We are very non-traditional in our approach to jiu-jitsu class culture.

But, class rituals are a really important piece of keeping classes structured.

The first class ritual is how you start a class. In martial arts it’s most common to line up, bow in, quick pre-frame of what’s going to happen in this class and then get started. Some schools will recite a student creed.

In other sports it might be a huddle. In a school it might be the national anthem, or roll call. Athletes often have rituals before they go into competition.

What that ritual looks like is far less important than it being consistently present. If multiple instructors run classes, they all start and end classes the same way. Japanese influenced schools may bow on and off the mat. In BJJ many schools do a 1-2-3-clap before breaking from instruction. Slap-bump before starting a roll, etc. Rituals help keep the class working as a unit, providing everyone is using them the same.

It gives the class that state change, that now class is starting and its time to go into class mode.

These class rituals have a basis in psychology, and are things people use everyday in their day to day life. A getting ready to leave the house ritual, a getting ready for bed ritual, a going into a meeting ritual, etc.

In one of our magazines we even teach this concept to kids, and have them think of rituals they use in their daily lives.