I am proud to say that this last one is my own spin. Although the legendary Rickson Gracie and many others long discovered this before myself, I combined mindfulness and BJJ without prior knowledge of others’ work. Mindfulness, developed through meditation, is the practice of being fully aware of the present moment and letting go of all things past and future. Around the time I received my blue belt, I enrolled in an intensive mindfulness meditation course under Dr. Michael Mrazek. I began to apply mindfulness during live rolling sessions at BJJ practice.

The results felt out of this world. The occasional moments where I was able to tap into mindfulness, my intuition and performance improved drastically. During even intense battles, the burden of victory and defeat became irrelevant but victory stayed as a gentle, steady guide. The fight itself feels like a dance. A sweaty, aggressive, grind of a dance but still a dance. In one case, I was in such peace that I felt I was not even there. Something else had fought through me. I guess that is the closest feeling I’ll ever get to a Jedi.

Another day, I could compose another post titled, “12 Lessons from Mindfulness…Save The World”. For now, I will impart one practical benefit of mindfulness: the wielder’s heightened perceptive ability. Through mindfulness meditation, the user releases attachments of past and future, forgoing fear and anger. This state of mind grants the user vision without bias, the ability to see situations purely for what they are.

To fully comprehend such value, we must understand the limiting nature of established human systems. The fairest rules can be loop-holed. The most balanced laws can be exploited. Even the greatest wisdoms can be turned into dogmas, misused, or even corrupted. There is a saying that reads “even the devil himself can quote [biblical] scripture for his own purposes”. Your greatest guide to peace is to achieve an incorruptible intuition guided by compassion, justice, and knowledge.

Why is this relevant? We all have unique world-views that we use to evaluate situations presented to us. Every established human system is fallible and world-views, burdened by personal attachments, are no exception. We can be susceptible to bias and overlook matters of less concern to us. Rule and law are established by a collection of similar world-views; those whom are affected inherit both its strength and its limitations. Thus, as an activist, it is important to look beyond your worldview and constantly expand it in all directions. The abilities mindfulness offer will lead you towards that path.