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."
Comments
How do I recognize the perseverance and progression of bjj training. What types of changes should my family/community experience from bjj exposure. I am asking the question to help my family learn and be more supportive about the life of bjj outside of the gym.
I realize when I became more of a living example it was easier, because they ask to be taught. Now my wife and two girls train ...fun base functional bjj at home.