Rickson Gracie Academy

Do you feel fear now and then in your day-to-day life? What kind of fear?

According to Rickson Gracie, fear is a natural emotion for humans and can even be beneficial if treated with serenity, respect and intelligence. 

"It's like a sign that says, 'Don't forget: There's a dog here'," he explains. "Fear is often an ally, our friend, given that it works for our self-preservation. Fear is the feeling that brings us back to reality."

Quite different from that is panic, a state that paralyzes the person and stops them from trying, from being free and happy. 

But how should we go about not letting hesitation, insecurity and panic take over our mind when we need our bravery the most? Rickson knows it: 

"In jiu-jitsu, training session by training session, challenge by challenge, I learned to differentiate fear from lack of confidence. Paralyzing fear only arises in the face of what we don't understand. We feel fear when confronted with what we don't know, what we don't trust."

Rickson goes on to give a clear, and fun, example:

 

"If I get an invitation tomorrow, 'Rickson, do you want to sing at the Staples Center?' I'm gonna say, 'Are you kidding!'"

 

He adds:

 

"I'm gonna piss in my pants. I know nothing about singing. I'll be shaking if I have to sing for the president. It's not an activity I know. But if you say, 'Can you teach an armbar to the present?' then yes, I'll do it because it's comfortable for me; it's something I've done all my life. So I'm not afraid of things I know; I'm afraid of things I don't know."

 

Nobody is afraid of what they know. Fear takes shape when the unknown presents itself. And the person, naturally, acts so as to preserve their life, their ego and their wallet. 

 

So use fear as your alarm, as your best friend, and not as something that clouds your mind and weighs on your shoulders. Breathe, study the problem, face it with courage. It's what Rickson Gracie teaches.

An undefeated fighter and master possessing a legendary aura, Rickson Gracie has long been seen as a samurai of the modern era and a superhero for BJJ lovers.

These days, however, his mission is showing that BJJ is not for superheroes, it's not for the warriors in the rings. It is, rather, a perfect art for everyone who seeks to have a more peaceful life amidst the chaos that the world so often becomes.

In a recent interview, Rickson spoke of the usefulness of BJJ for the modern heroes, the new samurai that are among us.

“Jiu-Jitsu is full of concepts that offer the students a lot of intelligence, a lot of situations to replace power, speed, and athleticism”, Rickson said. “So in order for this to be accurate and effective, Jiu-Jitsu has to return to the concepts of self-defense that can be used by fighters, like I used all my life and that can be used by average Joes. Because the modern warrior of today is not a warrior with a glove or with a sword or with a gun. He is a warrior with a pencil, he is a warrior who is a judge, policeman, fireman, nurse, or a doctor.”

“Those are the modern warriors who have to represent some kind of victory in their own fields,” he added. “All of those elements of conquering, no matter if it’s an objective or an opponent, the more elements that are relevant for martial arts that are put in place, the better you will be in your results to overcome everything.”

If you want to be a modern warrior, and your own hero, study Jiu-Jitsu.