When we say Easton’s staff consists of some of the brightest, most committed and passionate people in our community from all walks of life, this also includes neuroscientists. Matrix Martial Arts Academy Operations Director (AOD) Luma Murib, who has spent the last 10 years working with Easton, has also devoted the last seven to the study of the brain, including as a professional research assistant at CU Boulder.

As a purple belt, Luma understands hard work and discipline, and she has also gained a deep understanding of the martial arts journey – the nonlinear, ever-evolving process that grows along with you as long as you continue to show up.

Luma first started training at 15 years old – in secret from her family, paying for herself by cleaning mats – and now helps run the academy alongside its GM, Derek Alumbaugh, and also facilitates Easton’s online community through her work as Director of Social Media. 

As a kid, Luma did ballet and dance until middle school when she got in a skiing accident, and in high school tried track and tennis but didn’t enjoy them. Starting BJJ in 10th grade was the first time she found a sport — an art — that felt like a permanent fit.

Her commitment to growth has continued to expand as she manages the front desk and its staff, ensuring that the culture of Easton remains what made her first feel so at home and supported all those years ago. 

In her social media role, which she’s held since 2019, Luma runs two accounts, manages a team of six people and oversees social media for all of the schools. This requires her to keep all of Easton’s eight social media accounts in sync while encouraging each school to develop its own, unique personality.

Paving pathways

Initially, Luma served as a First Impressions Specialist, managing the front desk for four years at Castle Rock before getting promoted to Director of First Impressions (DFI) – a role she held for a year before the school’s transition. Luma stayed on with Easton and became the Academy Operations Director (AOD) of Matrix Martial Arts.

In her most recent role as Professional Research Assistant in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder, Luma focused on animal behavior and neuroscience, managing a colony of over 150 mice. Her day-to-day involved performing surgeries, planning behavioral experiments, and studying neurons, neurotransmitters, and neural pathways in the mice. Through this research, Luma learned how to better understand potential responses humans may also have in various situations.

The more she learned about the parallels between human and mouse behavior, the more clearly she saw them around her in daily life. Many people perceive humans and animals as vastly different, but behavioral neuroscience consistently reveals striking similarities. 

For example, her work in the lab, funded by a grant, explored stress models in mice to understand how humans react to and manage stress. This research aims to identify the neural pathways that contribute to resilience — a term typically used mainly for humans but observable in mice through specific stress paradigms. 

[Mindfulness and Mental Resilience in Martial Arts]

While humans have a more complex vocabulary for emotions, the scientific patterns in mice often mirror foundational aspects of human behavior. Her favorite part of this work was uncovering these connections between species, deepening our understanding of resilience and adaptation.

Another parallel between behavior observed in humans and mice goes back to the concept we often use: that of Easton as a lab. We like to say the academy and the mat are your lab – to try things out, experiment and see what works in a safe and supportive environment. 

It also satisfies our social needs. Just as the mice in the lab thrive in community and display elevated endorphin receptor activity, humans experience similar benefits after spending time on the mats with each other, fostering connection and mutual growth.

The lab that Luma was part of specifically studies dopamine and the brain’s reward system, which directly connects to the experiences in martial arts. Research shows that being surrounded by friends and a community — much like attending class with fellow students — activates the brain’s reward pathways, creating a “gold star” feeling. 

Checking off tasks, such as completing a workout, also provides a dopamine boost, and exercise itself is inherently rewarding. At Easton, the combination of social interaction, physical activity, and task-based accomplishment creates a powerful cycle of rewards that keeps people coming back to the mats.

Not only do we feel great physically and mentally, having got in a solid training session, but we leave in a heightened state overall – including psychologically and emotionally as well.

Why Easton?

As Luma continues her lifelong pursuit of neuroscience with a double major in Sociology and Behavioral Neuroscience from CU under her belt, she prepares for new roles within Behavioral Neuroscience. So, why stay on board with Easton?

Not only does the art of BJJ provide a corporeal counterbalance to all of Luma’s cerebral pursuits, but Luma tells us that Easton itself is the balance in her life.

“Easton is my family,” Luma says, “and also my compass. I’ve always looked for things in my life that make me feel the way Easton does.”

Because of the way the academy has consistently fostered transformation, encouragement and balance for her, whether it’s a job, a friend group, or an activity, she finds herself asking, “Does this feel like Easton?”

On the mats, she finds a harmony between being in her head and fully present in her body, grounding her amidst life’s turbulence. When everything else feels chaotic, Easton has always been a grounding force helping bring her back to center.

Since Luma began training at 15, a transformative and vulnerable time in her life, Easton has been a steadfast source of growth, support, and love. Now approaching 26, she reflects on the past decade as one where Easton provided her with a family she could always rely on, no matter the challenges in other areas of her life. 

Even during times of transition — like when her core friends left for college or when she struggled to make connections in college — Easton provided a steady community she could always rely on and thanks to that, she has never felt lonely.

The academy has introduced her to countless mentors and figures she can turn to for advice on work, school, or personal matters. With hundreds of connections formed over the years, Easton has become a core part of her identity and her definition of a supportive community.

[How Martial Arts Changed My Life: Confidence and Community]

Leadership as connection

Balancing her role as a representative of the team and her personal journey as a student has brought some unique challenges to Luma’s life, especially as she transitioned last year from being at Easton daily to only arriving in the evenings. 

It has especially highlighted the importance of maintaining relationships with staff and coworkers. To ensure she continues to develop those relationships, Luma has set some rules for herself that allow stewardship and connection to remain at the forefront of her leadership style. 

For example, instead of coming into the academy and pointing out things she’d like to see cleaned up or refined right away, Luma tries to encourage her team by acknowledging all of the positives she sees.

She and Matrix GM Derek frequently talk about the concept of marbles as it relates to people: every interaction is an opportunity to add or subtract marbles from the relationship. Positive gestures, like asking about someone’s family or recognizing their achievements, fill the jar, creating a foundation of trust. Criticism, tension or negative feedback can lead to subtracting marbles. 

Since the nature of Luma’s role often involves pointing out areas for improvement, it can lead to more withdrawals than deposits if not balanced with positivity. When you work on your relationships and build up trust, later, tough conversations won’t be so detrimental to your relationship. You don’t have a deficit of marbles because you’ve been putting in enough all along that you can afford to lose some.

The shift in Luma’s daily work life has also affected her personal experience with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While she still loves to train and tries to hit the mats twice a week, personal space at the academy can be a challenge to create as stress and work responsibilities encroach on her mental space. 

“I can never fully step into being a student,” Luma says, “because I’m always representing the team and the company.”

This is a common struggle of those in leadership – as such a strong academy presence often means try as you might, you can’t just melt into the crowd and come for solely your Jiu Jitsu.

As she navigates the art of being fully present and physically engaged in training when mentally overloaded, Luma continues to strive for balance between her passion for BJJ, her role at Easton, and her commitment to fostering meaningful relationships. 

[Training Deliberately: Seeking Feedback to Hone Your Game]

A future with Easton

As she continues her personal study of the art of Jiu Jitsu, Luma’s longterm martial arts skills involve strengthening her overall game – like having a better guard – and developing a stronger overall Jiu Jitsu circle.

“I’m a purple belt, but there’s still so much I could work on and strengthen,” says Luma, “and I want to have strong positions from every aspect in BJJ. People become stagnant and think they’re good because they’ve been training a while, but they still have holes. I want to fill those holes.”

Despite her path with behavioral neuroscience, Luma continues to see Easton in her future and would love to eventually have a full time position on the HQ team.

In many ways, this shows us that it almost doesn’t matter what you do; if the company doesn’t feel supportive or aligned, it’ll lose you. Alternatively, when you work hard to build an organization around core values like excellence, trust, compassion and stewardship, you end up with people who truly want to be there and will work their hardest to co-create a role that fits – from actors and artists to neuroscientists.