Shawn Desjardins

Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1987, Shawn Desjardins seemed to have normal life on the outside, underneath the surface however, there was a dark secret even unbeknownst to even Shawn himself. After a severe breakdown in 2010 Shawn's began shifting attention from science to meditation in a search for answers, eventually culminating in a profound transcendent experience in 2010. It wasn't until an adverse experience in 2017 did remember that he was sexually abused as child by his father. This was a devastating realization that crushed whatever stability he had and degraded his mental health, made worse by the fact that there was no accountability, Shawn had to cut his family out of his life to heal. Shawn had also discovered Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2011 and Immediately fell in love with the effectiveness of the Martial Art, and dedicated himself to the practice of Jiu Jitsu with the same vigor he took after meditation. Throughout the journey of training Shawn experienced immense challenges being triggered by the combative sport into memories, sensations, and emotions associated with childhood abuse, often without understanding any of it. After training at dozens of gyms around the world, Shawn realized that there was no such thing as a Trauma informed Martial Arts and began to create it. In 2018 he met two of his friends who both had combat sports experience and an extensive history of mindfulness meditation. It was in this park that Mindful Martial Arts was born.