Tim Shears, a renowned martial arts teacher from Vancouver, held several training sessions in the Yukon during the last week of May.

He ran a training seminar at Peak Fitness in Whitehorse on May 26 before he travelled to Dawson City, where he worked with a dozen athletes Monday through Thursday to help hone their jiu-jitsu skills.

Shears is the only Canadian representative to have received a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from famed Carlos Gracie Jr.

Commonly called 'the gentle art', jiu-jitsu originated in India and Japan, and is a martial art form where the competitor yields to the force provided by an opponent's attack to apply countertechniques from the following situation.

The type of jiu-jitsu Shears teaches is called Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which was made popular by brothers Carlos and Helio Gracie.

The style of jiu-jitsu the Gracies practised had more sophisticated groundfighting and submission techniques, as opposed to the Japanese style, which is more focused on takedowns and throws.

These new techniques were so distinctive to the Gracies that the new sport became called Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Carlos Gracie Jr. went on to form the Gracie Barra Academy, the largest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in the world, which has produced more than 200 black belt athletes. Shears is a member of that elite group.

Shears owns and operates two gyms in Vancouver, the first of which is Cocoon Athletics. It has been open in the downtown core since 1997 and has 300 clients.

The second gym, the Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu Academy, opened two years ago, and is exclusively for those training and practising the jiu-jitsu form.

In an interview during his stay in Dawson, Shears said the popularity of jiu-jistu exploded three years ago thanks to the increased profile of mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championships reality TV shows.

'Everyone wanted to become a fighter until they learned just how hard it is to actually be a fighter,' Shears said. 'But they started doing it and they've kept on doing it, just because it's fun.'

Although he has 300 clients at Cocoon Athletics, only 30 of them compete.

'We have a lot of corporate and business people that come in,' Shears said. 'A lot of the guys who come in want to work out and have fun, and it's better than just going to the gym and lifting weights.

'That's important, for sure, but it gets boring after a while, and so this is a great way to build that strength and have fun too.'

The reason Shears visited the Yukon is Charles Eshleman, an adult support facilitator with the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation. Eshleman, a former competitive kickboxer and a black belt in karate, stumbled upon Shears and his jiu-jitsu practices while in Vancouver in the 1990s.

Eshleman checked out a jiu-jitsu class and enjoyed it so much, he returned to Vancouver during his next holidays to train with Shears.

'Tim is an instructor who really knows his art and is passionate about it, but he's not full of himself,' Eshleman said. 'There's a real family-type atmosphere in his gym.

'To get someone of his calibre up here is unreal. I'd mentioned the possibility of a trip up here a few times, but things just worked out with him coming up now. It's great to have him here, not just for myself but for the guys I train.'

Eshleman said the main reason he enjoys jiu-jitsu so much is the technical aspect of it and the strategy involved.

'Every move is like chess,' he said. 'You always have to think one step ahead and you need to have a back-up plan. You have to get from point A to point B, and it's a real flowing motion. If he stops me here, I have to go there. It really is an art.'

Shears trained with a dozen of Eshleman's guys, and joked afterward: 'That was probably about half the population of Dawson.'

During his time in Dawson, Shears also taught two self-defence workshops, one for women and one for teenaged girls, something he started to do after a rash of assaults in Stanley Park concerned many women in Vancouver.

Shears' main passion is now jiu-jitsu, but it wasn't his first love. When he graduated from high school in 1986, he played semi-professional soccer in the Okanagan for several years until he was injured and endured a lengthy layoff after surgery.

During his recovery, he started to box as cross-training, and it was around that point he discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

'I was getting older and I was good enough at it that I thought, Hey, I can teach this stuff,' so that became the next goal,' Shears said.

He took his first lesson in 1992 during the 'infancy years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu', as he called them, a year before the Ultimate Fighting Championships organization was launched.

Shears began training in Phoenix, Ariz., under Wellington 'Megaton' Diaz, but left due to team politics after several years. He opened Cocoon Athletics in Vancouver shortly after that.

'I've always been involved in the athletic side of things, but to have everything work out the way it has, I'm blessed,' Shears said.

His wife, Sara, is a personal trainer and also operates out of Cocoon Athletics. Her innovative techniques have won over several celebrities, including movie star Salma Hayek and director Robert Rodriguez.

Cocoon Athletics has several affiliates in the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan, and now in Dawson with Eshleman.

'For the community he has, Charles is doing a really good job in training these guys and help getting them off the street,' Shears said. 'They have that vision, they have that love of the art.'

Shears hopes that with the higher profile of the sport and awareness he raised with his visit , he can come back next year for a similar training session.