Since being introduced to the world by the Ultimate Fighting Championships nearly 25 years ago, Brazilian jiu-jitsu has exploded in popularity. While it may seem like a facile art — it involves little to no hitting, just what looks like complicated wrestling — there is something special here, something transformative.

That is why it’s moving from a subculture into the mainstream with celebrities like Demi Lovato, Ashton Kutcher, Anthony Bourdain and Keanu Reeves, as well as intellectuals and authors like Sam Harris, Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferriss training in and raving about it.

Why is jiu-jitsu becoming so popular? And what can it teach anyone, let alone entrepreneurs? Aside from being considered one of the most effective forms of self-defense, it’s healthy, social, empowering, interesting and a hell of a lot of fun. Beyond all of its physical benefits, it’s a life hack. Let’s take a look at just a few of the many powerful life lessons jiu-jitsu teaches.

#1 Positioning

Jiu-jitsu is known for enabling the smaller person to overcome the bigger person. How? What’s the secret? Positioning. From a good position, things are easy, from a bad one they are difficult. A big person you stand in front of is far more dangerous than one you stand behind.

The classic example from The Art of War — when fighting on a hill, fight from the top, facing downward. Gravity is on your side and works against the opponent. Even better is to have the sun behind you — it becomes difficult for the opponent to see. The idea is to find or create positions that have natural advantages.
Fifteen years ago, I had an idea for a large-scale impact project. It was going to take years just to articulate. Working 50 to 60 hours per week, I wasn’t in position to make it happen. I didn’t control my time. Entrepreneurship was the ultimate positional improvement because it would one day give me the freedom to write when I wanted.

In jiu-jitsu, we say “Don’t try to win from where you are. Try to get into such a good position that winning is inevitable.” Rather than engage in direct battle from a weak position, position yourself so that all advantages are in your favour.

Positioning in business and/or marketing often refers to how an audience or a market sees a certain brand. Are they number one? Are they the coolest? Most reliable? This is an important factor, but one’s position in the traditional sense is made up of an array of factors. You may post losses this quarter but have just signed enough clients to make the next year better than the last decade. You may have lost your star salesperson, but actually improved team atmosphere. On paper, you are “losing”, but your position has improved.

Elon Musk’s story is one of brilliant positioning. Dreaming of space travel since childhood, Musk developed a knack for technology early. At 12, he sold a video game he had developed on his own for $500. He studied science and economics before moving to California to start his PHD which he left after two days to start his first business, Zip2 with his brother for $28,000. Being ahead of the technology curve, Musk’s Zip2 served a market notoriously slow to adopt technology — newspapers — offering them city-guide software. Over four years, Zip2’s clients grew to over 160 major publications and was sold for $307 million. Musk received $22 million, with which, seeing an opportunity in online financial services, he launched X.com which later became PayPal. In 2002, eBay bough PayPal for $1.5 billion — Musk’s 11% share earned him $165 million. It was with this windfall, he was able to start his first space-travel company, Space X, as well as Tesla, Solar City, Hyperloop and more, and has positioned himself to actually shift the collective direction of humanity towards a bright, sustainable future.

What is happening in your market and in the world at large that you can leverage to better position yourself? What are the hidden strengths and weaknesses in your current position?

#2 Survival

Checkmate in jiu-jitsu is called a submission — you force your opponent to give up, which they signal by tapping you or the ground. A submission happens because you are either causing one of your opponent’s limbs to go beyond its natural range of motion or choking them unconscious.

Your first job in jiu-jitsu is to not get submitted. You can’t win if you’re out of the game.

For small business, survival is often a question of cash flow. As businesses get larger, the dynamics may change, but you can’t have a successful business if you don’t stay in business.

One of the first things you learn in jiu-jitsu is “posture” — how to keep safe in bad positions.

Generally, you want to keep our assets — your limbs — close and try to prevent the opponent from having the opportunity to isolate and attack them. Before you move forward, you have to take a solid position which prevents your opponent from pushing you backward.

A business mentor once asked me what my business would look like if I trimmed monthly expenses by $10,000. I couldn’t even imagine — until I was forced to.

If some surprise required you to operate with a greatly reduced operating budget, could you? Do you know how to contract your operation to endure choppy waters?

#3 Incremental Positioning

Once you have ensured you can survive in a bad spot, how do you get to a good spot? It would be nice if we could go from a terrible position to a good position with one crafty move, however life seldom works like that. On the mats we learn instead to focus on improving our position just 1% at a time. Far less taxing.

As leaders, we must dream of success in leaps and bounds — we must see beyond the horizon to chart our company’s course. But success rarely happens in leaps.

The traditional path to opening a martial arts school is to lease a space, buy the equipment and open up shop. I launched my first school, a women-only Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy, kimonogirl, with one Sunday class per week out of a tiny, remote yoga studio. One grew to two and two grew to five across three locations until we were presented with the opportunity to rent space from a big-box fitness gym in the most central possible location in Toronto, which is where I ultimately launched my current academy, OpenMat.

If I had gone down the typical path, I would have been out of business within weeks. The incremental path allowed me to build slowly until I had a small but solid, sustainable school. It was from that position that I attracted my first investor, enabling me to leap, launching one of the largest, most popular martial arts schools in Toronto.

Small, incremental improvement in our position led, in time, to an otherwise unattainable goal.

In The Art of War, they say you can’t make the opponent vulnerable — all you can do is make yourself invulnerable and build your position while you wait for them to leave an opening. And when the opening comes, you charge through “[with] the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height.”

You may not be able to take the #1 position in your industry today, but small, solid steps ensure you can make constant progress.

Have you been focused on big leaps or tiny steps forward? What are some small steps you can take to improve your position? How can you position yourself to — one day — take big leaps?

#4 Unity Is Strength

In BJJ, it usually takes time for beginners to learn to use their body as a single unit. If, for example, someone is on top of you and you want to unseat them, you’ll often try to push with one arm, then the other, then maybe both. Then, perhaps you’ll bridge, before going back to using your arms. As you progress in skill, you learn to use your whole body simultaneously, as a single unit.

Though it may sound simplistic, united we are strong. Without this principle, you will never be able to meet your potential.

For entrepreneurs, this applies in two ways: to your team and to you as leader.

If you have a team, do they work as one or fight amongst themselves? Do you have tools in place to enable them to work together? And what can you do to take their coordination and cooperation to the next level? (If you haven’t considered corporate jiu-jitsu, nothing brings a team closer. Google, Electronic Arts and many others have in-house programs — should you?). But more deeply, is your purpose compelling enough to get them to put aside any differences and band together in challenging times? According to both renown author and speaker Simon Sinek and The Art of War, purpose trumps everything else when talking about uniting a group.

Unity applies not just to teams, but to each of us individually. As an entrepreneur, you are a leader. As a leader, you have to be on your own side.

There have been times in all of our lives when our “self-talk” has been toxic. Our thoughts can work against us. In jiu-jitsu you are forced to confront this voice every day and develop tools for “turning the negative critic into the positive coach,” as Dan Mac writes in Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence, a book that has had a massive impact on me — on and off the mats.

Are you “united”? Sports psychology says the middle-of-the-road fighter who believes in themselves is just as, if not more dangerous than the highly skilled fighter who doubts themselves. Are you good at staying on your own side or are you overly self-critical? Do your daily routines strengthen or weaken you? What can you do to make both your habits and self-talk more empowering?

#5 Secrets and the Importance of Memberships

You can have unity and still not know what to do. What makes jiu-jitsu so empowering is that is shows you techniques and strategies for making the impossible easy.

What’s most scary for the untrained person when facing a bigger, faster, stronger opponent is not knowing what to do.

All of jiu-jitsu is based on one “secret” — one strategy for overcoming any opponent:

1. Close the gap: get close enough to hug them — they need distance to hit effectively
2. Take them down: tackle, trip, throw, etc,
3. Get to the mount: climb on top so you sit on their stomach while they lay prone.

Simply understanding that concept, even without training makes you instantly tougher because it gives you a plan.

Secrets are merely powerful pieces of information we don’t yet know. How do you learn secrets? Theoretically, you could tinker and “figure out” jiu-jitsu without instruction, but it would take you decades. A mentor shortcuts that process.

I ran my first school for five years before I began mentoring with more successful people in my industry. And as a result, I grew more in the following year than I had in the previous five.

Recently, a new mentor introduced an idea for a promotion. With one week of hard work, strong unity among the team and the school as a whole, that month was as successful as the previous three combined.

Do you have a business mentor? It doesn’t always need to be a formal relationship or even a relationship at all. Internet marketer and self-improvement teacher Tai Lopez considers books a form of mentorship, and today, videos, podcasts and even some Instagram accounts provide insight, wisdom and strategy from some of the great business thinkers of our time.

Have you had a mentor impact your trajectory? Who are some thinkers and leaders you look up to? Are you seeking them out and learning from them?

#6 Growth Hacking: Theory vs Practice

Secrets can be powerful, but how do you know they are real? You cannot take it for granted; you must test it yourself.

Many grappling arts contain the same techniques as BJJ. Japanese jiu-jitsu, for example, may employ of the same techniques but trains them very differently. As with so many traditional martial arts, Japanese jiu-jitsu tends to be practiced with planned cooperation. I hold you in this way, you apply your technique, but I don’t try to stop you while you’re doing it. It turns out that things work very differently when someone is actually resisting. Reality doesn’t always match theory, so knowing what to do is not enough. You must constantly test your theories.

Perhaps the most significant factor in jiu-jitsu’s success as a martial art, aside from its core strategy and philosophy of adaptability, is the training method by which it is practiced. Randori. Sparring. “Rolling.” The practice of trying to apply your techniques against a skilled, resisting opponent. It is in this crucible of sweat and strategy that we gain a greater understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

In the business world, traditional product development looks something like: 1) spend months or years and millions of dollars to come up with the perfect product; 2) spend millions more to market it and hope people buy; 3) succeed or fail.

Ryan Holiday’s Growth Hacker Marketing discusses the secrets of growth behind companies like Amazon, Uber, Facebook and Evernote. With the advent of the internet, a new model, “growth hacking”, has emerged. Growth hacking is the process of 1) creating a “minimum viable product” (MVP) that you think will be effective with/liked by consumers; 2) testing that product with actual customers; 3) making changes to the product based on feedback; 4) repeating steps 2 and 3 until you have a kick-ass product and a horde of testers/future customers already invested in the product’s success.

“Growth hacking is a process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective, efficient ways to grow a business. Growth hacking refers to a set of both conventional and unconventional marketing experiments that lead to growth of a business.” (Wikipedia)

Jiu-jitsu works the same way. You have your own MVP — a certain technique or strategy you have practiced enough to try against resistance; you try it in sparring; if it works, great, and you see how it can become more efficient; if not, you examine why.

Jiu-jitsu is growth hacking. It is taking small, efficient steps to improve your position while using your failures to expand your understanding.

Have you been working with an untested assumption? What are small tests you can create to get quick, actionable feedback on those assumptions? How can you build your position — knowledge, customer base, experience — while honing your offering?

#7 Fight, Flight, or Third Option Thinking

Typically, we are taught that there are two responses to conflict: fight or flight. The Art of War teaches us that there is a third option: planning ahead.

For defending oneself, training jiu-jitsu is that third option.

Finding oneself in a physical confrontation would surely trigger a panic response in most people, causing them to either freeze or run (flight) or engage with unskilled ferocity (fight). By training jiu-jitsu, we prepare ourselves for those situations so that if they arise, we are much more likely to be able to maintain control of ourselves and our situation. It’s contingency planning.

Years ago we had a flood that caused $30,000 in damages and almost shut us down.

How could we have prepared for this? When revenue and cash flow were strong, spending was too. Had we practiced operating on a more disciplined budget, that situation would not have had the same impact.

What are the unwanted situations you as an entrepreneur need to be ready to handle and what can you do to prepare for them effectively? What would you do if suddenly you lost your key client or employee? What plans can you map out to prepare for these unwanted scenarios?

#8 Adaptability: Flow With The Go

Jiu-jitsu is unimaginably empowering. You learn techniques that allow you to completely dominate a larger person or easily escape what looks like a desperate position.

As you gain confidence in a technique you may be tempted to “insist.” Go to use it, it doesn’t work, you try to force it. This is a waste of energy.

Jiu-jitsu teaches that when one door closes, another opens. As your opponent stops your first technique, they inevitably leave an opening for another. Rather than insist on forcing something that isn’t working, adapt. Be willing to change directions.

Passionate about providing a place where women could access the incredible empowerment jiu-jitsu offers, I had my heart set on having a massively successful women’s jiu-jitsu school nearly 15 years ago. Even today with the growing popularity of mixed martial arts, that would be tough. Being willing to change plans and offer co-ed classes was what enabled me to not only survive, but thrive.

Have you ever tried to force a strategy after the circumstances for which it was designed had changed? Are you doing this now? What other ways or opportunities have you not considered? How can you adapt to best take advantage of your current situation?

#9 Loss Transmutation

Renown psychologist Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success describes a way of thinking observed to be a hidden factor in success and happiness: the growth mindset. “Individuals may not necessarily be aware of their own mindset, but . . . it is especially evident in their reaction to failure. Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is a negative statement on their basic abilities, while growth mindset individuals don’t mind or fear failure as much because they realize their performance can be improved and learning comes from failure.”

In jiu-jitsu, we won’t always survive. We will get submitted. We will sometimes get injured. We will experience defeat. How we respond is up to us. It can be tempting to get angry or down on ourselves. Instead, jiu-jitsu teaches that we can turn every loss into a lesson. If someone was able to choke you, there must have been some opening you left which enabled them to do so. If you get angry or depressed, you waste an excellent opportunity to upgrade your skills.

Even injury can be a boon. From 2011 to 2016, former UFC Champion Dominick Cruz suffered what Joe Rogan called “one of the most difficult trials in terms of recovery from injury in the entire history of [MMA].” Multiple tears (groin and ACL) and surgeries kept him out of the cage for four years. In a recent interview on Rogan’s podcast, Cruz describes the experience as a gift. The seemingly endless string of injuries forced him to let go of control, which ultimately boosted his spirits enough to recover, return to fighting and regain his belt. “You need to let go of fighting to learn that you are something without it. And that was actually a gift — it became a gift because I learned so much about life.”

With the investment I received years ago came a new management team. Those looking after the books fumbled massively, neglecting to pay sales tax for years. One day, with no warning, the government took $20,000 from our account and then closed it. We had no way to pay staff, let alone ask them to continue to work while we sorted things out. Though generally optimistic, that night it felt like the walls were closing in. I could not see how we would stay open.

This seemingly terrible situation turned out to be a massive blessing.

Almost every staff member I shared the bad news with offered to stay on for free until the ship was righted — unity! Moreover, it forced me to make sure the books were in order. Even if the situation doesn’t magically turn around, you can always rely on the lesson. Thankfully we survived that experience, but imagine if we were to grow the business exponentially and then have to learn that lesson. Though it was tough at the time, thank goodness for it.

Both practically and as an attitude, you owe it to the people you serve to find — or far better, make — good in every loss.

Some of our greatest insights in business — and life — can come from our losses. What are the three biggest lessons you’ve learned in the last two years? Are there losses you’ve experienced recently? As Tony Robbins teaches to ask “What’s good about this?”

10. Mental Jiu-Jitsu: Turning Problems into Questions

Jiu-jitsu teaches that life will throw problems your way. You will get taken down, you will get mounted, you will get submitted. But if you get mounted, there is no value in lamenting that fact. Reminiscing about the good old days when you were on top is a waste of energy. The only thing that actually matters is what you do now.

When someone repeatedly takes you down, it exposes a weakness in your “game,” your skillset. Rather than see it as a problem, realize that jiu-jitsu is simply asking you a question: How do you stop that takedown?

Finding out our accountant dropped the ball was a catastrophe. . . until the moment I asked, “How do we make sure this never happens again?” The moment you reframe your problem as a question, it ceases to be a problem. It becomes a challenge. It’s a shift from thinking about the past or unpleasant present to focusing on a plan for a better future.

You will face “problems” in life. Can you accept them and ask, “How has the situation changed? What is the best path forward from here? What’s the right first step?”

Has a setback ever made you feel stuck? Is that you, right now? How can you turn that problem into a challenge through the power of questions? What questions is life posing to you by your being in this position?
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These ten are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the wisdom one gains through this beautiful art.

If you’re a success-minded entrepreneur who doesn’t train, I highly encourage you to start. Find a reputable jiu-jitsu instructor where you jive with and just start. If flexibility is a priority, book private lessons. If you just don’t have the time, start learning online. (My own site, BJJ101.tv just launched — check it out.)

If you’re not an entrepreneur, well . . . you’re wrong! You really are, but that’s the topic for another time. If you already train BJJ, what are some life lessons you’ve gained that haven’t been mentioned here? Post them in the comments so we can all learn from them.

If, as they say, all things are one, then we can learn about life from any endeavour — painting, hiking, engineering. Jiu-Jitsu just happens to be the most fun. 🙂

Like many martial arts, BJJ uses different coloured belts to distinguish between the various levels of skill. While some schools have specific curricula they follow and test on, most do not. What tends to be distinct in BJJ is that generally belts are awarded based on skill. Commercialized traditional martial arts schools have developed a reputation for having black belts who were able to perform the techniques needed to pass a belt test, but could not handle themselves in actual sparring or a real self defence situation. Jiu-Jitsu is known for its consistency across belts, even if there is wide variation when we take things like athleticism, age, training frequency and more into account,. Each belt is a significant milestone because it represents real growth. As it can take so long in between belts, generally years, many schools use stripes as benchmarks along the way to the next belt. Some even use a separate belt — sometimes several in between white and blue — though generally not after blue belt. Each school handles belt promotions differently, but they all take them seriously.

White Belt

The most important belt — the beginning of one’s journey. At this level, depending on the school’s focus, one typically learns the fundamentals of self-defence, movement and the theory behind BJJ. Often there are separate classes for white belts, and sometimes even have different classes for brand new white belts and experienced white belts. This is a long, fun, challenging part of the journey where you will be learning to speak the language of Jiu-Jitsu. One key difference between white belt and blue belt is yes, skill difference, but that skill is based on a strong conceptual understanding, which is why this book was written. These concepts are rarely taught, more often absorbed through osmosis over time. Blue belts are often quite composed, whereas white belts too often “spaz out”, not calibrating a roll and rolling too roughly. The key is to remain calm, slow down and try to apply your techniques with as little muscle as possible. Note: in recent years, many schools have incorporated a Green or other “in-between” belt so that students do not have to wait quite so long before earning their first coloured belt.

Blue Belt

A serious achievement, Blue Belt represents the base-level player — one who has not only persevered through the trials and tribulations of training, but has developed a solid level of skill in each of the basic positions and is able to defend themselves against a bigger, stronger, faster person. At this level, one will refine what they know and continue to add to it. If white-blue was about learning to survive, escape, control and attack from the four basic positions, Blue Belts focus on the same goals for a much wider swath of positions including Turtle, North/South, Knee on Belly and more, including a wide variety of guard positions. One of the dangers of earning a blue belt is that it can feel like it took so much time and energy, that now the climb to purple, brown and black is just too intimidating, causing many to quit — the “blue belt curse”. Just focus on where you need to improve now, rather than focus on the belt — keep plugging your holes and you develop something solid.

Purple Belt

The first “advanced” belt, purple belt represents the specialist. With all of the fundamentals of a blue belt, the purple belt can really “speak” Jiu-Jitsu and has started to define their game — their specific techniques, combinations and strategies that are unique to them. In addition to having developed a signature game, purple belts typically have developed a high level of timing, finesse and, depending on the style of training, grace. In some more aggressive, competitive schools, rather than being graceful, purple belts are simply tough. Being able to impose their will, they relentlessly drive through obstacles. At this level, one continues to round out their game, experimenting with new techniques and strategies.

Brown Belt

An elite player. By brown belt, one has developed a high level of awareness, precision, timing and physical and mental toughness. Able to impose their game on others, they are well-rounded with specialties in a number of areas. Closer to black belt than purple is to brown, the brown belt is somewhat “complete” as a martial artist, having developed systems of escapes, crushing heaviness, smooth movement and an interconnectedness between their entire game. At this level, the typical brown belt tends to “get back to basics”, refining their fundamentals and plugging any holes in their games. Those focused specifically on competition tend to seek out ever-more effective ways to impose their games, while studying top players and opponents, seeking to break down and analyze their tactics.

Black Belt

A new beginning. Most look at black belt as an end, but as BJ Penn once put it “there are black belts and then there are black belts”, when comparing himself to the legendary Rigan Machado. “You can be a “blue belt black belt” or a “black belt black belt” — a new black belt like himself compared with a legend of the art.” To earn a black belt in BJJ, one has to have persevered through years of hard training, wins and losses, beliefs and doubts and challenges of all kinds. The black belt can survive, defend and escape every situation, while being able to dominate others with precision, pressure and efficiency. At this level, one continues to explore, deepen and evolve the art, adding their own flavour and flare, often while continuing to share it with others.

Beyond Black Belt — Degrees, Coral and Red Belts

Progress (in rank) beyond black belt is determined by time in the art. The first three stripes or degrees after black belt require a minimum of three years each, while 4th, 5th and 6th degrees require five years in between. At the 7th degree, awarded after a minimum of seven years at 6th degree, Black Belts are awarded their red and black, coral belt. Their 8th degree is awarded after a minimum of 7 years as a coral belt and comes with a red and white coral belt. After ten years at 8th degree, one becomes a 9th degree and is awarded their red belt. 10th degree is reserved for the original Gracie brothers who founded BJJ, namely Carlos, Helio, George, Oswaldo and Gastao Gracie.

Covid-19 swept across the world in a flash. Cities and countries quickly got overwhelmed. Schools, events and small businesses shut down and for the first time in history the world acted as one and stayed home.

Martial Arts Schools were some of the first businesses to realize the danger and close. The nature of these schools inherently requires congregation and for now, that is off-limits. With a near ubiquitous unison that closely mirrored the collective action of the rest of the world, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, MMA, Karate, Tae Kwon Do and many more types of schools shut down.

Like most brick-and-mortar small business, shutting down, even for a month or two could spell disaster. My own school, OpenMat MMA in Toronto was one of the first to heed the call. Indeed, it has been a difficult time.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share some thoughts on the value of the martial arts academy in modern society. There are a number of vital social functions these schools serve that should not only not be overlooked, but might well be integral to the continued flourishing of a strong, healthy, connected society.

One could speak endlessly about the benefits of martial arts training, from health and fitness to confidence and one’s ability to protect themselves and their family, earning a sense of accomplishment, developing grit, a sharper mind and even meaningful connection.

It’s this last part that we should consider. As the world becomes increasingly secular and more and more people refrain from joining temples, churches and synagogues, there are subtle benefits lost. These places of worship were not just places to celebrate deities, but, in a sense, to celebrate each other.

Congregating, the coming together of people, is a vital social function that nurtures and nourishes community. Speaking, listening, laughing — just being around others. One of the things that makes the current stay-at-home movement so challenging is that modern Western society is already submerged in a flood of loneliness. While we evolved as social creatures living in families and tribes, the modern professional often either lives alone or is so overloaded with gadgets, notifications and other distractions that even those of us with partners, children and other forms of family are often disconnected from them.

In the martial arts school, those distractions stop. We bow onto a mat or into a class not just to pay homage to the space and its people, but to enter another space, internally. We put on a whole different set of clothes, put the phones and tablets away and for one or two hours, immerse ourselves in another world. Many call Jiu-Jitsu, for example, active meditation. But unlike meditation, you are not alone. In the dojo, academy, school or simply gym, you are part of a group of people who regularly go out of their way to learn, push and grow. You not only get lifted up by others, equally if not more valuable, in time you get the opportunity to lift others.

For those new to a city or town, it is a chance to quickly develop a sense of belonging, a network, and even grow new roots. Countless marriages had their start on the mats.

But it’s now, in the age of a pandemic when we see the real value of a martial arts academy.

These pocket communities that were so regularly used to connecting physically in order to make each other tougher are now forced apart. Or, rather, they would be if not for the one thing that ironically causes so many of us to disconnect — the internet.

Through the internet, these communities of athletes, philosophers and warrior friends have come together to cheer on, support and buoy each other through this challenging time. Many instructors who are white belts with technology are quickly pivoting to video calls, webinars and live classes in order to maintain their connection with their students. They are showing leadership by exuding the principles they teach — perseverance, determination to win, work ethic and an open mind.

A brand new student who had recently moved from another country, tried a class and quickly fell in love with BJJ. Almost immediately, things shut down. A week or two later, I was calling students to check in and found out she had gotten quite sick (with something completely unrelated to coronavirus) and, not having OHIP coverage, ended up with a huge medical bill. At this stage, young, unwell and in a foreign country, this could be seriously damaging. One of the most powerful benefits of a martial arts school Is the network it brings together. Everyone from front line workers and medical professionals to students, those between jobs, executives, university professors, first responders and entrepreneurs.

Inquiring in my instructor WhatsApp group, which happens to include a doctor, a professor of public health and health inspector, the doctor sent a link that I passed on. This was the exchange.

This is just one of countless examples of community impacting someone’s life in a meaningful way — in my school, alone.

The martial arts school is a space for people to congregate, connect, learn, challenge and grow together, independent of the things that normally divide us — or the things that used to unite us, religions, background, nationality, etc.

Not only does the martial arts school help us become tougher, which might be vital in coming years, it helps us not need to be as tough because it nests us in a web of tough people. One pencil is easy to break. One dozen, much less so.

Though no school or instructor is perfect and there may be things we don’t get in a martial arts academy, nonetheless, as an institution, it is a vital, empowering new secular church of health, fitness, strategy, community and personal development.

If, as the world reassembles itself, we have any say in what it will look like after things settle down, perhaps we should consider insisting that in whatever form makes sense, the marital arts school both survives and thrives.