Adding Yoga to BJJ

I often think about how long jiu jitsu has been practiced. In its modern form, I’ve seen Brazilian Jiu Jitsu evolve from a very niche sport that only the tiniest handful of people had ever heard of, to one of the biggest martial arts (and sports) in the world. It was really tough training—mean-looking dudes would mean-mug you when you walked in (and I mean dudes almost exclusively), and every live rolling session (what we call sparring in jiu jitsu) would be a fight for life or death.

Most people would say that BJJ goes back around a hundred years, to when the early Japanese judo influence reached Brazil. They’d also say that jujutsu or ju jitsu (often spelled differently in order to differentiate it from BJJ) has been around for hundreds of years, and that grappling arts have probably been around for far longer.

Yoga makes jiu jitsu seem like a newborn baby.

Originating some 5,000 years ago, yoga has made its own journeys through time, evolving into a very effective practice for loweri…