It's been awhile since my last post; training has been a little
difficult for me at times, but lately I've been enjoying class again,
and I am remembering how important is the state of mind in which I
ought to approach training. Relaxed and accepting that things are the
way they are—as an opportunity to better understand myself and my
fellow human beings. Smiling and laughing while training is also good
for me, as I am sometimes nervous about interacting with other people
if we are not well-acquainted. After 8 months and hundreds of hours
of training, I am still nervous about partnering with other people,
as I can't stop thinking that no-one will want to partner with me
because I am female, or not very experienced, or because I don't like
to spar too fast or hard. I have to remind myself that most of the
class is not very experienced, either, and besides, the attacking
person determines the speed, so if I attack slowly, my partner should
also move slowly. That's always the case with the experienced
practitioners, but others like to go a bit faster or harder than my
slow attack, and for those few people, I try to be as yielding as
possible, in fact, I fall intentionally, to avoid being hurt by them.
I know this isn't the ideal way to train, as it's better if their own
actions are the means for the takedown, but my safety takes
precedence over their training, and if they want to go rough, there
are other people in the class with whom they should work. The strange
thing is that when I attack some people, they start off slowly,
breaking my form and collapsing me, then, when I am just a few inches
from the floor and you could knock me over with a feather, that's
when they slam me down as hard as possible. Maybe this is what you'd
want to do in an actual fight, however, in an actual fight, you'd
already be moving quickly, so there would be no way to speed up, as
is oft pointed out, "you cannot move faster than you are already
going." In contrast, the teachers and more experienced students
generally do the opposite, match my slow speed, and lay me down
gently, often I do not know how I ended up on the ground.

But I don't mean to point the finger at my classmates. I am not the
ideal training partner at all times, either, I do always want to work
lightly and slowly, and there's no competition to my sparring, I am
not trying to prove that I am a better Systema-ist than my partner.
Although I personally do not think a takedown alone is sufficient
defense against an attack—some people get up very quickly—if they
don't move to my head, lock my arm, place a foot on my ribs, or
otherwise pantomime incapacitating me after the takedown, I no longer
kick at them, roll over on their arm, take them down, or otherwise
continue the sparring from the ground. I think my partners prefer it
this way, and the last thing I want to do is irritate or anger anyone
who might respond by hurting me. But when I take my partners down,
even though this is contrary to some instruction I've received, I try
to avoid the mindset that a threat has been neutralized merely
because the attacker has been moved into a horizontal position.

To continue with the logs, last night Martin Wheeler was our guest
teacher; he's here for the weekend seminars at Fighthouse. Martin is
one of the most accomplished Systema teachers that I have seen in my
few months of training. It's amazing to watch him spar, he's so light
on his feet, and always in contact with the person attacking,
sometimes inflicting great pain with hardly any visible effort, or
manipulating the other person's movement without contact. Those who
say the no-contact work is choreographed should spar with Martin or
some other high-level practitioner to feel it—or not feel it, as it
were—for themselves.

Dennis led us through some breathing exercises while we waited for
Martin to arrive. Martin went easy on us with exercises tonight; one
twenty-count pushup, backwards (in a backbend position) and fingertip
pushups; the latter two I found difficult, well, perhaps impossible
is a more apt description. We also did rounded sit-ups, where you lie
back, roll from one shoulder to the other, and come up again, in a
circular motion. Then we practiced holding one leg straight out,
bending the other, and going as low as possible, keeping the spine
straight, until sitting on the floor, like going into a fall. This
takes strong quadriceps. But that was all for the exercises, and
previously, when training with Martin, we've done pushups every half-
hour or so.

Martin also had us stretch each other, one hand over the head,
standing side by side, and the other person grabs both wrists and
pulls the hand further to one side. Also the arms behind the back
stretch, palms out, and the other person pushes your arms together
and upwards, and then you both sink to the floor and the other person
pulls your arms out further behind you.

To start, we simply punched each other, practicing takedowns, as good
way as any to get in a Systema frame of mind. And I think Martin may
have wanted to watch us for a few minutes, to get a sense of the
variety of students present. Next we practiced the same thing with
our feet in place, without stepping, as our partners punched or
attacked us. Then we practiced using only the legs with our hands
behind our backs. During these exercises, Martin stopped us several
times to offer more suggestions. The pace was nice and relaxed; we
had time to pause for more instruction several times throughout each
exercise.

Martin explained what to do when your partner is tense and sort of
wooden, rooted to the ground, or clenching in a death grip. He told
us to break the tension light punches or other blows, restoring
motion. I've wondered about this; occasionally my partner freezes
once I manipulate them in one direction, and without further
movement, I'm unsure how to continue with a takedown. It's easier for
me if the person remains in motion. Constant movement is a principle
of Systema; in a real scenario, the action will be more dynamic than
can ever be simulated. I am not sure if I have the skill to find, or
break, my partner's tension when they stop in this way. We spent
several classes with Dennis learning how to find the tension while
our partners played "statues" and allowed us to explore their
structure. I could benefit from much more practice at this exercise
of finding tension.

The last half-hour we spent on gun disarming; Martin showed us many
different ways to escape from gunpoint, a situation that some would
consider hopeless. Personally, I'd use such actions only if my
personal safety were threatened. If someone demands my wallet or
other material positions in my possession, my instinct would be to
hand it over and hope the person is just a desperate thief, not a
murderer. I never carry large sums of cash, and nothing in my wallet
or on my person is worth taking a bullet for. But if my personal
safety were threatened, that would be a different story.

Martin showed many different ways to escape and disarm a gun pointed
to the forehead, to the back, to the stomach, the temple. He
demonstrated how to first evade the direction of the gun by turning
the body parallel, then disarming as one would a knife, using the
body for leverage to turn the muzzle back to the attacker. Martin
also demonstrated using kicks, in the case of restricted hands, and
changing levels, going to the ground to unbalance the attacker.

For a pointed gun, he showed us how pushing the gun toward the
attacker also pushes their finger away from the trigger. Also, to our
amusement, he demonstrated feigning putting the hands above the hand,
with a worried expression in his face, then grabbing the gun away
with both hands. He also showed how to slap a pointed gun from a
person's hand, by slapping the knuckles and the bony parts of the
hand very hard; I pointed the gun at Martin so he could demonstrate
and was surprised, as I often am, by the pain inflicted by an
apparently effortless motion.

I think we all enjoy our guest instructors; we've been fortunate to
have Martin and Dennis train with us, aside from being accomplished
Systema-ists, they have between them many years of security, personal
protection, and military experience; real application of the
principles of the System. We all enjoyed the gun disarming, as was
revealed when we circled up. As Edgar told us, it shows how Systema
is not merely hand-to hand combat. It is a tool for survival, that
can be applied anywhere to any situation, as described in the Russian
System Guidebook, a skill that "can't be seen until used, and can't
be taken away while its practitioner is alive."

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel