This was our makeup class for Wednesday since the dojo closed early
on Christmas Eve. So there were only three of us to start the class,
me, a new female student and a male student who has been practicing
Systema for 4-6 months. This was a great opportunity for individual
attention from our instructor. We started with freestyle stretching,
then trying to move across the floor using only certain body parts.
First just our shoulders, laying on our stomachs, and the same thing
laying on our backs, not using the legs. Then we sat on the floor on
our seat-bones, legs slightly elevated, and tried to move back,
forward, and sideways using just the buttocks. Then we moved into our
usual 15 sit-ups, leg lifts, pushups and squats, with varied
breathing patterns including holding the breath for five reps.

We moved into limb-twisting, and I wanted to pair with the other
woman, but knowing that neither of us put as much pain into the limb-
twisting as we should, Edgar quickly broke us up. Somehow I always
wind up paired with our instructor for this exercise. Although
generally he has a light touch, and is very gentle for most drills,
he shows no mercy when it comes to developing pain compliance! At
this point my mom showed up, her train was late and she conveniently
missed the grueling warm-ups.

We also tried one partner on the floor while the other twisted the
wrist, using side-to-side rolling to escape. Then we worked with
practice knives for more than an hour. We practiced turning the body
so that the angle of the knife was changed from a stab to a
relatively harmless slash. One person pressed the knife to the
other's chest, and then you were supposed to roll the shoulder and
chest muscles until the angle of the knife was changed. It's hard to
explain and sounds like it wouldn't be too effective, but it does
work. Edgar explained this method is not for when someone is stabbing
or slashing at your with a knife, but when someone "holds you up"
with a knife, presents it against you and demands your wallet or
otherwise holds the knife relatively motionless as a threat. We also
practiced elbow joint locks, moving to the inside or outside of the
attacking arm. Also we practiced an odd drill where our partners
charged us with the practice knives and we had to "walk" our fingers
up the attacking arm at the same speed, then use the strange wave-
like motions of Systema to take our partners down using the six
levels, "folding" them as it were.

"Don't think!" said Edgar, as I tensed up and began to move against
the natural "sway" of our sparring. (He also told me to "think!" as I
failed to evade his limb-twists in the beginning of class.) A key
principle of Systema is not to plan, to use only the body's natural
reaction in formulating defense.

A new experience for me was that the last hour or so was just us
three women, as our male classmate had to go (actually I think he was
just tired, as he stuck around the dojo even after the class was
over, but he had to endure much ribbing from my mom about 3 girls
being too much for him!) I really enjoyed working with just the
women, as I think we are somewhat under-represented in Systema. Until
last week my mom and I were the only females studying Systema at
Fighthouse of maybe twenty-five students. Maybe it's the camoflauge
pants and the fact that Systema is a military style that puts women
off, but it's such a gentle martial art, in my humble opinion, it's
absolutely ideal for women, especially those that don't want to
bother with ranks, pyjama-like uniforms, bowing to "the master" or my
particular pet peeve, a lot of yelling. When we strike in Systema
class, we do not yell or shout to channel our aggression as
encouraged in some eastern arts. Aggression is not something that
Systema seeks to develop, it is not necessary for effective self-
defense. We workout in whatever we find comfortable, for most it's
camo pants or sweatpants, a tee-shirt, and wrestling or martial art
shoes (though some prefer barefoot or just socks).

This stands out as one of my favorite Systema classes ever due to its
small size, and partly to the fact that we were three women AND
newcomers. We are all new to Systema, the new girl (who is Russian)
had 2 classes and my mom and I, 10 - 12. We all got a lot of
individualized attention sparring with Edgar, who Edgar has a light
and gentle way of fighting, in addition to being a mild-mannered
person. For this reason it can be a huge challenge to spar with him,
as one of the principles of Systema is returning force with the same
degree and velocity of force, hitting hard and fast is easy, hitting
hard and slow very difficult. Both partners have to move at the same
speed for slow sparring to be an effective training tool.

Abandoning the practice knives, Edgar demonstrated the "four points"
of Eastern martial art, which are right below each shoulder and right
above each hip. After each sharp poke, he explained to the class
where I was off-balance and how to make use of this to take a person
down. I was the lucky guinea pig while Edgar poked me quite hard in
the stomach and chest, then followed up with a takedown.

Then we worked on attacks with one partner in a crouching position by
pushing sharply on the lower back, then manipulating the knee and
ankle. Again I was the guinea pig for Edgar's demos and got knocked
down to the floor about a million times as he demonstrated how to
follow up the initial push with creative manipulation. By "creative"
I mean that you have to look and see where your partner is off-
balance, usually you want to push them backwards. When all else
fails, the hand over the face works great. Most people don't like to
have someone else's hand over their eyes, for anyone who doesn't seem
to mind, all you have to do is push the hand harder. I have trouble
using the shoulder as a method of takedown, but for many it works
great. I tend to go for the face instead, back of the head works well
too if the person is in a bent position. Also the armpit is another
sneaky point of attack.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel