When approaching the end of the year, we all get introspective. Thoughts related to accomplishments and self renewal flood our minds, while we review the goods and bads of 2008.
When reviewing your life in 2008, think about how much time and energy you have invested in your physical well being. Are you taking care of your body the way you should? Most of us are not. Under the gigantic pressure of our daily routines, we end up sacrificing very important things like investing in our physical, emotional, and mental welness, and focus on urgent things we need to get done.
Don’t let it happen in 2009. When making your new years resolution commit your hart, mind, and your schedule to your Jiu-Jitsu; a great hobby that motivates you not just because it brings results, but first and foremost because you love each and every minute of the practice. Read about BJJ. Dream about it. Live it!
There are many physical activities that provide this type of experience. But BJJ is something special and those who’ve tried know it. Once you start, you will never want to stop it. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu puts you in shape, but it also challenges your mind as much as a chess game . It gets you so entertained during the practice, that you don’t realize you are exercising and, at the end of the the class, you probably burned more then a 1000 calories. After practice, you go home with a great filling and want to eat well and sleep early because you feel like coming back for more the day after. And you want to recover so you can perform better. Students dream about techniques and can barely wait until the next class to solve some doubts with the instructors.
Leave your life through Jiu-Jitsu in 2009 and beyond. Give yourself an opportunity. Eating well, sleeping better, and being in a good shape, you will be much more prepared to achieve whatever you want in the year to come.
We are working hard to finish some light remodeling at the school this week. Classes will resume this Saturday with our regular schedule: Advanced Kids Class 9am, Fundamentals 10am, BJJ No Gi/BJJ for MMA 11am, and Instructors Classes 12:45pm.
Take a look also on the new LIMITED WHITE SIGNATURE Gi ( light weight limited edition training uniform signed by Master Carlos Gracie Jr).To buy it: CLICK HERE! .
The GB EMBROIDERED HAT IN NEW COLORS!
To buy it: CLICK HERE!
One more year is about to be over and with 2008 a lot of good memories will stay with us for the rest of our lifes. The last B in BJJ of the year is bringing to you a lot of cool staff, starting from some really interesting brazilian traditions to make sure that you will start the new year the best way as possible.
Brazilian celebrations are a clear reflection of its history, culture and the origins of its people from Portugal, Africa and South America.
New Year’s Eve is marked by festive Festa de Iemanjá held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Crowds head to the beaches to offer flowers and gifts to Iemanjá, the Goddess of the Water in the Brazilian Umbanda religion. The Copacabana beach is flocked with millions of people who come to visualize the colorful candles floating on sea.
Véspera de Ano Novo or the New Year’s Eve is the most important day for the people of Brazil. The best New Year celebrations can be seen in on of the most specials cities of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. New Year celebrations are marked with numerous fireworks and crackers. Musical shows, concerts and other dance performances are the highlights of New Year celebrations in Brazil. The world famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro is overcrowded with people on the New Year’s Eve.
Brazilians have many traditions for New Year’s Eve. Each state and region have its own, but many are followed in the entire country. Everybody does these little things to ask for happiness, prosperity, health, love and protection for the next year.
Let me share some of them with you, and maybe you’ll try one or two. ‘Cause, attracting a little good luck wouldn’t hurt, would it?
- Go to the beach and jump over seven little waves, at midnight, making seven wishes while you jump;
- Wear white clothes, as a symbol of Light, Purity and Kindness;
- Wear new underwear. The color varies according to your goals – white for peace, pink for love, yellow for prosperity, green for harmony;
- Eat a pomegranate (symbol of prosperity and wealth) at midnight. Take 7 seeds out of it and keep them on your wallet until the next New Year’s Eve. This assures you’ll always have money on your wallet.
- On New Year’s Eve (as in Christmas Eve), it’s traditional to have a late dinner, around 11:00 PM. We call it “New Year’s Supper” – Ceia de Ano-Novo – and it’s common to eat lentils as a side dish, to assure prosperity and abundance for the New Year.
- Keeping the cork of the bottle of champagne (that’s usually open by midnight) brings good luck for the keeper.
So, which one of those are you going to try?
Also we would like to celebrate some really special accomplishments of the year 2008:
- Master Carlos Gracie Jr. was promoted to the Red and Black Belt
- The new location for the H Q in Irvine
- All the schools using the same Fundamentals Curriculum
- GB 3rd Place at the Master & Senior World NO Gi Championship
- GB 1st Place ate the Female World NO Gi Championship
- Our competitors Gold Medalists at the World Championship 2008:
Rikio Ahara; Rod Roberts; Thomasz Kaczmarek; Yoshi Yamaguchi; Lucas Rocha; Tammy Griego; Kayron Gracie; Don Ortega; Samuel Braga; Roger Gracie; Bianca Barreto; Kyra Gracie; Ana Laura Cordeiro; Eliaz Ramirez; Michael Dykes; Dan Marker; Richard Timm; Scott Carr; Roberto Barros; Tracy Thompson; Pedro Rodrigues; Tom Reusing; Roberto Alencar; Marcelo Santos; Vinicius Magalhaes; Bianca Barreto.
All the reasons above are very important but the most important reason for us to cellebrate is to be a Gracie Barra Students. To be able to train our body, mind and spirit everyday when we go to the academy, to meet and make friends with so many diferent people and to build a strong family.
“A Dojo is a miniature cosmos where we make contact with ourselves – our fears, anxieties, and habits. It is an arena of confined conflict where we confront an opponent who is not an opponent but rather a partner who helps us understand ourselves more fully.
It is a place where we can learn a great deal in a short time about we are and how we react in the world. The conflicts that take place inside the Dojo help us handle conflicts that take place outside.
The total concentration and discipline requires to study martial arts carries over to daily life. The activity in the Dojo calls on us to constantly attempt new things, so it is also a source of learning – in Zen terminology, a source of enlightenment”.
Joe Hyams
This is our Special Video for the end of the year!! I hope that you enjoy!
One of the activities of our Last Conditioning class was building ornaments for the school’s Christmas tree. The kids did a great job and our tree looks awesome. Thanks Angy and the moms for making this happen!!!!!
It was a blast! the sunny morning in San Clemente made the perfect scene for the last conditioning class of the year. We started the training with our usual 30 minutes ruin on the trails of the San Onofre Park and came back to the school to learn and execute and amazing work out draw from the Training for Warriors methods.
It was awesome. Event the kids were able to take handle the work out and had lots of fun!!! After the conditioning drills all students enjoyed a 45 minutes live training session.
We recently introduced a new Teens Class and it is going great!!!! Every Tuesdays and Thurdays at 5pm boys and girls from the age of 12 to 15 step into Gracie Barra San Clemente mats and they are learning fast while having lots of fun!!!
Professor Flavio believes that age range is the best to start training Jiu-Jitsu and he is really excited about the progress of the Teens Program. “These boys and girls are in such a perfect age to learn BJJ! They unite the easy to learn of a kid with the maturity of an adult. That combination makes learning and training very natural for all of them. I started training BJJ at the age of 13 and I remember well how much difference it made in my life. All the training and experience I had on Gracie Barra mats on that age had a very positive influence on me. My body and my character will reflect forever the lessons I learn from BJJ.
Gracie Barra Professor Renato “Babalu” Sobral speaks out
We all know the great fighter that “Babalu” is and he is respected worldwide for that. The very cool thing about this great video, made by our Dear student Rob Cowe, is that we can see the other side of “Babalu” the fighter. On this video “Babalu” speaks about his family, his goals as a Professor and School owner, Master Carlos, Kayron … and more.
Remember, Babalu is fighting again on January 24, 2009 at Affliction’s Day of Reckoning. While his opponent has not been locked in yet, there are two big names that are being considered. We will let you know who it is as soon as possible so you can sheer for the Champ.
