When speaking about Judo or Jujitsu you may have heard phrases like:

“The Gentle Way”

“The way of acceptance”

Or similar.  But what the heck does that really mean?  Anyone who’s felt a good arm bar, choke or Ipon knows that it feels anything but “gentle”.

We talked more about this in class at Hidden Valley last night, and I think I am starting to get it.

Let me start by drawing a contrast:  I originally came from a  wrestling background.  Wrestling is explosive.  It is powerful.  When I stand-out I intend to just wrench myself from the grasp of my opponent.  When a good double leg gets shot in wrestling or in MMA (watch St. Pierre… he’s a master at this), it is all about power… you lift the “victim” of the ground.  Sure, there are setups.  You push some one’s head down to get them to pop it up.  But by and large its about strength, speed, balance, and explosiveness.

Now, while many of those same traits are also powerful, and effective in Judo and Jujitsu, if you rely on them only, I think you miss the spirit of what these arts are.  What is the “gentle” or “accepting” art?  It means capitalizing on opportunities.  It means staying fluid, so you can react to a variety of things, and your fluidity and motion will also create needs for your opponent to attempt things.  Your goal is to train yourself to see the doorway in the brick wall… to see where you opponent is going, or even better: close your eyes.  Learn to FEEL where your opponent is going.  Feel the opening.  Feel the doorway and capitalize on the opening.

Being “gentle” or “accepting” doesn’t mean being passive or mild.  It simply means not trying to plow through the wall, because you know that if you keep tapping and circling it a door will open for a brief moment.  It’s that moment that is the heart of of the art.

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