I have been trapped many times, physically in fact. I trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 7 years. I still remember the first time my friend got on top of me, held me down, and told me to try and escape. I tried, I struggled, and then, I started to panic. I realized I was trapped. I couldn’t get out. I was at the mercy of my friend. I had no control over the situation. It was scary, and extremely uncomfortable. My face started to turn red and I asked him to get off of me now. He held me for a few more seconds to prove a point and then released me. Needless to say from that point on I was highly motivated to learn BJJ and never be in that position again.
Eventually I learned to escape and became comfortable being held down. Knowing how to protect myself and learning to trust my BJJ partners.
I also defined the BJJ Concepts that allowed me to progress and be creative with BJJ techniques. One of the key concepts is Freedom. While I was being held down, I thought that I had lost all freedom. The freedom to move my body. Slowly I began to realized that I did have freedom, just in limited amounts. I could still move my toes and fingers. I could still press my heels into the ground and buck my hips up. I could even bend and straighten my legs and arms sometimes. I learned that I had to use these small amounts of freedom to gain more freedom. For example I would walk my toes to move my leg, or use my free leg to unhook my trapped leg. I would use my free leg to shift my hip out from underneath my training partner, and I would use my free arm to push off his neck or hip creating more freedom.
Keeping a calm mind, and focusing on the freedom I had, helped me to gain more freedom!
What freedom do you have?
How can you use your freedom to create more freedom?
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