Guiding Principles of Practice

There are a few principles we use to shape our curriculum and guide our practice. Knowing these principles and understanding the logic behind them will help you establish a framework for learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Learn to control yourself first - before you try to control others

Much of martial arts is about self control. The better control you have over your own body, the more possible it becomes for you to control another person. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not about bigger, stronger, faster. It is about doing more with less. Efficient purposeful control over one’s own movements is where it starts. It’s such an important part of our practice that it’s how we start every practice, with solo drills to build those attributes. Leverage and timing start out as balance and rhythm. In the drills you feel your own balance and inherent areas of strength and weakness. After all Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is using your greatest strength against your opponents physical weak point.

Your Partner is Gold

Training Jiu Jitsu requires a partner that provides varying degrees of compliance and resistance. It would be helpful to understand what it means to be a good partner. This of course stems from the idea that we want our partners to stick around, since it’s hard to practice without one.

The techniques of Jiu Jitsu are not accomplished through high rage, low control movements. They are precise technical movements that vary in strategy and execution depending upon the physical matchup between participants. Being able to identify which move is called for and then executing it requires physical and emotional composure. It takes a fair amount of partnered practice to develop that skill and control.

The only way to get that work in is to have good training partners who are in it for the long haul. The more we take care of our partner the more we can train, because none of us can train if all of us are broken.

Jiu Jitsu is a defense first martial art

The first objective of Jiu Jitsu is to stay safe and not take damage. This is a stark contrast to the strategy imagined by many people when they think of martial arts; hurt the other person before they hurt you. The problem with this is that humans are actually fairly resilient when it comes to taking damage. It is pretty easy for a small skirmish to turn into a fairly nasty fight when both people want it to. It is also much harder to stop a determined assailant by hurting them then many would think.

Jiu Jitsu has a different approach to violence that starts with you being safe and ends with the assailant unconscious, (and unharmed), from a blood choke. All of this can be done without throwing a punch or trying to injure the other person. We highlight this as a basic principle because the sooner you know they objective, (get to a safe position and choke the other person unconscious), the sooner you will stop looking for ways to injure the other person as a means to stopping them.

Get used to suffering

Praxis is a Jiu Jitsu Academy. The aim is for you to learn JIu Jitsu. Just like mud is wet, and the mortar to build buildings once held water, suffering is part of Jiu Jitsu.

Yes, we have a gentle on ramp. Yes, We have a tiered approach to learning. Yes, we have a structured generative curriculum that will give you a systematic approach to the art should you chose to employ it. There is not however a skill you learn that somehow mitagtes suffering.

Sometimes, you are just going to have a bad time. No - that does not mean are here to make others suffer. We aren’t building bullies. My goal is for all students suffer just enough to learn the lessons needed, then just a little more so you know you can.

Learning to suffer well and producitvely is learning Jiu Jitsu.

Don’t expect to “get” Jiu Jitsu in one class. It is going to take a little time to see the big picture.

This seems common sense and most people intuitively understand it. That said, one of the more engaging components of Jiu Jitsu is it’s puzzle like nature. Good Jiu Jitsu is simply good problem solving under duress. While the “under duress” thing sounds cool on paper, in practice though it is not uncommon to get frustrated that you aren’t, well, getting it.

“Getting” Jiu Jitsu is like learning to walk, while other people are trying to tackle you. You will get better over time, faster than you think, more than you think, but it’s not going to feel that way in the moment. As canned as it sounds, relax and pay attention has a lot going for it. There is a reason Jiu Jitsu culture is often seen as chill and relaxed.

Genuine alertness has a self generative feel to it. When you are zoned in on something, the tendency is to stay zoned in. That is something that can be hard to force. Try to relax and focus on the inputs, not the results.

Think of trying to shoot baskets and being upset when they don’t go in. Now picture focusing on the throw and enjoying throwing the ball instead. Picture springing off your toes and letting the ball spring off your fingers. Once you have that feeling down - then look at the net and toss it in.

If you are trying to pass guard, do stand up throws, or any other task in JIu Jitsu - don’t focus on the outcome - focus on the set up. If you think suffering is an anomaly and you are trying to force the outcome - you’re gonna have a bad time.

The training is often designed to be a little frustrating.

Application of self defense techniques is largely the ability to keep a cool head while under pressure and execute well. Additionally, acquisition of physical knowledge is enhanced and made more permanent when you are forced to recall and utilize the material frequently and irregularly.

To that end, many of our training methods are designed to keep you a little on the confused side, at least initially. As you gain both confidence and competence we add another level of complexity to keep you on your toes.

Like I said, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is similar to solving a puzzle. One of the best ways to get good at solving puzzles is to…… solve puzzles. Keep this in mind when you are training and feel like you are not getting it. Often times if you are slightly confused, yet engaged and working, you are right where you need to be. Take a breath and enjoy the process.

Be patient with yourself and others

The academy works well when everyone isn’t just aware of their own journey in Jiu Jitsu, but the path of your training partners as well. It is pretty easy to get absorbed with your own path, and to some extent we all should. That said, the others on that path, your training partners, are the ones who help us get further down it.

Learn to give each other a good effort, good feeback, and encouragement. You will learn much more from your training partners than you will any individual teacher. Try to make that web of training partners extend across as wide a skill disparity as you can, and make sure you are paying it forward more than you receive. One commonality I have seen in people who develop the most skill - the train the most and they help other folks the most.