We all know that BJJ is one of the most complex combat games where you need strategy building and mind as much as you need your body. It is also known as the human chest which means that just relying on your body all the time might not be very helpful, you also need to plan out things beforehand. According to experts, yoga, meditation, and deep breathing help you focus and plan things in a better way. Even if we look at what is happening around us, we will see that while planning most people get easily distracted because they already have so much on their plate. The best way to ease out everything is to take some time and focus on your mental health so you can plan things better.
In the BJJ world, strategy is not just a simple flight plan, it also helps you read your opponent. Most people have signature moves, some rely on technical instructions only. In short, everyone has their own style but freestyle work will never be good enough. You need to improve it by making some adjustments after reading your opponent. Most people’s reading ability is not very good. One of the main reasons is that most people are not very transparent, that is where gestures, body language, and stance comes in. by picking up small rather very negligible changes you need to not only understand but also predict the next move of your opponent.
With the help of this article, we will mainly highlight the importance of yoga in the life of a BJJ player. We will talk about the reasons experts recommend yoga for grapplers and we will also talk about a few of the ways yoga will help you read your opponent.
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Why Yoga Is Good For Mental Health?
Yoga is the union of mind, soul, and body. This means you find how your mind will be able to stay in full control of your body without making you feel like you are struggling or looking for a cue from your external environment. Some of the ways yoga helps you improve mental health include:
- It helps you improve focus and become more creative
- It helps you minimize distraction and stay consistent
- It helps you reflect on your internal triggers and find an anchor that can hold you high even when everything else is drowning.
- Yoga helps you discipline yourself without looking for external motivation.
- Yoga boost mood so you can stay positive always
- Yoga is very good for getting your body ready so you do not end up with injuries and bruises that can be avoided by becoming more flexible.
How Yoga Is Good For BJJ?
Yoga helps you reach your inner self. BJJ is a rendition of traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu that has self-discipline at its core. Yoga helps you instill that discipline in yourself so you can perform better in all conditions. Most people think that you need to control your opponent and that will help you win the game. However, you need to control yourself so the reaction that you gain is predictable. This will help you cater to the condition accordingly and you will do much better as well. Some of the best ways yoga can help you become better at BJJ includes:
- Yoga helps you instill discipline which is vital for BJJ. In fact, most instructors start their BJJ practice session with meditation and yoga so the fighter finds his anchor and holds on to it throughout the fight. Finding an anchor helps you beat the opponent even when you are in a compromising position because it explains to you the things that kept you going throughout the rough times.
- Yoga helps you retrospect so that you can know your strengths and weaknesses. This helps you get to a point where you know what your next move should be and how it can eventually help you win the game regardless of the conditions that might come your way. This will also help you plan a strong defense as a backup so in case things go south you know how to tackle everything.
- Yoga helps you read your opponent in a better way. Most people start projecting when they go against a good opponent. However, yoga helps you post all your weaknesses so you do not end up projecting your own weaknesses on your opponent.
- Yoga helps you focus which is one of the most important things to help you perform like a pro. Focus can not only help you come up with a better strategy it will literally help you predict your opponent by judging his moves.
- Yoga helps you stay in full control so that you are not just in control of your body but also your mind. People usually panic when things get a little unexpected. Yoga helps you prepare for everything so you can stay positive in all conditions.
- Yoga helps you take lead so that you are throwing in all the action and your opponent is just reacting to your moves. This is an extreme kind of self-actualization that comes when you become very good at yoga.
Bottom Line
To sum it all up, it all comes down to the focus. If you are good at focusing and you are able to work with consistency and vision, you will see things changing eventually. Experts say that in the beginning, most people start with passion but eventually they lose motivation because yoga takes time. Yoga is a slow process because it requires your body to adjust and adapt according to everything happening around you. This is the reason the external environment is very important when it comes to practicing yoga. People choose a calm place because it helps them to focus and it also improves retrospection. Yoga gurus say that yoga is all about understanding one’s self and that’s how you know what is happening around you. Most people think that controlling the internal environment is very important, however if you are not able to control your emotions you will not be able to control anything around you. Yoga teaches you all these things. It helps you spot your weaknesses and work on overcoming them. It also helps in polishing your strength so you can use it to your advantage. Overall, yoga helps you beat your opponent no matter how strong or powerful he is.
About Author
Ann Edwards is the fully qualified personal trainer from Elite sports. She has been helping people in the field of bodybuilding and fitness from more than a decade. Her career in nutrition and physical therapy has made her a fine addition for our team.