of those. It's not you're going to not going to push through pain, but you're going to work with it. And we all have those at all different types and stages of our life. So we're in this all together.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:02:39

Well said.

Nati Eckersley: 1:02:40

Try out a self-test.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:02:41

Well said. We are all in this together. I agree. Well, I'm so grateful. Thank you so much. I can't wait to share this. And I think that's about it. Y'all feel good? You feel feel like we did it? I think we did it. I think we did it. We did it too. Thank you.

Aurora Stull: 1:03:01

Cool. Thanks for having us.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:03:03

Yes, is my pleasure, and I'm really excited to to see you guys practicing yoga. And I'm gonna have to follow your advice, Mika, and come learn some grappling and and just get over my my fear and just just try it. I I'll I'll voice my concern. I'll be like, please don't pin me down in my back, and then I I trust that you all will listen. So thank you so much.

Aurora Stull: 1:03:24

No, thank you.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:03:25

Thank you.

Mika Britt: 1:03:25

Thank you. Thank you, Todd.

Todd McLaughlin: 1:03:39

Native Yoga Todd Cast is produced by myself. The theme music is "Dreamed Up" by Bryce Allen. If you like this show, let me know. If there's room for improvement, I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of, what I could improve, and if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native Yoga Center. You can find us@nativeyogacenter.com And hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends, rate it, and review, and join us next time.

Unknown: 1:04:23

Well, yeah, I know you.