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Why Jiu Jitsu Can Be Your Best Therapy

If you have spent any time on the mats, you will already know the many benefits of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and other grappling martial arts. There is something about jiu jitsu that satisfies us on a primal level.

Grappling is in our DNA, we did after all evolve from primates who establish their dominance hierarchy by grappling one another. It is also instinctive to use grappling to defend yourself against predators and other threats. It comes natural to us. You will even see kids with no experience what so ever instinctively grappler with one another on the play ground. You can’t deny that humans are meant to express themselves through grappling.

And that is just what jiu jitsu is when you think about. Grappling is an art. To master it takes many years, and there are many ups and downs on the journey. You deal with a lot when you are learning jiu jitsu. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. Not every class it good, and not every roll is good.

Learning to push through failure is part of learning any grappling based martial art. Learning how to fail gracefully builds character. And with character development comes things like confidence, gratitude, discipline, and respect.

How many of us can say we get these things in our daily life if we weren’t out there regularly training jiu jitsu? Society does not condition us to express our physical nature. We spend most our day sitting around at a mundane job, barely moving our bodies at all! It is no wonder why so many people are stressed, or even more f**ked up. It is not healthy to contain all that energy in your body, piling loads of junk food on top of a sedentary life style. Because of this life style, many people are constantly dealing with negative emotions, or in a state of panic and anxiety.

This just isn’t a good way to go about life, especially if you are an adult who is response for raising children. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a healthy way to drain all that pent up energy you have throughout the day. Is your boss an asshole? Does traffic suck? There are so many things to get pissed off at, sometimes you just want to punch a wall or hit the bottle. Make no mistake, we have all been there.

But why not take all this negative energy and turn it into a net positive? Learn to grapple and get your aggression out in a safe and fun environment. I promise you, those upper belts won’t mind your aggression! Try anything you can on them! I bet you tap over and over, but it will just make you want to come back for more. Oh, and don’t worry, we’re all still friends after a tough rolling session. One of the best feelings in the world is to get through a hard jiu jitsu class. Get comfortable with discomfort. Learn how to keep cool in a high stress situation. Jiu jitsu can show you how to do these things, and a whole lot more.

Jiu jitsu undeniably has the intrinsic quality of being “therapeutic” for many men and women. No, a doctor is unlikely to prescribe jiu jitsu for whatever ails you. But do this for yourself. Start respecting your mind and body. Get out of your chair and get on the mats. There is a whole world of experience there waiting for you!

When it comes to understanding the therapeutic benefits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, nobody knows better than 5 Time World Champion Bernardo Faria. Bernardo has been training jiu jitsu since a young age. Bernardo Faria has now taken on the mission to share some of the lessons, techniques, experiences and more that he has learned along in his 16 years and counting as a BJJ student, teacher and world class competitor.

Check out the video below, in which Bernardo shares his thoughts on why he believes jiu jitsu can be your best therapy.

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How To “Get Back On The Horse”

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or any grappling martial art, how do you get back on the proverbial horse after you have fallen off? It has happened to the best of us. An injury or life event gets in the way and we lose our consistency with getting to class, getting to the gym, and training in general. As time off the mats grows longer, negative momentum builds up, making it harder and harder to get back to the routine. So what happens if you find yourself stuck in a pattern that keeps you from reaching your training goals? Today we will explore 3 easy ways to get back on the BJJ horse!

Technique #1: Hold yourself accountable

Some of us are better at this than others. I have friends who float through life unaccountable for their actions, and though they are happy, they are not really pushing themselves to improve and be the best version of who they really are. I have other friends who set daily goals, write things down, set goals, focus on accomplish the tasks they need to do, and reflecting on their failures. This growth state of mind comes from a person who has better discipline over their behaviors.

So what are some ways to hold oneself accountable? A daily journal is a great way to track your progress and your failures. Write down what you want to accomplish daily. Write down what you want to accomplish weekly. Keep track of how many of these tasks you achieve and how many you fail. Deep down inside, you know you want to get back on the mats. You know how great it feels to struggle through a difficult jiu jitsu class and come out the other side, sweating and exhausted. Get this feeling back into your life! Write it down, and recognized that if you are still failing to get to class consistently then you are failing at one of your self imposed goals. Remember, a little discipline goes a long way and it only takes one small decision to reset your momentum towards more positive behaviors.

Technique #2: Have others hold you accountable

Some of my best friends and training partners are the ones who call out my bullsh*t. Yes, it sucks to have someone rub your failures in your face. That is a good thing! Nobody wants to feel like a failure. Having a group of friends from class who ask you what’s up when you have gone missing for a while is a great motivator when it comes to training consistently. Of course, we are there to help one another on the mats, but again, that growth mindset extends to all aspects of our lives, so we should be there to help each other when one of us falls off. I can’t even tell you how many times I have gotten a text from one of my friends and mentors asking how training is going, and I have had to admit to someone I greatly respect that I have had lapse of discipline and stopped going after my goals. I want to be the person who does what they say they are going to do, because it feels good! So tell your training partners you are going to be in the next class, that way they keep you in line if you get the urge to bail.

Technique #3: Listen to great motivators

There is a world of great men and women out there who are pushing themselves every day to be their absolute best. There are a few men that immediately come to mind when I need inspiration. Joe Rogan’s “Be The Hero of Your Own Movie” never fails to get my blood pumping. TAKE THIS IN!

Jocko Willink is one of the most bad ass mother f**kers walking the planet. If this man fails to inspire you then you must not have a pulse. Take his advice NOW!

Ultimately it is up to you to decide to take action. Sure these great men will motivate you in the moment, but if you do not actually take action you will just be getting high off the feeling of wanting to take action. Do not push your goals off for another day. Find some sense of discipline and take action.

There are going to be days where you just do not feel like training. I get it. We have all been there. I can tell you from experience we all know what the right decision is in this moment. We all know how satisfied we will be when we do something we thought we could not do. I truly find this to be one of the greatest experiences you can have in life. It is so satisfying to overcome and obstacle, be it mental of physical. Now quit finding excuses and get out there and train!

As a bonus, are you looking for some practical things you can do right now if you do not feel like training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Have a look at one more video from Jocko called “How to SMASH DAYS When You Don’t Feel Like It” (an excerpt take from JOCKO PODCAST 49). Since you don’t always feel like getting after it, here’s how to deal with those times…

Looking for a Team to help keep you accountable and motivate you to keep improving yourself 1% everyday?!  We got you, come down for a visit.

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Your Training Partners Are Your Tribe

There is a strange part of human behavior that most “normal folks” do not know about. Those of us who struggle together bond together. Not only do we bond, we bond on a deeply primal level. It is something with in us that we desire. When you look at our society, you see little of this extraordinary bond. I have been in the bowels of corporate America, and not once did I feel a close bond with my coworkers. Sure, they are great people, and we get along just fine. But as I passed from one corporate job to the next, I felt little connection with those I left behind.

If you have done even the smallest amount of martial arts training, be it Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or any grappling art that pushes you to your limits, you will have felt the primal bond that I am writing about. Grappling itself satisfies something primal within us, and as we struggle with our opponent’s we bond with them on a level so we that we call each other brother, family… TRIBE.

As a single male living alone, I spent a great deal of my mid to late 20’s feeling depressed and confused. It was not until I met a great friend and mentor who trained jiu jitsu that things started to change for me. I listened to this friend describe jiu jitsu. He spoke of it in a way that was like no other sports discussion or fitness routine. To him it was profound, life changing experience that he structured his entire being around. His elegant descriptions of grappling caught my attention as a curious individual. I knew nothing about jiu jitsu. I knew nothing about martial arts. I was hardly athletic. The hardest I ever pushed my body as an adult was an afternoon jog. My physical well being was something I gave little attention to, and as a consequence my mental well being suffered. I was lucky to have such a person come into my life and introduce me to the world of jiu jitsu, because I had no direction to go, and no concept of what it really meant to be part of a tribe.

You might be thinking to yourself, “This sounds awfully like joining a cult.” It is hard to talk about jiu jitsu in this context with out those cultish undertones. In some ways jiu jitsu is very cultish. You will begin to resonate with people who only understand what it means to struggle in a live roll. You will look at others who do not train a bit differently, and you will inherit the principals of what it means to be a martial artists into your daily life. What makes jiu jitsu distinct from a cult is that you can leave at any time at your own will.

Something I did after training for two years, and deeply regretted. I stopped training jiu jitsu, started neglecting my body, and suffered mentally and emotionally as a result. It was like finding the one thing that gave my life fulfillment and then abandoning it with lame excuses. I felt like a fool to leave behind such an important part of my being. I missed being surrounded by people who encouraged me to be my very best, and push myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. I missed being physically and mentally tested and, in letting this part of my life go, I grew weak and depressed.

There where circumstances in my life that pulled me back into the jiu jitsu community that I abandoned. I am very thankful for that, as I was on a path of self destruction and despair. It took me awhile to correct course, and I would not have been able to do this without the love and support of my training partners, who I share a deep familial bond with. I exist as a living example of a soul who was lost and found a path through life (and adulthood) by way of jiu jitsu and the community of people I train with. To be a member of a train of people who are all out to learn and grow inspires me daily to try and be at my best. And when I fall off, I have people in my life who hold me accountable and help me correct course. Let’s face it. This just isn’t something you find in your daily 9 to 5 job – the people we spend most of our waking hours with.

We are social animals that thrive in feeling connected to our tribe. I will be the first to tell you that as an introverted being I value spending time alone. But even with these tendencies I have a great appreciation for the men and women I struggle on the mats with, and as a result of this struggle, I have grown into a person I am truly proud to be.

Martial arts will change your life for the better. Your journey through jiu jitsu will not be solo. You will meet some of the most diverse and interesting people on the mats. We all come from different backgrounds and have stories and experiences to share. But when it comes time to bow in, we become equals as students in our progress towards mastering the most difficult quest we have ever taken on.

I encourage you to dive into the world of martial arts and live a life of passion.

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