Facing your Fears
We all contest with our fears, Individually we choose to confront them.
The term “Arte Suave” is Portuguese for “gentle art” and the direct translation of “Jiu-Jitsu”. One benefit reached by training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu surfaces by facing fears.
I often see new people that arrive at the academy with visible signs of stress such as trembling, absent-minded, excessive sweating, etc. Anxiety can be paralyzing so I enjoy coaching jiu-jitsu to those ready to begin improving their quality of life. The benefit of teaching becomes priceless when you see students gain self-confidence.
Throughout the day to day struggles of training, you learn how to deal with fear in a viable way for personal fullness.
A collective between jiu-jitsu practitioners is the analytical growth achieved from training Brazilian jiu-jitsu. This learned awareness confirms jiu-jitsu as the perfect outlet to conquering fear.
How is this accomplished?
In the movie 'Enter The Dragon, Bruce Lee says to a troubled student to "remove emotional content" inside to achieve his intention. The same works in Jiu-jitsu, there is no place for emotion or feelings. Expertise in Brazilian jiujitsu starts by learning to reduce the presence of "feelings" by mastering the ups and downs of emotion.
It's a process refined as you advance in jiu-jitsu. Improving your technical abilities means you understand how emotion connects to the outcome of your performance. World Champion competitors admit feeling anxious before competitions even though they've stood there countless times.
Promotion in the belt ranking system evolves through Blue, Purple, Brown and Black belt. While learning the fundamentals of jiu-jitsu people deal with obstacles and challenges, some can be hard for a person's ego to deal with:
Fear of looking dumb in front of teammates.
Fear of having your guard passed.
Fear of being submitted by a lower belt.
Everyone faces fears, not simply in the training academy but in real life. I relate with people by explaining how jiu-jitsu has provided me the essential confidence to overcome my anxiety about presenting business plans to corporate executives. I imagine that each time I'm in this situation I take a breath, tighten my belt, slap hands and roll. When you overcome such fear and it goes away, you create that mental toughness more powerful. Acknowledging “yeah there is fear but I'm doing it anyway!” mindset will improve your life in enormous ways.