Who needs drugs when being under a high mount of a 200+ pound purple belt is a euphoric out of body experience. It takes time but one day you’ll feel comfortable under there.

There’s this brown belt who loves heavy metal music and loves to beat me up. I’m always under his mount. He’s sweaty. It always drips in my face. But underneath all that muscle and perspiration, I’m calm collected and composed. Totally unfazed. No amount of moisture will dampen my spirits.

In jiu jitsu you need to become unbothered by chaos during a roll. And it is chaos. Controlled chaos. From a competitive round to a flow roll, anything could happen and you need your wits about you.

Take grips for example, where the hell do I put my hands? Put them somewhere, anywhere is a good start. Control yourself and then control your opponent. My shift in perspective came from years of being tossed around, pinned, swept, and subbed. And it eventually hit me ‘this ain’t so bad!’

Being under side control is arguably the worst position in my blue belt opinion. But I’ve been stuck under there so much it feels like home. And home is where the heart is. And in this case it is also where understanding comes from.

You get your ass kicked in jiu jitsu enough you actually start to figure things out. It’s supposed to be hard. That’s why most people don’t do this martial art. But trust me, if you can stay calm while you can’t hear because your head is stuck in your partners gi jacket, you taste blood (hopefully it’s yours), you have mat burn on your toes, and your old shoulder injury is acting up again mid roll, well heck that’s half the battle! This means you’re going to make it. This means you’re going to last. Just don’t panic. They WANT you to panic so when you make a mistake they take advantage of that and then soon enough will submit you.

Tips on How to Stay Calm While Getting Your Ass Kicked -breath, big breaths -get them off balance and use every tiny opening they give you -mantra ‘re-gaurd’ just keep repeating that in your head, or out loud if you want to scare them -use your hands, frame, remember ‘the table’, everyone is a table, take one table leg away and the table falls over, that’s when you escape

Next time you are under the high mount of that 200+ pound purple belt, just remember, if your calm it will show and it will spook them. Gather yourself and plan your escape. You don’t have long. But this time you’ll be ready. Because you’re home. Home sweet home. And home is where you belong. Home is where you’re at peace. Now go in peace and don’t panic!