Hi,
That's an excellent analysis, thanks Rob. One one hand, you don't
want to let the hand holding the weapon remain useless, so the weapon
does nothing more than take away a free hand. But on the other hand,
just because you are holding a weapon, doesn't mean you can't do
something else. A lot of knife disarms don't even involve the knife,
but work against some other part of the body. Sometimes my partner is
on the ground before I effect the disarm. But weapons have a way
of "pysching out" the practitioner. I am more comfortable with the
stick now than I was during Scott's visit.
Good luck with your move and *vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel



--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, r f <ibnmazir@y...> wrote:
>
> Fantastic report Rachel! About being 'burdened' by the stick, I
believe what you are describing is referred to as 'weapon fixation',
where the weapon causes a kind of 'tunnel vision' and the person with
the weapon feels that he or she must use the weapon. The reverse is
also true and a defender will sometimes fixate his or her attention
on the weapon in the attacker's hand at the expense of the rest of
the situation...so they won't notice what the attacker is doing with
their other hand, for example. This phenomenon also manifests itself
with the use of 'technique' in other martial arts - where one person
will fixate on taking down the other person using a specific
technique, which of course, limits their options and ensures their
vulnerability to an opponent who is not 'burdened' with the
limitations of 'technique' and is instead free to move and respond in
any way possible. This psychological phenomenon may be put to
interesting use by practitioners of systema. It can be, for
> example, a method of capturing or leading the mind of the
opponent. In a way, one might almost say that we are preventing their
mind from being 'free' (by limiting their thoughts to the object of
fixation), and thus we not only prevent their thoughts from moving
away from the object of fixation, we also simultaneously prevent
their bodies from moving in a positive way as well! As movement is
one of the four pillars of systema, which manifests itself on both
mental and physical spheres, we can see here an example of how such a
principle as the manipulation of movement may be effected on the
mental plane and translate into the physical one. Anyways, just a
thought.
>
> By the way, sorry for having been so quiet lately. I'm in the
middle of moving to Japan, and I don't know what to expect (it's a
little different from Australia). So I'm kind going nuts down here. I
promise I'll post more in the future ASAP. I've even got a russian
martial art manual I wanna upload (it's in Russian though, but I
think it might be the ROSS manual by General Alexander Retuinskih.
Maybe someone can verify that When it's up). I'm also going to have
to apoligise in advance for when I *try* and upload the manual. I
suck at computer technology - I'm an archaeologist - I deal with the
past, not the future! So I don't have your skill at this Rachel. I'll
try my best though. Anyways, take care and I'll try and get back to
you ASAP, Rob.
>
> rkxyz <rkxyz@y...> wrote:
> Hello,
> It's been ages, but I did want to complete my post about Scott
> Connor's October 2005 stick seminars at Fighthouse. Here is Part
II.
> I had a delayed reaction to Scott's seminars. At the time, I
> struggled, it seemed like the hardest thing in the world. Somehow,
my
> approach to sticks have changed, and they are now my favorite
> weapons. I much prefer sticks to knives. I think they are easier to
> use and the Systema principles are more apparent when working with
> the sticks. They also bring to mind the sword work which some
people
> believe is the basis for much of the Systema movement.
> I hope to add the rest of the training notes from the guest classes
> Scott taught at Fighthouse in the week following the seminar, if my
> schedule permits.
> *Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
> Rachel
>
> Sunday
>
> Sunday's warm-up was a bit like Saturday's, starting off with
freely
> stretching, "like when you first wake up in the morning," with
> breathing of course; elongating your limbs, rolling back and forth
> from stomach to back, starting the motion with the hip, and using
the
> floor as a passive stretching partner for various limbs. At least,
> that's how I do it. I'm sure everyone has their own variations. I
> find this to be a soothing exercise, like a massage.
>
> We also did the breathing exercise, laying on the floor, inhaling
and
> exhaling as Scott guided us through tensing and relaxing different
> parts of the body, then different sections (just the legs, just the
> left side, etc.), also different wave patterns, tensing from the
toes
> to the head, and vice versa, and relaxing in this patterns, too,
and
> breathing at different speeds, slow, or sharp…actually, it is only
as
> I type this that I realize how much this exercise explores your own
> biomechanics. When I do this exercise, I feel the places where the
> tension already exists. And I have to admit, I don't like to tense
> those places any further! But sometimes it helps to do so, to see
the
> contrast.
>
> Then some partnered exercises with the stick. Back to back, we did
> squats with both our arms draped over the stick. For all the stick
> exercises where our arms were draped over and the stick horizontal,
> Scott had us hold the sticks at the crook of the elbow. Draped over
> the shoulders, like a milkmaid, is much easier than at the elbow,
> because most of your arm is free. At the elbow, we had to use the
> body and not the arms to lead movement.
>
> For two minutes we did a static pushup…I don't think the sticks
were
> incorporated into this one. Scott had told us something about the
> whip and how the being hit with the stick and whip evoke different
> emotions. He asked Edgar if by any chance he had one, and Edgar
> fetched a short braided whip so Scott could walk around and whip us
> as we held the position. I thought it wouldn't hurt too much, the
> whip was short. But it was surprisingly painful. Even so, it took
my
> mind off the difficult task at hand.I wonder how I would have
reacted
> to a second hit? One of my classmates moved as if to draw away, he
> may have been joking. I recall that Scott said, "You can take it,
she
> did!" referring to me.
>
> We did some partnered and solo exercises with the sticks, including
a
> stretching exercise for the legs. But I can't recall these, sorry,
my
> notes are too vague. I remember that we held the stick in the
elbow,
> behind the head, and practiced falling and getting up again, from
the
> back and the stomach, keeping the stick in place.
>
> Scott had us stand in a circle around one person, who closed his
eyes
> and swung the stick around at all of us, as on Saturday. I did a
> little better with this than on Saturday, when I was unsure of how
to
> evade. Then we threw the shorter sticks around in a circus type of
> exercise, one person still standing in the middle, the rest of us
> circled around. We started with one, gradually working up to four
> sticks, by which time they were flying all over the place. But as I
> recall, we dropped surprisingly few of them, and some people fared
> very well in the middle. We did the same thing with everyone
sitting
> down. This exercise is a lot of fun.
>
> Back into pairs with the longer sticks, one person swings the
stick,
> the other simply evades. Then we moved into taking the stick away.
> Then, one person punches, and you use the stick to take them down.
We
> did the same thing with kicks and then with grabs. It was a bit
> easier for me than on the previous day. I guess I was feeling more
> confident. But I still had this vague feeling of having to use the
> stick, which is how I am sometimes "burdened" by a weapon, almost
as
> if it takes away one of my hands. I felt that if I didn't use the
> stick, it would be "wrong," but Scott did not tell us that we only
> had to use the stick. He wanted us to make use of it, but not
> exclusively.
>
> One person held the stick, the other tried to grab it and take it
> away. I have in my notes that I got very stubborn about this. I
could
> not see how I was supposed to take the stick away from my much
> stronger partner. He was very kind about trying to help me but
> finally lost his patience because I kept insisting I could not do
it.
> This is one of my classmates who has more confidence in my ability
> than I do myself. I am prone to stubbornness, but finally Scott
> helped me get the hang of using leverage and working on different
> areas to take the stick away from my partner.
>
> On the ground, one person has the stick, the other grabs and tries
to
> hold. The person with the stick has to free themselves, using the
> stick if possible. This one came more easily to me, perhaps because
> we were on the ground, my favorite place for training. I commented
to
> my partner that we seemed to be freeing ourselves very quickly
> whereas other people were struggling for much longer. He said that
> wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It's indicative of my state of
mind,
> that I was worried that we were accomplishing the task too easily.
I
> found, when my partner was using it to free himself from my hold,
> that the stick pressing into me is so uncomfortable, I just wanted
to
> let go of him immediately. However, just as I commented that we
were
> freeing ourselves so quickly, my partner put me in a lock that was
> difficult to get out of. It took me a long time to free myself. It
> was pretty uncomfortable, and I think he was applying some pressure
> to my head, because I was a bit dazed when I finally got out.
>
> Next, we did an exercise at which I did quite poorly, and didn't
> really understand the correct approach. Two people were swinging
> sticks at me. Scott told us to get behind one or the other and not
> stand in the middle. I thought my job was to evade and I began to
run
> around wildly trying to stay behind one or the other moving
persons,
> no easy task. I must have been hit with those sticks a hundred
times!
> Finally Scott told me that I could do a bit more than just try to
> avoid, I could hold onto one person, even take the stick away.
> Evasion is often harder than applications. Once I saw that I was
free
> to manipulate the other two people, it was easier to use one
against
> the other.
>
> Finally, we all lined up and attacked one empty-handed person with
> the long sticks, one after the other, running at them. Scott kept
up
> a constant commentary of not only the person being attacked, but
also
> the attackers. I was surprised that he complimented me on the way I
> was taken down. Some people believe I fall too easily, but the
truth
> is, I just don't like to endure a lot of punishment. I feel I have
a
> better chance while falling and even after I reach the ground, than
> standing up and accepting a lot of punishment. I prefer to work
> softly, and some people see this a limitation. Maybe it is, I don't
> know. But Scott complimented me on my "survival" as I fell.
>
> Scott kept the one person under attack until he saw what he was
> looking for, an understanding of the work, then switched to the
next
> person. After almost everyone had their turn, he asked if we had
all
> gone. "You haven't gone," I said, pointing at one of my
> classmates. "Neither have you," he replied. We both tend to stay in
> the background of things. But he went up to take his turn. Then it
> was my turn. I asked my classmates to come at me slowly, but after
> one or two, they saw that I didn't need to be treated with kid
gloves
> and started running at me quickly, except one student who always
> treats me like a rank beginner. I'm not sure why, I don't even know
> him too well, but I do know that I have been training longer than
he
> has. But everyone else came at me at a pretty good clip. Scott was
> very pleased with my handling of the attacks. He said the summer
camp
> had really helped me. I think that the two years with Edgar helped
me
> more than the summer camp, although that was immensely helpful, but
I
> don't think I would have gotten as much out of it if Edgar hadn't
> prepared me so well for the experience.
>
> I was quite surprised at Scott's complimenting me during this final
> exercise, as I felt that I had struggled through the entire seminar
> and wasn't doing too well, but fast attacks are often easier to
deal
> with than slow ones. As yesterday, it was only in the last ten or
> fifteen minutes that I was able to let go of my inhibitions and
self-
> doubt and use the skills I've worked hard to acquire.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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