Oklahoma Day 3: Training and Tornados

Oklahoma Day 3: Most exciting day yet:

Sunday turned out to be the most exciting day out here yet. After sleeping well in, Rafael, Xande and I went to the academy for a little Sunday training. The launching of the new academy made for a lot of momentum for everyone apparently, as the open mat was simply packed with students today. A blue belt and a green belt first asked me to roll when I got there looking for some pointers, which I was happy to give, and then I worked my way through the senior students, and finally up to Xande and Rafael themselves. All told I was on the mat for well over two hours.

Something happened to me in the session yesterday. As any long time Jiu Jitsu student (or instructor, but in this context everyone is a student) can tell you, every day you get on the mat you have to deal with peaks and valleys. Some days you feel great and training goes great and you make big progress. Other days you feel not so great, you don't move well and it feels like you're not doing anything right. The successful people preserve through the valleys of training and manage to come out the other side so to speak.

Personally I've been in a deep valley lately with regards to my personal training. I won't go into details here, but for the last few months I've had a series of events that sort of drained the spirit out of me. It's really hard to explain, some things are going very well for me in the world of Jiu Jitsu (OTM and my small group of students are doing very well for example). However in my own training there has been something missing. It was as if I lost my spark and I couldn't quite figure out how to re-ignite it. There was definitely something missing. Recently I feel like I started climbing out of my funk, and getting some good rolls in with my friends Batata and Julio, but something still felt out of place on my part, like I wasn't firing on all cylinders and living up to my potential. I could intellectualize all I wanted to, but my spirit has been off.

I have been rolling all weekend and feeling the same way, but yesterday something just clicked in my head and for the first time that spark. It was that pure joy I feel from just being on the mat that came back to me, I mean really came back to me. I can't wait for the next time I get on the mat now and I can' t wait to show some new stuff I picked up as well as get back to training myself. The fire is back!

Last night I also went through my first Tornado warning (I am in Oklahoma after all). While Rafael told me this happens a few times a year even he got a little excited, but this brand new to Xande and I as we watched the coverage of the storm on the television, and looked outside to one of the most sudden and violent downpours I've ever seen. The wind kicked up and the tornardo sirens began to sound. Being a native Californian, I'm used to earthquakes as our natural disaster of choice, but those strike suddenly and without warning. With the Tornado watch, there was anxiety caused by the waiting and anticipation. Fortunately the tornado warning moved away from us and I think everyone made it through the night unharmed. It was very strange how quickly it got calm after the storm had passed. Again this may be old hat to folks living in Tornado alley, but for me this was a new experience.