Combat Sports Review

So much is going on right now, it’s hard to focus on one topic.  Everything is changing.  Mostly for better I think.  Here’s what’s going around in my head, life and Jiu Jitsu:

• I’ve been training a lot.  In January I trained about sixty hours and worked about 170 hours.  I maintained a similar pace in February.  Literally, it’s been sleep, work, train, eat, and wash uniforms.
• I have learned so much in Jiu Jitsu.  All that knowledge is messing up my game, but in a good way.  I’m trying to incorporate the new techniques into my rolling.  The outcome has been messy, disjointed and awkward at times.  It’s a good thing though.  I know that eventually I’ll find a place in my game for the useful techniques and the ones that aren’t functional for me right now, will filter out.  Then after this period of evolution ends, I will be better at Jiu Jitsu.  There will be a plateau, but that can sometimes be a good thing.
• My children have grown up and have their own lives now.  I think they call it empty nest syndrome.  It’s been fabulous.  I’ve had my Jiu Jitsu family help me fill the void of the empty nest.  In fact, they’ve kept me so busy, that I haven’t had time to think about it.
• The gym I train at, Revolution Dojo, is growing in many ways.  We’ve got some amazing new Muay Thai instructors to add to our list of highly skilled trainers.  It’s wonderful watching these professionals from different martial arts work together to train each other and us.  The outcome has been very beneficial.  All in all a fabulous transformation is evolving.
• So many new women to train with.  We have a pretty strong women’s team developing and I get to train with women most of the time now.  It’s great having someone my size, gender and age as a training partner.
• I’ve been able to touch so many lives in positive ways.  It is enlightening.  And I  have ben enlightened by the people around me and people online such as Slideyfoot, Meerkatsu, and Georgette Oden.
• Then there are the other things going on in the Jiu Jitsu community.  The atrocities of humanity…  My stomach churns when I think of it.
• I’ve also got a lot of questions about the team shuffling that is occurring on a daily basis.  What is the aftermath?

So much to think about.  So much to do.  It can be overwhelming at times.  But my solace is that I know I am blessed.  I’m am blessed with three wonderful families.  My natural family, my Jiu Jitsu family, and my work family.  I’m blessed with good health, a sound mind (most days), and a happy heart.  I am blessed.  OSS.

It was always in the summer.  We were always at the beach, river or lake, swimming and enjoying the innocent beauty of nature.  True to a child’s nature, the boys would always get bored.  For those times I kept a bottle of bubble solution in with the beach toys.  At the first sign of boredom, I would whip out the bubbles.  I loved to watch the bubbles.  How they would float gracefully on the breeze.  How rainbows would dance on their surface as the sunlight filtered through them.  It’s a simple beauty that would always bring a smile to my face and calmness to my soul.  The boys would chase the bubbles down and pop them with their tiny fingers.  You would think that the loss of such a beautiful object would sadden me, but that’s not the case.  The beauty and joy of the bubbles would be replaced by the beautiful music of a child’s laughter.  A child’s laughter is infectious.  So I would find my self laughing, too.

A lot of people create and live in a beautiful bubble filled with grace and rainbows.  They ignore the outside world without realizing the impact they have on it.  No man is an island and the world is too beautiful to ignore.  Everything we do, say, and feel has an impact on something or someone else in this world.  Human beings are social creatures.  Being social creatures, we unconsciously imitate our environment, and the people in that environment.  We take on the actions, beliefs and emotions of those around us.  And those around us take on our actions, beliefs and emotions.  So be mindful of what you put out in the universe.  Think about not only what you say, but how you say it.  Be mindful of the actions of those around you.  Ask yourself, “Is that a trait or attitude that I want to emulate?”  Be mindful of this beautiful world we live in.  Be mindful of how precious and profound a moment, person, or object is.

I know that world that you’ve created for yourself is beautiful and peaceful, but it is limited.  I urge you to pop your bubble.  The world is too magnificent to ignore.  The joy and beauty of the people around us is limitless.  I urge you to pop your little bubble and join the laughter.

This post is a continuation of the previous post, Aim For The Bubbles.

Our patient was dying.  She was in heart failure.  Her heart was so weak that it couldn’t circulate the blood effectively.  That blood was flooding into the patient’s lungs and mixing with the air and creating a pink foam.  That foam filled her airways and made it impossible for her to breathe in fresh oxygen.  In other words, she was also in respiratory failure.  Without oxygen to fuel her body, she began to die.  Her oxygen levels were very low.  Her heart rate and blood pressure were plummeting as well.  We had mere seconds left before she died.

To save her, we had to pass a 30 cm clear plastic tube through her mouth and vocal cords into the trachea (the big airway of the lungs).  We call that plastic tube an airway.  With that airway, I can remove some of the foam and force oxygen into her lungs.  With that little piece of plastic I can stop Death.  The person placing that little piece of plastic, that airway, was a young Doctor, maybe a year out of medical school.  She was in Residency, which means that she was learning the skills necessary to become an Emergency Room Physician.

She was looking through the patient’s mouth, trying to get a good view of the vocal cords, at least a glimpse.  I could hear the blood pressure cuff start to cycle for a new blood pressure reading.  I could feel my coworkers in the room tensing their muscles because of the stress and holding their breath for hope.  I could see the Doctor searching for the vocal cords with uncertainty.  Then I hear the click of the monitor signaling that it had finished taking the blood pressure and was now proudly showing its new number in a bright flashing red.  Not good.  The nurse’s tense voice called out the new very low blood pressure and heart rate.  Her own vocal cords tight with apprehension.  We were running out of time fast.  Everyone started calling out to the Doctor in almost frantic tones, “What do you see?  What do you see?”  She responded with silence as her body wilted in self-doubt.

Time stopped.  I leaned in close to her left ear.  With a calm quiet steady voice, I asked, “What do you see?”

“Bubbles.  All I see is bubbles.” she replied with dismay.

I continued in my calm quiet steady voice, “Can you see where the bubbles are coming from?”

With a firm confident voice, she said, “Yes.”

With quiet knowing voice, I said, “Aim for the bubbles honey.”

As her hand moved toward the bubbles, her demeanor blossomed with confidence.  I confirmed proper placement of the tube.  Then, as if with concussive force, time started again.

What happened when time stopped?

1. I taught her a valuable piece of knowledge.
2. I showed her how to stay calm in a crisis.
3. I believed in her, which gave her the confidence to believe in herself.

It’s called mentoring.  It’s something that countless people have done for me.  Now, because of their efforts, I’m able to mentor other people in a positive way.  Those people go on to mentor other people in a positive way.  It’s like an epidemic of positive life force being passed on from one person to another, causing a plaque of positive energy.

In martial arts, we have the opportunity to create these little moments each day. Little opportunities to mentor someone and help them become better martial artists, and better human beings.  Outside the gym, in our everyday life, that moment, that opportunity may be as epic as saving a life, or as trivial as aiming for bubbles.  In this case, aiming for bubbles wasn’t trivial.  It made the difference in whether some one lived or died.  So, I guess no moment is trivial.  Each and every moment is precious and profound.