Life Coach | Grief Support
I work alongside licensed therapists to offer personalized boxing services for individuals who are struggling with grief.
Meet Coach Makeba
My Background
My Background
My Background
With over 30 years of experience in the fields of mental health, public health, wellness and fitness, I hold a Master's Degree in Public Health, a Master's in Public Administration and a Bachelor's Degree in Social work. I am a 2 x Women's National Gold Gloves winner, former college professor and athlete. I am also a certified vibrational
With over 30 years of experience in the fields of mental health, public health, wellness and fitness, I hold a Master's Degree in Public Health, a Master's in Public Administration and a Bachelor's Degree in Social work. I am a 2 x Women's National Gold Gloves winner, former college professor and athlete. I am also a certified vibrational sound therapist and Qigong practitioner who enjoys swimming, running and cycling.
My Approach
My Background
My Background
By using a technique I call "Release Therapy", I invite clients to glove up, focus inward and bring their grief into their physical training. Because the client is already in therapy, they are able to unload emotionally both physically and mentally. Often, there is unprocessed anger under that grief that boxing helps release. Assigning so
By using a technique I call "Release Therapy", I invite clients to glove up, focus inward and bring their grief into their physical training. Because the client is already in therapy, they are able to unload emotionally both physically and mentally. Often, there is unprocessed anger under that grief that boxing helps release. Assigning sound to grief is therapeutic as clients are encouraged to remain present and work through their grief.
My Services
My Background
My Services
I work on a referrals only-basis with clients who are already established in therapy with a licensed therapist for prolonged grief disorder and depression. This offer a two-pronged approach to process grief and working through depression. According to the National Institutes of Health, boxing provides significant reduction in symptoms of
I work on a referrals only-basis with clients who are already established in therapy with a licensed therapist for prolonged grief disorder and depression. This offer a two-pronged approach to process grief and working through depression. According to the National Institutes of Health, boxing provides significant reduction in symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD, I also offer sound therapy, guided meditation and Empowerment Coaching.
An American Study shows how non-contact boxing could be a great antidote to this with many other benefits too: ‘non-contact boxing appears to provide a cathartic release of anger, aggression, stress, and the dissipation of anxious energy’.
Makeba Reed-Johnson, MPH, MPA, BSW, Certified Life Coach
How Boxing Can Help With Grief
Physical Release of Emotions
Grief often brings intense, bottled-up emotions—anger, frustration, sadness, helplessness. Boxing offers a safe and controlled space to release that energy physically, especially through punching. That act alone can feel deeply cathartic.
Mind-Body Connection
Boxing demands your focus: on your stance, breathing, combinations. This focus can pull your attention out of the constant mental loops of grief, grounding you in the present moment.
Routine and Discipline
Grief can disrupt daily life. The structure and routine of boxing training—whether it’s shadowboxing at home or going to a gym—can restore a sense of control and stability.
Building Strength and Resilience
As you get stronger physically, it can translate into emotional strength. The challenge of pushing through rounds can mirror the fight to keep going through tough emotional days.
Community Support
Many boxing gyms have close-knit communities. Being around others, even silently sharing space and sweat, can lessen feelings of isolation.
A Way to Honor
For some, dedicating their training to someone they’ve lost—thinking of them during rounds or using it as motivation—can be a powerful, personal tribute.
Get Unstuck
Grief is a natural response to the loss of a loved one. For most people, the symptoms of grief begin to decrease over time. However, for a small group of people, the feeling of intense grief persists, and the symptoms are severe enough to cause problems and stop them from continuing with their lives. Prolonged grief disorder is characterized by this intense and persistent grief that causes problems and interferes with daily life.
For my sons...
To Sterling and Spencer:
You have brought me so much joy. It is an honor to say that I am your mother. I look at each of you and see something greater than myself. You are Jehovah God's gift to me. When I am no longer here, you will only be sad for a little while and then you will think back on all of our memories together and you will rejoice. Because being stuck in grief takes time away from the people who are still here and I don't want that for either of you. Sterling and Spencer, you beautiful kings, oh how I love you. I want nothing more than your happiness. - Love Mom
I will sit with you in the dark. But we ain't staying there.
Life Coaching | Grief Support
Grief sucks. Literally. Being stuck in grief feels like all the air has been sucked out of you. I broke through it with movement, in particular, boxing. It helped me also "move and "power" through the darkest time of my life. While in therapy for suicidal ideation and depression, boxing helped me get to the other side of grief.
Let me help you get there, too.