Tag Archives: principles of jiu jitsu

The Importance of Relaxing in Jiu Jitsu

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My training partner Juan was a white belt like me, except he had 3 stripes on his belt, where I had none.  He was presently on top of me in side control.  As I struggled against his superior position and extra 30 pounds, one of his many sweat droplets fell into my left eye.  In between Juan’s grunts I think the word “prison rape” flashed through my mind. As I panicked, the Professor shouted out, “RELAX!!!”

In the early days of my Jiu Jitsu training, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around this “relax” concept…I was anything but.  How could I be?  It felt like some of my training partners were trying to kill me – plus, just being in close physical contact with another male was enough to raise my blood pressure.  Not to mention, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing…

Yet I trusted my Professor, and the relaxed poise many of the advanced students demonstrated during training was not completely lost on me.

I found that learning to relax in Jiu Jitsu is simple in theory, but challenging in practice.  Overriding the natural tendency to become stiff and defensive when engaged in close combat with another person is not easy.

Yet, somewhere along the path to black belt, it happened.  I did learn to relax – not only my body but also my mind and, I believe, my soul as well. The more I relaxed, the faster I progressed.  This is one of the paradoxes of Jiu Jitsu.

Here are just a few of the benefits of avoiding the tendency to become nervous, uptight and tense:

  • We are less likely to panic and do something stupid.
  • We are less likely to be injured.
  • We will be able to train longer.
  • We can be more creative.
  • We will progress faster.
  • We will develop the ability to quickly and coolly assess a situation – even under stress.
  • We will be a better training partner.

It is the ability to be relaxed, clearheaded, present and cool under fire that separates the best from the mediocre.  On the Jiu Jitsu mat, a strong individual is not a rigid individual. In fact, exactly the opposite is true.  Strength comes from adaptability.  It’s important to bend, to move on, to change, to compromise, or you risk snapping like a dead branch in a stiff breeze.  Let us not forget, Jiu Jitsu is the Yielding Art.

Of course, like Jiu Jitsu itself, developing the physical and mental control to relax in a stressful situation is an ongoing process.  I still fall back on bad habits when I get out of my comfort zone – becoming tense is a deeply engrained response to stress.   Having better players deftly use relaxed mobility to slice through my stiff resistance always serves as a healthy and humbling reminder.

Some things we can do to relax:

  • Do not become emotional.
  • Avoid rough, loud mouth-breathing.
  • As much as possible, breathe through the nose.
  • Avoid angry faces.
  • Let your face, mind and breath all reflect an inner calmness.
  • Devise a strategy, and employ actual techniques.
  • Be patient.

Conclusion.  Jiu Jitsu training requires us to relax – but not like the person on the couch eating milk and cookies.   Instead we should be like the river that flows around obstacles; or like the modern buildings of Tokyo, which are built to withstand earthquakes.  Their foundations are strongly enforced, but there is also room for sway and give.

To be relaxed in Jiu Jitsu does not mean to be weak, or to flounder around in an aimless and confused manner. No, it requires self-discipline.  The ability to relax in Jiu Jitsu requires skill, knowledge, a cool head, an appraising eye, poise, balance and correct judgment.  And it is the key to graceful and effective movement.

So, “RELAX!!!!”

Is Jiu Jitsu Only a Fighting Art?

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iStock_000000450441_ExtraSmallThroughout history the majority of martial arts have operated within a culture of honor. Warrior classes from Vikings to Medieval knights to modern military personnel have shared this tendency as well.  The ideal has always been to combine martial skills with ethical codes of behavior.

In Japan this ethical code of conduct was called Bushido (“Way of the Warrior) or Budo (Way of the Spirit.)  Bushido was intended to permeate the life of the samurai.  Specifically, it developed these seven character traits: right action, courage, benevolence, respect, truthfulness, honor, and loyalty.  Many modern day Jiu Jitsu practitioners still find the concept of “Bushido” to be an important component of their practice.

Why have codes of moral virtue been combined with martial skill?

Charles Darwin suggested an answer – he was puzzled by a phenomenon that seemed to contradict the most basic premise of his Theory of Evolution, that natural selection should favor the ruthless.

People who are kind and generous should therefore die before passing on their genes to the next generation.  Yet this is clearly not true, and all societies value kindness and generosity among their members.

Evolutionary biologists say that this seeming contradiction arises from the fact that we pass on our genes as individuals, but we survive as members of groups – and groups can exist only when individuals act not solely for their own advantage but for the sake of the group as a whole.

Neuroscientists say this dynamic has resulted in two patterns of reaction in our brains, a “Fast Track” and a “Slow Track.”

The Fast Track focuses on the individual.

  • The Fast Track focuses on potential danger to us as individuals.
  • It is characterized by the immediate, instinctive and emotional.

The Slow Track focuses on the group.

  • The Slow Track enables us to take a more considered view of the consequences of our actions for us and others.
  • It is characterized by the reflective, rational and altruistic.

The fast track helps us survive, but it can also lead us to acts that are impulsive and destructive.  The slow track leads us to more considered behavior – it brings moments of moral beauty into what might otherwise be harsh and lonely lives.  The Fast Track helps us survive, but it is the Slow Track that enables us to thrive.

The Importance of Bushido.

This puts us in a position to understand why bushido was an important component of martial arts in the past — and why we still need it in the future. By encouraging ethical behavior, Bushido strengthens and speeds up the Slow Track.  It reconfigures our neural pathways, turning moral behavior into instinct.

Bushido is the antidote to reckless behavior.  It replaces emotional outbursts with moral choices.  By metaphorically carving bushido into their hearts, the ideal samurai aimed to make “right action” automatic.  This guided them towards the appropriate use of violence.  Those who fell short of the ideal were more inclined to misuse their power and compromise their honor.

A strengthening of the slow track will highlight the honor in restraint.  Unmitigated violence without the balance of a moral code is self destructive to the individual and the community they reside in.

The idea that Jiu Jitsu can now do without some form of ethical code of behavior, or Bushido, not only flies in the face of history, it contradicts evolutionary biology.

Conclusion. 

The emotional strength and psychological fitness that is associated with the Slow Track will likely have a greater impact on our life than martial arts skill or physical strength.  This makes strengthening the Slow Track of our brains a supremely practical endeavor.

Philosophies such as Bushido are not a useless thing from the past.  In fact, when combined with martial skill, they provide a more well rounded knowledge that is the way of the future.

What do you think?  Do these moral codes still have a place in modern day Jiu Jitsu?  Can they still be effective in helping us balance physical capabilities with a strong moral character?

Rickson Gracie and John Danaher Agree…

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…Brazilian Jiu Jitsu increases our problem-solving ability.

From Master Rickson Gracie:

“Jiu-jitsu puts you completely in the moment where you must have complete focus on finding a solution to the problem. This trains the mind to build that focus, to increase your awareness, your capacity to solve problems.”

From Master John Danaher:

“The deepest benefits of Jiu Jitsu come off the mat.  It encourages a world-view based upon the idea of rational problem solving.  Jiu Jitsu is all about solving problems that are rapidly changing under stress, and that gives you an ability to identify the crux of the problem in front of you, even in a stressful situation and adapt your body and tactics to overcome that problem and to continue overcoming it as the problem itself changes.  It encourages you to use a very rational trial and error method, basically the same method that science uses to overcome these problems.  So it gives you this sort of problem solving mindset, which I think applies throughout life itself.” (From Open Mat Radio interview)

Modern psychologists say that improved problem solving skills demonstrates an increase in our “Fluid” Intelligence.  Fluid intelligence refers to our ability to learn, to reason, to recognize patterns, and get to the bottom of things.

The implication of Master’s Rickson Gracie and John Danaher’s statements then is that Jiu Jitsu literally raises our intelligence.

What do you think? Can Jiu Jitsu make us smarter?

The Elegant Paradox of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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Paradoxes and Japanese koans create a beautiful tension – they also can be very revealing about human nature.   Some examples of this are: Less is more.  The hours are long, but the years are short. Everything matters; nothing matters.  Shakespeare’s Hamlet states, “I must be cruel to be kind.”

An important Japanese concept is wabi-sabi, which describes the perfection or special beauty of the flawed, the incomplete, and the transient.

Niels Bohr, one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century, observed: “There are trivial truths and great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.”  This statement proves the greatness of Jiu Jitsu – because BJJ is a paradox.  A couple of examples:

  • Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is violent.  Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is non-violent.
  • BJJ may trace its origins back to ancient India.  Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparked the modern day MMA revolution.
  • BJJ is therapeutic.  BJJ is the most effective method of unarmed combat.

More importantly, some of the most valuable lessons to be learned in Jiu-Jitsu are paradoxical.

  • To succeed you must fail.
  • Have fun. But take it seriously.
  • Slow down to progress faster.
  • “Flow with the go” – but make sure you have a strategy.
  • Improve your skills, so you can help others.
  • Attain mastery by practicing the basics.
  • Relax, so you can be more powerful.
  • To learn more, empty your mind.
  • The better you get, the more humble you should be.
  • Control the inside, in order to control the outside.
  • The best lessons are implemented off the mat.
  • There is nothing new.  Make sure you know what is new.
  • Know violence, to know peace.
  • The biggest skill is shrimping.
  • The mountain has no top.

Do you love paradoxes?  Have you embraced the paradox of Jiu-Jitsu?  Do you know of any other paradoxical elements of BJJ?  Please let us know…

Plato and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

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“For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.” –Plato

Great grappling minds from Plato to Jigoro Kano to Grandmaster Carlos Gracie all emphasized the importance of training the mind.  We should not limit ourselves only to the perfection of our techniques, but should strive for a form of self-perfection in our training.

Plato was a skilled wrestler. His given name was Aristocles, after his grandfather.  It was his grappling coach, Ariston of Argos, that dubbed him “Plato” – from the Greek word platon, which means broad – on account of his broad-shouldered frame.

Plato was such a good wrestler that he reportedly competed at the Isthmian Games (comparable to the Olympics), and continued wrestling into adulthood. At the academy, he extolled the virtues of physical education. He felt that one should balance physical training with “cultivating the mind,” exercising “the intellect in study.” The goal “is to bring the two elements into tune with one another by adjusting the tension of each to the right pitch.” Balance is key.  Equal parts critical thinking and physical movement.

In “The Republic,” Plato advises “temperance” in physical training, likening it to learning music and poetry. Keep it “simple and flexible” he advised.

So what is the risk of taking it too far in one direction or the other?  What if we focus on physical training to the exclusion of mental development or cultivation?  Again, from “The Republic”: “Have you noticed how a lifelong devotion to physical exercise, to the exclusion of anything else, produces a certain type of mind? Just as neglect of it produces another?” Plato writes, recounting the words of Socrates. “Excessive emphasis on athletics produces an excessively uncivilized type, while a purely literary training leaves men indecently soft.”

Does this sound like any of your friends or training partners – or yourself? Do you know someone who is “indecently soft” and could really use a strong dose of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training in their life?  Or how about the person who has focused on their training to the exclusion of mental development or moral virtue?  Are they the “excessively uncivilized type?”

As always we can learn valuable lessons from our training partners… as well as the Masters.

“Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior who can master both….and surpass the result.” - Tien T’ai

“Promise yourself to be so secure that nothing can disturb your peace of your mind.”            – Grand Master Carlos Gracie

“The judo practitioners of today do not make enough effort to achieve the goals of judo and have overemphasized becoming strong or winning in competition, which are merely means rather than ends.” – Jigoro Kano

“Civilize the mind but make savage the body.” – Chairman Mao