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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Sep 14

BJJ in a bottle

We strive to contain what can’t be contained. To control what can’t be controlled. But we can’t bottle the ocean.Artwork by Elizabeth Bass.We can’t trap a feeling under glass. We long for release, but release is something we must give ourselves. And it’s a gift that’s available whenever we are ready to receive. True warriors know that they do not know this. They do not try to write it down. To bottle it up. To trap it in intellect. They simply do it. But is it really them that does it? Or is ...

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BJJ Meditations: Jiu Jitsu’s bitter pill

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BJJ Meditations: Resetting the Zen point

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BJJ Meditations: The rupture of unsoundness

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BJJ Meditations: Jiu Jitsu’s apocalypse

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BJJ Meditations: The worst advice in Jiu Jitsu

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Joseph Hannan

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joseph.hannan

I'm a writer, journalist, and consultant with a passion for Web3 and crypto. I write about both topics and experiment with NFT fiction.

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Joseph Hannan

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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Aug 25
BJJ Meditations: Walking through the fire
What does it feel like to walk through fire and come out unscathed? The hard path stretches before us, each jagged stone awaiting its bare foot.Artwork by Elizabeth Bass.What does it feel like to walk this path unflinchingly? How do you feel each wound without thinking, without rationalizing it? Because here in the arena, there is no room for thought. Consider the jagged stone underfoot and it only slices deeper. Every rationalization is a shadow that washes over you. Every thought is another...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Aug 11
BJJ Meditations: What is enough?
What is enough? Enough is illusory. Enough implies that there’s a static location, place, or quantity that suffices. It implies that life itself is static. That we can put it into mount or side control and do with it what we will.his image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt: Expressionist painting. A man descends slowly into a torrent of water, his body dissolving, becoming water.Life is liquid, flowing, shapeless, formless. It is everything and nothing all at once. It is ev...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Jul 17
BJJ Meditations: The line
A line separates our training from ordinary life. This was a concept that came up in a recent Andrew Huberman Lab podcast episode. On one side of the line is the time we have devoted to training. Everything else falls on the other side.This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt: Expressionist painting in the style of Paul Klee: The dot that went for a walk.Prior to crossing the line into the training zone, we have done the mental and physical homework that optimal trainin...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Jul 11
BJJ Meditations: Choosing to win
How do we choose to win? Don’t get me wrong. We must study. We must practice. We must train hard to build mental and physical toughness.This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Neo-expressionist style painting of two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors locked in a struggle, one on the verge of executing a pivotal move. Their forms are dynamic, muscles tense, conveying the high stakes of the match. The scene is awash in sharp, contrasting colo...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Jun 30
BJJ Meditations: The path to victory
Grapplers talk about strategy, systems, mind maps. Is there a singular tactic that works in all scenarios? Is there a mind map or a blueprint that will lead you to victory? Is there a single impregnable system?This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Create a painting that showcases a complex labyrinth of interweaving, entangled paths, all shrouded in enigmatic shadows. The viewer should be imbued with a sense of uncertainty and ambiguity...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Jun 17
BJJ Meditations: The internal adversary
There is more information packed into a five-minute match than in five years of training. But so few of us ever step into the arena. Why? To the observer, there is only one obstacle, and that is the opponent. But the true Warriors know that they face an internal and an external adversary, both cunning and treacherous. In many ways, confronting the external adversary is the easier task. This is so often the sole focus of our training. But conquering the internal adversary, or better yet, makin...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Jun 9
BJJ Meditations: On the eve of battle
Nothing stands between me and the moment but time, and what is time but the liminal space between the here and now? That shifting zone where the wave hits the sand?This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Compose a symbolic painting that captures the cyclical ebb and flow of life. The central image should be a figure on the precipice of a vast, shifting beach, symbolizing the 'liminal space' between action and inaction, where a ...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Jun 2
BJJ Meditations: The point of Jiu Jitsu competition
What is the point of all this suffering? Thinkers and theologians have asked this question for centuries. Maybe a few grapplers have as well. Jiu Jitsu is all hell, and competition is one of its inner circles, where searing heat can melt even the most hardened resolve to win. This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Compose a Renaissance-style painting that beautifully depicts Dante, as guided by Virgil, journeying deeper into the layers ...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
May 26
BJJ Meditations: Why do we train?
Why do we train? I have a friend in law enforcement. His why is crystalline in strength and clarity. He trains to stay alive. There are people in the world who would kill him if they could, and he is determined to go home to his girl and his family.This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Create a painting that depicts a man standing at the precipice between order and chaos. The realm of order is serene, rigid, geometric, and illuminated,...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
May 18
BJJ Meditations: Resetting the Zen point
I’m in Boston, I think. On 4.5 hours of sleep, I could be anywhere. The traffic is other-worldly. It snarls the serpentine streets in one unending ribbon of gridlock. Professor David texts me: I’m running late. Be there in 15. I decide to wait, though I’m not sure what exactly I’m waiting for.This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Create a vivid painting of a jaguar capturing the intense moment right before it launches into an attack on...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
May 12
BJJ Meditations: The rupture of unsoundness
I’m a beginner again. The ocean stretches before me like a pane of painted glass, strands of white foam striping it at intervals. I’m nervous. I can feel it in the way my breath hangs suspended in my chest, my ribs refusing to expand to let air in. This image was created by Dall-E AI, using the following prompt, which was refined by Chat GPT: Create a dynamic illustration capturing the exact moment a novice surfer is tossed from a towering wave, using vibrant colors and expressive lines to co...
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Blog iconJoseph Hannan
Apr 14
BJJ Meditations: Jiu Jitsu’s bitter pill
Jiu Jitsu prepares many flavors of pain for us. One of the most bitter flavors of pain comes from a revelation. Jiu Jitsu reveals our physical limitations.The Crypt of the Capuchins. Rome, Italy.I became acutely aware of these limitations when I turned 32. Double or triple training sessions left me, best case, feeling half-assed and, worst case, sick or injured. I had to back off. I had to slow down. Granted, this is not the case for everyone, but I was running up against the limitations of m...