Do not chase your opponents into their game. The longer we practice jiu-jitsu, the more we develop our own uniquely personal technical-style, strategies, and tactics. While this is happening, however, our training partners are also working on improving and developing their own personal styles as well, their own games, so to speak. Like us, they, … Continue reading The Mouse And The Trap (A Jiu-Jitsu Lesson)
Long-lasting solutions begin with empathy, not animosity. If we want to make a change in our lives, we will inevitably come up against resistance. Instead of perceiving this resistance as a negative thing, we should embrace it for the lessons it offers. Resistance forces us to know ourselves, our desires, our capabilities, and to adjust … Continue reading On Non-Resistance (A Jiu-Jitsu Lesson)
As long as we have choice, we have hope. One of the most powerful lessons martial arts teach us is that very difficult, seemingly insurmountable problems can be solved by applying the right combination of posture, balance, angles, and leverage. What at first feels like a hopeless challenge becomes less and less so the more … Continue reading Martial Arts And The Freedom To Choose
We must not forget why we started training martial arts and why we decided to stay. It is difficult to explain to people who do not know, just how important martial arts are to the lives of the people who practice them. For many practitioners, martial arts saved us from ourselves. They saved us from … Continue reading The Martial Way
Be unphased while defending and unrelenting while attacking. If we are open and receptive to them, many of the skills and lessons learned from Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) transfer over into our lives off the mats. Through rolling (BJJ sparring), we learn over time how to be unphased when we are on the defensive and how … Continue reading Patience And Persistence (A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Lesson)
