Let The Mini Odyssey Begin!!

I'm all packed up and about to go out the door!

Everything is planned and is looking good, this is going to be one awesome vacation!

So I pulled out my old hiking backpack, an Outbound 65L, and packed it with 3 gis, clothes for 4 or 5 days, shower gear, and all the training gear, electronics and miscellaneous items I could need for this trip and still have a sizeable amount of space left over for souvenirs to pick up along the way. This serves as a great test run for the real Odyssey training journey to weed out what I don't need and figure out what I do need and how to better pack it. Here's a pic of the test run of packing everything up, I actually brought a few more small items along and was able to get my new second super light weight gi from BJJ Globetrotters instead of bringing along a couple heavy woven gis, which I highly recommend getting if you want to travel and train with ease.

A photo posted by Bob F'N Barker (@pandasodyssey) on Jul 20, 2015 at 4:56pm PDT

   
So the plan is to head over to Gibson's BC to our affiliate, Tidal BJJ, and the Kokodo Jujutsu dojo to visit the Jiu-jitsu family for a week of good times and great training. If you're ever in the area check them out, and if you're not it's a great place to vacation, check out their FB page: Tidal & Kokodo.

Then, next Sunday, I'm off to Kent, Washington to visit Prof. James "300" Foster's club. This giant of a man has always been awesome whenever he has visited us, following him on FB has shown me he's always a stand up guy both on and off the mats with a (even more so)huge heart. Check him out if you're ever in the area, its more than worth it! FB page here: Foster Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Finally, I'm off to our head instructor, Prof. Keith "Rhino" Owen's club in Meridian, Idaho. This guy is awesome and I can't wait to meet more of the "Rhino Crash" and train with them and learn something amazingly mind blowing in life from him as I always do when he visits. Here's the Prof.'s club: Ultimate Karate & Jiu-Jitsu

I'll be updating the blog as I go with pics, stories and insights. In case I don't find the time to update properly here, be sure to follow my Instagram and Twitter pages @pandasodyssey and my FB page: Panda's Odyssey  

Inside The Jiu-Jitsu Mind: Ego

Hello all!

This is a topic I've been battling with for a while, or at least parts of it. You see, I have these fragments of thoughts that come to me, whether its from gaining insight after training or competing or just from talking to fellow teammates, and it takes a while to really find where they fit in or form a whole statement to get these thoughts out. Recently I had a good talk with some teammates and my coach before class that really started to bring things together, and after some contemplation I came up with this post.

During the conversation we got onto the topic of people's egos and how the ego of the average person differs from the martial arts practitioner or even the person who tries martial arts out and doesn't decide to stick with it. You see when trying out martial arts, especially something like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Judo, where full body contact is used and movements, to the inexperienced, seem so strange and make you feel powerless, where you fully -and literally- leave your body in the hands of your partner, it is quite easily a scary thing and a big ego check. A lot of people can't handle their ego being tested like that, they can't handle not always being in control. For all those out there that train, you know, you might be in control at one minute, but you can easily end up being the one controlled the next, it's part of -a very big part of- the learning process.

 At this point I was reminded of the article about Ed O'Neill's start to his jiu-jitsu journey and how it helped him in his career. In the article (which is a great read! http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/1/15/7551375/ed-o-neill-profile-jiu-jitsu-training ) in great detail it recounts his meeting with Rorion Gracie and being suckered into a 'lesson' where he tries his hardest to buck the smaller Rorion off of mount, only to be unsuccessful, and then be swept from mount in seconds when the positions were switched. I remembered reading that back when it first came out thinking, 'the average person's ego wouldn't handle that, they would make up reasons to convince themselves of being played and be done with the whole notion of martial arts.' As we all know Ed O'Neill isn't the average person, he checked the ego and started his journey like many of us did on our first class.

Now let's break down the ego of the jiu-jitsu mind: you have a bigger, stronger opponent. Do you give up because you figure you'll lose so there's no sense in trying to fight? Do you attempt to fight and once you realise there's a lot of work to put in to win you then decide to give up? Do you attempt the challenge of out thinking your opponent, no matter the outcome? For me, and a vast majority out there training, the answer is the later. After all there's no losing, just winning and learning, right? and how do you learn if your limits aren't tested and pushed? I said vast majority and not everyone because there are those who train who, although they have accepted not being in control all the time and being beat, they haven't accepted the challenge to truly test themselves. Although they want to learn and love the art, they only want to stick to smaller, lower ranking classmates and avoid the aggressive types. It's nothing to be ashamed of, many people do it from time to time, I know I have. But really testing yourself, your skills, knowledge, and ego, is rolling with a person who you know you're outmatched by and being ok with losing. But I digress, however it is you train you made the leap, you walked through the door, on to the mats and started your journey, that in itself sets you aside from most people. Being able to accept losing, being beat up and not being the best, all while continuing to train and learn and not give up and stick to the goal of becoming the best -not of all- but the best you, that is the ego of the jiu-jitsu mind. Where others see limits you see challenges, where others see failure you see a learning lesson.

Let's back up to my last competition. I wasn't happy with my outcome and it took a bit of talking to friends and teammates, and a lot of inner contemplating, to shake it off and focus on the good points. That in itself was something I needed to search into. Why did it bug me this time more than the last times I had competed? It really wasn't until the conversation we had talking about ego and how people deal with it in martial arts that I actually cleared my head about the competition. It wasn't just that I worked harder this time around, it was about me being sure of my game this time that losing actually hurt. The game plan I was so sure of had built confidence and pride in me, it was an ego hit losing this time, not a learning experience. Which in retrospect, now that everything has become clear, has been a learning experience. Recently I was thinking about how wrong my view of the competition was. I have built a life of being perfectly ok with being beat as I learn and grow on my martial arts journey. If the competitions are meant as a higher, more intense platform to learn on, why hadn't I expected and accepted losing while competing? I surely didn't think I was the best or unbeatable, so why was that a surprise? The answer is I let my ego get out of check, lost sight of the learning experience.    

Let me tell you a bit about how I started in martial arts and onto my jiu-jitsu journey. When I first started martial arts, back in high school, I was practicing a Japanese Jiu-jitsu being held on the army base. I was younger and smaller than everyone else there, and got beat all the time. It was about a year or more before I got my first real tap during a roll. It's hard to stick to something that is really you paying to get beat up night after night. I accepted that that was going to happen. I didn't say 'I'm going to lose so there's no sense trying so I give up' I didn't say 'none of this would really work on the streets so I'm not training in this' instead I said 'one day I'll be just as good' and kept with it. I'm sure there are a few people reading this that were, or are, in the same spot, always the nail, never the hammer, until that one day. It was an awesome moment, I was rolling with a big power house of person who's arms are bigger than my legs but he had very little experience doing any kind of ground fighting. I remember putting on the armbar and feeling the tap and thinking 'holy shit, it worked!' Until then I began to think that moment would never happen. I accepted losing was part of the process of learning. Remembering all of this has reminded me of that mindframe, and returned me to that point, why because of a few years later should the learning process be any different? So I challenge you, go out there and lose. Get beat up. Remember what it is to be the nail. It's good for you.  

Countdown To The Mini-Odyssey!

Only 3 weeks away from the start of my vacation I'm dubbing 'The Mini-Odyssey' but before I get into that I have some other news to first:

If you don't already know, I now have a Twitter and Instagram account, look up @pandasodyssey and follow me there! Up until now I had been avoiding adding any more social media accounts, being perfectly happy with Facebook. Since I've added these accounts making friends in the jiu-jitsu communities has been so easy! Now if only I could get more people to read my blog..haha.

About the blog, I have had a recent problem with my map app where it decided to completely dump all my listings while updating. The whole reason for having the map app was to log all the places I've trained at while on my travels, I can't have an app that is unreliable and dumps all the entries all the time. Anyone who has any suggestions for a better map app (up until now I've been using POWr) please send them this way. Also, I've noticed my blog is lacking pictures, I just recently uploaded a few pictures of my journey training in BJJ on the social media sites, I'll be adding them here once I settle on, or figure out, a way to present them that I like, open to suggestions.

Finally, the Mini-Odyssey. So in 3 weeks I'll be on a 3 week vacation and will be traveling to visit and train with some friends. First week will be with our brothers at Tidal BJJ in the Sunshine Coast of Gibson's BC, then off to Seattle, or Kent rather, Washington to train with one of the biggest black belts, James "300" Foster for a week. Finally I'll have a week in Meridian, Idaho with our head instructor, black belt Keith Owen. All of the guys are amazing people I look forward to seeing and training together. If you're around the area and want to train together, by all means let me know and let's set something up! you can message me for dates and details.

The Tidal guys are family and it's always great times whenever we get to visit one another. I've yet to have the pleasure to be on their mats and train with them for a whole week so this is really going to be a treat. I view them like your favourite cousins you always like visiting and partying with, we'll laugh and cry and get into shenanigans with resulting pictures that will most likely have our Coach (the parent figure) shaking his head. Or we'll just have fun rolling together and training and trading techniques, either way it'll be a lot of fun. As well, the master of Black Magic lives there, Kyoshi Michael Seamark. His Kokodo jujutsu is amazing. People turn to Judo to strengthen their throws and takedowns, or Mauy Thai to strengthen their striking, if you want to master spinal manipulation and wrist locks, you turn to Kokodo. As a big fan of all forms of self defense I find this art as a great addition to practical defence, I look forward to attending some classes, although my wrists will probably hate me for it.

Prof. James Foster is a good friend of our club who has made a bunch of visits, he's always been a stand up person and with the past, and current, projects he has going on he's shown time and time again that his heart is even more giant sized than he is. He is also a top notch instructor and I look forward to learning from him over the week I'll have visiting there. I also haven't met any of his students or has the pleasure of training at his club so there's that to look forward to as well. I like going to new clubs and meeting new people, there's always the nervousness of going to a new place with people to you don't know, just like a competition but without the adrenaline and stress of preforming (after all we're all just there to learn and get better, right?).

Prof. Keith Owen is always a great person to talk to, about anything, (especially Sasquatches and the zombie apocalypse) I always feel like I've learned something big every time he's visited. Sometimes is a tweak to a technique, sometimes it's a tidbit of theory that changes how you view something and it becomes more clear. He's like a sage, an advisor, a wizard. Merlin to your King Arthur, and I don't mean that teen drama TV show, I mean the 1981 Excalibur, chrome metal skull cap, red eyed, fire shooting from his staff and spewing the dragon's breath badass Merlin. I look forward to training at his place and meeting other members of The Crash.

All and all, this is going to be one hell of a trip. I have already booked all flights, buses and hotels, researched all transit routes and prices of ferries, taxis and local transit and have managed to keep well under my budget. While on this trip I see it as a great opportunity to practice my packing skills and see how well I can get everything into one bag. Being in the military, living out of a bag isn't new to me so I don't foresee any problems, and with some tricks and tips I've found online it should be really easy. I'll document what I brought and how and the results. The biggest problem I see is not having ultra-light weight gi's, so space may be tighter than I'd like for clothing.

On the topic of testing things out for the Odyssey, I've heard of GPS or mapping apps for phones that work without using data, which would be very valuable. I'll be looking into it and trying them out on this trip. I'll post my results with what I find, until then I got some work to do.                 

New Goals!

Hello all!
After this last competition I'm on a break from competing for a while with new goals to keep me busy in the mean time. Before I get into the focus let's recap what's been going up to this point.

Research: I did a lot of reading (and lots of information finding, still tons of reading to do) and have pretty much covered all areas and questions I had about planning out this awesome trip so now it's down to just waiting until the time gets closer. It's amazing how easily everything can be found online, I'll still post any articles I find helpful on here so if you've been liking them keep watch. Other than that my focus for research is going more onto finding people and places willing to help me out, take me in, train me up/beat me down on this trip. Soon I'll start checking areas out city by city and sending out a 'Hi, here's my story' line and see what comes up. I have almost a year and half to get to know people and make connections, might as well use it. If you are or know anyone interested, sites/forums to use, people to try contacting, etc. send me a line!

Training: I've been training a lot, or as much as I usually do, but not just on my BJJ. I've been focusing on Japanese style lately, getting back into it, since I took a break from it with the all the competitions. There's actually two styles I've been training, the Goshin style I've been doing for a while now, which is more the traditional self defence standing techniques and also Kokodo, which is basically Jedi wristlocks. I'm a fan of both, they compliment my Jiu-Jitsu, both self defence and sport very well and keep me intrigued and motivated. As far as training goals go it's just about getting a better game, progressing and learning. Belts come with time.

Competitions: This past weekend I competed in the CBJJF BC Provincials. I was feeling very good for it, having trained hard and really put together a good game plan for it, or so I thought. I'd like to be able to say it all went as planned and I brought home a gold medal, but that's not the case. I fought hard against two big guys and did my best, which is in the end all anyone could ask for. I admit it hurts losing. But competing is still fun and in my opinion much needed in order to truly evolve your Jiu-Jitsu. I don't like losing but the fun I have at the competitions meeting people and making friends, watching my teammates compete and progress is worth all the adrenalin, anxiety and post competition soreness. This time I felt really down about losing, and I'm still not happy with my performance, but with it I now have new focuses for training and future competitions. I will say this, my team is one bunch of awesome people, they really picked me up with some very kind words.

New Goals!

Traveling: Coming up I'll be going on a three week traveling tour, hitting up our teammates on the mainland before heading down to good friend Prof. James "300" Foster's place in Kent, Washington and my black belt, Prof. Keith Owen's place to meet the rest of the Rhino Crash family in Meridian, Idaho. I'm really looking to this trip! Both Prof. Foster and Prof. Owen are great guys with tons of  knowledge to learn from, I always look forward to them visiting us here, I can only imagine how good their clubs are, where people train under them every day. I'll be writing everything I can down so I don't miss anything. I'll be in Prof. Foster's area first week of August and in Prof. Owen's area the second week, if anyone can help or knows someone who can help out with a place to crash or something nearby and cheap to help cut costs that'd be great. Just shoot me a line, thanks!          

Training/Competing: As mentioned before I've picked up training Japanese style again while not competing. Not only does it help my Jiu-Jitsu by incorporating different moves but also by seeing different views on the same or similar move. Seeing similar concepts repeat itself through different arts intrigues me, I love finding the connections, if not in the moves, the mindset. I pan on taking a more relaxing stance on my training right now, just taking it all in while I rest from competing. As for competing, I probably wont be in a competition until October, and hope to be in a lower weight class by that point, the guys at my weight right now are just too big, I'm basically at their shoulders. Diet and exercise is key, nothing crazy, just living clean and healthy.    

After losing the competition I was feeling down and asked myself "What good is a warrior if his technique is gone, his skills are beaten, his body is broken, all he has is heart?"
I thought for a long time, this is what I came up with. "A warrior only needs heart, with it he can train his technique, hone his skills and push himself and make his body work. Without heart all technique, skills and athleticism is wasted." At times I feel like the only thing I have left is heart. But it's all I need.   

Update On The Research!

I went through all my research sections tonight and started answering all the questions I had for each one, and even tried to think of any more before moving on to the next. I've been able to narrow it down to 4 questions I still have. Here they are:

1. Airlines, I've looked around and realized one important thing, outside of Canada I don't know anything about different airlines. If anyone has any information about best airline for cheap flights for Europe, Asia, pretty much anywhere outside of North America, that would be very helpful. Or buses or trains if it's better to get around that way in some parts as I've heard it is.

2. Travel gear. Any helpful tips on simplifying essentials, like what to bring, what not to worry about,
and the best ways to pack them or types to pick up (like light weight travel sleeping bag, towel etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

3. Cell phones. It seems now a days roaming is becoming more common and I'm sure I'll be able to make up some sort of plan with my provider, but if there's a particular company that specializes in travel plans or if grabbing a pre-paid from place to place is better then switching phones may be in order.

4. Money (of course). one thing I'd like to get a bit of information on is where I should look for getting currency exchanged while traveling Europe and Asia. Sometimes banks, or at least the right bank, aren't always available and I want to stay clear of using machines or paying with credit cards too much. I'm planning on having a thorough sit down with my bank before this trip but any tips are greatly appreciated.

Oh, one last thing. Send me your favourite places to go train when out and about! There's a long time before beginning this odyssey but it's never too soon to start making friends in new places!