Hello,
Here are my notes from Martin Wheeler's seminars at Fighthouse last
weekend. Thanks to all the participants, to Martin, Edgar, and Peggy
for hosting another great training opportunity for Systema students.
Also thanks to Denis, Frankie, and Jesse for being on-hand to help
out. We were lucky to have five teachers with us over the weekend. It
was fun working with everyone, I look forward to training with them
again.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Part One – Saturday: Strikes

Though Saturday was supposed to be Mass Attacks and Sunday, Strikes,
Martin switched the order, saying it was more logical to cover
strikes first. Martin told us it would be a conceptual class rather
than a hot and sweaty one. He promised to go very deep into the topic
of strikes. I have to admit that I've never been that interested in
learning to strike. During the year or so I've been training, many of
my classmates have requested that we learn strikes. We've approached
this topic in a handful of classes but for most of the last year,
Edgar has been very cautious about teaching this to us, describing it
as an intermediate-to-advanced topic. "Too much ego," he told us
after once student requested it. Then he started laughing and
pantomiming how striking could quickly get out of hand when the
students were trying to prove their toughness. But to prepare for
Martin's seminar, we had been learning it a little in the preceding
week.

So why am I one of the few students who is not eager to learn how to
strike? I don't know, exactly. I guess I just don't like to hit
people, especially if they seem to be unwilling to accept contact. I
prefer to lock them, or to use my legs instead. Probably my
unwillingness to strike my partners is why some of my classmates
prefer not to work with me. But striking is an important part of
Systema training and I should be as open to learning it as any other
aspect of Systema. (Now if I could just get my computer to play DVDs,
I'd watch Strikes and hopefully gain better insight.)

Martin's seminar turned out to be good training for someone who is
wary of the topic as I am. Throughout Martin asked us to proceed with
caution and not strike our partners as hard as possible. "Don't try
to prove how tough you are," he said. (Note that any of Martin's
statements that are quoted here, are paraphrased, as I cannot
remember exactly what he said.) We spent a lot of time on sensitivity
work, pushing our partners, striking with the elbow, rotating the
fist into our partners, open-handed slapping, and only a few minutes
on striking as is commonly defined, i.e., a punch with the closed
fist.

To warm up, we started with some 10-count pushups, down to the count
of 10, up to the count of one. Then the reverse, down on one, up on
10. Martin told us not to feel pity for our muscles. He demonstrated
the classic slow-count pushup going slow until the difficult point is
reached then speeding up to get past the tough part. He told us to
just go slower when we reach the point where it feels as if our
muscles will fail. "If you always train where your body is
comfortable, that's all you'll be able to do," he told us.

We also did some variations on pushups, getting into pushup position
but spreading your arms and legs far apart in an X shape, then
sinking down only on one side so the shoulder touches the floor, then
the other side. Also with arms extended forward and feet wide apart,
pushups on the fingertips, which I found impossible. And backbend
pushups where you form a bridge and then sink down. I found it very
hard to keep my head off the floor for more than a microsecond while
in this position.

We also did sit-ups and squats with the ten counts down, up one, and
reverse.

Then we did some passive stretching our partners, starting with arms.
You take their arms behind their head as if they are squeezing their
shoulder blades together, and push the arms together and up, then the
person being stretches slowly sits down and you pull their arms back
to stretch. Also taking their arms and legs, pushing and pulling to
give a stretch while they let the limbs go limp so you can manipulate
them to get the stretch. Passive stretching is very useful, my
massage therapist does it to me every time I see her. You find that
your body will move in different ways when you relax and let someone
else explore its range. I don't have nearly as much flexibility when
I stretch myself, as when my therapist does it for me.

Martin led us through some breathing exercises where you lay on the
floor and tense different parts of the body as you breathe in,
release as you exhale. These are probably familiar to most Systema
students. Then we tried to feel our pulse in neck, arm, torso, knee,
and ankle. I found it very difficult to detect my pulse, which means
I have tension in the surrounding areas which blocks the detection of
the pulse. Then Martin asked us to unite the pulses.

We were all nice and relaxed once we stood up, from the breathing as
well as the exhaustive warm-up exercises. We started with some
sensitivity work. Martin explained that we are never standing still,
no matter how motionless we may appear. If we are breathing, we are
moving. Throughout both days, Martin emphasized breathing as the one
thing to remember above all else. It is so important to the practice
of Systema.

To illustrate how we are never standing still, our partners stood
motionless and we lightly touched their arms to feel the "drift".
Then Martin asked us to push them in the direction of the drift. It
takes a lot of sensitivity to detect this small motion of the body.
The idea is not to just shove them in one direction, but to feel
which way they are drifting naturally and push them in the same
direction. Martin showed us how you can even do this without touching
the person, he demonstrated on several people, pushing them in the
direction of their drift when he was standing behind them several
inches away. It was amazing. Despite his nonchalance and telling us
all it wasn't a magic trick, it still seems far beyond my
capabilities.

We started our introduction to strikes by just pushing into our
partners with a spiraling motion of the fist. Martin warned us many
times not to hurt our partners or try to prove how tough we are. It
is this essential attitude that gives strikes a different flavor
depending on whose delivering them. Most of us like strikes from our
teachers but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has occasionally
encountered a strike from a classmate that hurt in a much more
unpleasant way. "Most of the pain is from fear," Martin explained.
But I also think that a strike delivered in a mean-spirited way can
have such a different affect that one that is delivered with
kindness. Martin suggested we could try experimenting with striking
our partners while smiling or frowning, feeling happy or sad, and ask
them to tell us if they felt any difference.

Next we moved to hitting pads with open hand. This of course makes a
lot more noise than striking a human body with closed fist. Although
punches probably hurt more, slaps certainly are louder and more
shocking. I don't see how anyone could remain standing after
receiving a slap from Martin as he demonstrated on a pad. He told us
to keep the arm relaxed and let it fall into the pad. I was concerned
that my body seemed to move almost 360 degrees after I hit the pad;
the soles of my Chinese shoes are very slippery on the polished
floor. But Martin told me it was fine to keep moving and that in a
fight, I could not expect to remain in one place anyway.

We also tried slapping the pads from a half squat and a full squat,
and standing on one leg. Martin wanted us to strike from all
directions. He also demonstrated hitting the pad while jumping in the
air with feet not touching the ground. I got really into trying this
leaping open slap without my feet touching the ground, even though I
made harder contact with both feet on the floor. There was something
fun about jumping up and slapping the pad mid-air.

Then we had to duck-walk around hitting the pads, which our partners
held a little lower for us to reach. I find duck-walking extremely
uncomfortable and sometimes painful, so I did this by kneeling or
sitting on the floor. Martin encouraged us to let the striking arm
move the rest of our body and then return for another strike. So my
worries about my slap moving the rest of my body almost 360 degrees
were unfounded. He also had us strike the pads dynamically from a low
squat, hit the pad, go into a roll and kick the pads, return up for
another open handed strike, etc.

Then we worked on hitting the pads with restricted motion. Lying on
our backs, our partner firmly planted one foot across the stomach and
we had to hit the pad. We also did this lying on the stomach, with
our partner's foot on the lower back. It is very difficult to reach
the pad from this position and even the advanced students were
challenged by this exercise.

Next we worked on elbow strikes. Martin warned us not to use the
point of the elbow as it is fragile and susceptible to breaks.
Instead we were to use the forearm right below the elbow. He
demonstrated just letting the elbow fall into the body, not planning
or looking for a good spot to land it. My partner Jesse offered some
good advice. First just consider elbow strikes like a punch. Rather
than swinging the elbow all the way back in a circular motion, just
rotate the shoulder in its socket back and let the elbow fall into
the body. It became easier to use the elbow when I thought of it like
a punch. You can hit very hard with the elbow as Jesse demonstrated
to me. I could not help but take a step back when he made impact.
Edgar suggested I use a pad but as long as my partner is proficient
enough not to accidentally hit me in the breasts (which roughly
correspond to a guy being hit in the balls, maybe not quite as bad
but still the worst place you can hit a woman), it's fine with me if
they strike my upper chest.

We worked more freely on elbow strikes, our partners punching us, and
responding with the elbows to move the punches aside and enter into
the partner's space. My shoulders are a little tense and Martin and
several of my partners told me to relax them. The point where my
shoulders meet my chest is usually the tensest part of my body, and
if I could relax this part, it would give a greater range or motion
to my strikes.

Martin told us to use our elbows symmetrically to get a feeling for
the way they work together. He demonstrated holding his hands out
front and wrists together as if they were cuffed. We then worked
against various punches, kicks, and grabs with this restriction.
Martin demonstrated how you could use your "cuffed" arms to capture
the attacking arm, looping it between your arms and locking it. He
also showed how to break free of a grab to the "cuffed" wrists by
using your elbow on the partners elbow and sinking the body weight to
break the hold. He also showed how you can use your knee to apply
pressure to the elbow when someone grabs the bound wrists. I tried
this but found it quite a reach, except when my partner grabbed my
list and pulled them low.

We also did the same exercise with the person whose hands
were "cuffed" closing their eyes. This is a good way to learn to be
open to all possibilities and not just what you can see. Visual input
can be so misleading.

Then we punched each other lightly using all the principles we had
learned earlier. This was the only part of the seminar in which we
practiced strikes as we generally think of them, as punches with
closed fist while the other person practiced absorption. For some
reason I found being hit in the stomach too painful, it was like the
strike was landing right on my bladder and I had trouble absorbing
and dissipating his blows. My partner was a novice like myself and
perhaps he was accidentally hitting me near some vital organ. So I
asked my partner to hit my back instead and I found it much easier to
dissipate his strikes to my back.

We ended with some "Marine-style" pushups where you clap your hands
between pushups. Martin encouraged us to clap our hands behind our
backs between pushups! Well, maybe someday. I did ordinary pushups
instead, those are quite enough of a challenge for me!

Throughout the seminar, Martin emphasized patience, not to rush, and
to let our hands do the thinking rather than planning where the
strikes would land. Patience was the theme of the day. Many times
Martin amazed us with his demonstrations of fending off all kinds of
attacks, but he presented these as something we would build up to
rather than rush into. I remember one thing he said that seemed
especially insightful, "When someone is fighting with you, they are
trying to join with you, not get away from you." It's an unusual way
to look at an attacker, as someone trying to get close to you, to
occupy the same space that you do.

Martin wanted to present the seminars as a two-part series. A few
people could only attend one day, but for most of us, it was Part One
and Two. When we circled up, we all had a good laugh at one student's
comment that we hadn't learned strike absorption. We were supposed to
be hitting each other lightly on Saturday. But Martin promised we'd
learn this on Sunday. As it turned out, we didn't spend any time
learning absorption. But Martin promised to explore the topic in the
regular Systema classes he will teach at Fighthouse in the week
following the seminar.

Part Two – Sunday: Mass Attacks

We started with a 30-count pushup to warm-up. 30 on the downpress, 30
on up. This is extremely difficult and I was reminded of Martin's
advice not to let our muscles feel pity. But I'm afraid there was a
good amount of pitying in the muscles of my upper body as I struggled
through the slow pushup. Then we did sit-ups with our partners. One
person kneels on all fours, the other sits on their shoulder facing
their feet. They lower themselves down, over the other person's head,
and back up again. You are supposed to go all the way down so your
head touches the floor. Even though I was sitting on Edgar whom I
know is quite strong, I was scared to go all the way down, thinking I
would surely collapse us both.

Then Martin had us get on all fours, kind of a like a pushup position
but more splayed out like an X, and maneuver around using
the "circular scorpion" type moves where you change from all fours to
on your back in bridge position, then back again, or you can slide
your legs forward between your arms to turn onto your back. He had us
move to the other end of the room with only our feet and hands
touching the floor. Of course the goal is not just to walk on all
fours, but to rotate around and find new ways of moving. Then we got
into pushup position and "hopped" across the room, where feet and
hands were off the floor simultaneously. This is very hard. I could
barely get any daylight between my hands and the floor. Then we did
the same thing in the opposite direction backwards. Of course Martin
demonstrated all these movements with ease. Watching Martin, you get
a sense of the real capabilities of the human body. "It's not the
body that prevents you from doing these things," said Martin. "If you
had to live this way because of some physical deformity," he
demonstrated duck-walking around, "you'd find a way to do it with
ease. It's only because you don't have to do it that it seems hard."
(Once again I am paraphrasing what Martin said, my memory is
regrettably not of the photographic kind.)

Then we lay on our backs and moved across the floor using only the
shoulders, dragging our legs, going backwards and forwards. Then on
our stomachs, grabbing the ankles behind us, and going forward and
backwards using just the chest and shoulders. These exercises are
probably familiar to most Systema students. The hardwood floor at
Fighthouse got quite a polishing as we moved across it on our
stomachs and backs.

Next we moved into some practice with rolls. I was so glad to learn
this from Martin, as I've never seen anyone roll so softly. I
consider rolling to be an intermediate to advanced technique. Getting
over the fear of the floor is so important to learning Systema. As
Martin reminded us, children fall softly and easily, but once we
learn to walk, we no longer fall and thus become afraid of what we
are not used to. It's just a matter of getting used to it. I think I
had to spend many more hours than your average student just to lose a
little of my fear of hitting the ground. I spent every weekend over
the summer rolling on the grass and even though it's getting a bit
nippy out, I still try to practice for a few minutes in the park each
weekend. (My apartment is a little small for rolling and there are
some fragile items I'd just as soon not risk knocking over.). Now
that they've closed the lawns in the park for the winter, the only
grass I can find is on a pier in the Hudson. The wind has a way of
whipping off the river to make it at least 10 degrees colder on the
riverfront that on the Village streets, so my rolling practice has
been somewhat abbreviated of late, but I still try to make time for
it every Sunday.

I consider rolling to be a more advanced Systema skill because I've
noticed the more experienced practitioners roll more softly. If you
don't know how to roll or fall in such a way as to avoid getting hurt
by the hard ground, then it doesn't matter how effective you are
standing up, because you'll be your own worst enemy as soon as you
hit the ground. There's no skipping over these crucial skills if you
wish to become proficient in the System.

We started by having our partners push us from behind and we fell
forward into a roll. Or they pushed one shoulder and we rotated into
a roll. Also the pushed us from the front and we fell back and
immediately rolled backwards. But Martin didn't want this to be a
rocking backwards kind of movement. He told us to make sure that we
fell and lay with legs flat before beginning to roll back.

We practiced a little offensive rolling, beginning by standing a few
feet away from our partners, rolling forward and taking them down as
we rolled over. Martin showed us how we should use the person's
downward momentum to propel ourselves up again. As they fall, you use
that motion to roll on top of them in a superior position and then up
to a standing position. Also we did the same thing starting with a
backwards roll and using the roll to take down our partners.

Then we did these offensive roll with three people. One person stood
in the middle between the other two, one of whom pushed, and the
other was the target to be taken down with the roll. We also did this
while the rolling person kept their eyes closed.

Rolling for a few minutes always relaxes me, it's very therapeutic.
In addition to practicing rolls to become proficient, I also use it
as pain management. I think the contact with the ground must be
hitting some acupressure points; it's like a massage. I love to start
Systema class with rolling, as I can always use more practice in
getting over my fear of the floor.

Next we did what Jim King calls the "squirt" drill where three or
more people circle around one and push as hard as they can from all
directions. If you relax and loosen one part of your body, the circle
collapses. You have to feel which person is pushing the hardest, by
yielding in the opposite direction, you collapse the circle. We also
did this at half squat and at full squat and with closed eyes.

We spent the rest of the class working in groups of four with one
person in the center. We pushed at the person simultaneously as he
yielded and allowed our hands to slip off. Then we did the same thing
but instead of just yielding, the person in the center passed the
pushing arms away. This passing can be done in many ways,
the "combing the hair" motion, or ducking underneath the arm and
passing it along with the shoulder. The idea was to pass a pushing
arm into one of the other people in the group, to introduce the topic
of passing a punch from one attacker into another in a multiple-
attacker situation.

We also did a little work with the legs, while the people on the
outside of the circle pushed, the one in the center allowed his leg
to swing around and kick each of the people on the outside lightly.
You can't plan who to kick, you just have to let yourself be moved
and your leg will find its target. We tried this with closed eyes as
well.

Next the person in the center had to target just the elbows and try
to lock the people pushing. We also worked also on head butts and
Martin cautioned us to go very slowly as this can be dangerous. The
people on the outside of the circle push and you yield and allow
yourself to be moved, making contact with your head. I find this kind
of tricky and I think you have to make sure your neck is relaxed to
make this work. Then we began to make contact with the elbows as the
people on the outside pushed at the one in the center, picking up
from yesterday's lesson about elbow strikes. Again Martin cautioned
us to go slowly and not hurt our partners. The idea was to just let
the people on the outside of the circle move you, not to plan your
attacks but go in the direction of the pushes. Martin told us to try
using the elbow in unusual ways, not just a straight elbow jab, but
coming from below or above or winding the arm around to strike with
the elbow in surprising ways. We also did some strikes as the people
on the outside of the circle pushed, but Martin asked us to just
touch the people on the outside lightly with the fist rather than
actually striking them.

At some point on Sunday, as Martin demonstrated using both arms for
the elbow strikes, he theorized that Systema is a sword art. Denis
took this opportunity to fetch the shaska he had recently purchased.
Martin said he's not very proficient with swords and demonstrated
slashing at two volunteers as they avoided. Then Denis took the sword
and slashed at Martin, who amazed us all with his skill in avoiding
the blade. His demonstration illustrated how softness and fluidity
are essential to avoiding harm from edged weapons. It also
illustrated how the principles are the same whether there is a weapon
or just bare hands.

Finally Martin asked us to put everything together and work more
freely. The person in the middle was pushed and responded with kicks,
punches, locks, elbow strikes, etc taking down the other people if
the opportunity presented itself. We also did this with our eyes
closed. I was much more effective in making contact with my eyes
closed. I had no idea who I was hitting but in letting myself be
pushed, I used the same energy as the pushers and sometimes, if the
push was hard, the people wound up getting hit harder than I would
have liked. I was trying to be gentle but ended up kicking and
punching my partners harder and more frequently than I did with my
eyes open. With my eyes open, I can hold back and not make such hard
contact if I see that the person isn't going to avoid. I am not sure
why having my eyes closed makes it harder to do this. As strange as
it sounds, I may be more effective against multiple attackers if my
eyes are closed. Certainly I'm more relaxed. (Well, except for this
one time when Jim King asked half the class to lay on the floor on
our backs while the other half ran over us, with everyone's eyes
closed. I have to admit I wasn't very relaxed at the prospect of half
the class running over me with their eyes closed. But then, I
probably would have been tenser if I could see what was about to
happen.)

As the seminar drew to an end, Martin led us into a sensitivity
exercise where the people on the outside try to push the person in
the middle who avoids contact altogether. You can also pass the
pushing arms if avoidance isn't possible or slide your hand between
the pushing arm and your own body to prevent contact.

Martin demonstrated some no-contact work which, although I know it's
not magic, still seems pretty amazing to me. When Martin manipulate
you without contact, even though you know what's going to happen, you
can't stop yourself from moving, his intent is so convincing. It does
look a little bit as if he's mesmerizing the other person. We tried
this ourselves and I found it quite difficult. My attempt to feint at
my mom by sticking a hand in her face only led to me poking her in
the eye. Too late a classmate advised me to keep my palm flat when
trying a feint to the eyes. Fortunately she wasn't hurt, but I wonder
how you do this and get the other person to move? Because I found
that the rest of the group wasn't as afraid of contact from me as
they are from Martin, for obvious reasons. If Martin looks like he's
going to hit someone, they definitely move! But people don't always
move away from me and a lot of times I just wound up making contact
when I was trying to feint. Still, it was some inspirational work and
a demonstration of what we can accomplish if we train with diligence,
sincerity, and most of all, patience, as Martin frequently reminded
us.

Lucky for us, Martin will teach this week's classes at Fighthouse and
so we might see some expansion of the topics covered at the seminars.
I intend to take all his classes but one (a quarterly meeting at the
office that I can't get out of prevents me from taking that morning
off). It's such a special opportunity to immerse myself in training
with one of the most senior Systema instructors in the world. What a
rare opportunity for a Systema student, I am very excited about this
coming week. So I might have some more notes to share with you all
next weekend, after my six consecutive days training with Martin
Wheeler.