How important is Yoga for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Sebastian Brosche is a world class brown belt in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and Judo. After a lower back injury, which hindered his progress for up to one year in the art of BJJ, Sebastian utilized the art of Yoga as a mechanism for recovery. After a period of one years practice, Sebastian rebounded back to placing 2nd in the Europeans (IBJJF) and 3rd in absolute. He furthered his performances in local invitational tournaments by taking on all on comers - and has opened a Yoga studio in Oslo, Norway where he currently trains. His website (Yogaforbjj.net) addresses numerous aspects related to becoming a better athlete relative to BJJ - but is applicable to any athlete and/or casual health-conscious practitioner. Specific videos draw insight into bodily mechanics, and effective methods for relieving muscular, joint, and ligament pain. For the BJJ practitioner, specific videos aid in performance enhancement given that Martial Arts, and BJJ in particular carry great consideration to bodily mechanics; such videos address posture and positional control, as well as movements and stretches for a better guard. Further consideration is placed on pre-competition, and post-competition routines, as well as specific videos to address lower back, neck, hip and core strength.

The sport of BJJ has evolved so rapidly over the past 10 years, yet the art has been around for ages (as early as the 1100's. To marry a particular Martial Art to that of an ancient practice such as Yoga, is proving to be an extremely important facet for not only Martial Arts, but all sports in general. Addressing range of movement and bodily awareness reduces the likelihood for injury exponentially, given that bodily mechanics are proving to be systems of interconnected components - case in point, the effects of the anterior pelvic tilt or posterior pelvic tilt. As a result, BJJ practitioners not only need to maintain a healthy body amidst demands for aggressive movement mechanics (related to the art of BJJ), but further need to enhance these mechanics to be effective and dominant altogether. This requires an intelligent and somewhat strategic approach; training Jiu Jitsu alone (or any sport for that matter) will not address all concerns. This is becoming more apparent as more and more athletes attempt to prevent injury and increase athletic effectiveness by supplementing training demands with a more 'Yin' style practice, such as Yoga, Swimming, and so forth. In hindsight, recovery and enhancement to Biomechanics is as important as practicing the sport itself.