Orwell, war and jiu jitsu: The great English writer, George Orwell, once defined warfare (he fought in the Spanish Civil war) as ninety five percent complete mundane boredom and five percent pure terror and fear. Those extremes are equally represented in jiu jitsu – though with TENSION and RELAXATION replacing boredom and terror. In sparring… Continue reading Orwell, war and jiu jitsu
Category: Off-mats and Philosophy
Traveling man
Traveling man: Part of the process of improvement is traveling to test your skills, just as a thousand years ago the shaolin monks had to leave the monastery upon graduation and walk the land with their skills, so too, the modern jiu jitsu player must travel to compete and deepen his learning and demonstrate his… Continue reading Traveling man
Humor in unlikely situations
Humor in unlikely situations: In combat sports sometimes the funniest things occur totally out of the blue and amongst all the anxieties, make for great memories. In the 1980’s a campy martial arts movie, The Karate Kid was released. It featured a young man moving to a new town and getting bullied by a group… Continue reading Humor in unlikely situations