Brazilian jiu-jitsu for adults and children
Learn the gentle art, one position at a time.
An academy where the fundamentals are taught slowly, the mats are cleaned twice a day, and nobody is promoted for paying tuition. Your first week is free, and it is simply a week of classes.
Jiu-jitsu is the art of folding an opponent’s strength back into itself — and of being patient enough to learn how.
Meridian opened in 2012 with eleven students, a borrowed mat and a rule we have never changed: the fundamentals class is the most important class on the schedule, and the head professor teaches it. Thirteen years later there are three hundred and forty of us, aged five to sixty-seven, and the rule still stands. We train in the gi and without it, we compete when we want to and not when we do not, and we keep the mats cleaner than most kitchens. What we are really teaching is a way of staying calm while somebody is trying very hard to make you panic. It turns out to be useful far from the mat.
Lineage
First generation
Mestre Aurelio Santana
Rio de Janeiro, 1950s–1990s. Taught jiu-jitsu as a way of standing calmly inside a storm.
Second generation
Professor Marcos Vilela
Black belt under Santana, 1994. Brought the lineage to Colorado in 2003.
Third generation
Professor Daniela Reyes
Black belt under Vilela, 2011. Head professor at Meridian since its first class.
Programs
Six ways onto the mat.
01FundamentalsThe first year, in one class: posture, base, frames, the basic escapes and the first submissions. Taught slowly, drilled daily, and open to anyone who walks through the door.All levels · 60 minutes · every day
02Advanced giGuard systems, passing, back control and the details that turn a position into a technique. Live rounds every class, with the professor walking the mat.Blue belt and up · 90 minutes · Mon · Wed · Fri
03No-giGrappling in rashguard and shorts: wrestling entries, leg locks taught safely, and the pace of modern submission grappling.All levels · 75 minutes · Tue · Thu · Sat
04Kids jiu-jitsuGames that hide the fundamentals, belts earned over years, and a room where losing a round is how you learn. Parents watch from the bench.Ages 5–12 · 45 minutes · Mon · Wed · Sat
05Competition classSituational sparring, rule-set study and a team that travels together. For students who want to test themselves in the bracket.By invitation · 90 minutes · Sat
06Open matTwo hours of free rolling, questions answered and no agenda. Visiting grapplers are welcome — bring a clean gi and your own water.Members and visitors · Sat · Sun
Timetable
The week, as a grid.
FundamentalsMon · Wed · Fri 06:30
All levels
FundamentalsTue · Thu 12:00
All levels
Women’s classWed 12:00
All levels
Kids jiu-jitsuMon · Wed 16:30
Ages 5–12
FundamentalsMon · Tue · Thu 18:00
All levels
Advanced giMon · Wed · Fri 19:15
Blue belt and up
No-giTue · Thu 19:15
All levels
Kids jiu-jitsuSat 09:00
Ages 5–12
No-giSat 10:00
All levels
Competition classSat 11:15
By invitation
Open matSat 13:00
Members and visitors
Open matSun 10:00
Members and visitors
Doors open twenty minutes before the first class. Fundamentals and no-gi are open to visitors on a free week; the advanced and competition classes ask for a blue belt or an invitation. Bring a clean gi or rashguard, or borrow one of ours.
Professors
Black belts who still take notes.
Daniela Reyes
Head professor · 3rd-degree black belt under Marcos Vilela
Started at nineteen in a garage in Boulder, took bronze at the Pans as a brown belt, and has taught the 06:30 fundamentals class every weekday since Meridian opened. Believes the escape matters more than the submission.
Tomas Okafor
Professor · 2nd-degree black belt under Daniela Reyes
Our no-gi and competition coach: a former collegiate wrestler who found jiu-jitsu at thirty and never left. Runs the Saturday competition class and still competes at masters.
Sam Whitfield
Kids program lead · black belt under Daniela Reyes
A primary-school teacher by day and the reason the kids program has a waiting list. Teaches the fundamentals through games the children do not realise are drills.
The belt ladder
Five belts. Measured in years, not months.
White
Day one to about two years. Survive, breathe, escape. Most people quit here; the ones who stay rarely quit later.
Blue
Two to four years in. You have a game and you know its holes. Blue is where jiu-jitsu becomes yours.
Purple
Four to seven years. Teaching begins, usually by accident, the first time a white belt asks you a question.
Brown
Seven to ten years. Refinement: fewer techniques, chosen better. You start to look like your professor.
Black
Ten years and more. A beginning, not an arrival. The red bar on the belt means you now owe the room.
The ranges are honest averages for an adult training two or three times a week. Children follow a separate path of grey, yellow, orange and green belts until sixteen. Stripes are awarded between belts, usually four to a belt, and nobody is promoted on a schedule.
By the numbers
Thirteen years on one street.
I came for self-defence and stayed for the problem-solving. Two years in, I think about jiu-jitsu the way I used to think about chess.
My daughter is eight and has never once asked to skip a class. She lost her first tournament match and talked about what she learned the whole drive home.
Forty-six, two knee surgeries, zero athletic background. The fundamentals class met me exactly where I was.
The cleanest mats I have trained on in fifteen years of visiting academies. That tells you everything about how the place is run.
Professor Reyes remembers what you were working on last week. Every week.
Tuition
Three plans, billed monthly, no contract.
Fundamentals
$139per month
- Every Fundamentals class, every day
- Saturday open mat
- A gi to borrow for your first month
- Pause any month, no fee
Adults and teens 14+.
Unlimited
$179per month
- Every class on the grid
- Gi and no-gi
- Competition class eligible
- Open mat, both days
Cancel any time with two weeks’ notice.
Family
$289per month
- Two adults, or an adult and a child
- Unlimited classes for everyone
- Additional children $60
- A kids gi included
The best value for a household.
Tuition is billed on the first of the month and can be paused or cancelled with two weeks’ notice. There is no joining fee, no annual fee and no contract; the free week is a week of classes, not a sales appointment.
Questions new students ask
Is jiu-jitsu safe?
Safer than most contact sports, because there is no striking and because tapping is the whole culture: when a submission is locked in, you tap, your partner lets go, and you both learn something. Beginners roll only with experienced partners for their first month.
Do I need to be fit before I start?
No. Jiu-jitsu will make you fit; you do not need to arrive that way. The fundamentals class is paced for people who have not exercised in years, and you can sit out any round without a word.
Gi or no-gi?
Both, eventually. The gi slows the game down and teaches grips and patience; no-gi is faster and closer to wrestling. Start with whichever class fits your week — most members end up doing both.
How long until blue belt?
Honestly: eighteen months to three years, depending on how often you train and how your body takes to it. The calculator above gives a figure for your own pace. We promote on skill and time on the mat, never on tuition paid.
How clean are the mats?
Mopped twice a day with a hospital-grade disinfectant and inspected before every class. We ask the same of you: a clean gi every session, nails trimmed, no shoes on the mat, and please stay home when you are sick.
Your first week is free
Come and roll with us.
Tell us who is coming and which class interests you. We will reply within a day with a first class to try and a professor who will be expecting you at the door.
