I recently was contacted to be featured in the US Combat Sports “Grappler’s Spotlight.” I was happy to do it, and was asked what would I like to focus on for the interview. I decided to share my journey, particularly as it pertains to the difficulties of maintaining and progressing my training in such a geographically-challenging area of the country as the Midwest, especially at the time I began my training when there were few resources for Jiu-Jitsu instruction anywhere in the states, not to mention Kentucky! Here is a link to the article:
I am posting this to direct you to my new website, KnightBJJ.com. I had this site created to serve better than a blog or facebook as a resource for more info about, among other things, how to schedule a seminar with me or communicate with me in other ways. I am interested in any feedback about the site you may have after visiting it, and hearing from you in general. Thanks for reading and I hope you like the site.
When I first met Josh, I expected someone older based on the phone conversations we had before he came to train at the academy where I teach. He had served in the military, very recently back in the states, and was going to be the first student we ever had that the government allocated money for him to pursue training to become a martial arts instructor. He was too young to have seen and done the things overseas that he had, but he had an affable personality when you spoke to him.
He loves martial arts. He had armor around him, and by this I mean he equated martial arts with warfare to a great extent, and I estimated that my personal approach to jiu-jitsu may be at odds with the violence he had come to assume was an essential ingredient of most disciplines. He trained in various martial arts over the years, finding a particular resonance with Krav Maga, known for its brutal and ferocious approach to conflict resolution. Needless to say, the gentle art was something that he was going to have to endure as part of our instructor training program, rather than enjoy immediately.
Training commenced and I enjoyed having him in class, because he laughed at my jokes and appreciated my teaching style. He, like every individual I ever have the privilege to teach, represented a marvelous opportunity to me. I worked with him in group classes and in private lessons, showing him the self-defense of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and some of the sporty stuff for fun. When it came time to roll, I did notice a frustrated affect about him sometimes. Some of the subtleties of jiu-jitsu eluded him and other aspects downright irritated him. But he kept with it.
Much of our initial lessons were discussion. I expressed to him that among the many things I love about jiu-jitsu, the ability to subdue and restrain someone is of paramount importance. Something that, whether he had ever considered this or not, he had never had a need to do this. He was a soldier, a warrior, and unfortunate but necessary as it was for him, a killer. Josh had been forced as part of his duty to turn off parts of himself that many of us take for granted in order to perform his job in the military. I cannot personally truly imagine what this would take, but I am thankful that there are men and women capable of rising to this ability in order to protect our freedoms.
Josh had at times shared with me the detrimental effects his time in the military had on his psyche, his emotions, and his soul. He experienced night terrors, panic attacks, and other ailments associated with Post Traumatic Stress. To him, fighting meant surviving and if the other person was severely injured or killed, it was in the name of self-preservation. But still, his jiu-jitsu training continued.
Flash forward. I rolled with Josh a week ago and he was flowing. His movement was continuous and he was going from position to position, defending and attacking appropriately, and letting things happen without unnecessary struggle or stress. He began to ask questions about positions, which by their very nature indicated to me that he was enjoying the training. And then today, we began our lesson, with talk about a guard pass that lands you in knee on belly position, when he stops me and shares a story that, in my near 20 years of martial arts experience, I have perhaps never heard a better testament to the transformative power of proper training.
Josh told me of a troubled friend. After a series of events lead him to become suspicious that his friend may be using drugs again, Josh drove to the house his friend had been frequenting in a less than desirable neighborhood. Upon entering, it was apparent what had been going on: the coffee table in the empty living room contained aluminum foil, emptied out ballpoint pen shafts, lighters and residue from the previously and soon-to-be-used meth. Perfunctorily, Josh carried these items into the bathroom and flushed what would down the toilet. The flush alerted the friend, who had been in another room that someone was there and he cornered Josh in the bathroom doorway, snatching his shirt in two hands and pressing him into the wall, screaming at him for an explanation.
Josh reluctantly told me of his excitement at the opportunity this presented, having trained this exact scenario repeatedly in lessons. He wrapped his friend’s head and arm and threw him to the floor, pinning him heavily while the man struggled to fight and squirm out. Finally, after expending all the energy he cared to, he complied and got into the car with Josh to head back to Josh’s house.
Josh and I had spoken about how there is no superior martial art necessarily all of the time, but there is at a given time, paraphrasing Bruce Lee. And I had expressed to him how beautiful I thought it was that if strikes are all you have in your arsenal in a fight then you have to subdue a would-be attacker in a dark alley the same way you would a friend who has lost his way. This was not a moment to break a collar bone or gouge out eyes. This was a time for restraint and compliance, for compassionate negotiation. And Josh was as amazed with himself as I was with him that he responded perfectly to this moment.
The car ride back? How did that go? Josh’s friend asked him how he did what he did.
“Jiu-Jitsu” was Josh’s reply. “And how about instead of doing that shit you have been doing you come by and I can show you some techniques and we can train together?”
I considered this nothing short of a golden lining testament to the alchemical effect of jiu-jitsu. But Josh went on after this story to tell me what he had been noticing from jiu-jitsu training beyond just this dramatic incedent: How he can be out in a crowd now and not be jumpy or on edge, wondering if someone is going to attack at any second; how he and his fiancé can eat in a restaurant and he is ok with his back to a window now; how he has grown comfortable with things that you and I who have never been in military combat take for granted each day. Jiu-Jitsu helped Josh in a way that doctors with pills and therapy sessions couldn’t.
We trained a bit longer. We talked about some of this for the last few minutes too. I had to shake his hand and head to my next lesson when he told me of a conversation he had with his friend, also a combat vet, also suffering from PTSD. He told his friend of the accounts of these events, of the experiences he had been having of late and the adjustments jiu-jitsu has given him the ability to make. His friend simply said, “Welcome back. You finally came home.”
I haven’t posted anything in a while on this blog. Mostly because I have been busy teaching every day, and today is no exception. I just finished a lesson with a 61-year-old Marine veteran. And I am truly humbled. Again!
The most exhausting thing about teaching and training to the degree I do isn’t the physical expenditure or even the mental – these are both extreme at times, but I can handle each much more than the emotional toll it takes on me. I try to give all I have emotionally to my students, and in the process I take on a lot of what they bring in with them emotionally, which is oftentimes a lot of negativity or pain in one form or another. To call it an honor to meet and train with and teach the people I get to is a gross understatement.
Whether it is my student with epilepsy who struggles daily in a battle with her own bodily control, or the autistic children who a few months ago could barely follow a 3-step verbal set of instructions, or the gentleman I just mentioned from this morning, I am humbled and privileged to see what real strength and fortitude is, when there are so many others in the world that fall victim to self-pity, whereas these folks who overcome so much. This veteran, who is twice my age with more holes in him from bullets than I care to mention, including in his head, arms, legs, abdomen, and all points in between, showed me the utmost respect upon meeting me. At his age and in his condition, to walk in the door and sign up is amazing to me! And it motivates me to be the best version of myself and to polish my understanding of the art so as to give him the best representation of what has affected my life so greatly. There is no doubt that what we do at Three Rivers Martial Arts is extraordinary and life-altering, but if ever there were question to it, it would quickly be extinguished by the evidence of our students’ accomplishments.
These are not things that they hand out trophies or medals for (though plenty of our students have those too), and these accomplishments are not things that are widely publicized (though Three Rivers has made quite a name for itself). Rather, the quiet achievements of the unsung champions of our academy scream a brilliant emotionally-charged primal scream that resonates through the universe and advances a shift in consciousness that is inextinguishable and unstoppable.
So today, like most days, I am humbled. I bow in completed deference to the wave I am riding, and I am proud and elated to even be associated with what is going on here! I will do my best today and pray it is received by as many as possible.
As pleased as I was that the newspaper in town did an interview with me about Jiu-Jitsu, I was surprised to see the spelling that the writer chose to go with. Here is the article. Thanks to Michael de los Reyes for the interview and keeping pretty accurate with my answers (only paraphrasing mildly):
click to enlarge the article
So why “jujitsu” and not “jiu-jitsu?” Or why not one of the countless other ways of spelling it? And where did these permutations of the spelling come from? Here is a great explanation of it for those of you interested:
Modern understanding of the nuances of language translation has improved greatly since the first contact between English and Japanese speaking people. We now know that the accurate spelling of these characters are
Ju, and
Jutsu.
Not JIU and not JITSU.
That combination of kanji characters therefore makes the word: Jujutsu (jujutsu). That’s just a fact!
Now that we have clarified the spelling issue, we still have the problem of pronunciation. As I have said, there are variations in the sounds used in languages that often pose problems in trying to properly pronounce foreign words. Such is the case with the pronunciation of Jujutsu.
First, notice the macron (bar) over the “u” in “Ju”, indicating that it is not the typical English pronunciation of the vowel. Just as these symbols are used in a dictionary to clarify proper pronunciation, the macron is used here to indicate specifically how a native speaker of Japanese would pronounce the word for the particular kanji character.
In this case, the proper Japanese pronunciation is an elongated “u”, or more specifically, “u-u”, as if repeating the “u” a second time. You might say it is truly a “double-u” (w). Of course, it would make no sense to write it “Jw“, or even “Juu”, so it is written “J“, with the macron.
[Side Note: Based on its name, "double-u", and the shape of the character "w", one could logically assume that centuries ago, this "u-u" sound used in Japanese was the same exact pronunciation used for the English "w", but let's not get side-tracked.]
The closest approximation to the Japanese “u”, or “u-u”, would be the sound of the “oo”, as in “cool”. Unfortunately, many interpreted the “u” to be the same as the English pronunciation of a “long u”, resulting in a sound like the “u” in “unit”, making J rhyme with few, leading to jiu. (or it could be jew-jitsu, the Hebrew martial art.) but as we now know, that’s just wrong.
The second kanji character has been determined to have the spelling (and pronunciation) of “Jutsu”. Notice there is no macron over this “u”, so it does not carry the same sound as the “u” in “Ju”. As we have seen (or heard), the double “u” is longer than our “u”, but, the single “u” is actually shorter (that is, more abrupt) than ours. We would typically pronounce the “u” in a word like this as the “u” in “cut”, but this sound is much too gutteral for the correct Japanese pronunciation, and should be closer to the “u” in “put.” However, the short Japanese “u” is very abrupt, making it sound almost like an “i”, as in “hit”. That is where we got “Jitsu”.
That is an excerpt taken from AllJujitsu.com. Basically, the explanation of why Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is spelled this way is due to the most common spelling of the word around the early 20th century. And why is it that I always capitalize each “J” in the word? Because it is that important to me. It is like capitalizing “God.” Hope you enjoy the article.
This is an example of the videos posted at Three Rivers Martial Arts Academy YouTube channel. You can see me, Jason Hawkins, Jared Jessup, Brad Lynn, Derik Perry and all our other instructors and many students training, teaching and more. Check it out and come back to my blog often for updates.
Below you will see the poster for my upcoming, Free Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Workshop. It has all the information you need to find out how to attend. However, please read below the poster, as I have a couple thoughts to share with ya. Thanks.
Free Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Workshop!!!
I have been working on ways in which I, and my Three Rivers Martial Arts family, can give back to the community that has made us what we are. Beyond that, I have been trying to come up with as many ways, qualitatively and quantitatively, to give back to the community on a global scale. This is a simple and complicated task.
The easy part is doing: Give to charities, spread joy and kindness, harm no one, live the Golden Rule in everything you do.
The hard part is the direction and organization: How do you make compassion contagious? How exactly do you get others involved? I found what may be the most perfect answer at the most perfect time for me. I came across a TEDTalk (which are always awesome and you should check out by clicking here if you’ve never seen these before), by a woman named Karen Armstrong. She came up with an idea/initiative called The Charter for Compassion. I checked out her lecture, was blown away; checked out some videos on the topic, was amazed; and read the Charter on the site devoted to it, and was overwhelmed! This Charter has some meat to it. It is not an empty, vacuous set of ideas floating with no direction and saying “Hey guys, can you please be nice to each other if you get around to it?” No, rather, this is a mandate of sorts, it seems to me, stating that if we cannot spread compassion, and disseminate the true nature of what it means to be compassionate, then we are headed for misery and downfall.
I will explain another time what the hell Jiu-Jitsu has to do with Compassion, if you don’t already understand, but for now it is just simply my vehicle to promote awareness and get people involved with the charitable principles of compassionate awareness. Like Edmund Bourne said:
“Despite our differences, we are all in this together. No act of kindness or compassion goes unnoticed. To change the world, take compassionate action within your immediate sphere of influence. To change yourself, start by being still and making time just to listen.”
So it is in that vein, that I invite you all out to my workshop, where I will show you some of the best Jiu-Jitsu that I can, get you excited about learning such an incredible system, and hopefully (my greatest intention) create an atmosphere that breeds so much compassion that it is palpable. Bring what you can: food(canned, packaged, not highly-perishable), clothing, toys, and of course cash. Every bit of it will go to local charitable organizations and help out families and individuals in need.
If, you don’t have anything to give when you show up, I will not turn you away. You can participate in the workshop for the admission price of one promise. You must make me a promise that you will, on that day, affirm the Charter for Compassion on the charterforcompassion.org website, and also that you will do some compassionate, selfless, altruistic act of kindness. That is all. But you have to mean it.
“Do your practice and all is coming.”
~Pattabhi Jois, originator of Ashtanga Yoga~
I know little yoga, but I try to incorporate its principles and practice into my daily life. It affects me deeply and has offered to me a lens with which to understand the workings of life, just as Jiu Jitsu has. The following is my account of my introduction to yoga through Jiu Jitsu and the benefits of the practice I have become aware of:
In the late 90′s I attended a week-long camp in the Poconos on Gracie Jiu Jitsu. To say the experience was life-altering is a gross understatement and completely insufficient, but there are no words to describe with authentic emotion the profound impact it had on my existence. To describe the environment, I, along with my closest Jiu Jitsu family members, would wake up around 7am each day, have a clean and natural breakfast, go train in a large hangar-like enclosure for a few hours, break for lunch and recreation for two hours at midday, return for three more hours of training, and then nap briefly before dinner and gathering for discussion of Gracie Jiu Jitsu at evening. This is awesome enough, but I must tell you with whom I trained this week. The instruction for this week came from Helio Gracie, Rorian Gracie and Royce Gracie. Ryron and Rener were there but I believe they were around 12 and 13 years old, so they didn’t contribute much that week.
In addition, some other little-known people were present, such as Steve Maxwell and Phil Migliarese. It was Phil Migliarese that stood out to us among many others. Only a purple belt at the time (now one of the highest ranking American black belts in Gracie Jiu Jitsu), Phil’s expression of Jiu Jitsu seemed to embody exactly what the Gracie’s were trying to get through to us. In a word, he was equanimity. He was calm, fluid, patient, and relaxed. At a camp full of tense and muscle-bound martial arts practitioners from all disciplines, this relaxation stood in sharp contrast to many present. His Jiu Jitsu was effortless and beautiful and dangerous.
My best friend, Jared Jessup, rolled with Phil and was visibly shaken afterward. He had trouble describing the experience. We inquired as to “how he got so good,” and Phil, of course, accredited the superior instruction of the Gracies, but his first word was “yoga.” Yoga? Ashtanga Yoga to be more precise. Phil had studied yoga for longer than Jiu Jitsu, and he credited his relaxation and fluidity to his yoga practice. On a week in which we were having relaxation shoved down our throats in the form of flowing as slowly and effortlessly as we could, with no submissions, for hours at a time, and often in complete sensory deprivation, meeting him set us on a path of exploration into yoga.
Once at home, we procured some Bryan Kest instructional yoga tapes (yes, VHS), and incorporated our interpretation of Surya Namaskara into our warmup before our Jiu Jitsu practice. We went through peaks and valleys of the amount of yoga we incorporated into our practice. Some vacillating more than others, and all taking a very organic approach to it. It would be years before we saw the true benefits. But they would arrive. Oh, did they arrive.
This is yoga for me today: Centeredness rather than balance, but balance as well; Pliability rather than flexibility, but flexibility also; Power rather than strength, but strength too; and Equanimity rather than calmness. Calmness is simple.
~ Centeredness is balance internally and externally. Externally, an overall understanding of positioning and how each part of the body
is affected, contributes to centeredness. Internally, getting your physiological inner-workings to cooperate in order to allow your
body to perform your practice is what I mean by centeredness.
~ Pliability is maybe an arbitrary alternative word to illustrate something beyond flexibility, but I want to emphasize something far
beyond the physical application of flexibility. Being pliable insinuates yielding to external forces seeking to damage or influence you
in some uncontrollable way. Yielding to these forces, rather than resisting them is the way to overcome them. Resisting things
bigger and intangible is a certain way to create stress and damage. Allowing them to come, recognizing them for what they are,
and letting them run their course without feeding them benefits you much more. Holding a pose, melting into it, feeling the
vibration and hearing what your body is telling you; this is the path to pliability. Pliability is opening lines of communication
between your body and mind and breath.
~ Power is strength in its purest and most pervasive form. Power is not aggressive or tense; it is intelligent and active. The adage
states that “knowledge is power,” but in yoga, it seems that the corollary is true. Reverse the antimetabole and read it as “power
is knowledge” and you will get closer to the heart of power in yoga. Power comes in yoga in the form of energy properly placed in
the correct areas of the body, evenly distributed, and igniting the body from the foundation up. It comes from alignment,
structure, breathing, and clarity. It is a product of the yoking process.
~ One of my favorite words, equanimity, is perhaps the most immediately helpful benefits of yoga for the Jiu Jitsu practitioner. It is
balance + calmness. As I said before, calmness is simple. Put anyone in a calm situation, take away their problems, lay them down
on a soft surface, give them drugs, and anyone can be calm. A good measure of true calmness, though, is how much balance it
yields. This is something only the individual will be able to discern, and the ability to discern it comes from listening to oneself.
Equanimity is achieved not through the elimination of external stressors and tense situations, but amidst them. In yoga, the next
movement may be uncomfortable or the next inhalation may be difficult, but it is necessary nonetheless. Likewise, in Jiu Jitsu, the
next escape from the difficult position may be seemingly impossible, but it is necessary in order to survive and ultimately prevail.
Equanimity is achieved when the external forces acting upon you fail to thwart your advancement, and cease to deter your
practice. Things are just things. This bad thing happening to me is bad because I have labeled it so. Time spent in self-pity is
always wasted and never helpful. The truest calmness is not in running from the storm, but rather in the eye of it.
This is only what yoga means to me, and how it has benefited me in my life and enhanced my Jiu Jitsu. I am learning. I only wanted to share this with others, to share the beauty of it, in hopes that something I have said may reach someone and possibly help them with their journey, wherever they are headed. The God in me greets the God in you.
Everyone knows I have been a fan of Eddie Bravo for a while. I think he is brilliant in jiu jitsu, while most of the his loyalest followers annoy the shit out of me! Anyway, his new site was recently launched, and if you haven’t checked it out, please do. He has some good techniques on it, and some of them are even free. However, if you do want to subscribe it is about 5 bucks a month. Seems worth it for the quality of videos you get, though.
I only complain about Eddie Bravo disciples because they can tend to be neurotic, and unrealistic with their jiu jitsu. They seem to want special status as 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu practitioners and not BJJ guys/gals. I think this misses Eddie’s point with a lot of it. I am going to usually dislike anyone who puts down other people’s practice, the way 10th Planet folks sometimes tend to put down training with the gi, or training the self-defense portions. I am not saying all 10th Planet practitioners are this way, but I have encountered many and seen many. And for those who just train and leave everyone alone, and choose not to disrespect, I am not referring to them at all.
Additionally, if you want to check out a good book, and a great introduction to 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, his Mastering the Rubber Guard and Mastering the Twister books are excellently laid-out and compiled. Definitely money well-spent.
“, with the macron.
