Glimpses of New York (Part 2)

New York City.

High to low, the city is the complete spectrum.

Central Park.

Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Temple of Dendur

Armor (Gusoku)

Katana

Glimpses of New York (Part 1)

New York was amazing.  A city like no other. 

Battery Park. 

Ted Stickle.  Black Belt.  Gracie Barra Alaska.

Renzo’s Street.

Just Around the Corner.

Inside the Academy.  Igor Gracie defending the guard pass.

With the blackbelts of Team Renzo Gracie.

Special thanks to Rafael “Gordinho” Correa for the warm welcome.

Sheila Haddad Nanadan

Seibukan Jujutsu seventh degree blackbelt test, completing the technical requirements of the system.  Sheila was the first person to achieve this rank, and I wish I could have traveled up from San Diego to be on the mat, but it wasn’t possible at the time. Thankfully, I was able to take her original recording and create this video.  You can also see a high quality version here.  Look for an in depth interview with this inspiring female martial artist in the next EJJ. 

ADCC Championships Completed

It was a fantastic 2 day competition at the ADCC Submission Grappling Championships in New Jersey.  Preliminary matches were held on Saturday, semi finals and finals held today, plus the open weight division and Roger Gracie superfight.  Incredible level of skill, with many old friends present at the tournament.  Several injuries as well, with capable warriors walking into the competition, and limping out with the assistance of a cane.  Popped knees, elbows, dislocated fingers, etc.  The price of competition.  I will give a long expose in the next EJJ.  Alicia took killer photos.  I got tired just watching the competition, and several fighters had epic, and repeated, 20 minute matches.  Skill and endurance required.  Crowd favorite Marcelo Garcia tapped everyone in his division, and the open weight category, with the exception of the final match, where he got caught with a D’arce choke off his trademark armdrag.  Anyone can lose a match, but Marcelo is a true champion, regardless of whether he got first or second place.  Much respect to all the warriors of ADCC and their world class skills. 

Holding It Together

Big thanks to all the Academy instructors for teaching classes while I’m off to the East Coast to attend the ADCC Championships.  Anthony is teaching the Monday and Friday day classes, Jimmy covers the Saturday open mat and Tuesday evening class in Redmond, and Nathan will be leading the popular Monday night class.  Being able to leave for short periods allows me to further my training, whether that’s going back to San Diego to the Harris Academy, watching high level jiu jitsu at key tournaments, or simply allowing me to recharge and bring more energy back to the Academy.  In the past, I used my vacations to further my training: attending wrestling camps; Zen and yoga retreats; or large gatherings in other martial styles.  The connections with old friends that I nurture and new connections I’m making now are what will make this Academy rise to the top.  Success is never the sole influence of one:  It is the collective effort of all working towards a common goal.  So I thank the Academy instructors for allowing me to continue my growth.

Anthony Treas:  Blue Belt

On Monday evening, I had the honor of presenting Anthony Treas with his blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  My second promotion, Anthony is the model that other students should emulate.  He listens closely, practices diligently, and attends class whenever possible, building on the training base he established with Marcello Alonso.  By making BJJ a priority in his life, his progress on the mat has been steady and undeniable. Pictures of the event are forthcoming.  Congratulations Anthony!

The First Look:  April 2007

Here is a look at our new space, my first blue belt in action, and the friendly vibe of the Saturday class.  Just imagine what it will look like a year from now…

Roger Gracie: World Champion

The Gracies have had several family champions over the years.  Helio started it all, then Carlson avenged one of his losses to a former student.  Rolls Gracie assumed the title, until his tragic hangliding accident, then Rickson became the undisputed lion of the family.  Now that torch has been passed once again, as Roger Gracie defends the family name, and leaves no doubt about the effectiveness of their sophisticated art.  Roger is the defending Abu Dhabi Submission Grappling Champion, and silver medalist at the 2004 Mundials.  In all honesty, he should have received the gold medal, putting a very tough Jacare in an armlock near the end of the match.  Rather than tap, Jacare allowed his arm to be broken, and won on points.  Personally, I would have tapped.  You can see that match at the end of this highlight reel, showing his Mundial performance.  He avenged the loss at the ADCC championships, choking Jacare.  His MMA debut also went well, against an enormously muscular Ron Waterman. 

What I like most about his game is it’s simplicity.  He likes the triangle, straight armlock, and choking from the back.  He stands to pass the guard, and has phenomenal defense.  No wasted movements, which leads to little or no mistakes or opportunities for his opponents.  Watch him in action against one of his purple belt students. As he said in Arte Suave, “The simple things work just as well as the fancy things.  You just have to do them right.”

Ninjutsu:  Theory vs. Application

YouTube is an enormous resource for watching martial arts videos, especially more “esoteric” arts like Ninjutsu.  Since my Japanese Jujutsu instructor was also a 10th dan in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu directly under Masaaki Hatsumi, I have has some exposure to high quality Ninpo.  One thing I have always admired about Ninjutsu was the ability to think outside of the box and invent their own rules.  It can often look deadly.  Check out some of the techniques taught at the Dallas Ninjutsu Academy.  That’s the theory.  Now check the application in some friendly sparring vs. a Jeet Kun Do School.  Whether you look at bout 1, 2, or 3, none of them employ any recognizable techniques to the intricate Bujinkan I’ve been exposed to.  Looks like bad MMA to me.  Funny how that works.  I also enjoy their anti-immigration slant, appealing to others to study their art to learn to defend themselves from the “illegals” taking over the country and threatening our children.  Be sure to read the full description of the last video.  Their thinking is as elegant and refined as their martial skills.

Direct Experience vs. Belief

The Spring edition of the E-Journal of Jujutsu launches today!  Here is the opening article:

In an interview years ago, Bill Moyers asked the the sagely Joseph Campbell if he were a man of faith.  His cordial reply was: “I don’t have to have faith. I have experience.”

There it is.  Direct experience.  It’s the path that Zen teaches, with their goal of satori.  It’s the path that many martial artists also seek, whether through through training, competition, or combat.  A taste of martial truth can be powerful, and slightly addictive, encouraging the student to seek higher doses. But the pathway of direct experience is not always comfortable. 

Many people discover this in their first days on the mat of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school.  The first 6 months to 1 year are spent learning to defend and survive in the fully resistant, fully alive randori environment. This phase diminishes the ego and greatly reduces a student’s expectations.  It squares you with your actual physical and technical capacity, in that specific realm, for all to see.  The truth is revealed on a nightly basis, leaving very little room left for beliefs.

Grappling, in it’s various forms, can be a close simulation of a real altercation.  It is direct experience, on several levels.  Of course, sparring of even moderate intensity involves strong exertion of a body’s nervous, muscular and cardiovascular systems.  More importantly, concentration is intensely one pointed.  As Matt Thornton cogently points out in his lecture “Why We Train,” our instincts are honed through millions of years of evolution to repel those who physically dominate us.  On both conscious and unconscious levels, the sum of our coordinated powers are called upon for self defense.  It is powerful method of stopping thought, and one reason he considers BJJ a modern form of yoga. 

It is important to train under someone with direct experience.  They can adequately prepare you to handle an encounter without injury or use of excessive force. A teacher without direct experience in the application of their art against resistant opponents puts their students at a disadvantage immediately.  They may know their particular art well, but it’s always necessary to go one step beyond, to feel out the adaptations necessary for their age, and modify the arts to suit the current culture.

Each of the EJJ’s spring writers has direct experience to share.  Roy Harris has grappled with all types in the nearly 300 seminars he has instructed globally.  Dan Camarillo, as a national champion in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, knows how to handle the resistance of both highly skilled and highly conditioned athletes.  Each of the Aikido Bridge Seminar shihan (Tissier, Doran, Ikeda, and Murashige) are passing on their direct experiences to a new generation of aikidoka, to discover and apply in the flow of life for themselves.  And Robb Wolf, with an unblemished amateur kickboxing record and heavy powerlifting credentials, has been both athlete and trainer, with access to the vault of unbiased observation we know as the scientific record.  Direct experience is our to utilize, painstakingly recorded under stringent guidelines.  Many have sacrificed for our benefit.  We should use and eventually contribute to this record.

MMA is a profound and considerable contribution to the record of direct experience, and has already forced several adaptations in the consciousness of budoka.  Royce Gracie inspired today’s fighters to drop everything and train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, just as Steven Seagal did for Aikido, and Bruce Lee before them, paving the way for martial arts to be spectacularly displayed on film.  Observations of direct experience don’t allow a person to be fully engulfed by the truth of the moment, but it’s a strong second place, leaving blind speculation and “educated” guesses far behind. 

Public consciousness of martial arts is rapidly growing, thanks to the influence of mainstream media.  The alliance between Spike TV and the UFC catapulted the faces and stories of an up-and-coming generation of MMA athletes to the masses, and boxing (among other arts) will never be the same.  Their flagship show, “The Ultimate Fighter,” is a fully documented study of hot blooded mixed martial artists, and the techniques they employ to eliminate their opposition, in and out of the octagon.  We are allowed a perfect window as those that seek direct experience get what they want.  Full martial exertion. They become the fight.  They do not stop at discussion or online hypothesizing.  Discussion is helpful in preparation for direct experience- but it is no substitute.  There are no substitutes.  There is only experience.  And logical arguments hold little weight against the truth of direct, personal experience, which has been “felt”, rather than “thought through”, or merely “heard”.

Belief can fill in the gaps of what hasn’t been observed and what we have yet to analyze.  But we have to be willing to drop those beliefs if direct experience, or an objective recording of a direct experience, contradicts it.  Beliefs are often handed to us, or subscribed to because of a resonance, or longing for things to be a certain way.  Life is not logical or reasonable, and neither is a conflict.  So I take small steps to rid myself of belief, one experience at a time, and hope that the EJJ will also be a conduit for those wishing to pass on their direct experiences of martial truth.

Music in the Dojo

Our good friend Paul Pedrazzi inquired if music was used at the Academy during rolling, as it is in some other schools.  I have never had music in the dojo before when training (whether in Aikido, Judo, Seibukan, Iaido, or BJJ), so I was a little hesitant.  Lifting weights with the radio on in the gym is one thing, but the commercials would just ruin it in a more formal setting.  I also considered making a workout mix, or even writing original music, but that could mean a lot of work with little guarantee of success.  Tempos and beats are finicky things. 

I have been playing with the idea though, and found a CD at the dojo that works well.  Music isn’t playing during the instructional portion of class, just during rolling, and the compositions of James Asher fit perfectly.  It’s easy to get into the groove, and feel rather than think, once the pulse of the music has taken over…

BJJ Representing

Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueria.

Phillip Palmejar: Fighter

Brad Hirawaka (left), Phillip Palmejar (center), and myself at the San Diego Grand Nationals, after Phillip’s impressive first place finish in the grappling competition.  Brad and I went as coaches, and were both very happy to see our teammate tear it up.  Although still a white belt under Mr. Harris, and being the lightest competitor in his division, Phillip tapped all 3 of his opponents.  Harris International Brown Belt, UFC veteran, and North County Fight Club fighter Jason Lambert won the heavyweight division.

Watching Closely

Ninja Warrior: Makoto Nagano

Truly one of the most amazing physical feats I have ever witnessed.  I remember watching hours of this competition on tape via a Japanese satellite channel, and I have never seen anyone finish all 3 levels of the obstacle course.  They’ve brought in professional athletes from all over to compete on this show (I’ve even seen Kyra Gracie giving it a shot, unsuccessfully), and few make it past the first level, fewer on the second, and as I said, I’ve never seen anyone complete it.  Makoto strikes me as a former gymnast, although I’ve read that he’s actually a fisherman.  Whatever he does, he’s an amazing athlete.  Watch here and be inspired.