Your Brain Has Three Parts — Jiu-Jitsu Trains All of Them | Professor Heidi Garwood

Professor Heidi Garwood is a clinical social worker and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who built her gym around women and kids. In this conversation, she and Pete dig into the mental side of the mats: your three-part brain — thinking, emotional, and survival — and how jiu-jitsu trains you to find your way back to your thinking brain when the pressure hits.   Heidi shares the breath and grounding tools she borrows from her trauma work, why competition keeps you from getting too comfortable, and the doctor's wake-up call that started it all ("it's not enough"). She also tells the story of a match she'll never forget — a quiet, controlled loss to Roxanne Modafferi at Master's Worlds — and the transformation she watched jiu-jitsu bring to her oldest daughter, now her gym's head instructor.   Heidi started jiu-jitsu in rural Montana, trained a full year in women's-only classes, earned her black belt, and now owns and runs Carlson Gracie Green Valley in Henderson, Nevada.   — Links — The Jiu Jitsu Mindset — https://thejiujitsumindset.com My Jiu Jitsu Journey app — available on iOS and Android Submission Coffee — https://submissioncoffee.com   Chapters 00:00 Intro — the app, the coffee, and today's guest 01:43 How Heidi started: the doctor who said "it's not enough" 03:20 "Mom, it's not that easy" — training as a busy mom 05:29 The blue belt that made quitting impossible 06:44 Your three brains: thinking, emotional, survival 07:57 The spazzy white belt and a panic in Denver 10:16 Survival brain vs. thinking brain 11:06 Breath and grounding: tools from the trauma world 12:28 Educated instincts — social work meets the mats 13:55 Interoception and exteroception 15:50 The teacher who connected it all 16:22 Women's classes and "anybody can do anything for 10 seconds" 19:45 The role of competition 23:36 Boise: having to beat her own sister 26:15 Master's Worlds and Roxanne Modafferi 29:02 Elegant vs. frantic jiu-jitsu 31:33 Watching jiu-jitsu transform her daughter 36:00 Stones in the pond (and a word from Pedro Sauer) 37:33 Superhero names from the ladies' chat 39:01 Wrapping up