Do you have joy?

I’m sitting here trying to re-hydrate from tonight’s practice. Want to know a secret? Coconut Juice, it’s great and re-hydrates the body faster than a lot of other sports drinks in my opinion.

Tonight was awesome, for three reasons:

1) I ordered some grip socks from Combat Sports that work very well, if you have really sensitive feet, these are an awesome way to go. The protect most of the top surface of the foot, as well as providing your feet with extra grip when attempting to bridge off your back.

Most people have sensitive skin to began with when it comes to the feet, so taking this extra precaution is a very wise step. Though I must say that these new grip socks need to be battle tested in the washer. But here is a link if you’re so interested:

http://www.combatsports.com/Combat-Sports-Grappling-Socks/productinfo/GSOCK/

2) Coach Derek taught some new sweeps off the back, what that means is that, if some one is on top of you. You have the option of fighting and defending, not just laying there, letting the person on top of you eat you alive. I caught on to these sweeps pretty fast, even executed them during free rolling in made me happy

3) Which leads me to the third reason and point of this entry… Joy. I mentioned in a previous entry to smile, even when getting submitted, it’s working. As I said, I managed to pull of the sweeps that coach Derek taught, it made me happy, it gave me joy. It made me excited for the next time I step out on the mat. Ironically, what helps me in keeping joy in my process and journey through 10^th Planet, is bowing before I go onto the mat, as a sign of humility and respect. Truthfully, this is not done any more in a lot of Martial Arts, though a class may pay respects to one another after class is over, this is slowly on the out skirts of practice. It’s very important to be humble and care for the people your interacting with.

Lastly, I want to encourage my viewers (which seems to be a good amount) and readers, to find something pure that makes you happy. Try and notice what it does to your heart, and learn to love people,

You are loved.

-Brandon/TheCPGrappler