The Open Matt

Specialties

Personal training and holistic integration of practice into our lives. Martial arts, Self Defense, Persian Martial arts, Grappling arts, Nervous system balancing, posture work, Kettlebell Yoga, Traditional Healing/​bodywork practices, Combatives, In depth breakdown of Yoga and martial arts training and how they’re connected to each other. Yoga was the first martial art, when explored together we get to experience true integrated health. Martial arts is a health practice first, find the power inside relaxation and balance inside chaos.

I also do off site workshops as well as lecturing and consulting, for nonverbal communication, posture, self defense, awareness skills. This is all part of a martial arts practice, also yoga and body conditioning. To experience the traditional Persian and Indian conditioning is to open up a lifetime of wisdom in our bodies. Challenging, fun, and highly functional this stuff is centuries ahead of its time.

History

Established in 2011.

The Open Matt was opened for the purpose of having a place to practice. To explore and share information between practitioners of movement and other arts. The Open Mat times in Dojos was when the Master would let the students work on their own to develop skills and share between each other. This is when the good work happens. I opened this place with the intention of developing practice. The Follow the Leader approach to wellness and fitness classes is fine but much of my joy and skill came from spending time with my technique and being able to «jam» with others to integrate the knowledge into my body. I’m not here to be a movement «parrot», and as a teacher, I challenge my students to develop their own personal practice.

I decided to find a place out of the way with plenty of parking so we can come and spend some time developing skill. This is it. It’s been great.

Meet the Business Owner

Matt L.

Business Owner

I’ve been practicing martial arts seriously for 30 years. It’s my best friend and I’m still blown away by the depth of this practice. Yoga and martial arts at one point were together. I learned them in tandem once I became a teenager. I had Sway back, bad painful bow legs, bad joints, and a slightly painful scoliosis. The posture work and opening of Yoga with the Strengthening of Martial arts helped remedy what I was told were limitations. Really they gave me a skill set of awareness of posture and forced me to approach athletics from a holistic lens.

Now I’m fine, no pain, strong joint and spine, and I love to share this practice. I’ve studied and received black belts or equivalent in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Persian Nabard, BaGua and also studied modern combatives such as SCARS and Systema. I love them all… My Passion is being able to translate these systems in a way that wont erode our bodies away using sequencing and mindfulness. Come practice…