We ARE Jiu-Jitsu.
Hi.
It’s been a while, huh?
Happy New Year.
Good morning.
Anyway, I was contacted by Elite Sports to review some of their products. I have reviewed their ultra light gi before. And, as I have been on a journey of rebuilding my general preparedness and functional strength, I figured I would review their sandbags.
Sandbags are great tools to be used as strength implements for a variety of exercises.
Stay tuned!
Hey buddies, been awhile. Not much to say. But, I saw Stuart Cooper dropped a new trailer for the Goat’s documentary. I wanted to make sure you guys didn’t miss it.
Jiu-jitsu puts you completely in the moment, where you must have a 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.
Rickson Gracie
Beautiful quote by the great master, and father of future master.
I enjoyed how Kron described, what he thought would be, a match that was insignificant and easy turn into his worst nightmare and, subsequently, one of the best moments of his career. I also found his non-verbal communication with his father, Rickson Gracie, to be fascinating as well.
While in the middle of a heated match, Kron knew exactly what his father was thinking all the way in the audience by a mere glance at his facial expression.
I’m losing the match. I am doing everything I can to survive. I put my life into escaping. I finally escape, and I look over at my Dad and I ask him how much time is left.
He says, “one minute,” and I can feel, in the way he said it, he was so disappointed – like, “oh, you fucking idiot, how could you let this happen to you?”
Kron Gracie
So I’m like, “Okay.” I had been training a lot of one-minute drills. So, in my mind, one minute is a long time. I drilled for hours where I have a fresh guy come in every minute for months. I’m going nuts, I pass his guard and I get his back. I look over at the score. I thought it was 3-3, but it was 6-3; I didn’t know he had gotten the back points twice. So I’m going for the choke, he’s defending well. I’m like, “I’m not going to stop, I’m not going to stop.” I squeezed with everything I had left.
He tapped out with three seconds left on the clock.
So, that was my first day.
Kron Gracie
Listening to Eddie Bravo and Joe Rogan nerd out on Kron’s 2013 ADCC run is also very satisfying. In particular, it’s interesting to compare and contrast all the different perspectives about the same event, and the magic that can occur at combat sporting events.
Enjoy.
As a black belt, my first student I was honored to promote to blue belt – the infamous Dieselinha aka The Big D. It’s been well over a week since this moment has passed, and yet the artillery of emotions it galvanized has yet to taper off. By far, this was the most epic promotions I have ever been to. Likewise, it was also the most special promotional event for me personally. Because…
Okay, okay… I am being immodest, she was not my bjj student. She is the student of my instructor. I was only bestowed the honor of calling her up and helping tie the blue belt around her waist. But, the honor was unbelievably rewarding to me personally. And, as she has been my main drilling partner for quite some time, it was kind of a big deal. Besides being my main drilling partner, she’s also my main squeeze. So, there’s that.
I am eternally grateful to Yemaso both for his tireless efforts to mold us, his students at Yemaso BJJ, into formidable martial artists and for his communal disposition which leads to collaborative promotional ceremonies of partners. I was so excited, and I had been practicing to tie the blue belt so much, that I almost didn’t give him a chance to finish tying it!
#GiveMeAnInch
Fortunately, he intervened to make it official. And provide the Diesel with some wisdom as she embarks on a new quest.
Truth be told, when I first saw my friend B tie the belt around his wife & little brother I was overjoyed. We also got to witness Troy tie a purple (and later a brown) around his wife, and that was a special moment too. However, it did not prepare me for how big the moment would be for The Diesel and me.
As Heraclitus reasoned:
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
Heraclitus
The same could be said about martial art peregrinations. My experience achieving blue belt was not parallel to that of The Diesel. We all have our own set of physical, emotional, intellectual, athletic and psychological capacities which coalesce to govern the development of our martial skills.
For most of us this avocation is prioritized behind educational, professional, and familial matters. As the mountain of life periodically drops boulders at our feet, it is those of us who do not permanently shrink, but rather perceive it as a catalyst for upward mobility that succeed in traversing said mountain.
Most don’t know, but The Diesel was one of the first females to train at Yemaso BJJ while she was still living in Long Beach. True story, she would sometimes drive 5-7 hours from Long Beach straight to the academy to join our Friday comp team sessions knowing she’d be the only female training that night. With time the original fembeast, Celina, came back to train so the Diesel would have another female training partner.
Since then, we’ve grown the largest female bjj group in the Sacramento region. Throughout this time we’ve taken our lumps as individuals and we’ve taken them together, yet the Diesel has remained true.
All of these thoughts hit me at once, like it is said your life flashes in your eyes before you die. This time, these memories with my caramel Khaleesi flashed in my eyes as it was time to lay to rest the Diesel’s white belt. It was a lot all at once, and I was overcame with it all…
I haven’t begun to truly consider my own journey, as I’ve been far too elated to move The Diesel up. People keep asking me what it feels like to reach the black belt, and really all I can think about is how pumped I am for my caramel Khaleesi. I wish I could offer everyone more, but that is just what is resonating in my mind right now. I will address the milestone of black belt, I promise, and do my best to address it with the attention it deserves.
But first comes first, I couldn’t possibly be more proud of the moon of my life for reaching this milestone blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
There was one change on this blog that I never addressed, but always planned to address. That is the rebranding of the blog to The Gentle Artist.
Originally, I started this blog both as a means to express a creative outlet as well as to support marketing efforts for the academy I train at.
I wanted to start writing immediately.
To the degree of self awareness I have, I know that one of my weaknesses is that, due to my desire to “do things right”, it can take me a long time to finish projects. I unneccessarily obsess over minute details that, ultimately, don’t make a huge difference. The law of limited returns and what not. This is something that perfectionists are usually unable unwilling to see about themselves. We justify lack of productivity by having exact precision.
Anyway…
I found the first available URL that I could think of BJJ Grappling . com and just got started. Looking back, it was a good decision and I proved myself right. It was YEARS before I thought about the name “The Gentle Artist” as a brand name for the blog.
Sure, it hit all the marks I wanted to hit. And I love the name, but it took me YEARS to get there.
That’s a ton of traffic and value that could have been otherwise lost.
A shit ton.
So, why “The Gentle Artist”?
I want to make this absolutely clear – I am in no way, shape, or means alluding to myself as The Gentle Artist.
Rather, I am referring to us as The Gentle Artists.
On the surface, sure, it is a call that Jiu-Jitsu, by definition, is The Gentle Art.
But, there is so much more to it than that.
To me, it’s also a call to Bushido, a call to the manner in which we aught to conduct ourselves, a call to how we should practice the art, a call to how we should treat our training partners, a call to how we should treat our opponents (if you compete), a call to how we should treat our friends, a call to how we should treat our family, a call to how we should treat those that we don’t call friends, and, even, a call to how we should treat people we genuinely dislike. It is my belief that we can, and should, be kind even to those who we harbor dissaffection for.
For some, including especially me, this is not easy. But, it is worth minding my behavior to reap the reward of feeling like a good dude at the end of the day.
There is a lot of beauty in these ideals and principles. And, I regret that, “western culture” seems to be at odds with this train of thought. I am not a fan of the influence that celebrities like the Kardashians, Kayne, Connor McGreggor, etc. have on pop culture. They are the vanguard that appeals to some of the lowest qualities that humanity has to offer. Of course, that’s not to say that these people are not very hardworking, industrious, and carry plenty of good qualities too. But, anecdotally speaking, these people are typically admired for the more gregarious and outlandish parts of their behavior. I think this is ultimately detrimental to pop culture and devoid of virtue.
So, that’s why I chose the name The Gentle Artist for this martial arts blog.
If you are a long time reader, drop me a line. I’ve missed you.
If you are a new reader – hey, hi, hello there.
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for this blog. I’ve published a review here and there, a quote graphic or two, but haven’t really sat down to write anything of substance. In fact, the last time I wrote anything was when I was promoted to brown belt. And, it’s been over two years since that happened.
I have been meaning to write this for a while, but there is always reticense that holds me back. I wonder if anyone will care. I wonder if it matters any more. I wonder if I am better off doing something else more productive, or something with more utility. I tell myself that I should be more responsible, and study on things that will help me in my career or learn trades that will help me fix up my house with less money. In short, I have found a lot of reasons not to write anything for this blog. But, if I am being most honest with myself, the reason I stopped writing is because I stopped enjoying it. I think I placed too much emphasis on creating content that will be helpful to other people rather than writing something for the joy of writing it. Even my promotion posts were calculated and considerate of my audience.
I started this blog as creative outlet.
I continued the blog because I got good feedback from people IRL as well as on the internet. At some point though, I no longer wrote things that I exclusively cared about. I wrote in the service of others. And, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but, for me, when I lost sight of the reason for this blog, it started to take away from the joy. Little by little it started to become a chore. Eventually, the thought of creating content for this blog was one of the last things I would rather do.
When I read other people’s BJJ blogs, I appreciate that most other people just write and share whatever it is they feel like focusing on at that moment.
I want to get back to that.
Also, I would like to foster community with other bloggers, vloggers, and other creatives in BJJ.
So, for what it’s worth, this is where I am at. One of my favorite training partners reminded me about the blog and how he hadn’t seen anything posted in a while. Which prompted me to wrap up this post and publish it.
If you are still a friend of the blog, drop me a line. Tell me what you’ve been up to. Let’s catch up.
