There comes a point in most training camps when the question arises: Am I doing enough?

Is the guy I'm going to face out there outworking me? Has he developed skills at a depth I can't match? Is his gas tank bigger? Does his well of conviction run deeper?

How do we make peace with these questions? How do we know when we've done enough to prepare?

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

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Alan Watts: Following the Taoist Way: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0OehbLHoMhM3iitYvgkvtE?si=W03F82bJSganzEJGE2l5Ig&nd=1

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A virtuous life is an examined life, and few arts promote an examined life quite like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Erica Zendell is a BJJ brown belt, writer, and powerhouse in the digital products space. Her journey to and through BJJ has catalyzed here self-transformation, helped her sort through past trauma, clarified her own ambitions, and brought her to the dynamic edge of her creativity.

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

Work with me: [email protected]

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For years, the closing line of Rilke's Archaic Torso of Apollo has haunted me: "... for here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life."

Every step of my journey from white belt to black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has been the same refrain: You must change your life.

Great art will do that to you. It will constantly remind you that the greatest expression of human joy, ambition, and spirit is to aspire.

But ultimately, this life's work of aspiring and becoming falls to the individual. It is you and I who must do the becoming. Even now, as a black belt, I have so much more to become.

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

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Archaic Torso of Apollo, by Rainer Maria Rilke: https://poets.org/poem/archaic-torso-apollo

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Imagine a line that separates your life training Jiu Jitsu and your life at large. How do you prepare your mind, body, and soul so that you are fully prepared for the training on the other side of the line? How do you show up on the mats as the best version of yourself, ready to absorb new information and refine old systems?

This responsibility evolves as we progress through the BJJ ranks. Somewhere around Purple Belt, it begins to incorporate a self-coaching dimension as well. How do we arrive ready to train, ready to be coached, and ready to coach ourselves?

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

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First, some housekeeping. Humans are faced with multiple existential crises. Here in the northeast, recent events have highlighted the salience of the environmental crisis and climate change.

BJJ Meditations is committed to being a force for change. From here forward, at least one percent of all pre-tax proceeds will be donated to organizations committed humanity's and the planet's continued wellbeing.

This week's meditation highlights the psychological inflection point present in any competitive confrontation. We must decide to win on the mats. We must decide to win ecologically.

The decision arises the moment momentum starts to shift away from us and toward our opponent. How do we train at deciding to win so that making the decision is as automatic as flipping a switch?

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

Work with me: [email protected]

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"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." -- Gen. George S. Patton Sparring in BJJ highlights the salience of Patton's point.

We can enter a round with what we think is a perfect plan and ultimately falter because we are too tightly bound to that plan.

But the inverse is also true. We can enter a round with no plan and immediately descend into chaos.

How do we strike the right balance between these two poles? And how do we refine our feedback loops -- and consequently, our Jiu Jitsu -- in the process?

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

Work with me: [email protected]

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After three years away from competition, I return to the arena and realize that five minutes of fighting contain more useful information than five years of training.

What did I learn? How do I integrate that knowledge? And how do I prepare for the fights ahead?

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations. Support BJJ Meditations on Mirror: https://mirror.xyz/josephhannnan.eth/mBsbQwAsqcqIPWLkG8MwHtVjKzKXnMcHdNtFHAjFpEY

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The last few moments before action in Jiu Jitsu competition are some of the hardest. But then the ref waves you out onto the mat, the fight begins, and the anxiety dissolves into a pure state of flow and presence. We just need to make it through the agony that precedes both.

What helps us overcome it? Perhaps remembering what brought us to Jiu Jitsu. Perhaps holding onto that joy.

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

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My purple belt was no more than three weeks old, and I was standing in the bullpen waiting for my round to start at a local competition. The guy I was supposed to fight was visibly nervous and making small talk with the other competitors.

I'm just here to have a good time, he said.

Really, I thought. I'm here to win.

But was that the point of Jiu Jitsu competition?

Without a doubt, yes. But also, no. :-)

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

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 #bjj #jiujitsu #stoic #stoicism

For many of us, our reasons for training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are a bit murky. Maybe we started to get in shape, to learn a new skill, or to meet people.

Those may have been the things that got us in the door. But what keeps us here?

For a friend of mine, the reasons are quite clear: It's life and death. As an elite law enforcement officer, everything he trains is trained with the intention of self-defense and self-preservation.

How do we bring that level of clarity into our Jiu Jitsu? How do we clearly delineate our why? And how do we bring Quality into our training to substantiate that why?

Some weird thoughts and reflections on all of these things in this week's BJJ Meditations.

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