All natural

This photo is only used for illustrative purposes. I don't have any pics of me rolling yet. Coming soon.

So a little background. I've been studying brazilian jujitsu for about 7 months now and I am so hooked. I haven't competed yet , but I love to spar. I take it at K-one fitness on Van Ness ave. in the Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francicsco. For anyone who doesn't know, BJJ is like wrestling, but with a gi and submissions, basically painful joint locks, and chokes. It's actually really fun and is an insane workout. I'm probably in the best shape of my life. There's no motivation quite like someone on top of you trying to choke you unconscious. It beats lifting weights any day.

So I was talking to my girlfriend about a new student in class who brought up a good point , possibly without realizing it. We worked on a technique and then drilled it for a while to make some sort of neural connection , muscle memory with it, and then it was time to spar. At this point the new guy looked at me with a little nervousness peeking through and said, be easy on me , I don't know what to do. At this point I wanted to give some words of encouragement, something to make him realize it was ok to not know. I told him, you know , just do whatever feels right. Your body will react with whatever you see fit and that will be just fine. And that was that. We sparred and it was fun and no one got hurt. What really struck me was that anxiety that he revealed , was really due to thoughts and beliefs about what could go wrong : for instance, how I might look bad, if I get hurt, and on and on. Sometimes not knowing what to do is the best. You are not tied to any belief or style. Even better, you're not impressed by how good you are.You just go with it because, that's all you know.

Now. Do I think jujitsu can be a metaphor to reveal something about living ....you bet. In jujitsu when you are in a dominant position and you are looking for a submission you most likely are not going to get the first sub you go for. Thats ok. Are you gonna give up cause you didnt get the first sub, hell no. The trick is working it, going again, looking for the sub. Setting them up, looking for openings....and then capitalizing on them. You can know some techniques and how to apply them in an alive situation, but the inteplay between the two opponents is the deciding factor on whats gonna be used and when. You still have to be creative. You still have to be open and free, meaning not stuck in your head.

Don't worry about it. Just do whatever feels right. It turned out the advice for the new student was good advice for me too.

By the way. For anyone reading this, that wants a really good blog about jujitsu you have to read Aesopians blog. I have a link in the blog roll. It's so good and he breaks down moves like a scientist. Peace.