Jiu-jitsu is Your Mirror: What Training On The Mats Reflects About Your Inner World

How your approach on the mats reveals your deepest fears and strengths.

Imagine having access to a powerful holistic tool that could…

Reveal your deepest fears, showcase your hidden strengths, and provide a roadmap for personal growth - all while giving you a great workout [it naturally transforms your body in ways lifting weight never could]. This isn't a new app trying to get you “motivated” or yet another pricey life coach repeating generic “advice”. It's the ancient art of jiu-jitsu, combined with the philosopher's mind.

And this new wave of information is transforming lives in ways you never imagined possible - until now.

The art of jiu-jitsu teaches you: a philosophy where limits are defined by your creative imagination.

Invaluable life lessons are directly presented to you in a physical form on the mats while training. Yet the challenges you overcome on the mats translate to beyond the mats and every area of life. A nuance perspective only a tiny fraction of the population possess today [it could few well be less than 1,000 and even that is being generous].

You are about to enter a whole new world that will completely revolutionize how you see and interact with the world.

THE OUTER WORLD REFLECTS YOUR INNER WORLD

In the self-help world, journaling is one of the best tools for increasing self-awareness by encouraging the individual to pause and reflect on life:

  • Revisiting past behavioral patterns to explore cause and effect

  • Ponder on thought provoking questions to uncover new insights

  • Frees up head space by maximizing energy to explore new perspectives

  • On the neuroscience side: builds new neuropath ways to increase intellect

  • and so much more…

Not only is the act of journaling a meditative practice, but has it strikingly similar personal development benefits to training jiu-jitsu.

This marital art’s direct translation is “gentle art” from it’s Japanese origins.

Jiu-jitsu was intentionally designed to allow individuals to win a physical one on one confrontation against an unarmed opponent that is larger, stronger and heavier than the individual that has disadvantages of being smaller, weaker and lighter.

The art of jiu-jitsu incapsulates the very power martial arts promises:

Empowerment.

During the biggest filter phase of training [early white belt stages] people drop out like flies as training reveals incompetences which the ego has a difficult time of accepting…

These first months become an extremely eye opening life experience [especially to those that arrogantly believe they know it all] as you begin to grasp how many more challenges you must overcome on top of everything else you’re dealing with.

Similar to self-reflection during journaling - training on the mats reveal your internal world and it’s level of development - in a physical feedback loop.

You will face a simple problem like where you have no idea how to survive a trained opponent’s offensive attack.

This only encourages your problem solving brain to creatively come up with potential strategies to test your theories in order to find the solution…

If only after you overcome the emotional hurricane headed your way.

And the intensity of this sensation is dependent on your skill level.

In a perceived life threatening scenario, a trained opponent is “attacking”, both mind and body gets overwhelmed to the point it responses as if it were going to die.

Fight or flight kicks in.

Sense of panic goes into overdrive, all logic goes out the window, your body stiffens to protect itself then next thing you know:

You are grasping for air like you have never experienced before [even if you particulate in cardiovascular hobbies i.e. grappling cardio hits different].

Not only do you have to resolve rational issues such as technical application side of jiu-jitsu, but now you must learn how to control your emotions under intense pressure.

Exactly like taking on a challenging work project, this reveals your problem-solving skills, a sparring round of jiu-jitsu uncovers your resilience, adaptability, and emotional control.

The mats reflect back to you a extremely realistic view of objective reality.

JIU-JITSU IS YOUR MIRROR

How can you expect to win… if you do not first learn how to win?

This question comes to mind whenever I see someone frustrated over an outcome they repeatedly face without making a deliberate change...

Common life advice often leans towards something along the lines of…

“never give up”
“go hard as you can”
"you must fail to succeed”

Of course, these bits of wisdom, do have it’s time and place but applying that advice to the training room can lead to:

Being choked to the point of being unconscious.
Broken bones on one of the limbs.
Torn ligaments beyond repair.

Quite frankly, if one were to blindly follow those words of advice - it would lead to one of those unfortunate damage to the human body.

You see.

Training jiu-jitsu has a very unique way of teaching life’s lessons that differ from other paths to mastery.

On the mats your current life experience and philosophy is put on display… and only through continuous training are you able to test, refine then update that life philosophy within the domain of the mats.

For example, I’ve seen countless people set goals of obtaining stripes and belts as an indicator of success and progression.

However, those “goals” become nothing but fool’s gold that causes countless of people to drop off before they get a glimpse of their true potential.

Internal Resistance begins creeping in as the Self is not able to receive the recognition and validation it so desperately needs to stay motivated to keep training.

Just like that.

These individuals give away the power of their self-perception to an external source [instead of determining their state of mind internally which they have control over].

Is this beginning to sound familiar?

There was a time where I was going through a 63 week part-time jiu-jitsu training schedule - a local famous TikToker was fascinated by my level of self-discipline and wanted to document me.

I politely declined as I strongly value my privacy from the public eye.

He asked me if jiu-jitsu was the one thing that made me more self-discipline.

To his surprise, I said:

“No, jiu-jitsu just reveals what I had already developed all these years in other areas of my life. Jiu-jitsu allowed me to display my self-discipline - that’s all.”

Having gained life experiences in areas outside of jiu-jitsu developed my self-discipline… and luckily it directly translates to training on the mats.

During this rigorous training schedule: I improved at such an exponential rate due to the momentum gained thanks to consistency.

Not only was everybody at the gym shocked by my commitment, but they wanted to figure out what exactly was I doing that got me so much better.

And the answer was simple:

Optimization.

It a term commonly used in the online marketing space which I’ve been in since 2011 that essentially produces the best results.

In a nutshell [without going into too much nerdy detail] improving results comes down to constantly testing out different ideas, see which produces the best results, keep repeating the process to refine on a proven method that produces the best consistent results.

As you can imagine having gone through nearly two year experimental phase helps optimize a training schedule that matches perfectly with my intentions.

The interesting bit?

My jiu-jitsu results were none other than a mirror reflecting back to me my inner world - on a macro level then on a micro level - you can see an individual’s warrior spirit and personality during a live sparring round.

MATS BECOME A EXPERIMENTAL PLAYGROUND

As mentioned before - optimization was my “secret” that caused exponential growth.

More specifically:

Taking mental notes of objective feedback based on what I was doing.

An open feedback loop that would provide me data on what was working and what wasn’t.

I did more of what worked and removed what did not work so I could do more what did work.

One of many things that bothered me specially was the lack of fluidity within my movements.

During sparring rounds I would very sloppily perform a technique and be frustrated by the lack of smoothness.

I’ve seen countless seasoned jiu-jitsu practitioners apply technique in such a way that it resembles an art performance.

Effortless movement resembling water like fluidity.

This only lit more of a fire in my belly knowing that it is possible and yet I have cultivated this.

I started showing up thirty minutes before the early morning class began and stayed after the session for an additional thirty minutes.

Yes, both before and after training, an additional hour of training per session.

With this extra training time:

I began drilling specific jiu-jitsu movements in circuits.

Intently studying instructional videos to slowly down each component then gradually increased the technique application speed and it’s intensity until it became second nature months later.

Those times when I felt too sore for the next session?
I implemented ice recovery sessions after every single training session.

Worried about potential serious injuries?
I attended three flexibility and mobility sessions per week. Wisely choose training partner that I can trust.

And those times where I felt too weak?
I started doing three strength and conditioning to build muscle to have a better chance at the heavier, larger and stronger opponents.

As you can see the mats are nothing more than a experimental canvas for you to practice developing and refining your skills.

The very nature of the mats provide you objective feedback to crush any delusions you may have to preserve your ego.

Your unique life experiences have lead you to some type of success already and with these unique insights they become tools for you to use in your development in jiu-jitsu and life beyond the mats.

What are proved principles you successfully applied off the mats that can be carried onto the mats in order to aid your personal growth?

This will shine the spotlight on your philosophy.

THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE OF PERSONAL GROWTH

Jiu-jitsu isn't just a martial art - it's a transformative journey that holds up a mirror to your very soul.

As you grapple on the mats, you're not just wrestling with an opponent, but with your deepest fears, your hidden strengths, and the very essence of who you are.

The art of jiu-jitsu becomes your personal philosopher's stone, transmuting the lead of your limitations into the gold of self-discovery through the means of self-alchemy.

Remember:

Every sweep is a lesson in adaptability through practiced patience.
Every failed submission attempt teaches you to exactly what to improve on next.
Every escape shows you the power of perseverance through discomfort by remaining relaxed.

The mats become your laboratory, where you experiment with different versions of yourself.

You'll face setbacks, experience breakthroughs, and constantly refine your approach - not just to jiu-jitsu, but life itself.

As you continue on this path - ask yourself:

What parts of your inner world are being reflected back to you?
How can you use these insights to optimize not just your training, but every aspect of your life?

The journey of jiu-jitsu is infinite, always offering new depths to explore.

Embrace it fully, and watch as it transforms you in ways you never thought possible.

See ya on the mats,

POJ