#57: Kristina Nikolaj: From Anxiety to Breathwork to BJJ
Kristina Nikolaj is a retired debilitating anxiety sufferer turned breathwork facilitator focused on using the breath to take control of your life. Then she discovered more of her power through jiu jitsu.
Georgia and Kristina discuss:
- Kristina's experience with anxiety/self-esteem issues
- Kristina's discovery of martial arts after never playing sports her whole life
- Using breathwork on and off the mats
- Breathwork for trauma survivors or anyone with a fear of breathwork
- How bjj has played as a mirror for Kristina in even how she lives her life off the mats
- Breathwork for sporting performance
- Kristina's competition fears and how's she's working on them
To contact Kristina:
Instagram: @kristinanikolaj
Website: kristinanikolaj.com
Sign up to the Conscious Combat Club newsletter here to get the latest updates about mindful and trauma-informed martial arts practices, clubs and research.
Join the Conscious Combat Club on Facebook to meet fellow listeners of this podcast and help us transform martial arts into more inclusive sports for everybody.
If you'd like to join The Fight Back Project, you'll find the waitlists for Melbourne here and online here.
If this podcast has inspired you to create your own trauma-informed martial arts program, you can register for my 12 week online course here.
Thank you so much to Nari for the beautiful song "Shape Me" heard at the beginning and end of this episode. Nari wrote this song about Shape Your Life, a boxing program for self-identified female survivors of violence in Canada. She wrote this song using the words and experiences shared by participants with Cathy Van Ingen. You can find out more about Shape Your Life in my interview with Cathy in Episode 8. You can hear more of Nari's work by going to her Instagram: @narithesaga
