I was mugged by a gang in Rio and, for a little over a minute, had a knife shoved against the front of my neck and a gun into my back. For me the experience was so bizarrely, intensely focused. The world didn't exist outside gazing into the eyes of the guy holding the knife. We just kept repeating back and forth to each other "não problemas, não problemas" until they left.

I came away wondering if training would have allowed me to think _at all_. It sounds like such a low bar, but I seriously don't think a single thought went through my head the entire time. It was pure experience.