A couple of years back, Master Rickson Gracie kindly made himself available for a live webinar where he took questions from people from around the world. One of the questions was from a student named Adriano. The student asked, "How can I, as a blue-belt, bring out qualities of a black-belt in me on and off the mat?"
Rickson's answer cut right through to what really matters. Here it is:
"Of course, in the process — in any process — you cannot be a teacher being a student. You cannot be advanced without passing the elements and the obstacles we had through the journey. So, in your journey, you should apply the concepts of martial arts more than actually physical, egocentric concepts. So, you have to become a black-belt to know what a black-belt is supposed to do. You cannot know what a black-belt should do as a blue-belt.
"But from day one when you start training, you're supposed to be a little more concerned about the development of techniques, and development of the concepts which give you peace of mind, which give you the capacity to be comfortable in hell. So, mentally, your mindset has to be: absorb the knowledge, try to cope with the uncomfortable situations, and become more, in a way, gentle, because that will allow your mind to really understand and embrace the concepts.
"So, through physicality, through toughness, through ego, you're gonna be... Sometimes, you can be a very tough champion, but you're not embracing the philosophy behind the true martial arts with jiu-jitsu involved. So be relaxed; try to go through your journey with the responsibility to just share what you have that's good, what you've learned, and give love to the people around you; and start to embrace being humble, being grateful for the things you get, and I think naturally you're gonna get there — not only a black-belt, but a great spirit."
Rickson's answer cut right through to what really matters. Here it is:
"Of course, in the process — in any process — you cannot be a teacher being a student. You cannot be advanced without passing the elements and the obstacles we had through the journey. So, in your journey, you should apply the concepts of martial arts more than actually physical, egocentric concepts. So, you have to become a black-belt to know what a black-belt is supposed to do. You cannot know what a black-belt should do as a blue-belt.
"But from day one when you start training, you're supposed to be a little more concerned about the development of techniques, and development of the concepts which give you peace of mind, which give you the capacity to be comfortable in hell. So, mentally, your mindset has to be: absorb the knowledge, try to cope with the uncomfortable situations, and become more, in a way, gentle, because that will allow your mind to really understand and embrace the concepts.
"So, through physicality, through toughness, through ego, you're gonna be... Sometimes, you can be a very tough champion, but you're not embracing the philosophy behind the true martial arts with jiu-jitsu involved. So be relaxed; try to go through your journey with the responsibility to just share what you have that's good, what you've learned, and give love to the people around you; and start to embrace being humble, being grateful for the things you get, and I think naturally you're gonna get there — not only a black-belt, but a great spirit."
Comments
Humbling...
🙌🏻
Inspiring!
Going to focus on the Word-Gentle as I Journey
Wisdom.