Hi,

Unforgettable, indeed! Overall, precision and efficiency were what I
remember most from the seminars. Mikhail stopped the class several
times throughout the weekend to make this point, asking us to be more
precise--"no wasted movement," especially with our strikes. Watching
Mikhail demonstrating for the first time on Saturday, I marveled at
his subtlety and precision, particularly with the knife disarms. He
has this extraordinary stillness, and sometimes appears to hardly
move at all, and always smiling. He slyly stole the knives from the
waists of the volunteers while effortlessly preventing them from
doing the same. I couldn't always see how he executed the disarms;
some of it was like sleight-of-hand to me, but I was fascinated.

On Sunday, Vlad demonstrated defense against multiple attackers, all
three with sticks. It was an amazing to watch, and reminded me of
Systema's medieval influence. Vlad wielded the stick in every way
imaginable, from every distance, thrusting and slashing, deftly
sliding the two attacking sticks together to work against each other,
and striking with the butt of the stick, especially on the necks of
the volunteers, where the head meets the spine. The heavy pommel of a
medieval sword would have been used in this fashion, or to pound
through an iron helmet--as deadly as the blade itself. It was quite
painful for the volunteers, I am sure. I winced as I watched the
punishment they accepted, even as I marvelled at their grace and
fearlessness. I was very impressed by the fortitude of all the
volunteers who helped with the demonstrations--many thanks to all of
them.

The notes below are not necessarily an interpretation, like the more
eloquent posts above, but just the action, which I have described in
my usual journalistic style. I'll start with Friday, the 2 ½ hour
seminar with Vlad. It's long--like Mark said, editing, not writing,
is the challenge. I hardly have the words to describe how just plain
lucky I am to be training (and living) Systema. It's been such a
positive influence in my life. I'm grateful to Mikhail and Vlad, not
only for sharing their knowledge with us last weekend, but for
bringing the gift of Systema to the Western hemisphere. Special
thanks to our gracious hosts Peggy and Edgar for all their hard work,
to the Fighthouse volunteers who helped out with registration and the
banquet, to Yuri for translating Mikhail's words, and of course to
the attendees, many of whom travelled also great distances to be with
us. I want to extend a special and personal thank-you to my
classmates at Fighthouse, especially to my favorite training partner,
my mom, who has always been there for me, and also to Rob, Scott,
Janice, Frankie, Denis, and most of all Edgar, for all the
encouragement. I hope I haven't missed anyone, but I'll return to
post about Saturday and Sunday.

Till then, *vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel


FRIDAY

There were at least 100 people at Friday's seminar, which made me a
little nervous, to tell you the truth. So I was glad when Vlad
started us off with a little stretching on the floor, then a simple
breathing exercise, where you tense and relax different parts of the
body while lying on the floor. I always find myself more relaxed
after these types of exercises--it helped a great deal. We did
another familiar one, the "ballroom dancing" drill where you step and
move your partner with each step by lightly pushing or pulling
different parts of the body, keeping the touch and response as light
as possible. It's excellent sensitivity practice for both partners.

We walked backwards into our partners, who presented an obstacle
(fist, leg, or anything to stop our path). The goal was to avoid the
obstacle but keep walking backwards, rather than stepping to one side
or rotating out of it, as if you are going through a narrow space. To
do so, you have to move each body part separately, especially the
hips and shoulders. My partner showed me how to move the torso
forward to duck underneath his arm, even as my legs were still moving
backwards, it's very hard to explain this movement. Edgar once told
me it's like a cat backing out of a paper bag, if you've ever seen
such a sight.

We also moved our partners around by placing both hands on their
shoulders, pulling them around while they stepped backwards. At a
certain point, you were supposed to pull them down to the floor. This
was about improving timing by co-ordinating with your partner's
steps, not just getting the takedown. With proper timing, you can
drop even a large person with very little effort. Then a similar
exercise where you walk with one arm around your partner. I wasn't
quite sure who was leading for the exercise, so I put my arm around
my partner and let him lead. At random times, his task was to try to
escape, at which point I was to take him down. Like the above
exercise, the timing has to be flawless--it requires patience, as you
have to wait for your partner to escape rather than "planning" to
take them don. I think sometimes we all tend to focus too much on the
takedown, even when timing is off, we still want that "result" even
if we have to "cheat" to get it (by struggling or being
excessively "physical").

We also did a little groundwork on Friday, beginning with an exercise
where one person lays on their back and the other person tries to
turn them over. Vlad demonstrated as a variety of volunteers
attempted to roll him over onto his stomach, to no avail. There was
something cavalier and almost slapstick in the many failed attempts
to flip him over. It was hard to see exactly how he was preventing
them, because he was moving only a little bit. He had us do this
exercise going from our back to our stomach, and then from the
stomach to the back.

I could not move my partner at all, which wasn't surprising, although
small, he is very tough and strong. But strangely, I could not resist
him when it was my turn. As soon as I felt the pain of the lock, I
flipped over. I actually began to turn over on my own, with only the
lightest contact him, just to avoid the pain. Afterwards, I
apologized for not resisting, but I was disappointed in myself for
not being more stoic about it. When Vlad asked us to change partners,
I didn't want to try again, but some of my classmates kindly
encouraged me to give it another go. But this time, we were allowed
to defend against being turned over. So I did, and it was a little
easier because I could move around, and because my partner didn't
inflict as much pain. So I began to enjoy it--I do love to work on
the ground. He flipped me a few times, and I managed to turn him over
just once, but only by using my entire body weight to lean back and
almost drag him over with a great deal of effort--perhaps too
physical. After we finished the exercise, I was even more amazed that
Vlad was able to stop his partners from turning him over and even
throw them off, while it appeared that he was just lying there
passively hardly moving at all.

We practiced avoiding punches, one person striking, the other just
stepping away and keeping a distance--no contact. (We did something
similar on Sunday I think it was, slashing or stabbing with the
practice knives while our partners avoided, keeping a few feet
between us--more on that later.) We also did some two-on-one drills
with avoidance. As I recall, this was relatively unstructured, two
people just attacked one any which way. Defense against multiple
opponents is another one of my favorite Systema topics. Because
there's no time to think or plan, I am more relaxed defending against
multiple attacks than against one partner. Vlad came over and told
me "Looks good!" He was very encouraging. Naturally I was pleased
that he sees an improvement from last year, as I have been practicing
diligently.
There was a brief mass attack melee in the center, I guess half the
class walked through it enthusiastically, but I avoided it, as it
looked rather dangerous. Some more pushups, perhaps to tone down the
excitement of the mass attack? I think we ended with the now-infamous
five-minute pushup; I was in the ladies' room for the first minute or
two. Vlad told us not to move a lot or to change position too much
during the five minutes. I did this with straightened arms, not 45
degrees, on my hands, not my fists, but I think I only lasted a
minute. I tried not to dwell on the time, as Vlad's countdown tended
to change from moment to moment!

I regret that I can't remember all the principles Vlad explained to
us, especially in the last hour or so. A few things have slipped my
memory. Some people were writing brief notes in journals at the
seminars, and maybe that's a good idea. But I'm afraid I'd be tempted
to write down every single scrap of information and miss out on the
actual training.

We waited for Mikhail arrived from the airport and of course Vlad
filled up that time with a few more breathing and conditioning
exercises. Vlad introduced his teacher and Mikhail greeted us in
Russian, which Yuri translated for us. After the introductions, Vlad
warned us not to drink too much that night. We all laughed, and
someone asked how much is too much? But he was quite serious about
wanting us to be fresh for the following day's lessons.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel