Hi,
The first two days, the seminars on Saturday and Sunday, were
described in my earlier post, "notes from Martin Wheeler's NYC
Seminar December 11 and 12." Martin stayed on to teach the Systema
classes at Fighthouse for the next four days. What follows are my
training journals from those four classes, plus an additional class
on Thursday night, which Edgar taught. So it's kind of long but I
hope you will find something useful within it.

Monday night – Gun disarms

We did our usual warm-ups pushups, sit-ups, squats, ten on the
inhale, ten on the exhale, and ten without breath. I can get through
about five or so without breathing. Occasionally I can make it
through the ten, usually when I have no warning, for some reason,
when I try to prepare myself for going without breath, it makes it
even harder. We also did this exercise where your partner tries to
raise their arms while you hold their arms down just enough to allow
them to move their arms up a little at a time. Then when the arms are
up, you try to hold them up while they press down, but allowing just
enough give so they can slowly move the arms back to the side. Also
did this with the legs, both partners in a half-squat, with one
holding the other's legs closed by putting the legs on the outside,
and yielding a little at time while they push out, then with legs on
the inside of the other person's legs holding them open but allowing
them to close their legs a little at time.

For the rest of the class we deeply explored gun disarming. First our
partners drew the guns from various places where people generally
carry weapons, such as front or back pocket, waistband, leg, or under-
arm, and took aim, while we had to just step out of the way of the
line of fire, or go down if necessary. Usually you want to turn
parallel to the barrel of the gun. Martin explained it's generally a
good idea to step closer, as the ideal place to be is right next to
the person holding the gun, so that he cannot shoot you without
risking shooting himself. Then we stepped in and lightly placed our
hands on the person drawing, just to get a sense of the logical
progression of stepping in. Martin demonstrated finding the tension
of the person drawing the gun. The weapon creates tension in the hand
and arm and you can follow this to the torso. He had us try to find
the tension while our partner drew, and push the tense spot to move
our partners. This was very illuminating work. I find it difficult to
find the tension without patting my partner all over. I was working
with Edgar and he told me to just take my time. It takes sensitivity
to learn to feel this tension rather than trying to see it, as it can
be too subtle to be perceived visually.

Martin reminded us not just to work on the arms but also the hips and
lower back. We practiced moving around our partners as they drew and
pulling their hips back, pressing on the lower back, or manipulating
them by collapsing their hips.

We also tried defense against double-handed draws and Martin showed
us how to snake the hands between the two arms and use leverage to
disarm the gun. In a single-handed draw, there is a similar concept
he called "spiraling" where you push on the arm holding the gun with
both your arms moving in opposite directions. It was a little
confusing and I don't know if I can explain it too well, but it was
kind of like a scissoring-type of movement.

For about half the class, we drew "Hollywood-style" with the arms
extended. Of course professionals do not draw this way as it makes it
easier to effect a disarm if you stretch out your arm too much.
Someone asked about disarming the professional draw where the gun is
held close to the body. Martin suggested just turning the gun into
the body. He said it is easier to turn it that way, but you can also
turn the gun out and away from the body. He demonstrated how
important it is not just to turn the barrel of the gun but also to
step in the opposite direction to get out of the line of fire. We
practiced simply tilting the barrel of the gun and stepping in the
opposite direction, tilting it from side to side as well as pointing
up and down.

Martin explained how the angle of the elbow of the person holding the
gun shows the direction they will collapse. By pulling the elbow in
that direction, the rest of the body follows.

We also worked on manipulating the fingers to affect the release.
Martin showed us how, without the thumb in place, the grip on the gun
is very loose and easily disarmed. So we practiced prying the thumb
off the gun. He also showed us how to use the finger against the
trigger, though he said it works better with a metal gun, even so,
the rubber practice guns gave an idea of this and it was easy to
apply pressure to any of the fingers by pressing them to the trigger
of the gun.

We also tried putting our hands up when our partner drew on us. This
is the expected reaction and so it can lead to a momentary belief
that things are going the way of the person with the gun. Then of
course you surprise them by dropping your arm down on the drawing
arm, just letting it fall with its own weight, and this can knock the
gun right out of their hands.

We spent a few minutes practicing with our partners pressing the gun
into our backs. The pressure tells you which direction to move.
Martin told us not to simply spin around but to use the fluidity of
the hips to turn, dipping the hips down into a bowl shape. He also
mentioned that you want to take the shortest path to move the gun
away from your back without crossing the barrel over your spine, so
if the gun is pressed into the right side of your back, you want to
turn to the right to let the gun slip off the shortest distance of
your body.

Several times Martin stopped us and told us not to fight, to move
slowly so as not to alarm the person. Denis drew on him and Martin
moved towards him with obvious haste, which caused Denis to look
alarmed and jump a little. Then Denis drew and Martin smoothly and
calmly disarmed him, so efficiently that it was hard to even see what
happened. It's very important, when faced with a gun, to leave your
own aggression behind. It will never be enough to overwhelm a person
who believes he has a fatal advantage in being armed. Once again we
saw the importance of a cool, professional attitude in life-
threatening circumstances.

Tuesday night – Knife disarms

Edgar started us out with warming up by kneeling on the floor and
lowering one shoulder, then the other to the ground. Also moving
across the floor on the back using just the shoulders, backwards,
forwards, side to side. Then on stomach using just the shoulders and
hips. Then on butt with legs raised off the floor, scooting across
floor, backwards, side to side

Then we moved around the floor starting from a kneeling position and
moving circularly by rotating the hips and swiveling the legs under
and around without using the hands. It's hard to explain. The funny
thing about this exercise is no matter how many times I try, I just
can't do it the way Edgar does. I can move around on the floor just
fine by using my hips, I just can't do it in the same way that Edgar
does. I've tried getting right next to him and copying his movements,
but my legs seem to fold underneath me in a different way and even
though I am moving along fairly easily, I am using different
movements. It's like I have some kind of logistical block to figuring
out how he's moving.

Martin then led us through the usual 30 pushups, sit-ups, and squats
back-to-back with our partners. Inhale, exhale, and ten without
breathing for each. Next we did the "Russian massage" of our partners
by stepping on their limbs and walking on their backs.

Martin asked us what we wanted to do and several people requested
working with knives. We started by just getting out of the way of the
knife as our partners stabbed or slashed. For slashing Martin showed
us how to rotate around completely to avoid the slash, by going in
the same direction. The movement of the arm shows you where to go.

He also showed us how to knock the knife out of the hand by passing
the attacking arm from on hand to the other, and using a sharp blow
to knock it out. Also doing this with just one arm by snaking the arm
around and using a sharp blow to knock it out.

Also how to "throw" the attacking arm back in the opposite direction,
which I find very tricky. You let the arm slash or stab, guide it
along, then suddenly toss it back in the opposite direction, which
moves the whole body. We practiced also using pressure on the elbow
to control the person as they stabbed or slashed.

The class was kind of unstructured and we worked somewhat freely on
the various concepts. For the last five minutes Martin asked us to
change partners and my mom agreed. We don't often switch. As I may
have mentioned, it is very difficult for me to find a partner as I am
too shy to ask anyone, but one of my classmates was happy to work
with me, which always lessens my anxiety.

He did ask me to be a little more committed and I feel more
comfortable doing this with my classmates than with my mother. I
don't like to hit her and I am sure if anyone were to try training
with his or her own mother, they might find a similar aversion to
striking her.

Anyway, my partner was a young, fit guy and so I wasn't so worried
about hurting him accidentally. He took me down and kept coming, and
I did give him a little more resistance than I would ordinarily
because I love to work on the floor. I'm afraid I tripped him as he
came at me, kind of a dirty tactic but he seems to enjoy working with
me. When I know my partner can handle himself and is good-natured
about sparring, I feel more comfortable using all my skill. It's nice
to be reminded that there are a few guys in the world who admire
martial women, even though sometimes it seems that most of them are
just threatened by women who like to fight.

At the end of the class Martin offered punches; my mom accepted a
few. If you have read even one of my training logs, you know that I
feel intense anxiety at being the center of attention and so I did
not volunteer even though I find taking strikes to be very
beneficial. Everyone was standing around watching and I don't feel
comfortable in such situations. I am sorry I missed the chance to
take strikes from Martin but I guess it was a good lesson for me to
try to overcome my shyness.

Wednesday – Working with sticks

Working with sticks was the theme of Wednesday's class. We began by
each taking a stick and rolling it over our muscles to warm them up.
Martin reminded us to breathe as he so often does. We placed the
sticks behind our neck and over the shoulders with arms draped over,
which Denis had told us is used as a POW restraint in `unfriendly'
countries. With the stick in this position, Martin had us fall, and
rise again. From a kneel, we fell forward with the stick in the same
position. After watching Denis and Edgar, I saw that the trick is to
slide your leg back and get that side of your body as low as possible
before sliding onto the floor. Also if you open your chest as you
fall, it softens the impact.

Keeping the stick in the same place, we also did pushups, but I could
barely move myself off the floor in this position. And sit-ups, which
were not as tough but still quite challenging with the stick draped
over my shoulders.

Then one person took a stick and pushed it into the other person, who
allowed the contact to move them. Martin demonstrated not letting the
stick cross your spine. If your partner is pushing into the right
side of your back, move your body to let the stick slip off your
right side, rather than moving the other way so the stick slides over
your spine. We pushed each other from the back and the front and all
directions. Then Martin asked us to avoid the stick altogether. I was
moving in close to my partner and Martin told me to just step out and
get out of the way rather than stepping in. We also practiced
avoiding the sticks at half squat and full squat.

For the next exercise, Martin had us step into our partners and
manipulate them as they thrust the stick. I had a lot of trouble
committing to my movements. I stepped in and just lightly placed my
hands on my partner's shoulders, rather than trying to take him down.
Martin told me to work with more conviction. It took me a long time
but finally I gained a little confidence in my movements. But I'm
afraid I only felt this way for a few minutes. The stick was a
distraction for me. I am not always in top form and training every
day always reveals this much more than classes a few times a week.

We also practiced avoiding slashes with the stick by letting the legs
move freely. My partner jumped over the stick as I made a low sweep
and Martin complimented him and showed us several ways of doing this.
The easiest way for me was using my partner to give me support as I
leaped over the stick. Then we practiced using just the legs to
defend and take the stick away. Martin told us not to get too focused
on the weapon, but just work with the person and the stick will
follow. If you control the person, you have the stick, too. But the
principle eluded me and I wasn't able to do more than brush the stick
aside with my legs.

Martin also showed us how you can roll over the stick but I didn't
want to try. Under other circumstances I would have given it a go but
I was feeling insecure for some reason. I kept wanting Martin to come
over and instruct me. Instead of rolling I just went down and worked
against my partner from the floor while he slashed at me with the
stick, and I found it much easier to manipulate him from the ground
than standing up.

We put everything all together for three minutes or so of sparring
more freely, then circled up. Everyone seemed very happy with the
stick work and described it as a wonderful and relaxing experience.
Being a forthright sort, I admitted that I felt distracted by the
stick and challenged by the night's work, and that I felt more
proficient back in June when we last work with sticks, but maybe I
just had lower expectations six months ago. Here's an excerpt from
that log

Quote:
I worked with Denis a little, on the ground, while we had our arms
wrapped around the sticks, like POWs in "unfriendly countries," as
Denis politely refer to them, or, as I think of it, like milkmaids. I
love to work with the stick in this way, and I asked Denis when we
circled if we could tie our legs together in the course of our
training.

And from another log entry about sticks:

Quote:
We've also been warming up with sticks in our classes. Two people
holding two short sticks, one in each hand, parallel to the ground,
then one person stands between the two sticks and grips them to lower
down 10X, without touching the feet to the floor. These are more
difficult that you might think, because of the instability of the
sticks. Also two people hold the stick parallel to the ground, about
waist-high, third person on the ground does pushups, only with the
legs balanced on the stick. Then the same thing with the hands on the
stick and feet on the floor. And then doing pull-ups, with heels on
the ground and hands on the stick. Then the latter three exercises
while classmates punch and kick us...which is strangely easier than
doing the exercises without being hit. Edgar told us the beating
takes the mind off the difficulty of the exercises.

We've also been working on avoidance and yielding exercises using the
stick (staffs, actually, in our case). Two people hold balance the
stick between them, first on the shoulders, one person rotates the
shoulders to move to the other side of the stick, or uses
the "combing the hair" motion to pass it, then one person holds the
stick at elbow, waist, knee, and ankle level while the other rotates
or passes (for the knee/ankle level, you can use your legs to pass
the stick up to the arm). These exercises are useful for learning
to "pass" or otherwise avoid punches. Also swinging at each other
with one or both ends of the stick, while the other avoids, as well
as pushing the stick against the legs and between the legs. The
latter is useful for loosening the hips, as you have to be loose to
avoid becoming tangled up in the stick. We've also practiced holding
the stick against the shoulders, parallel to the floor, with arms
draped over, and falling and rolling while keeping the stick in
place.

It was about six months ago that I wrote that I love to work with the
stick, but on Wednesday I felt very discouraged about my abilities
and what I perceived as a complete lack of skill. But not every day
can be a perfect training session and I just try to remember Jim
King's advice that there's always another class.

Thursday day – Rolls

Martin led us through the usual pushups, sit-ups, and squats, and
reminded us to keep our form. Especially for the sit-ups, he told us
not to raise the legs off the ground, and to keep the back straight
to develop the core muscles.

Then we began to work on slow rolls. These are just Systema rolls
done as slowly as possible. It is not so easy as it sounds, it's
actually much easier to go faster. I found it extremely difficult,
once my legs had passed over a certain point, to slow down my ascent.
My legs just kind of fell to the floor. My mom did these slow rolls
very well. We also did slow backwards rolls and I found it even
harder to go slow. I can stop in mid roll but once my legs tilt to a
certain angle, I can't seem to stop myself from falling into the rest
of the roll.

Martin had us roll slowly forward, then sideways, backwards, and
maneuver around on the floor. Then he asked us to come together in
tight formation in the center, rolling and maneuvering around in this
way. Martin had to corral me back into the center as I had tried to
drift away. When I see a group of people crowded together, it is hard
for me to resist the urge to get away from them. We also did this
exercise with eyes closed.

Then we practiced rolling from a standing position. Our partners
pushed us from behind and we moved forward into a roll. I am still
frightened to do this but I just keep trying. Martin suggested that
if we felt as if we were going to go down on one knee first, to turn
the knee inward instead of letting it touch the ground. I tried this
and it made my rolls kind of flop sideways. I actually find it easier
to just get as low as possible and hold one leg out straight and let
that act as a rudder to tip me forward.

Next we had our partners push us from the front and we had to swivel
around, rotate into a roll, and return back to take down our
partners. We also did the same thing with kicks or sweeps, where our
partners pushed one leg back or swept it forward to move us into the
roll, and we had to return back and take them down from the ground.
Also we practiced just going straight down and taking our partners
down by falling instead of rolling.

"React first, then apply your knowledge," suggested Martin. "It's
like driving a car, you don't think about every step that's involved
in turning a corner, or whether the brakes or the axel work, you just
turn the wheel and the car follows." This is why it's easier for me
to roll when someone is pushing me or sweeping out a leg, then I
don't have time to plan, I can just let myself be moved. But rolling
is still scary for me. It's only because I've made an effort to
practice every weekend that I can roll from a standing position at
all, and then I have to get as low as possible before I roll. My mom
is also scared to roll from a standing position, because she keeps
hitting her head. I do too, sometimes, but I just get used to the
hard knocks. I find if I hit my head once or twice, it's not such a
bad thing, I'm usually less inclined to hit it again. But my mom does
have bruises on her shoulder from rolling. I am not quite sure why I
don't get bruised, I guess I just have more padding. Still, the only
way to get over the fear is just to try. We spent a good half-hour
rolling from a standing position and to not try this during that time
is missing out on a great opportunity to get some instruction from
someone who is extremely proficient at rolling. I can't think of
anyone better qualified to teach us how to roll than Martin Wheeler.
I guess I have progressed a little more than my mom because of my
sessions in the park. It's now too cold for most people to want to
practice outside with me, and so she hasn't been rolling as much as I
have. The wind is so nippy on the Hudson that I usually practice only
for 20 minutes once a week but it makes a difference. Even so, as I
admitted to Martin, most of the time when I roll from a standing
position, I tense up as I am afraid to hit the floor and this makes
it more painful. You just have to relax into it and accept that you
will hit the floor. You have to be decisive about it, you're going
down, either way, so you might as well relax and accept it and let
your body find its natural way to the ground.

We ended class with a 30-count pushup and many thank-yous to Martin
Wheeler, who promised to come back in March. Martin took the time to
tell me and my mom that we have improved considerably since his last
visit, which is always nice to hear. I appreciate that he went out of
his way to tell me this, it was a boost to my self-confidence, and I
felt as if the hard work of the last year has yielded some positive
results.

Thursday evening with Edgar

I took Thursday off, since Friday is my birthday but there's no
Systema class on Friday and I wanted to take two classes to celebrate
my birthday. Denis was taking Martin to the airport so Edgar was
going to teach the class for the first time in many weeks of guest
teachers. There was a guest waiting to observe our class but Edgar
was running a bit late with his private lesson, so Master Hun, the
program co-ordinator, asked me to lead the class through warm-ups.
This is the second time I've been asked to lead the class and once
again I deferred this task to one of the other students. I can't get
through 30 pushups and I thought one of the guys who can do so,
should lead the class. Also I just don't like to take a leadership
role. Many of my partners tell me what to do, and even though I am
one of the more experienced students, I don't see how they would
suddenly defer to me just because Edgar was running late. I just
don't feel comfortable in leading the class. There were three other
students and they were all from Edgar's kung fu class. Even though
it's a different style, they've all been training with Edgar longer
than I have, and so I deferred to one of them to lead the class while
we waited for Edgar.

So we did our usual 30 pushups, sit-ups, leg lifts, and squats, with
10 on the inhale, 10 on the exhale, and 10 without breathing. Edgar
joined us by the time we got to the squats. After we finished those,
we did the exercise where you feel the drift of your partner, as we
did in Martin's seminar over the weekend. One person stands and
places their hands lightly on the other's arms, trying to feel the
natural sway of the person as they stand still. Edgar called this
the "frequency" of the other person. No-one is ever standing truly
still, as Martin explained, as long as you are breathing, you are
moving.

After that, Edgar had us do the 30-count pushup, sit-up, leg lift and
squat.

We expanded this sensitivity drill into one person attacking with a
punch, then freezing, while the other walked around finding the drift
and taking the person down. The idea is to find the natural direction
that the person will fall, the path of least resistance. It takes
some sensitivity to accomplish this. The person freezing can re-
adjust as the other person manipulates them, but they should not be
too resistant. Edgar demonstrated with one of my classmates who's
always a bit tense. He was very resistant and Edgar hit him a few
times to break the tension and collapse him.

I found myself "following" the drift of my partner all the way down,
usually ending up somewhere near their knees to manipulate them to
the ground. We tried this exercise kicking instead of punching. Then
we started to use just the legs to take the other person down. We
spent much time on this last exercise, simply avoiding a kick and
using only the legs to take down the other person, switching back and
forth. Edgar told us we could follow up on the takedown by stepping
on the vulnerable areas of our partners. My partner did so, and after
I got up, he took this opportunity to tell me that in "reality," he
would have stepped on me so hard I wouldn't get up again. "Unless I
had a revolver and just shot you, in which case neither of us would
get up again," I said, irritably. "Or a knife, for that matter, in
which case I might have stabbed you." I was annoyed because he's
often pointed out to me that if it weren't for him "holding back,"
I'd be quite dead. One night in the past, we were working on an
exercise where you were only supposed to use your legs, and keep your
hands in your pockets, and he was getting frustrated. It was his
third class, using the legs for Systema work doesn't come to most of
us in just a few hours of training. "If I could use my hands, this
would be quite a different story," he said. It is arrogant to keep
pointing out that you would be so much more lethal without the
restrictions of a training environment. Any student would be more
effective against an actual threat. There is a parable of two monks
watching a fox chasing a hare. The one monk points out that the hare
will escape, and the other asks Why? "Because the fox is running for
his dinner, whereas the hare is running for his life." You should
never assume that you will have the upper hand against your partner
in a real scenario. It's good to have confidence in your skills, but
it's also important to recognize that your partner is also in
training. If you've had a handful of lessons and your partner is much
more experienced, you should not assume you can prevail over them.
Humility is just as important as confidence. As Arthur Sennott
says, "I just assume everyone can kick my ass and get on with the
training."

When you've spent so many years in another style, as my partner had,
it's hard to join a different class and be a beginner again. It is
understandable to want to retain your senior status from one class to
another. I am sympathetic to my classmate's frustration at having to
start with a blank slate in a different style, but at the same time,
I could do without the arrogant remarks.

Fortunately I switched and partnered with Edgar. We were on the mats
and so I was in my socks. At one point as I moved to take him down
with my legs, he stepped on one of my socks and captured me there. I
laughed but it was good practice in using just one leg to take him
down. Maybe we could even create a drill that involved being trapped
by one sock and using just the other leg! But I began to get a little
tired from all the falling and getting up again, and from the daily
training, I guess I am not used to it as I generally go to 3 classes
a week. After two hours of practicing, I found myself in the unusual
position of thinking with longing of my bed at home and how nice it
would be to curl up under my quilt and sleep for a solid 8.
Fortunately, Denis returned from the airport and Edgar told us to
circle up.

I commented that I enjoyed working on finding the "drift" or
the "frequency" as Edgar described it. It is the direction the person
wants to go naturally, and if you can be sensitive to this, find it
and use it to move them, it is much easier to take someone down, as
you are just helping them go in the direction they are naturally
going. Edgar offered some critique to me and the other two guys, who
had trained with Edgar in the kung fu class. One of them is very
tense, he is the guy that Edgar punched during the first exercise,
and Edgar advised him to keep his arms relaxed and try to loosen up a
bit. The other student, who is just out of high school, is quite
naturally relaxed. I was surprised that Edgar told him that he gets a
little too physical and to try to keep it more soft. I was expecting
some critique from Edgar, in fact I was looking forward to it, but he
simply said, "Rachel is much more calm." I laughed and said it was
probably because I was so tired from training all week. But I was
surprised. Before starting Systema I never would have described
myself as a relaxed or calm person. I generally feel anxious and shy
around my classmates, whereas other students are more at ease working
with everyone, and yet these social skills don't seem to reflect
whether or not someone is relaxed.

On a more personal note, after class, as I was standing chatting with
Denis about my winter coat (German military surplus), Master Hun took
me aside and quietly told me that he needs me to lead the class
through warm-ups when he asks me to if Edgar is delayed. He told me
its important when we have a guest observing, to start the class on
time and that as the senior student, I should lead the class. I
explained to him that one of the other students does a good job of
leading us through the warm-up exercises and he again insisted that
the most experienced student should lead the class until Edgar
arrived. But I don't feel as if I'm in a position to lead the class.
I may be the senior student but only because our veterans have
stopped coming to class for various reasons. I don't feel as if I am
the senior student and some of my classmates tell me what to do. I
can't expect that all the sudden, just because the teacher is late,
my classmates will defer to me. But Master Hun was insistent, saying
it is important to Sifu (Peggy) and Edgar, and Fighthouse as well,
and he made me promise to lead the class next time he asked. I gave
him my word but of course I am hoping it won't come to that again.

Many thanks to Martin Wheeler, if he is reading this, for spending a
whole week with the Fighthouse students. I had a great time training
and look forward to his return to Fighthouse next year. Of course
thanks to Edgar and Peggy for arranging Martin's visit, and to our
guest teacher Denis for being on-hand to help with the instruction. I
was exhausted Thursday night when I returned from class, and yet now
that it's Friday, I wish I could do it all over again and it seems a
long wait until my next class on Monday.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel