Rickson Gracie Academy

So you've advanced quite a bit compared to your early days in your jiu-jitsu journey, and you feel like sharing the gift with friends and family. Maybe you even live in a part of the world where BJJ knowledge is so scarce, that you may actually be one of the biggest experts around. Maybe you're the white-belt student, wondering whether someone who's an intermediate is teaching you all wrong. 

Lucky for you, Rickson Gracie was asked about this in a live webinar a couple of years back, and he had some thoughts:

"There's a saying in Brazil that says 'In the blind's land, he who has one eye is the king.' So, if you have a blue belt and you want to teach at your house—your kids, your family, your friend, your cousin—you're gonna be able to teach them some. 

"The process of sharing what you know can come from your first class to your black belt; you always can share something you know. How valuable this is is based on: you don't wanna teach somebody in your house as a blue-belt and not go into a school to learn from a black-belt. So you have to seek for knowledge, the best knowledge you can have close to you. And your students, also. 

"So the process is: whoever is there to offer me more techniques, I will embrace, I will learn it. If I have nobody to learn, I have to ask, I have to practice gently at home, and you have to provide yourself the best knowledge; but the searching for the perfect techniques, for the invisible jiu-jitsu, has to be part of your daily focus, and whoever's there closer to you, to teach you, take advantage."

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."