(This is part 2 of a 3-part series about the Systema masters' visit
to NYC, during which they demonstrated Systema at the United Nations,
filmed some footage for the Discovery Channel at Fighthouse, and gave
two seminars on the subsequent weekend. For full details of all the
days of their visit, see the thread on the offficial forum
http://www.russianmartialart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3267)

Systema Masters in NYC! United Nations Demonstration, October 26
(part 2 of 3)

Friday was our 3-hour seminar with Mikhail. Vlad, Valerie, Martin,
Valdis, and Frank A. were also on-hand to help out. I missed the
first few minutes, because I was behind the front desk, doing
registration. Even with four of us behind the counter, we could not
get everyone registered fast enough. I had to bail out so I didn't
miss too much of the training, but I did miss the introductory
remarks.

We started with some crowd work: walk through the middle of the room,
and since we were standing in a circle, it gets pretty dense towards
the center. We did the same with eyes closed. It is interesting to
observe a crowd of reasonably relaxed people stiffen up and start
fighting with each other to get through the crowd and to the other
side. Many of these same people walk through crowded places like
Grand Central Terminal every day without lashing out at the people
nearby, but being in Systema class lends a different flavor, much as
we may try to be everyday people, we often end up in fighting mode.

On the same theme, we lay on the floor and crawled through the middle
of the room on our backs, and then again on our stomachs. We were
doing the "Systema crawl" where you propel yourself along with a wave-
like movement, without using your arms. Of course this gets difficult
as your reach the center of the room and everyone is massed together.
I stayed clear of the melee, because I wanted to be careful not to
hit my head. I was still recovering from my concussion. I did it only
a few times. Later on Saturday, Vlad commended me for doing this even
with my head injury. It did make me more scared than I would have
been ordinarily, though I wasn't having any dizziness or other
symptoms, except the fear of getting brain-damaged by taking another
blow to the same place on my head (my physician had warned me
strictly that a third concussion to that same place would result in
permanent damage. But they tend to scare the repeat customers.)

We did the same thing with eyes closed, and then partnered variations
on this exercise: leading your partner, whose eyes are closed,
through the crowd. Then giving just verbal direction, no touch, to a
partner whose eyes are closed. Then to two and three people, all with
eyes closed, first walking, then crawling, navigating solely on
verbal direction from the 'leader.' I realized how difficult it was
for me not to be the leader. As leader, I felt reasonably successful
in getting my partners across the room. With someone else leading, I
had trouble trusting their leadership.

Mikhail said that training is like life and that these are scenarios
from war and emergencies. He asked us for comments on how we felt
about the exercises. I raised my hand and shared my own experience:
When I had to be led by someone, I did not trust him. He told me to
crawl straight but I sensed some empty space to my right. I went off
on my own, got separated from my partners, and never made it across.
They all did. I announced that in a real emergency, I would have
died. As typical when you admit you screwed up, everyone laughed and
laughed. Vlad in particular gave me a delighted look. I am always
honest about my training but never imagined that my failure would be
met with such amusement and delight from Vlad and Mikhail.

We did knife work after the crowd work – one person draws, the other
has to stop him. This was an awareness exercise, not a disarm drill.
To stop the draw, you have to look at the whole person; the shoulder,
the face, expression in the eyes. If you can push the shoulder back
before the draw, that will prevent it. Mikhail demonstrated with his
amazing skills; his slight-of-hand is better than any magician's. He
easily outfoxed his opponents and drew the knife on them before they
had time to react, and seemed to take much enjoyment in outwitting
them.

We did the same thing in groups of three: the one in the middle draws
and the two on either end stop him. I was quite good at drawing and
evading my two partners. I tricked them in all sorts of ways, going
down, moving the non-drawing arm, faking them out, using Vlad's trick
of scratching my head. They commended me on how well I was doing; by
the time they tried to stop me, I already had the knife at their
throat or kidney. "Yes, I'm a sneaky little b*tch, aren't I?" I said.
Maybe I was a little too pleased with myself. I generally would not
use that kind of language. But in some scenarios, like knife work,
being a b*tch is not always a bad thing.

But it took my two partners only a few tries to get the hang of being
just as elusive as I was. I don't know why I took to it right away.
Though I may have some skill with drawing the knife, I wouldn't say
I'm especially fluent at using it. The knife I carry for self-
protection, a small folder, would always be my last resort. But I've
gotten better at the knife disarms. We did some of those, as well,
though the emphasis was on preventing the draw. Mikhail insisted that
we respect the knife and back away when our partners drew and
threatened us with it. He also said, "Don't be a hero, it's always
better to run away from a knife." This was a good point; too often
the training knives make us complacent. Martin Wheeler once told our
class he'd run from a schoolgirl with a rusty pocket knife.

We did a little free work: draw, attack, and your partner has to
disarm. I worked with several guys who were surprised at my skill.
Most were pleasantly surprised. I guess they do not train with too
many Systema women.

Mikhail does not give extensive step-by-step directions; he gives the
general idea, the theme of the exericise, demonstrates a few times,
and leaves us to figure it out. Martin Wheeler went around the room
assisting with the personalized instruction.

We practiced keeping the blade flat while our partners rotated it
around our arm and hand. This is tough – keeping it away from the
inside of the wrist where the vital arteries are; always keeping the
blade flat against the outside of the hand or the outer arm. I was
working with Martin. "Is this really hard, or am I just dismal at
it?" I asked. Martin told me it was hard but when I watched him do
it, he made it look easy. Don't they always?

Next we did similar work against the body – holding our own knives
pressed to the body and partner trying to twist or rotate them to
cut, while we had to keep the blade parallel and flat. This was a
good deal easier than doing it just on the arm and hand. Later on,
one of my classmates told me he looked over at me doing this exercise
and though I looked great; he actually described my movement
as 'lovely.' It was so kind of him to notice and to make a point to
tell me!

We did some cutting work on the ground, one partner presses the knife
into the other, who lies flat, and then he has to escape and disarm.
No thinking, just move. The guy I was working with was
extraordinarily open. He didn't know much Systema but he had a good
sound base to be an excellent practitioner. It's 90% attitude and his
was very open and positive. I showed him a few tricks and tactics
I've picked up with knife disarms from Edgar – just simple stuff like
one-handed disarming, turning the knife back onto the attacker, and
using the momentum of the thrust to initiate the disarms. He liked it
a lot and would have been happy to learn more tactics, but we went
back to the knife-pressed exercise.

Next, a little free work on the ground, one partner attacks the
other, who disarms. I was partnered with a woman from my class who's
learning Systema very well. She's small and light and once she
realized that she had to use her entire body weight, she picked up
the groundwork very well. I told her to make sure to turn her body to
get out of the way of the incoming blade. I only had to tell her
once; she will never forget that. I guess it's sexist, but I find
female beginners so much easier to teach than male beginners. They
listen well, you don't have to repeat stuff, they are patient and
don't expect to get it right away, but when they do get it, you can
be sure they will never forget. This woman has only been training a
few months and already has more self-defense skills than the average
man she may encounter.

Mikhail was in excellent spirits, often joking with us. He was much
more talkative and witty than the first time I trained with him at
Fighthouse. He seemed to be having a ball teaching us, and I sensed
genuine enjoyment of teaching. He said that the seasoned gentleman of
a certain age were the most tense, which I usually find to be true.
It seems that sex has replaced the "buttering toast" analogy for
Systema. He made a ribald joke about not being tense when you lay in
bed with your wife – except one part!

I had a great time on Friday night; it was a true joy to be there
with our esteemed master, and several of his top students, as well as
many like-minded people. I was sorry when the seminar ended, and my
only consolation was that we'd do it again the next day, and for a
bit longer.

Thanks to everyone who attended, to Peggy and Edgar for putting
together a great event on such short notice, and most of all to
Mikhail and Vlad for sharing their immense knowledge with us.
Spasibo!

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

(Next and final installment: Saturday seminar with Mikhail and Vlad)