Marich - Transforming Trauma with Jiu-Jitsu

My grandfather, Helio Gracie, created Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to assist the smaller, less athletic person in staying safe under attack. Using jiu-jitsu in the service of healing trauma survivors honors his legacy. I applaud Annas and Jamies efforts to spread the word and take healing to the next level. I highly recommend this book to instructors and practitioners everywhere.

Rener Gracie, fourth-degree Black Belt, cofounder and co-owner of Gracie University

Ive closely followed Dr. Jamies collection of movement work because of her unique ability to simplify critical concepts while providing clear and practical tools to reconnect with your body and heal. Jamie and collaborator Anna help trauma survivors like myself see new possibilities and options for managing daily life, which builds a sense of resilience and a feeling of empowerment in our decisions. Together they give ideas for how people can sensitively and effectively access movement and the martial arts, which provide immediate short-term benefits as well as long-term shifts in our nervous system, overall posture, and self-expression. This book is a gateway to a full, expansive, and authentic life and Im so thankful theyve made this kind of deep transformation available for everyone.

Alyson Stoner, founder of Movement Genius and mental health advocate

Transforming Trauma with Jiu-Jitsu pushes psychotherapy beyond the siloed role that it normally holds in a persons healing process and extends those benefits into a real-world, practical, and empowering place for people overcoming trauma. Marich and Pirkl demonstrate the healing effects of jiu-jitsu explained through the lens of how someone who has undergone trauma would experience the process and give practical direction for clinicians, gyms, and people who may wish to incorporate martial arts in their trauma recovery. This book helps to break down the barriers of the overlapping but often partitioned worlds that can serve in the roles of providing healing. This kind of extension is a necessary step forward for the mental health field to better support recovery!

Curt Widhalm, MA, MS, LMFT, cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined Conference

Marich and Pirkls new book is a treasure trove of insight and empirically based information. This book clearly explains how healing from trauma, utilizing somatic-oriented methods (in particular jiu-jitsu), is possible and very attainable.... Over the years I have recommended martial arts in general to trauma survivors, instinctively knowing that learning to move their bodies in new and skilled defensive ways could help their overall trauma healing, very much complementing our EMDR therapy together. However, I only knew of a couple local dojos I felt comfortable sending survivors (women in particular). With the information in this book on the basic techniques and interesting history of jiu-jitsu, I now can confidently place this martial art recommendation at the top of the list (and better help trauma survivors discern if a potential dojo is healthy, positive, and welcoming), with research to back this up.

Stephanie Baird, LMHC, EMDRIA approved consultant and former karate practitioner and author of EMDR and Sexual Health

There are many pathways to successful healing. In their excellent discussion of jiu-jitsus role in healing trauma survivors, Jamie Marich and Anna Pirkl provide the theory and practical knowledge helpful to both the healer and trauma survivor in need of healing. I didnt know much about jiu-jitsu before reading this book. I found it to be useful and informative.

S. George Kipa, MD, MS Detroit, MI

Copyright 2022 by Jamie Marich and Anna Pirkl. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by

North Atlantic Books
Huichin, unceded Ohlone land
aka Berkeley, California
Cover photo gettyimages.com/lindsay_imagery
Cover design by Jasmine Hromjak
Photography by John Kovalsky
Interior design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Transforming Trauma with Jiu-Jitsu: A Guide for Survivors, Therapists, and Jiu-Jitsu Practitioners to Facilitate Embodied Recovery is sponsored and published by North Atlantic Books, an educational nonprofit based in the unceded Ohlone land Huichin (aka Berkeley, CA) that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are distributed to the US trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publishers Services. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com.

CONTENT DISCLAIMER: This book contains material that may be triggering, including references to self-harm, sexual abuse, or trauma.

PLEASE NOTE: The creators and publishers of this book are not and will not be responsible, in any way whatsoever, for any improper use made by anyone of the information contained in this book. All use of the aforementioned information must be made in accordance with what is permitted by law, and any damage liable to be caused as a result thereof will be the exclusive responsibility of the user. In addition, they must adhere strictly to the safety rules contained in the book, both in training and in actual implementation of the information presented herein. This book is intended for use in conjunction with ongoing lessons and personal training with an authorized expert. It is not a substitute for formal training. It is the sole responsibility of every person planning to train in the techniques described in this book to consult a licensed physician in order to obtain complete medical information on their personal ability and limitations. The instructions and advice printed in this book are not in any way intended as a substitute for medical, mental, or emotional counseling with a licensed physician or health-care provider.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Marich, Jamie, author. | Pirkl, Anna, author.
Title: Transforming trauma with Jiu-jitsu : a guide for survivors,
therapists, and Jiu-jitsu practitioners to facilitate embodied recovery
/ Jamie Marich, PhD, and Anna Pirkl, LMFT.
Description: Berkeley, CA : North Atlantic Books, [2022] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: An introduction to
jiu-jitsu as an embodied modality for healing from trauma Provided by
publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021038497 (print) | LCCN 2021038498 (ebook) | ISBN
9781623176150 (Trade Paperback) | ISBN 9781623176167 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Exercise therapy.
Classification: LCC RM725 .M368 2022 (print) | LCC RM725 (ebook) | DDC
615.8/2dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021038497
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021038498

North Atlantic Books is committed to the protection of our environment. We print on recycled paper whenever possible and partner with printers who strive to use environmentally responsible practices.

To Brendan and Ethan Reiter, my bonus boys and sons in every sense of the word...

Thank you for getting me onto the mat.

Jamie

To Alice D. Peebles, AKA my adoptive Mom...