This entry is from early March, when Martin Wheeler came for a 2-day
seminar at Fighthouse, and taught a few classes in the week that
followed.

I was a little stiff, and still sore from the weekend seminars when I
went to the noon class on Tuesday. Martin started us off rolling the
sticks (I think ours were actually bo staffs) over our muscles to
massage and warm them. I had just woken up after sleeping all
morning, so this was a nice warm-up. Then he asked us to drape the
stick over our shoulders with arms draped over the front a
la "prisoner of war," and to fall with the stick in place. I did this
by spiraling downward and using my straight leg as sort of a rudder
to guide me to the floor, none too gracefully, but it wasn't an
impossible descent. Then Martin told us to keep the straight leg off
the floor and remain in one place, sinking down to the floor and
tucking the hips, basically, a one-legged squat, which is difficult
even without the stick! I approached this exercise starting from a
walk to sort of give myself the impetus, but I balked. I usually have
trouble with low squats, and I felt myself tense up at the prospect
of falling from higher than I would have liked. At the same time, I
was kind of surprised to discover that my falls were dependent on the
spiraling motion, and how difficult it was to fall from a standstill
and keep on leg off the floor at all times. In comparison, the stick
across my shoulders wasn't much of an impediment. Martin came over
encouraged me to do it just once, so I did, rather clumsily, and then
again, a little smoother the second time. Looking around the class,
it seemed to be a challenge for all of the students, and I think I
wasn't the only one to be feeling sore from the previous week's
training.

Fortunately we moved onto falling forward. I found this a lot easier
than the one-legged exercise. Pushing out the chest really helps
protect your face when you fall forward like this. It's hard to
overcome the fear response of curling up into a ball, but if you curl
your shoulders forward, your head could hit the floor first, and
that's rather painful. Laugh if you will, but I think being "blessed
in the chest" is an advantage for falling forward with restricted
arms. I don't have to worry as much about turning my face or
protecting my shoulders, since I know which parts are going to touch
the floor first! After falling forward, we also practiced getting up
again without turning over onto our backs. "Find a way," Martin said.
I didn't find these two exercise nearly as difficult as the first one.

We practiced wiggling around on the floor on our butts, without
letting the feet touch the floor and of course, with the stick still
in place. Then moving around on our stomachs, still with the stick
across our shoulders. And finally, the most impossible of all, doing
pushups with the stick draped across the shoulders! I literally felt
locked into place for that last one!

We moved on to exercises with our partners. We practiced gently
swinging the sticks at our partners and while they just avoided,
keeping form. Also the same exercise but swinging straight down
touching the end of the stick to the floor, rather than swinging
horizontally. Then we did the same thing, only changing the angle of
the sweep on the upwards swing. We practiced avoiding swings to the
head. Also swinging the stick at our partners by letting the stick
fall naturally without aiming, sort of like twirling a baton. For
this one, Martin told us to let the movement of the head lead the
body. Martin came over and pushed my partner's head around to show
him how to let his body follow. I noticed a big improvement in my
partner after this. So when it was my turn, I asked Martin to do the
same thing to me. He rotated my neck around, but it was difficult for
my body to follow because my neck was kind of stiff. He had me rotate
his head to feel the difference. Because my neck muscles were tense,
he just rotated my head around and around and asked me several times
to relax. I tried not to be nervous as Edgar videotaped us. I
couldn't help but think how easily my neck could be broken if I
tensed up. I think I have a phobia about my neck being broken because
of my own tension. But after Martin cracked several vertebrae, I felt
a lot better. Some people feel pain when this happens but for me,
cracking joints are always a relief. When Martin returned to pushing
my head, it was easier to let my body follow, but somehow I ended up
stepping heavily on the floor rather than stepping softly. I was a
little resistant, stopping the energy he had sent into the push on my
head by stamping my foot. Because my joints tend to be stiff and lock
up, it's especially important for me to let my partner's energy
travel through me, rather than try to stop it.

Martin said Systema movement was very much like a matador's. He
demonstrated with an imaginary cape so we could envision how fluid
hips are so important to this kind of movement. He told us how the
matador does not run away from the bull, but steps closer. We
continued to avoid the swinging sticks, but now by rotating inwards,
stepping closer to our partners and placing a hand on their shoulder.
Then taking them down using the continual movement of the stick, then
finally take the stick away and switching tasks. I found rotating
inwards a lot easier than rotating outside the stick; obviously,
moving inwards keeps you farther away from the business end of the
stick.

Martin told me not to be complacent. Perhaps I was being a little
lazy about getting out of the way. The stick deserves extra respect,
learning how avoid quickly is important. When we do exercises with
the stick, with strikes, or even just a practice knife, I always find
out if I've been doing the bare minimum. These objects do not care
about your safety the way another human being does. So it's very good
practice for moving properly.

Since my partner's job was to hold onto the stick and keep it away
from me, his consciousness was focussed into grasping the stick. It
wasn't hard to use it as leverage for takedown. But after that,
taking away the stick was a bit trickier. After my partner fell, I
found it easiest to grab one end of the stick and tilt it, then use
my leg to collapse it out of my partner's hand.

We finished by targeting our partners a little with the stick, not
swinging in straight lines, but tracking them a bit. Martin and Edgar
demonstrated this exercise, a good deal faster than we were doing it,
which was pretty impressive. But I noticed that Edgar didn't always
get out of the way in time. It looked painful, but this is how the
body remembers what to do next time!

I liked the stick class a lot because our focus was mainly on
movement and posture rather than applications. We practiced letting
the body lead the movement, not passing the stick over by rolling off
the arm, as was my inclination was, but letting the arms hang
naturally at the sides and moving the entire body. Movement often
begins with the hips, but as we saw earlier, it can begin with the
head or with any part of the body that must move out of the way
first. When the stick is swinging fast, you might not have the option
to maintain contact and pass it over you, or even to move the closest
leg first. Sometimes, the farthest leg has to move first so you can
get out of the way faster. We did a few applications towards the end
of class, using the motion of the stick to take our partners down,
such as the exercise I described above, but for the most part, the
stick class with Martin was just about learning to move honestly.

This was a good class for me because I was a little sore from the
previous three days and because I had just woken up less than an hour
before class began. I sleep so
soundly that my joints sometimes lock up from being in the same
position for so many hours. I found myself a little distracted by my
cracking joints, a tension headache, my skipped breakfast, and of
course, my fear of the stick. As usual, getting hit and taken down a
few times relaxed me a good deal, and I felt much better after class.
It was a fine day so I walked home. I was so sore, it hurt to step
off the 6-inch curb! As I walked, I was thinking that a stick or a
staff is a useful Systema accessory for solo training. Last year, I
remember watching Martin roll with a stick stuck down one pant leg,
or through the neck of his shirt and down his back, and even across
his shoulders. The falling and rolling exercises with a stick are
great practice. I'm going to look into getting a bo staff so I can
practice in the park the summer.

I returned for Martin's evening class, which was about working with
knives, but it's a separate log entry, which I will post shortly.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel