Flowing with the Go by Elena Stowell Page A

watching from another ring, biding his time like a cougar stalking his prey. Not as easy as it looks on television, huh? And then he invites them to roll with him. They stand up a little straighter, try to hide that they have been gasping for breath, and act as if: “Finally, someone of my caliber.”
    They recapture their swagger, shake hands, and “it’s time to punish some peo-ple” —only it’s them who gets punished. Hungry for some humble pie? It’s like a submission seminar. Coach takes no prisoners. He often seems to channel Ironman, like he’s murmuring, “Do you recognize my authority now?”
    First it’s an armbar, then a choke from the top, the back, the side. Coach will toss them left, right, over, under, and put them in triangles and guillotines. They try to be tough at first and not tap, so Coach puts the squeeze on nice and slow, like he’s deflating the ego in their fat heads and giving them a chance to save some face. It has been said that egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity. Well, stupidity should hurt. Some of these guys save nothing and can barely make it to the end of the line to bow out. A few will figure it out and admit that maybe, even though they once won a bar brawl, they are not the next Anderson Silva (the current UFC Middleweight Champion and the promotion’s longest reigning champion). You might see those guys again, but the deflated ones never return, which is really no loss. They leave and then tell their friends what a crappy gym it is—full of pussies. We know better. Our gym is full of confident, quality people. So what if we humiliate a prick every now and then.

25
Go with the Flow
    T he colloquialism “go with the flow” is used as a training mantra inside many Jiu-Jitsu gyms. It may seem, on the surface, that this is a simple directive to move seamlessly and in concert with your opponent. As a student new to Jiu-Jitsu, I found out that “go” and “flow” have many meanings and that the only seamless movement I could make occurred while I was standing in lineup. I also found that uncovering the secrets of “going with the flow” was helpful in navigating my journey through grief.
    The “flow drill” is often assigned to us as a warm up exercise. In the flow drill, you roll in a non-combative manner with your partner and allow things to just happen. If you are in position to get swept, you let the sweep transpire and then flow into your defensive position. Your instinct wants to fight the sweep, shift your weight, and protectively reposition your body. You eventually learn to just go with the moment by calming your conscious mind. If your partner is reinforcing the learning experience, they willingly accept your new position and let you maneuver into the next offense. In this relaxed situation, you are able to feel the subtle dynamics that are taking place without anxiety making you tense and resistant.
    The legendary Jiu-Jitsu master Rickson Gracie is credited with saying, “Flow with the go.” This perspective puts more emphasis on the “go,” or what is happening to you. As a life lesson, I see that mantra as a constructive way to accept what is happening to us and to develop countermeasures that are safe for us physically and mentally. We all have a way of letting our habits gain momentum. Our habits can carry us into a mindless and unfeeling state from one comfortable, or uncomfortable, situation into the next. Like muscle memory, our habits can help us flow. But our habits can also hinder us. Our physical and mental habits can keep us from moving forward and growing as athletes and as human beings.
    Coach helps us identify our habits with a training drill called “Chess.” Very much like the board game chess, this drill takes place one move at a time with your partner. You start in an agreed-upon position—for example, closed guard.