Jiu Jitsu is the Antidote to Community Collapse

This post-Covid world is more fractured and isolating than ever before. Most people are exhausted from working, staring at screens all day, and then resting, staring at screens, until time to sleep. Rinse and repeat. Modern adults have a very hard time making new friends. Modern adults have a very hard time getting away from screens. Modern adults have a very hard time finding the motivation to go out, meet people, exercise, and learn something new after work. Or before work.

Jiu jitsu is the perfect antidote. Jiu jitsu requires the cooperation of teammates, which creates a certain intimacy, an immediate friendship. Every school I have enjoyed being at begins with handshakes and introductions. How are yous, long time no sees, nice to meet yous. Names are quickly forgotten, but the temperature of a person's character gets measured in these brief interactions. Feelings of safety and camaraderie are heightened. Nerves rise in anticipation of the coming class.

Every time I have ever trained jiu jitsu, my mind has gone to a scary place. The contents vary, but the gist is something along the lines of "is this the day they find out I don't know what I'm doing?" In the beginning of jiu jitsu, this is kind of funny — of course I did not know what I was doing. Nowadays I'm a black belt running an academy in Taipei. I still get this feeling. Every single time.

This is not a bad thing. This mild fear, although uncomfortable, alchemizes my focus into what we're about to do. It reminds me to set intentions for training. Why am I here? Not in a long-term, philosophical way, but in a short-term, what's-the-plan-today way. Is there a competition coming up? When? If it's a few months away, today's plan will involve new skills. If it's a few weeks away, it will focus on improving established skills. If I'm teaching a class, what is the level of each student? I need to assess this as they warm up. How are they feeling? I assess this through introductions and by watching how they interact with each other.

This is all in-person feedback that is only possible when people are together, off screens, and involved in an activity that drives focus into the moment. An activity with just enough danger that you need to rely on strangers turned friends. An activity just scary enough to force you into setting intentions and goals for each training session, lest you get overwhelmed by the infinite techniques and possibilities of this beautiful artform.

Don't go to jiu jitsu so you can dominate fights. Go to jiu jitsu to make friends. To focus on something that is not work. To get off a screen. To sweat. To laugh. To learn something that is impossible to master.