After our usual sets of pushups, leg-lifts, situps, and squats (30 of
each, the last ten without breathing), Edgar had us do what he
calls "friendly" exercises. We formed a line, arms around each
others' shoulders, and fell backwards in unison, then stood up again.
Then we did the same thing falling forward. With these "friendly"
exercises, synchronicity and teamwork are crucial. "All for one, and
one for all," is the MO here, as if one person's timing is a bit off,
the rest of the line will not be able to stand, either. Sometimes we
succeeded, sometimes not, and of course we couldn't help but laugh
when parts of our line collapsed.

Then we did "friendly" one-armed pushups, in a circle, with one arm
around our neighbor's shoulder, then the other arm. Our yielding
exercises were with the whole class, as well, everyone pushing each
other, yielding and returning. Then we milled around in a tight
bunch, maneuvering around and through each other, a fitting exercises
for New Yorkers who ride the subway during rush hour.

Next we did one of my favorite exercises, where our teacher claps his
hands and we all have to drop to the floor as quickly as possible,
and rise again. We did the same thing with rolling instead of
falling. I find it much easier to fall and roll when I am walking,
than when I am standing still. I think it's not only the motion, but
also the lack of planning that helps me. "Too much thinking," Edgar
sometimes tells me. Apparently I have a habit of looking at the
ceiling when I am planning my movements, rather than feeling them.

We worked on manipulating the head to unbalance, then following up
with suitable movements depending on where the tension is. Also on
avoiding punches and capturing the attacking arm, and avoiding kicks
and swiveling around and behind, and back again, in the elliptical
movements of Systema. The subtle practice of maintaining contact,
yielding, avoiding, but not flinching or blocking it, requires
sensitivity. Instead of generating new, forceful, noticeable energy
to counter or block the attack, you direct, but not impede, the
attacking energy, allowing the opponent to believe he is still in
control, and giving you the opportunity to complete the work
uninterrupted by any counter-moves.

For me, this was a whole new way of thinking about physical
conflicts. If someone grabs your arm, you go with the motion, allow
them to take it, and use the yielding motion to slip away. Expending
minimal effort to disable your opponent also minimizes damage to him.
It's very different from H2H combat you see in movies, in most other
martial arts, and in actual street or bar fights. As so many
maintain, Systema can't be described, it has to be experienced. To a
casual observer, it might even appear as if hardly anything is
happening between two sparring partners, yet one will go down. Some
of the movements are intended to fool the eye, to mislead the
attacker, and to be as invisible and subtle as possible. (This
subtlety leads some to believe that Systema sparring is
choreographed, but anyone who spars with a Systema teacher tends to
lose this notion rather quickly.)

Movements are never isolated in Systema; one person begins the
motion; the other sustains and redirects the same energy. As Martin
Wheeler told our class, "The attacker determines the movement," and
yet, the Systema-ist directs it. The attacker physically and
psychologically feels in control of the situation, right up until the
moment it becomes apparent that he is not. This is also somewhat hard
to describe, but it's the key to the fluid movements and often
graceful movements of Systema. Systema-ists aren't trying to look
graceful, but rather to have freedom of movement, and movement that
is free and natural appears to be graceful. Nature provides excellent
examples of this in the flight of birds, the leap of the panther, the
glide of dolphins as they move through the water, Even the tumbling
of babies learning to walk, though not graceful, is free and soft,
unfettered by the limitations we learn to impose through social
conditioning. It is the same kind of soft and yielding movement
towards which Systema-ists aspire

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel