In a crises situation, everything begins with a calm mind: There is a huge amount physical stress associated with bad/inferior positions in Jiu Jitsu. If your opponent knows what s/he is doing, they can make your life thoroughly miserable with cross faces, chest to chest pressure, forcing you into contorted positions etc. it's very natural for that PHYSICAL pressure to create MENTAL pressure, where you feel stress to a point where you start to lose effective decision making capability. This creates a vicious spiral where additional mental stress shuts down your ability to plan escapes, resulting in worsening physical stress, which creates still more mental stress, which begets additional physical stress…Learning to maintain a calm mind under intense physical pressure will enable you to see what needs to be done and make decisions to get you out of there. The only real way to develop serenity of mind under pressure is to experience that pressure often enough to adapt to it. Here, Gordon Ryan works on his mental game as much as his physical game by absorbing the powerful cross face pressure of Georges St -Pierre, who has passed many Jiu Jitsu champions half guards from this position. ONLY THE CALM MIND CAN MAKE SOUND CALCULATIONS, and that ability to observe accurately what's happening and calculate what's needed to turn things in your favor is what will make the difference in your sport performance when things are not going your way.
