FLOW WITH THE GO

“The most interesting aspect of jiu-jitsu is… of course the techniques are great…but the sensibility of the opponent, sense of touch, the weight, the momentum, the transition from one movement to another. That’s the amazing thing about it. You must allow yourself to go as on auto pilot. You don’t know exactly where you’re going until the movement happened because you can not anticipate what is going to happen. You must allow yourself to be in a zero point; a neutral point. Be relaxed and connected with the variations. Flow with the go.”

What can we say that the man himself hasn't already said?

Maybe only this, and only because the scope of Master Rickson's comments - in this particular instance - was limited to the mat: 

America has always been a land of bold mavericks and pioneers. Indeed: it is no small thing to depart from familiar shores and head off into the unknown, and that is true whether you're a pilgrim bound for Plymouth Rock of an Iraqi refugee landing on American soil in 2018. Accordingly, we have always lauded ambition, lionizing the self-made man and denigrating the "layabout" who "lacks direction, grit, drive," etc. 

And yet the path from dream to reality is not so clear or readily managed, and often refuses to be negotiated by will and grit alone. Ask any honest success and they'll tell you: Sure I worked hard, but I also got very lucky. I came along at the right moment. I met the right person at the right time. Things worked out for me. Etc., etc.
 
In my role as head instructor at a BJJ school I see all kinds of students. Some struggle with a lack conviction, and allow opportunities to come and go. Others seem to lack all sense of proportion, insisting on moves that have no yet quite presented themselves. Both are frustrated, both feel their failures on the mat as a mark against them. To both of them I say:

Every technique is a plant. For a strong and healthy technique to grow, you need a good seed. The seed is your technique. The elements must be right. A poor seed will never grow into a strong plant. But this is not enough. The best seed planted in poor soil will grow into nothing. You have your seed. Now your task is to become an expert at finding the best soil - the best moment- to plant it in. If you do these things then your technique will be strong. 

I like this analogy a lot, mostly because it asks us to consider every technique not as a battle but as a partnership - a cooperation between one party's actions and my own. It calls me to realize the true nature of the thing: that whatever outcome occurs will be bigger than my singular will. That for me to succeed I must participate in this thing we are both doing, rather than insist on my own vision of the future. 

As on the mat, so in life: We go out into the world, knowing what we want. The world sees us and tells us what it wants. To become recalcitrant is to make an argument from what could be a conversation. It is to mistake stubbornness for dedication. It is to miss the truth: that the future will always be bigger than you; that you do not exist in a vacuum; that success comes once you learn to flow with the go. 

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