I’ve been training Jiu Jitsu for almost 10 years. Throughout that time, my training has remained relatively consistent and constant. Aside from a few minor injuries (mostly sustained from non-BJJ activities) and some travel, my class attendance has remained steady. 
This consistency can be attributed to the multiple boxes BJJ ticks in my life. Some people may be able to sustain long-term dedication with a single motivation. Perhaps they want to be a world champion, or their singular aim is to obtain a black belt. Throughout my life, I have found different reasons to keep going back to Jiu Jitsu. When I take stock of the motivations that draw me into Jiu Jitsu, four stand out.
Knowledge and Technical Understanding
I gravitate towards Jiu Jitsu for the learning and mastery of technique. The thirst for new knowledge is often a great catalyst for training. Having an inclusive space to learn from an instructor and fellow students keeps eager students coming through the door. That thirst for knowledge can be specific. Sometimes I am consumed by solving a problem I see in my BJJ game. Other times that thirst comes with no questions, no focus and no agenda, just an eagerness to learn Jiu Jitsu.
Knowledge and understanding of the art is a powerful motivator.
Mindfulness and Wellbeing
Martin Seligman explains in his PERMA model of happiness the experience of Engagement or Flow. The state of being totally absorbed by a present task where time and self- consciousness seem to cease. Personally, nothing helps me achieve this feeling of flow more than Jiu Jitsu. At the end of a stressful or busy day, Jiu Jitsu allows me to engage and reconnect with myself. It lowers the volume on inner thoughts and expands my awareness beyond my immediate anxieties or worries.
Fitness
BJJ is a technical and mindful pursuit but it is also a physical one. The fitness and health benefits of Jiu Jitsu are well documented and well observed by anyone who trains Jiu Jitsu. If I take too many days off, I begin to feel sluggish and unfit. Some nights I go to training just to sweat.
Socialisation
On any given day, I may not be craving knowledge. I may not feel like a workout. I may not be in need of decompression. On those days, I still enjoy spending time with friends and training partners. A Jiu Jitsu academy often becomes a social haven, a close group of likeminded people and a surrogate family. The comradery, the laughs and the social environment are a draw card even when my Jiu Jitsu cravings aren’t present.
When I walk onto the Jiu Jitsu mat, it is rarely for a singular reason. Multiple motivations are always at play and they keep me coming through that door. The more reasons and the more motivations we have to do something, the more likely it is to endure.
From my fiist class a white belt, and now teaching at Eastside Jiu Jitsu the moments that get me most excited about learning and teaching BJJ are times when its messages can be generalised to everyday situations and mindsets. The concept of rights moves at wrong times is one that I find myself using daily. Take the situation when a family member or friend requires advice. I ask myself is the ‘right’ advice right for this time. I have seen all too often how the right advice, given at the wrong time can be the wrong advice. To be successful at BJJ and to flourish in all areas we need to understand that success is about timing and picking your moments. No one philosophy applies to all situations, no single mindset will see you through every task and there isn’t any golden rule that works all the time. This is true in life and true in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
“Practicing them in a way that they will be useful at any time”
matches and rolls end with one opponent tapping out. In the most tangible display of humility, one opponent will admit defeat rather than suffer further pain or sustain a potential injury. It is only through this act of humility that students of Jiu Jitsu are able to grow their strength. By tapping out, we ensure we are able to roll in the next round or train the following night. Students who insist on fighting out of every submission and who refuse to remain humble seldom last long in a Jiu Jitsu academy.
Jiu Jitsu, more than any activity highlights our weakness to us in each moment. It holds a mirror up to us and compels us to check our ego, know our place and surrender our will. If you can come out the other side of that process with your head held high then you have truly gained the strength that Jiu Jitsu can offer you.
As my brother and I continued to train and work on our familial relationship we came to understand that we had created a new family with our Carlson Gracie teammates. The connection we had with one and other quickly and seamlessly bled into our relationships with our new friends at training. When a team of people train together daily, and do so with the lens of helping one and other, they become a group of people closer than any other.’