Denver’s Coach Stephanie Johnson, who works in a community mental health center and holds a background in social work and therapy, never had any interest in Muay Thai prior to Easton. In fact, her journey at Easton began in 2014 through a Groupon purchase on a whim, and she actually put off coming in until the last day possible! Today, she holds a brown shirt in Muay Thai.
When Stephanie did come for that first Kickboxing class, she fell in love. She immediately felt a shift to the everyday “normal” programming: instead of rewarding women for staying smaller and weaker, she found strength celebrated and encouraged at Easton.
She had found a place that validated her pull towards being strong. This new sense of strength didn’t just manifest physically; it began to reflect in the way that, bit by bit, Stephanie pushed herself deeper into the sport, the community and her role.
“Every step, I told myself,” recounts Stephanie, “only do this one thing and never do more. I thought I’d never do Muay Thai.”
Though Stephanie was hooked on Kickboxing, attending between 2-3 classes a day, it wasn’t until Coach Sean Madden told her she could never check into another Kickboxing class again that she finally gave in and tried Muay Thai.
She did Muay Thai Fundamentals because she had to, but didn’t see herself progressing to Intermediate. Eventually, she did – but said, never a scrimmage. Fast forward to seven years later and Stephanie has not only done two in-house scrimmages but has now been coaching Muay Thai for six years!
[From Sparring to Scrimmage: The First Step in the Muay Thai Competition Journey]
She first began coaching at Blue Shirt level as the one who gives new students their free intro private session. This turned into her covering the holiday schedule’s Kickboxing classes at Denver and eventually having her own Kickboxing classes on the regular schedule before transitioning to coaching Muay Thai.
Today, along with coaching regular classes, Stephanie works alongside coaches Sean Madden and Steve Eisman, assisting them with the fight team – traveling with them, cornering fights and helping to develop the mental aspects for the fighters.
As a kid who came up primarily in theater with a focus on the tech side, she found herself in a similar place – helping behind the scenes and supporting the performers (now fighters) however they needed her.
Her role with the fight team allows her the unique opportunity to experience its community at a close range and help facilitate a smoother experience through both physical and mental prep.
“I’ve always been into what’s happening in the background,” says Stephanie, “all the unseen work making this thing work. I don’t have to be the one fighting; I want to be helping.”
Her background in social work and therapy also fuels Stephanie’s interest in understanding all the different pieces that come together to create whatever performance we’re putting on. This reflects in everything from how students and coaches are showing up to how the fight team’s athletes work through their journeys.
How are we presenting in this space, and what goes into how it all comes together? Everyone has their own reasons for why they choose to train or fight. Stephanie’s interest in the underlying “why” that keeps us all on the mats helps her understand how to aid her students in meeting those needs.
[Finding Your “Why” in Martial Arts: What Makes You Start vs. What Makes You Stay]
Elevating others through community
Some people train because it helps them develop and maintain the ability to be present. For others, it’s learning to be a good partner, or to keep themselves safe or to stop their mind from racing.
For Stephanie, along with her own mind-body connection in the sport, a big part of passion lies in the representation of women in the sport.
Along her journey, she has seen many women come in and grow through the ranks, watching them explode in confidence and skill. Seeing her own experience in Muay Thai transform her life and inspire others, it’s become an important part of her practice to facilitate safe spaces on the mats for other women.
“I’ve gotten to see the group of the amazing women at the academy grow so much in the 10 years I’ve been here”, says Stephanie. “I hear it a lot from women – that we have a high representation of women and how important it is; how close we are and how we support and don’t compete against each other.”
In Stephanie’s experience as a coach and practitioner, that has played a huge part in why people – specifically women – come in and stay: they feel seen.
Along with setting a positive example and creating space for others, Stephanie’s personal drive on the mats comes from rising to the challenge. It lies in knowing that every day, she can push herself a bit more to do things that at one point in time she’d have thought ridiculous.
Stephanie continues to push herself deeper into the sport not just due to her own progress, but because of how she has seen the community itself impact her personally. When she was doing her first in-house scrimmage seven years ago, her mom had an aneurysm burst in her brain. (Luckily, she lived.)
In the moment, however, having Easton, being in fight camp and having people who expected to see her every day, who would ask about her if she missed a day, helped her stay grounded.
Having a community and people that care gave her consistency and accountability to show up, and tangentially helped her family because she was the one taking on a lot of the emotional support there.
[Experience Muay Thai: TBA 2023 Recap]
Martial arts and mental health
Martial arts is as challenging mentally on athletes as it is physically. With two graduate degrees under her belt (in social work and in sports management) Stephanie is particularly interested in the overlap of martial arts and mental health – particularly, high-performance coaching.
Her training allows Stephanie to take care of our athletes holistically and to explore what more we can be doing – especially for the fight team – to ensure we’re supporting them the best we can in every way possible.
For example, when pro MMA fighter Ronda Rousey finally lost a fight, she left the sport. When someone builds an entire career – or identity – around being the best, they may lack the necessary skills to find meaning and self-worth outside of that.
What are the skills needed to help athletes compete sustainably at a higher level? These skills and emotional regulators are a necessary part of being a whole person – developing a core identity you can trust outside of the external validation and appraisal you receive for your performance.
These challenges inherently hit high-performers, who often struggle with identity outside of achievement, hardest. To help athletes on the fight team work to develop a more holistic sense of identity and strength, Stephanie focuses largely on building up these mental aspects of martial arts in her training and prep with them.
[Mindfulness and Mental Resilience in Martial Arts]
Some of the things Stephanie and the fight team coaches do consistently include basic grounding techniques like visualization, deep breathing and subsequent heart rate control. This can help competitors remain calm and stay connected amid the flurry of stress, emotion and adrenaline that competition brings.
Learning how to take these techniques and integrate them into our natural responses and stress triggers can help regulate emotions even off the mats – like with siblings or other partnerships.
The athletes Stephanie sees most often are those participating in our scrimmages and the newer fighters on the fight team.
Helping these athletes integrate mental and emotional aspects of the game alongside their physical training can help prepare them for a variety of outcomes – from the disappointment of loss to the unexpected void that comes after a big win.
Stephanie’s multifaceted approach exemplifies how all kinds of skills, backgrounds and experiences go into the development of a strong, multidimensional community of martial artists.
It’s not just about winning, being the strongest or rising to the toughest challenge. Sometimes it’s as simple as allowing yourself the grace of being a whole person – seeing the full picture and working to integrate all parts as we deconstruct, understand and hone the most successful version of ourselves.
[The Art of Breathwork in Martial Arts]
