Rodrigo Fernandes
Rodrigo Fernandes, Jiu-Jitsu black belt and yoga teacher in Berlin, seated in a leather armchair

Berlin

Practice. Build. Understand.

I’m Rodrigo. I teach Jiu-Jitsu and yoga, run a dojo, build small things, make music and write down what I’m trying to understand. This is where those things meet.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, 3rd degree (CheckMat). Teaching in Berlin since 2010. Certified yoga teacher.

Practice

Jiu-Jitsu, yoga and movement. Group classes and private lessons are at BJJ DOJO Berlin. Workshops and talks on de-escalation, movement and breath: Workshops.

Build

The dojo itself, music as Rigo Nandes on Red Fox Records, and whatever small tool happens to be missing.

Understand

Notes on yoga, jiu-jitsu and the older traditions, collected in the Thought Vault, which is becoming a book. And a YouTube channel, The Slow Initiation, for the foundations before the mysteries.

From the Thought Vault

  • Yama in Yoga: The Five Ethical Foundations

    Yoga, in the form most of us know it, is about postures. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the best-known classical text, postures are the third of eight…

  • What Does It Mean to Be a Yogi?

    The word “yogi” is used loosely. Paramahansa Yogananda, who did much to bring yoga to the West, described a yogi as anyone who practises a method aimed at…

  • What Jiu-Jitsu Shows You About Yourself

    “You do not truly know someone until you fight them.” That line from The Matrix Reloaded stayed with me because it describes something I see every day: the…