From one thing …

‘From one thing know ten thousand things’ - one of my favourite quotes from Miyamoto Musashi’s book on strategy.

Anyone who has ‘drilled down’ into any subject sufficiently, will undoubtedly have discovered and come to appreciate a set of underlying principals in play. In appreciating these principles, it is then only a small mental leap to appreciate how these same principles may be applied elsewhere.

Hence - to know one thing is to know ten thousand things.

The easiest and most obvious value we can extract from this idea - is to look for what I call the ‘simple migration’.

In BJJ training, this is pretty easy; for example if we learn how a single leg take-down works; we ask how this knowledge/understanding might allow us to ‘migrate’ our understanding into other parts of our game.

Some examples - using a standard single leg as a starting point.

- The Basic Single

- De La Riva Guard to Single Leg

- Single Leg from Z-Guard (knee shield)

- Single Leg as we escape side control with underhook

- Single Leg escape from Knee on Belly

- Single leg Escape from Mount - via Deep 1/2 Guard

And so on …

Just a way to think of it; using our knowledge of there Single Leg to weave a common thread through a wide range of techniques.

Then there is what I call the ‘complex migration’. This is to muse on how we might use our understanding of the Single Leg in the other (non-grappling) aspects of our lives. Eg: an understanding of leverage, importance of process, need for paying attention to detail, etc.

Best wishes all … read Musashi’s Book of Five rings if you have not; a lifetime of deep study right there … one of my very favourites.

- JBW