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Holistic Budo: The Writings of Robert Van Valkenburgh

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The Voices of Doubt

If people who were not by your side when you started down your path are pointing you away from your path, perhaps the path is not the problem. Not everyone has our best interest at heart and those who don’t may not even know it. The fact is that most of us are so blinded…

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Courage Requires Risk

Courage means showing up, even if it breaks your heart. They are often the things we avoid most fervidly that we need more than anything to do. These are the experiences that cause us the most fear, the experiences that we know will cause us pain and heartache. They are also the things that, if…

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True Confidence Begins with Humility

“That’s the funny thing about confidence: the incorrect amount of it and nothing will ever happen.” —Robert Downey Jr. True confidence requires humility. Humility is the ability to see ourselves objectively, as we are, and to accept and embrace what we see, the good and the bad. Humility keeps us from straying too far into…

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The Good Days Don’t Count

If our goals are shallow, most likely our commitment will be as well. Starting martial arts can be scary. Walking through the door for the first time is a huge step. Once we get started, however, staying can be even more difficult. When our initial motivation wears off, once we reach some short term goal…

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John Danaher on the Importance of Training in a Gi for Beginners in BJJ

Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor John Danaher on teaching BJJ to beginners (excerpted and transcribed from the UFC Unfiltered podcast with Matt Serra and Jim Norton, episode 40): “I would run all beginner’s classes in a gi. Let’s break down what changes when you put a gi on and you take one off. Really, only a few…

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