far I have learned that happiness is a choice.

How to stay happy!!!!!

1. No matter what life throws your way, SMILE! Its a lot better than crying about it!

2. Do you have a hobby that you love?  If you do, do it more often! If you don’t find one! Check out your favorite Brooklyn MMA school! FIND SOMETHING THAT YOU LOVE! AND DO IT A LOT!

3. Don’t argue with people to try to change their minds on something.. You will NEVER win and it will suck out all your energy, plus probably make people feel bitter towards you.

4. Be interested in what people have to tell you instead of just waiting for your turn to speak. People usually have some pretty cool stuff to say if you just listen.

5. Instead of wasting all that time worrying and telling others how worried you are, read a book, exercise, play with a puppy, etc. Don’t waste your precious life worrying.. It won’t help you with anything.

6. Look for beautiful and amazing things in people instead of focusing on peoples negatives… There is not one person in this world that is universally perfect, so unless you are that one person, don’t judge others. 

7. Do a kind deed for someone that you don’t know.. It will brighten their day and start the process on making the world a better place!

8. Teach a child something! They are like sponges and its amazing to see a reflection of yourself in another!

9. Stray away from empty conversations and negative chatter about anything. All that stuff just attracts negative energy and leads to an unhappy life.

10. Surround yourself with positive people and avoid those that are always complaining and living negative lives.

I hope that this short guide on how to stay happy helps you in your journey as it has helped me. All of these take time to make a part of your life but start with 1, do it for a month and move onto the next. These are the things that life was meant for!

Stay positive, stay beautiful and stay alive!

Happy for Life

Was it a gamble? Yes  Was it worth every tumble of that dice? HELL YES.  I love my “job”… I own OMG MMA in Brooklyn and I love everyday that I teach martial arts and well-being to people that come train at my gym!

How did this happen?! I was supposed to be a Doctor when I first went to school! I was supposed to be the dream of every parent from the soviet union!
My plan was to go to college for 4 years and do pre-med, then go to medical school for 4 years and learn how to be a doctor, then a few more years for residency… I would have been about 30 by the time I got out, then I would have started working and paying off my ridiculous debt, upwards of 500,000 dollars.

My life took a slight turn when I started training and competing in Brazilian jiu jitsu.. 3 years into Pre med, I decided that being a doctor would slow down my progress in training and competing… So I mustered up the courage to tell my parents that I don’t want to be a doctor and that I want to train. I wasn’t as courageous as I thought I was because I told them I’d be a dentist instead because it seemed less time consuming and I could still train jiu jitsu.

Fast forward 1 semester, I decided Nursing was the way because Id still be working in the health field and making decent money, BUT I can train jiu jitsu more often than before. So I went to nursing school for 2+ years and realized that, that career choice is not going to make me happy. Yea working with patients is cool, but im not actually making them happy, im just helping them survive and laugh a little.

My next courageous move was to tell my parents that I’m leaving nursing school. I mean I knew I didn’t want to be a nurse, but they wanted me to have the degree “just in case”. I don’t want to do stuff just in case, I just want to do stuff that makes me happy. I told them I want to do something that makes me happy, and that I want to get out of the rat race.

Fast forward 6 months from my “drop out date” and I have a mixed martial arts gym with over 40 students and the happiest days ever! Economies change, colleges lie, and systems that worked for ages collapse. But one thing never changes… If you chase your happiness, you will never feel poor again…

2 days later I was off teaching 3 days a week and slowly getting my strength back to start training as well. I have had close to 80 students in total come through those doors to train with me in these short 10 months of training. About 30 of them stayed and now I have a solid foundation of awesome students that I look forward to training EVERYDAY!

I came back to CLOCKWORK BJJ to train with my coach Josh Griffiths and have trained with a bunch of other black belts along the way. It has been an amazing journey. But this journey has a new path that it is taking.  We are starting construction on our new location for On My Grind MMA. We will have a full 6-7 days of classes and our program will include No Gi Grappling, Gi Brazilian jiu jitsu, Strength and Conditioning, Striking, Womens bootcamp and eventually kids classes!

Our new location will be almost 3000 square feet and will have close to 2000 square feet of mat space. It will be a dream come true… FOR ME AT LEAST and hopefully for you too! We will be the BROOKLYN BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU I always wanted!

CANT WAIT TO OPEN UP! the projected date is the First week of JULY!

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu not only give you the skills to diffuse a confrontation physically but it gives you the confidence and swagger to let the person know that your not one to be messing with.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has saved many people on the streets and in combat situations. I read a story about a kid who saved his sister from a rabid dog by using a Rear Naked Choke to make the dog pass out and leave his sister alone.

Recently there was also a story about a police officer being saved by a BJJ instructor from a criminal that was completely overwhelming the offer with punches and kicks on the ground.

Those are just some of the recent occurrences that made the news, but think about all of the situations that people prevent in their usual lives that aren’t reported to the authorities. Kids preventing their own bullying, women stopping rape, men protecting their women, and the possibilities are endless.
So guys don’t be shy come check out a beginner class at your local Brazilian jiu jitsu gym, or mixed martial arts studio.

If you are in the Brooklyn area come check out http://www.omgmma.com

http://uhdickted.wordpress.com/

I always wanted to train BJJ in Brooklyn and I figured a lot of other people would too… This program was a dream come true for me, because I know it will change peoples lives and make them better! I knew something was missing though,  So I also made Muay Thai in Brooklyn !

Check out the site guys, its looking real fancy!  http://www.zlineplus.com

My whole life I have loved zombie flicks, not because of the zombies… But because of the fact that they are all staged in post apocalyptic America, and everyone is trying to survive. I feel I can totally relate to the survivors that are fending off from the zombies, vulture-ing whatever belongings from their past lives they can find and picking up new stuff on the way. Mostly only necessities to keep their lives going. They don’t have many comforts and they usually appreciate every little thing that they can find that reminds them of their past lives.  There is no been there, done that for these survivors…

I feel I can relate to them mainly because I feel as if I am one of those survivors, or at least I was. When me and my family came to this country 19 years ago, we had nothing from our past lives. We came here with 50 dollars all together and just our family. We didn’t know anyone in this country, and had no idea what the language even sounded like. But coming here, was a better option than staying in Chechnya. Genocide began, a few months before we left, and nobody was safe. Our neighbors were being  chopped up and thrown into dumpsters, women were being raped, children and grandparents killed. It was a very scary place to hear about, but to be there was a lot worse.

I feel like when we came to the United States, that was our Post Apocalyptic world, and my parents started rebuilding it from the moment they landed in this world full of strange zombies, that didn’t speak our language. We ate scraps, and had no money but we enjoyed the little things.  I had an Ace of Base tape that somebody gave me and I used to listen to it every night so I can fall asleep and stay asleep. It used to calm my nerves because even though I was a child, I understood that these were rough times. I loved to ride on my dads bikes handlebars, take walks with my parents, get togethers with my parents new friends, and every other little thing that could have happened, made me excited.

Maybe this is why I am always looking for a change of scenery, because I am chasing MY  innocence, the innocence that I not only owned but the innocence that I was. This was the Post Apocalyptic time of zombies, looking for food, shelter, trying to survive,and my parents working odd jobs. Because this time period in my life was filled with an abundance of love and excitement, because everyday was a NEW day filled with possibilities. There was no been there, done that… There was only I am here, I am doing this, and I am loving it.

My shoulder is slowly but surely healing up, I will go in for an MRI on the 28th of this month, and Ill go from there on what other kinds of exercises to add to the rehab. I have been doing a great sprinting routine, and I have been conditioning as well. I definitely miss training at least 5x a week, but I have to make some sacrifices for the time being because of my school/studying schedule.

I started my Hospital clinicals this semester, and They are going great, I am doing my Med surge clinical in Kingsbrook hospital and I love it. I get to meet interesting patients, and work with nurses on the floor and really see what they are doing. I have another 6 classes after I finish these 2. So I am set to graduate in May of 2012 if all goes as planned, or maybe a little earlier if they offer summer classes. I cant wait to graduate and start working already. Big plans for when that happens.

I opened up my own Martial arts program and today was a month since it has been open! hurray! =] I am teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu there, 2 times a week. Tuesdays at 815 pm and Thursdays at 845 pm. I have been getting a decent amount of students of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds in sports. One of my students is 12 years old , and hes doing great! Im really proud of his work ethic…  I have been training with them, and doing drills as well, because I need to stay on top of training while my schedule is so busy. Plus I miss training jiu jitsu full time a lot!  I hope to get in shape really soon, and start training again, so I can compete and bring home some more hardware!

Besides training, school, and my new program, I have been spending a lot of time with Julius Caesar… Hes 7 months on October 1st, 52 lbs, 22 inch head, and 24 inches in height. Hes growing up to be a big boy! People say hes too thin, but Its because I want him to be lean, and not look like a pot bellied pig. I feed him only raw and thats why he’s so lean, and of course to these people he seems thin, because of all the fat pit they have walking the streets.

Well that it for now! Talk to you soon!

On August 24th my classes began… I am teaching at 2620 East 18th street, Brooklyn, NY, 11235.

The classes are strictly No Gi and they are run on Tuesdays 815 PM and thursdays 845 pm.

Contact me to schedule your first class!