Mastering Feel in Jiu Jitsu: A Beginners Guide

The First Fractal of Jiu Jitsu

The First Goal

In this system of Jiu Jitsu, the very first goal should be to develop the sense of feel. Not a technique or a series of technical procedures, not even a movement and definitely not any form of conditioning. It is starting the process of mastering a sense of feel in Jiu Jitsu. As a beginner, you should always ask yourself, “what does this feel like,” while learning a technique.

When I am teaching, if a student walks away after the first day trying to remember the steps of a technical procedure, I have failed them. On the other hand, if the same student were to walk away remembering what each step felt like on/in different areas of their body; Then we achieved success and this student will learn exponentially faster than the former one. Mastering feel in Jiu Jitsu is a necessary step in learning the overall conceptual framework of Jiu Jitsu, found here.

Something to consider

Imagine this, you are walking down a trail in the woods, and see some interesting velvety looking plant. You wonder how soft it is, you reach out to touch it. Right now, what part of your body are you imagining yourself feeling the plant with? Or maybe I should ask, how many of you imagined any part of the body other than the hands/fingers? Have you ever touched it with the outside of your lower leg? How about the crook of the back of the knee? Or what about skin just above the elbow? I could go one for a long time naming different parts of the body, but you get the point.

3 Different Subsets of Mastering Feel in Jiu Jitsu

It is important to note, there are three very distinct areas to develop within the practice of mastering a sense of feel in the sport of Jiu Jitsu: 1 The feel of what is happening in your body. 2 The feel of what is happening in your opponent’s body. 3 The feel of the interplay between the first two.

Your body

You can feel what is happening in your own body at any time. To get deeper into the practice of feeling in Jiu Jitsu it is necessary to maintain a stronger mechanical structure than your opponent. You have to do this in order to protect yourself. Then ask yourself how subtle can my muscular engagement be? The more subtly you hold your body, the more you will be able to feel. Rigidity is the enemy here. You will also want to be aware of your breath at all times.

Your opponents body

This is the foundation for the second area of mastering feel in Jiu Jitsu, feeling what is happening in your opponent’s body. In order to do this effectively, it is now necessary we will build a stronger mechanical body structure. We rely on this structure to absorb the force that our opponent applies. It will absorb the force easily if properly developed. This is because our body is a tensegrity structure held and supported by fascia. Fascia is a very resilient, collagen-rich connective tissue network that provides structural integrity, force transmission, and elastic recoil for the body. There are studies suggesting it is exceptionally strong, comparing it to steel in tensile strength.

Both Simultaneously

Having reached a level of mastery of the feel in Jiu Jitsu in the first two areas, the third area will flow naturally. You only need to observe it to bring what you are experiencing into the conscious mind. If we can not observe the third area easily, there is more work to do in the first two areas. In doing this, the issue will resolve itself.

How to Start the Journey of Mastering Feel in Jiu Jitsu

The work is simple

The only thing we need to do is consistently ask for the information we want our conscious to effortlessly receive in the future. On a grand scale, this is all any practice is. To start practicing developing feel in Jiu Jitsu, simply go through all the places your body is touching your opponent. Ask yourself, what is the quality of the sensation: pressure, momentum, balance, tension, friction etc. Then move to the next area the bodies are making contact, same questions. Continue checking in with different areas of the body until all the areas the body is making contact are covered.

Note the patterns that emerge, these are significant. Note the areas in which the patterns change or disappear, equally significant. One can start to see why patience is the main point of resistance when starting this practice. In the beginning, it is usually necessary to start by moving very slowly. Quicker than one generally imagines, the pace increases until you are training at full speed.

Why this work is important

Practicing Jiu Jitsu is done with the whole body. However, the development of perception of the sense of feel is almost exclusively limited to the hands. It is necessary to teach our conscious mind to give the same awareness to our whole body, as it normally gives to our hands. Then give us that information in a comprehensive and continuous feed. This sensory input is the foundation of everything we do in Jiu Jitsu. Including how we are going to make our decisions, which in time become our new instincts.

Having more sensory input than our opponents or our training partners, is a super power over them. They can not effectively resist what they are not aware of. After some time of this practice you will start to notice that there are many things about their body they are not aware of. And you will realize, if they are not aware of it in their own body it is almost impossible they will notice it in your body.

What you will gain

These areas will give you a natural map on beating your opponent. For example, when competing, the first thing I do is feel how much tension my opponent has in their body. With a soft touch, rather than a forceful grip. Are they literally trembling with fear or do they carry themselves with confidence? Their emotions dictate their actions. How do they hold their body? The amount of tension will impact how easily they can be off balanced. Is their body structurally sound? An area of weakness or excessive tension in an otherwise different body is indicative of an injury. This list could go on for a very long time.

The more you practice the more you will start to notice, and learn about human body mechanics. That practice and knowledge will eventually bleed into other senses. You will start to understand what is happening in your opponent’s body by watching them move as they walk towards you. Then watching their posture as they stand. It will continue getting deeper and more subtle. Eventually, while competing or training, you might notice that the opponent’s current breath suddenly has a different quality than the previous breath. There will be a reason for this change, one that will guide your next actions.

There are many different things to incorporate

You can practice feeling movement in your body and your opponent’s body while grappling in other ways too. One of my favorite ways to train is listening to playlists of wild jazz music. Moving to the rhythm of one song and then switching rhythms when the songs switch, in the middle of the round. Doing this I learned that changing rhythms in movement is one of the easiest ways to beat an opponent.

People are generally very focused in intense situations, and training Jiu Jitsu is an intense situation when we first start or when we are competing. However, focus is the opposite of awareness. Focus is the concentrating of the sensory resources on a central point. Whereas, awareness is the expansion of sensory resources from a central point. Awareness can be overwhelming at first, but a well trained awareness will outperform focus consistently. Training or competing with someone for a few minutes at one rhythm and then suddenly switching to another, is something almost no one can adjust to instantaneously. The amount of time it takes them to realize what happened and adjust is a window of easy attack. It is an extremely useful thing to train.

Patience is a virtue

Keep in mind now I am talking about over a decade of practicing feeling at the point I started doing this. I wanted to give an idea of just how deep the practice of feeling can get. Practicing consistently, it is almost guaranteed that you will discover your own unique ideas and work them into your Jiu Jitsu. It is important to remember that fractals patterns are infinite as they simultaneously get larger and smaller. There will always be new things to discover, because the individual perspective will travel in an individual way.

Most people develop the feel of the movements of their bodies and their opponents’ bodies unconsciously through various different methods of training, drilling or learning in class. The learning curve, however, can be sped up dramatically by consciously training this. Repatterning the awareness of our minds is simple, patience is required though and that part can be hard for some.

Achieving Success Mastering Feel in Jiu Jitsu

When you can do this training at full speed, you will have discovered something wonderful. The amount of sensory resources required by this practice is immense and we can not accomplish it in the analytical mind or a beta brainwave state, the normal state of existence in today’s world. Practicing bringing your awareness to the sense of feeling will lead you into the flow state.

Flow State

This practice will become a direct pathway into the flow state or alpha brain waves, one that in time you can choose at will. As this skill develops, you will be able to use the sense of feeling to flip a switch and move immediately into the flow state at will. This won’t be limited to Jiu Jitsu but will be useful in many areas of life. Being in an alpha brainwave or flow state experience is an energy producing, immersive experience. This is where training Jiu Jitsu gets really fun, and creativity exists at every turn. The deepening of this experience is another fractal pattern itself containing even deeper brainwave states and its exploration is an entirely different topic.

Effortless Strength

You will also have reached a place where you can maintain exceptionally strong body structures effortlessly, as you will have learned to use the fascia of your body to support the structure, move your body and interact with your opponents body.