Breathe: A Life in Flow

This book has ten main chapters, and about 254 pages, not including the notes and pictures.The Foreword by Jocko Willink describes the effects Jiu Jitsu has had on his life. Willink describes his introduction to Jiu Jitsu in the 90s, his early training sessions, and getting to meet Rickson Gracie. Willink was only a blue belt when he got to roll with Rickson, and he explains how the lessons Rickson taught seemed to apply not only to his life as a SEAL, but to life in general.In the first chapter, Gracie discusses the history of the Gracie family. He traces his roots all the way back to Scotland; and mentions important figures in history, including Hideyo Maeda, Carlos Gracie and Helio Gracie, Rickson's father. Rickson covers many details about his family, including Carlos and Helio having thirty children, and his biological mother being African Brazilian.Over the next few chapters, Gracie describes his upbringing as a proud member of the Gracie family of fighters. Throughout the book there are wonderful pictures of members of the Gracie family, many very old black and white images. Gracie describes the influence of his reckless cousin Rolls, his dog Thor, and his association with a street gang, and Roll's training with the American wrestler Bob Anderson. Gracie explains how his love of surfing ended up with him getting into a legendary fight with Hawaiian surfer Byron Amona. Gracie details his teenage life, and recalls the epic first fight with King Zulu. He explains the influence of Orlando Cani, and how he learned to control his breathing. He also covers his marriage to his wife Kim, his starting a family, and the death of Rolls.As Gracie continues telling his life story, he covers the rivalry between Jiu Jitsu and Luta Livre, as competing fighting style in Brazil. He describes his moving to America, and teaching students in the US. He recalls training his brother Royce for the first UFC tournament, and the subsequent explosion in popularity of BJJ in the US. Gracie describes his decision to fight in Japan, his experiences with the Yakuza, and several epic fights. The last few chapters deal with the tragic passing of his son Rockson, the death of his father Helio, and his marriage to his new wife Cassia.Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. Rickson Gracie is a legendary figure in MMA history, and perhaps the most impressive Jiu Jitsu practitioner of all time. Reading the story of his remarkable life was both entertaining and informative, and I appreciated hearing his perspective on martial arts; and life in general. There is some wisdom here, and valuable lessons one can learn from Gracie's experiences.

Overall, this book gives an excellent insight into Rickson Gracie's upbringing and his mindset towards jiu jitsu and life. He takes you on an incredible journey from his days in Rio to his vale tudo fights and to early MMA. The book could have easily been much longer but the editor did an excellent job in ensuring that it was both short and informative. I particularly liked the way that Rickson described his philosophy towards martial arts and how time and tragedy shaped it to what it is today. This book is not only relevant for those interested in jiu jitsu but any martial art.--The only thing that irked me was the insistence on Bushido being the universal samurai code, which is simply not true. Bushido, as we know it in the west and the way that Rickson describes it was first popularized by the Japanese-American, Inazo Nitobe in the the famous book "Bushido: Soul of Japan" which created a very romantic view of the samurai class. The book was meant to shape the west's perception of Japan and Inazo and deliberately took parts of Japanese culture and melded it with aspects of Christian ideology. In reality nothing like Bushido actually existed during the age of the samurai. Yes there were moral and ethics that the samurai adhered to but these were clan-specific, and family-specific. Probably the only consistent part of "Bushido" that really did apply to samurai was loyalty, specifically loyalty to the daimyo (or the Shogun in the case of the Shogunate). When the book was translated to Japanese, most Japanese never even heard of the term "Bushido" and Japanese scholars didn't look at it very favorably. As a scholarly piece of work, it's terrible because Inazo never provided much source material for what he was claiming. Eventually though, Japan embraced Bushido as their leaders began promoting nationalism. It also helped that the west ate all of this up, which resulted in a bunch of Hollywood hits like the Last Samurai. So Bushido is a relatively modern phenomenon. It never applied to actual Samurai - Zen Buddhism was a more apt 'philosophy' that they adhered to.

If you thought you knew everything there was about Rickson Gracie...think again. I have been training jiu-jitsu for almost 20 years. I remember buying a copy of the DVD Choke in 2003, before the boom of internet video. I was inspired to learn jiu-jitsu since then, as I seen Rickson being one of the most important Gracie, of the family (which there are many). I follow Rickson over the years the best I could, and finally ended up meeting him at two seminars.Rickson is trully a living Samurai, and his contribution to his family's Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is one of the best ones. There are so many details about him, and the history of his family that he shares in the book that I had no idea about. If you are a jiu-jitsu practitioner or not, his book about his life will inspire you, and you will appreciate him a lot more.Respect to Rickson Gracie.

I could not wait to get my hands on this book. I bought the kindle version and the print. So far I am page 16, but worth every penny to see into the mind of the greatest martial artist of all time. History seems to be a bit different and more detailed. Did you know that Rickson was half African Brazilian? Pretty cool bit of knowledge.

Always thought Rickson was one of the top instructors in his field, albeit I’m not a BJJ student but do train jujitsu, always liked the top Gracie’s teaching methods. So gave the book a read and can say was very entertaining but also appears to be full of honesty about his life and the Gracie family, you read it and see they are just a family like every other, albeit they have gone on to great success, a good little read for anyone interested in the Gracie’s, jujitsu or any martial arts practitioners

Rickson Gracie is considered by many as Jiu-Jitsu’s greatest of all time. Stories have been passed down through time as to his incredible skill and understanding of his family’s art, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. It was refreshing to read a very honest and open account of a life that has seen its share of drama, tragedy and success. Rickson comes across as a man that has walked the path of a warrior, made mistakes, as we all have, and learned to live his authentic best following the loss of his oldest son. I would have liked more great stories, but perhaps there is another book planned (I hope so). All in all a great read, whether you are a Jiu-Jitsu practitioner or just someone that is looking for inspiration. Highly recommended.

More than a martial artist Rickson brings a philosophy and spiritual gift to the martial arts community, the living embodiment of the Gracie Legacy.This autobiography brings a candid insight into Ricksons life, opens a window into the growth of ju -jutsu and casts a light into some of the myths surrounding him.A Great book!

Great read for any BJJ fan. I was expecting it to be a book about Ricksons breathing technique when I pre ordered it to be honest but was please to learn about the Gracie family history and about Ricksons life story.Very inspiring.

I would encourage everyone to read this book. While it will naturally appeal to BJJ/Fight fans more, there are fundamental lessons about life that will resonate with everyone. Rickson’s way of writing is beautifully simple, the words dance off the page and into your soul. It’s an easy read, and will only take a few days - but it will stay with you forever.His story has everything - the greatest highs, and the lowest lows - and it all resonated with me more than any book has for a long time. I look forward to reading it again soon - it’s that good!