I was recently interviewed by Georgie Verry, founder of The Fight Back Project, for her podcast.
I’ve previously written about Georgia’s work running trauma-informed kickboxing classes, and after I ran a Muay Thai class for survivors of gender-based violence here in Bangkok, she reached out to me to record this episode. In this podcast, she talks to fighters, martial artists, psychologists and researchers.
“Martial Arts Saved Me” – every martial artist ever. Why do Martial Arts have such a big impact on mental health? On The Fight Back Podcast you’ll hear from UFC fighters, University researchers, Women training to battle demons and everyone in between. Georgia and her guests explore trauma, mental health, exercise and all the reasons combat sports help us Fight Back against tough times.
Here’s an overview of what we discussed:
Emma Thomas is a writer, activist and former Muay Thai fighter living in Bangkok, Thailand. She is the creator of the blog “Under the Ropes”, a site for women interested in training Muay Thai in Thailand. Emma and Georgia discuss:
– ‘We are fighters’ a Muay Thai class for survivors of violence
– How Self Defense classes for survivors can do more harm than good
– Emma’s experience being sexually assaulted by a trainer in Thailand
– What it’s like to train Muay Thai as a female in Thailand
– How powerlifting helped Emma when she stopped fighting
Emma’s advice for women coming to Thailand to train Emma’s website is: https://undertheropes.com/about/
On Instagram Emma is @under_the_ropes
On Facebook Emma is: https://www.facebook.com/undertheropes
On Twitter Emma is @undertheropes
The forum Emma discusses to check out before coming to Thailand to train is: Muay Thai Roundtable
To support survivors of domestic violence on the Thai-Myanmar border, donate to Freedom Restoration Project.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, or below via Spotify.
Follow Under the Ropes
Under The Ropes 