LOCAL CONNECT #32 GEMMA LUGO the Martial Arts Healer

After dedicating her entire life to martial arts, Gemma Lugo promotes Healing Martial Arts at her Academy, a school that moves beyond the conventional teachings of Tae Kwon Do but focuses on being an inclusive, family-oriented learning center where everyone, both neurotypical and neurodivergent, can come to have fun and, more importantly, heal. 

The martial artist herself, while preparing for her Fourth Dan black belt exam, suffered a serious knee injury with a complete tear of the cruciate ligaments as well as damage to the meniscus and bone.

As a result, her doctor gave her only one option: surgery using ligaments from her own body or from a cadaver, but Gemma refused and decided to heal herself through physical therapy and holistic treatments inspired by Dr. Joe Dispenza, which over the course of a year fully restored her knee without the need to go into the operating room.

This profound experience, along with her work with neurodivergent children and older adults, helped Gemma specialize in these areas and create the concept of “Healing Martial Arts,” where she has achieved impressive success stories throughout San Miguel.

To date, she has had 5 generations of students, all of whom have earned their black belts. Two of her most memorable cases include a student who suffered paralysis and was able to recover in part thanks to his training, eventually reaching seventh dan and returning to the world of competition.

Another case that Gemma Lugo remembers fondly is that of a child with hyperactivity whose physical exams showed outstanding levels of strength, endurance, and flexibility. For this reason, Gemma does not see neurodivergence as something negative, but rather as something that can influence the determining factor behind high levels of competitiveness.

For Gemma, diagnoses such as Attention Deficit are widely misunderstood, because to her it is not that they do not pay attention, but rather that they direct their attention to a subject that adults may not consider important, and so the concept itself is mistaken from the start.

Thanks to the deep understanding Gemma has, she decided to give her academy an approach that focuses not only on the physical, but also on emotional and spiritual well-being.

That is why a large part of Sensei Gemma’s work focuses first and foremost on meditation, then on breathwork, and finally on conscious body movement.

And it was by coincidence that she observed that these same healing processes also benefit the aesthetic side, changing the cellular belief system of aging in our bodies and helping gray hair and wrinkles slow their appearance through a profound reframing of the belief system.

Thus, the next project of this great martial healer will be a retreat for older adults titled “The Forgotten Wonder of Being Healthy,” where she and her students will focus on longevity and health in what will undoubtedly be a transformative experience for all who attend.

Learn more about this healing teacher on her social media by following her on IG at @gemma_lugo_tkd, where you too will surely be immersed in her vast knowledge.