Combat Trauma

As a Black woman, Jasmine Marie knows the impact that intergenerational trauma and systemic racism have had—and continue to have—on her community. Those experiences, along with her own journey through chronic stress, are why she created black girls breathing®, a movement dedicated to helping Black women understand the power of the mind‑body connection and its impact on their holistic health, one breath at a time. In Black Girls Breathing, Jasmine Marie offers you the power of breathwork, and the revolutionary nature of slowing down and turning inward.

It's an old story—a fighter gains fame, drives fast cars, makes piles of cash, and dates beautiful women. Then comes the fall—booze, drugs, depression, poverty, illness. This dark narrative has been playing out for a hundred years. Doctors first identified "Punch Drunk Syndrome" in 1928. It later became known as "Dementia Pugilistica." Today, we call it CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). The secret history of this disease in boxing has never been fully told—until now.

They’re going to show up. If you’ve been teaching self-defense for any length of time, chances are that you’ve already taught a survivor of violence, whether you knew it or not at the time. If you are going to teach for any length of time, meeting a survivor is a ‘when,’ not an ‘if.’ These students present a specific set of challenges, and have specific needs. If they’re handled unconsciously or inexpertly, they can be damaged more easily than most other people.

David W. Powell enlisted for a tour of duty in April 1966 with the US Marines after receiving an imminent draft notice. Believing he would be able to leverage his existing skills as a computer programmer, he never thought all they would see on his resume was his Karate expertise. Even less that he would wind up serving as a Rocket man in the jungles of Da Nang and Chu Lai for a 13 month tour in hell. David's journey from naive civilian to battle-hardened combat veteran shows us all how fragile our humanity really is.

Heal from trauma and PTSD with the martial art of jiu-jitsu - written for survivors, mental health therapists, and trauma-informed martial arts instructors.