Learning self-defense teaches us that adversity is temporary

Nothing seems to be working. Then that discomfort comes, an almost unbearable pressure, and finally a weight on your chest, which seems to prevent you from breathing. Making things worse, now painful strikes start raining down. How to find an escape worthy of this problem?

If you've ever felt like this, in a situation of despair, there's no better place than the mat to cure the condition. 

As Master Rickson Gracie learned from his early days, the jiujitsu gym works as a gentle, effective psychological laboratory. Thanks to the martial art developed by his family, Rickson learned that all hardship is fleeting, and that many micro-situations of claustrofobia arise in order to be deciphered and overcome. You just have to move to the correct side and get used to solving enigmas to get stronger and stronger, in bodily and mental terms. 

Like in this recent lesson, where Rickson proves to us how the knee on belly, the fearsome control technique, can be a nice metaphor for a situation of anguish and challenge. 

How to get rid of this weight that seems unavoidable? How to avoid giving up, to breathe serenely and forge ahead, with no major consequences? 

Check out Rickson's pointers, move wisely, and don't give up. After all, as a wise master once said, we don't practice jiujitsu to empty our head, but rather to open our mind.