I have started a systema school in Israel a while ago. Here is a short
clip from after class I posted on the forum as well. I am interested
in any opinion or suggestion you may have as far as show of material
or even lighting.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4611943141893512703&hl=en

Cheers, Sharon. Systema israel.

Hi everyone,

Kevin Secours, one of Vlad's senior instructors, will be coming to
Fighthouse for a 2-day seminar on November 18-19. If you live nearby,
you won't want to miss this seminar:

This comprehensive seminar will provide a unique perspective on
Russian Systema's approach to grappling and ground fighting.
Beginning with a thorough treatment of breathwork and biomechanics,
this 2-day program will provide you with a step-by-step approach to
the most essential principles and strategies of this incredible art.
You'll learn completely new offensive and defensive work with locks,
holds, pins and throws, against grounded and standing opponents

For more information, see the PDF flyer at
http://www.fighthouse.com/images/Kevin%20Secours%20Flyer.pdf

I hope to see you there!

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Hello,
I've created a page with a link to all my Systema writings:
http://www.new-pony.com/systema
In addition to all my seminar reviews, training journals, book reviews,
and assorted essays, I've also created a hyperlinked index of training
topics and the writings where you can find descriptions of each topic.
I hope that will be useful to training groups searching for drills
about particular subjects.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Some time has passed since Vlad's visit, and so I have forgotten some
of what we learned on Sunday. But for what it's worth, here's the
final installment to the notes I began back in June.

Sunday

Vlad had told us that we'd be focussing on disarms on Sunday. I
thought this was an excellent progression. Some instructors might
have reversed the order: disarms first, then using the knife. But
learning to use the knife is the best background for learning
effective disarms.

We started with the breathing/tensing exercises. First, Vlad had us
just rolling around and stretching freely on the ground, but while
holding the tension, then releasing. Then the inhale/exhale exercises
as on Saturday, followed by feeling the pulse in different parts of
the body. Then some difficult variation of the pushup, with arms
spread wide.

We did leg raises with partners providing resistance. They are
supposed to provide gradual resistance, not merely hold the legs
down. This exercise must be done with sensitivity to your partner's
ability. It's not a test of strength. Too many guys interpret it that
way, and if the person providing resistance is stronger, it does not
benefit the person doing the leg raises very much.

We did a stretch where you sit on the floor, lean back with arms back
behind your head, palms flat on the floor, and gradually move your
arms and legs farther apart to make yourself flat to the floor. But
most people won't be able to touch the back of their head to the
floor. However, Vlad demonstrated this with someone who was so
flexible, he was almost flat on the floor! Continuing this same kind
of stretch, your partner puts your arms behind head, squeezes the
shoulder blades together, and you go down, then stand up again.

Vlad started us off by showing some very basic, straightforward knife
disarms. He also demonstrated disarms using a jacket, using it
against the person wearing the jacket, and wearing the jacket himself
and catching the knife in it and wrapping around, or taking off the
jacket altogether and wrapping around the blade. He said it doesn't
work so well with a tee shirt. He demonstrated that grabbing the
knife arm is not so good, instead, wrap your arm around the wrist and
then find a grab. The blade itself can be used as a lever to apply
pressure to the hand and wrist. I was glad to see Vlad show how
grabbing the knife arm recklessly was not prudent, because I see this
a lot with the harmless practice blades, and no-one would try this
with a live blade.

So Vlad asked us to work on just straightforward disarms, nothing
fancy, just a warmup. I saw a guy without a partner, tried to catch
his eye but he didn't seem too willing. I asked him if he wanted to
work, I think, in retrospect, I should have been more mindful of his
hesitation. I tried to introduce myself but he wouldn't give me his
name. As we worked, he pointed out what I was doing wrong. Sometimes
this is helpful, other times, not so much. Gradually I began to
accept that everything I was doing, even the smallest movement, was
completely wrong, was wrong. I gave up. Fortunately Vlad asked us to
switch again not too long afterwards. But that sort of set the tone
for me for the rest of the day. It wasn't this guy's fault. It was
just the state of mind I was in. I had very little confidence and
couldn't bring myself to switch partners too readily. I spent a lot
of time just watching so I could avoid asking anyone to work with me.

We did the familiar yielding exercise where one person pushes the
knife tip into the other, who had to yield, but to stay in the same
place. Also moving the knife around to keep the tip in contact, while
other person had to rotate to make the blade flat against himself.

Vlad showed a really cool way to disarm by "clapping" the knife out
of the hand. You hit the knife arm near the wrist with the backs of
your hands, sort of rolling them inward. If it's done precisely, the
knife goes flying. Vlad also showed hitting the knuckles to disarm,
which takes a lot of precision to be effective, and striking the arm
to loosen the knife and begin the disarm.

Vlad set us up with a scenario where one partner turned his back, the
other assumed a frozen attack position with the knife, and when Vlad
clapped, the disarming partner had to turn around and disarm and
takedown the frozen person. This is not necessarily easier than
disarming a moving person. But it allows a more slow and thoughtful
consideration of the position of the attacking person.

As an introduction to striking, Vlad had us just pushing fists into
each other while standing still to affect a take down. Then we did
the clapping exercise with frozen attack position, but adding
strikes. I preferred this version, as striking usually makes it
easier to take down my partners, particularly when they are standing
still. But it does make people sort of amped up. I told my partner
not to rush. I was standing still and frozen, there was no way he
could miss, and rushing wasn't necessary. He hit me rather hard
across the temple and upper jaw. Vlad saw this, laughed a little,
rubbed my face and told my partner to take it easy.

Vlad showed some disarming techniques after the takedown, for when
the attacking person was on the ground. Manipulating the small
fingers is one of my favorites, but sometimes the person has too
tight a grip on the knife. Vlad showed hitting the ear twice, and he
said the first hit tenses the person, the second relaxes. He also
showed a very cool way to flip the person over to their stomach,
where it can be easier to immobilize and gain control. You basically
spin the person around with their arm and flip them over. But this
has to be done just as the person is hitting the ground. If you wait
too long, they will be too heavy to turn over.

Vlad mentioned a couple of philosophical observations about knife
attacks. He said that fear can either turn inward and freeze you up,
or explode out of you, he said it was better to let it explode than
to close in on you. He also mentioned that when faced with a knife
attack, you have to decide that it is not time to die and that time
will come a little bit later. And he disputed the popular notion that
anytime a knife is involved, there will be a blood drawn. He said
that's not necessarily true, but on Saturday, he demonstrated many
ways to deal with blood loss for physical and psychological health.
At the same time, it is frightening and demoralizing to bleed
heavily, so on Saturday he had showed us how to open up small cuts on
the face to frighten the attacker into giving up.

We practiced "invisible" use of the knife. One partner walked towards
the other, who was to draw the knife and stab or cut from the front
or back, invisibly. At the end of the seminar, we spent a few minutes
working more or less freely. I found a very large BJJ guy to partner
with. The BJJ guys tend to look for the submission. He took me down,
but instead of knocking the knife out of my hand, he twisted my arm
quite painfully. I told him there's no submission in Systema, if he
wanted to break my arm, just go ahead and do it but don't wait for me
to tap out. I didn't mean literally, just that a submission hold is
not necessarily a disarm, as painful as it was, I still had the knife
because he wasn't applying pressure in the right direction to make me
drop it. He admitted that he had trouble letting go of his BJJ
training.

Vlad then wrapped it up and asked if anyone had questions. One
student asked what to do about a knife attacker who wanted to fence
with the knife, jabbing and retreating out of the way and keeping at
a distance. Vlad said just turn and walk away. Everyone laughed, but
he was quite serious. He said that if the person didn't want to use
the knife and was feinting and retreating, it meant they weren't
serious about hurting you and this was a good thing. It was a good
question because I did see several people fencing with the knives and
this is not necessarily how a serious knife attack will happen. An
attacker who retreats is not as committed to hurting the opponent.
Sometimes I work with a partner who adopts a can't-catch-me approach.
But if my partner runs away from me, that can hardly be described as
prevailing over me. I always assume that if running away were an
option, I would have already done so, and the self-defense training
is for those situations where you cannot run away.

No-one else had any questions. I wanted to ask Vlad how proficient
one should be before carrying a knife for self-defense, but I wasn't
feeling bold enough. The seminar was a little marred by my low self-
confidence. Several times Vlad and Denis had to match me up with
training partners because I wouldn't do it myself, preferring to just
watch. Afterwards, as I shook Vlad's hand, he told me I must not be
so timid about finding partners. I promised I wouldn't, but then
regretted saying so. Was I making a promise I could not keep? I gave
him my word but wasn't sure I was good for it. So I was a little
upset as I walked away, feeling that the social aspect of Systema was
one of the hardest things about it.

But sometimes things are darkest just before the dawn. Since then I
have reached a turning point in my training. I am not so apologetic
about my skills. Many people are deluded about their skills, I guess
it's hard for any of us to see ourselves the way we truly are. But I
believe I've actually underestimated myself for a long time. A lot of
guys do not want to admit that I can prevail over them, no matter how
little training they have. But it's a fact that most beginners are no
match for me. And it's not my problem if other people feel humiliated
because I'm better than them. I don't have to apologize because I've
worked hard at my Systema. And I don't feel so bad when I hurt the
guys to prevent them from hurting me. If one of us is going to get
hurt, I'd just as soon it's the other guy.

My decision to start a study group is part of my recognition of my
hard-won skills. Everyone talks about lessening the ego but not
everyone has this problem of overconfidence. It's more common, but
lack of confidence can also be a problem for some. I am gaining
confidence, and I think Edgar also expects more from me. He asks me
to be more precise even when my takedowns are effective, but he
expects that my partner will be on the floor and in a position of
vulnerability at my feet, not flung halfway across the room. And he
wants to see me do fewer movements to achieve the same result, one
thing, rather than five or ten. I've spent these last few years
learning to do Systema, but now I find I also need to learn to do it
well.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Friday evening class with Martin Wheeler

I forgot to add that Martin Wheeler guest-taught the Friday evening
class preceeding Vlad's seminars. Mostly we practiced wrestling
moves, and defense against attacks from the ground. It was a horribly
hot and humid day, the air was cloying even with the ceiling fans.
Martin started us with fairly light warmups, pushups and situps, and
squats in groups of three with arms latched, back-to-back. We also
had to roll in groups of three with arms latched, which was quite
difficult. When it was my turn to be on top and roll, I couldn't pull
my partners along with me, our arms just broke free.

Still in groups of three, two people pushed and grabbed one, who
tried to remain upright and in the same position. This was not so
hard when the pushes were from opposite direction but not so much
when both were pushing in same direction, especially on the
shoulders. Then Martin demonstrated grabbing from the ground and
taking down his partner by wrapping around the legs. He said to latch
your hands and roll the arms inward, sort of a wave starting from
top, and to try different positions. This was pretty straightfoward
but I couldn't help feeling it was a vulnerable position, with my
head at knee level, my partner could have broken my neck or kneed me
in the face. But the way Martin demonstrated it, he took the person
down so fast, I guess there wouldn't have been time for any of that.

Next he showed how to break this kind of hold. One simple way is to
rock one foot backwards and separate the legs quickly, almost as if
you are going into a runner's crouch. We also practiced defending
against grabs to just one leg. If you can move away before the grab
or just as they touch, he showed how to turn and rotate the leg out
of it. Or once they grab, you can take a big step backwards and
stretch them out. Also how to lock the arm by moving the leg slightly
just as they grab it to stretch out, then lock the elbow with the
other leg. For those, you need to be free with the hips. That seems
to be where most beginners are stiff. I guess it's hard to relax the
hips. I can't remember if I was once stiff around the hips. I think
my shoulders were more of the problem. It could be easier for women
to loosen the hips than for men, because of the natural angle of the
hip-bones.

Martin also showed how to defend against a grab to one leg where the
grabber is trying to lift the oleg. He demonstrated stepping forward
in the same direction of the grab but you have to make it a big,
dramatic step that begins from the hip. This shakes the person loose.
Another way to handle this is to step with the leg being grabbed and
then swivel around with the other leg to hit. And finally, Martin
showed just going down or rolling out of it. "Never resist a fall,
unless you absolutely have to," he said. Obviously you would not want
to fall over the edge of an abyss. But landing on the hard ground
won't hurt you, if you've practiced your Systema. Struggling against
falling, becoming rigid and remaining in a position where posture is
broken will be bad for you. It's very important to accept this basic
principle of Systema: that falling isn't a defeat. As long as it
remains a worst-case scenario in the mind of the practitioner, it
will be an impediment to freedom.

Martin also demostrated hopping out of a grab to one leg. He said
that when the person has grabbed onto one of our leg, we tend to
think that we're standing on one leg, but actually, they are
providing support much like your own leg, and you can move around
just as if you were standing on both legs.

He had us work in groups of three, two grabbing one simulatenously,
and showed how you can evade before the grab or work the two against
each other. We spent the rest of the class in groups of three. For
most of the time, my mom and I could not find a third person, there
just wasn't the right number of students to be evenly divided into
groups of three. Because of that, I don't really have the same
perspective on this group work, we were mostly paired. But for the
last five or ten minutes, two people left and we did find a third
person. Martin had asked us to incorporate strikes as we were
evading, but not as a way to stop our partners approaching. He made
that pretty clear; we had to continue the same sort of evasion work,
just adding strikes. I didn't have much success with that. I always
have an unwillingness to hit my mom and every time I hit the other
person, he just backed away. So I didn't want to strike too much
because I wanted him to keep attacking me and not scare him off so
that he wouldn't attack.

Quite honestly, I wasn't training particularly well on that day, but
that's no reflection on Martin, he's one of the best Systema teachers
in the world, very high-level practitioner and a skilled teacher. It
was a nice big group of good people, including four other Systema
teachers and two other women. There were lots of people who I didn't
know or only saw occassionally at seminars. But I didn't get to work
with most of them. I worked with my mom almost the entire time.
Usually we break up but she was also unwilling to switch, which is
not typical. I'm usually the one who won't switch. As much as I love
her, we are not the best training partners. When I observe her
working with others, I see that she's doing a lot better than she
does with me. And that's probably because I don't attack her with
much conviction, nor do I defend against her attacks very well. I am
so preoccuppied with not hurting her, it's a psychological
restriction. I know that some people will think, what's the big deal,
just get on with it. But consider your own mother, if you have a good
relationship with her, or if not, some other person that you love and
would ordinarily protect. Would you find it easy to strike her, to
lock her painfully, or take her down to the ground? I have no problem
doing this to other women, even petite ones, if they have some
training. I just can't seem to overcome the restraint of practicing
with my mom, and it does her no favors. I wish things could be
different, but after a few years, I'm beginning to realize that I
might not be able to overcome this.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Yes, Sharon is in Israel. Actually right now I believe he's at the
Summit of the Masters :) Anyway I know there is at least one training
group in the Chicago area, see the other reply posted in response to
your question.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "Linus Lim" <milsunil@...>
wrote:
>
> Sharon ,
>
> IL may actually mean Israel in this case?
> Thanks for the wonderful information.
>
>
> On 26/07/06, Squeaky Clean <seppukudaily@...> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> >      Where in Illinois do you train?  I'm from Chicago (Northwest
side), and
> > would like to enjoy Systema a bit.  Do you know of others
training in the
> > Chicago area?  Thank you.
> >
> > Squeaky Clean
> >
> > On 7/25/06, Sharon Friedman <ransuru@...> wrote:
> > >
> > >   First let me apologise for my writing skills. I haven't slept
in three
> > > day and it does affect :)
> > >
> > > I started a training group in IL after meeting Mikhail for a
seminar
> > > in London which he suggested. I started to write in a paper
notebok a
> > > while ago and a few months ago I went online. I hope you
benefit from
> > > the blog and I appriciate any suggestion from any one:
> > >
> > > http://systemablog.blog.com/
> > >
> > > here is a general outline of systema progress as it applies to
me.
> > > Take what fits you and
> > > add your own :)
> > >
> > > 1. Intro: the four principles along with demonstration and
scenario
> > > explanation (people understand stories and it comes natural)
actual
> > > work to gauge the students as they walk
> > > and so on.
> > >
> > > Important to introduce the concept of living as opposed to
fighting.
> > > Working professionally and it's benefits in life altogether. Do
not
> > > harm and know yourself.
> > >
> > > *** A gentle no power take down can really open a persons mind.
(The
> > > "beyond the physical stuff")
> > >
> > > Begin with purpose ! doing things like sit ups and push ups
make no
> > > sense outside the self adoration crowd unless there is a higher
> > > purpose (also I am very lazy) Introduce the logical movements
of life
> > > like siting down and getting up and lace them with the
principles (for
> > > example sit down during one exhale and get up with one inhale,
Learn
> > > to sit down and get up without use of hands and show them how
tense
> > > and unstable we are by telling them to put their hands on their
hips
> > > or head, Do an extremely slow repetition of the lie down and
get up so
> > > they learn to move balanced without out of bound momentum, Show
them
> > > the internal spring of the body by twisting and untwisting and
tensing
> > > and untensing different parts (stand up and lean forward so
your chest
> > > lies on the thighs, now move the hips alone to the side
=left/right=
> > > and as you reach the end of the comfort zone twist them and
show them
> > > how you can erect the torso using this inner spring and tie
that with
> > > breath by having them do it first holding their breath and than
using
> > > it ) Natural movement drills like simply putting your hand on
another
> > > and them having to remove the hand without violence and place
their
> > > own hand or hands on the other by stepping and changing the body
> > > position, Learn to be clam while touched by doing push ups
> > > on someone else which also teaches solidity and placement and
also
> > > climbing with either your legs or hands from the prone position
on a
> > > standing person, learn to overcome the ego by holding hand in
hand and
> > > twisting and levering with the other coming along and not
> > > getting attacked, Walk toward each other drills with first just
> > > getting out of the way and than placing a hand on the other or
> > > redirecting him, Learning to accept the ground by
> > > rolling first from belly to back and than belly to back with
feet in
> > > the air which teaches your the value of soft on hard and hard
on soft,
> > > From standing going down to on knee (overlooked fall options
many do
> > > not consider ! and than rolling forward without instruction
other than
> > > placing one hand on the side of the head and later two hands,
from
> > > the knees you can also lean backwards to free the heels which
are too
> > > overlooked a lot and you can do so much by simply inventing new
ways
> > > to advance such as 1 walking on your feet and fists with belly
up and
> > > belly down 2 walking by jumping with feet together 3 walking by
having
> > > the feet at a fixed distance and simply doing 180 turns left
and right
> > > 4 walking very low with a straight back and going down and up
in this
> > > state 5 walking guided by another with eyes closed and learning
to
> > > feel with the feet and getting to know where a person is just
by touch
> > > 6 walking on your knees and so on.) now you can play simple
pushing
> > > games of letting go by moving just the moved part or moving as a
> > > whole, playing with getting away from a staff or avoiding being
> > > grabbed by another or more, being held in a bear hug and
getting away
> > > using breath and relaxation which also apply to
> > > the nelson hold)
> > >
> > > I found that I use an up and down curve of intensity where one
lesson
> > > is more about understanding and the next more about application
and
> > > intensity which draws a sihn graph. You will feel better if you
create
> > > tasks which teach such as guide her with eyes closed from a to
b but
> > > do do in a circle. Place a mock wallet and have someone try to
> > > snatch it and play with the intensity of it. have they count
out loud
> > > what why do and show them to keep both the analytical and the
> > > imagining side of the mind working. The simple step forward and
hit
> > > and than step back in a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
1
> > > count can challenge many as they become to attached to working
instead
> > > of getting the job done like a professional.
> > >
> > > here is a small note I wrote before giving my first systema
class:
> > >
> > > First Systema class
> > >
> > > 1. Introductions all around.
> > >
> > > 2. What is Systema: Knowing yourself, the body's natural
movement,
> > > relaxed mind and body,
> > > free thinking with no dogma, natural breath, awareness
> > >
> > > 3. Warm up: breathing in growing scales while walking in
patterns,
> > > rolling the joints and
> > > spine, moving your partner's joints (shaking them, rolling
them), the
> > > sit up, push up and
> > > squat.
> > >
> > > Learning games:
> > >
> > > 1. Dueling: Walk toward each other with straight-arms (fingers
control
> > > the energy
> > > vectors) and navigate around the obstacle. Later on with
minimal contact
> > >
> > > 2. Pendulum: demonstrate the principle using one's body and
partner's.
> > > Use torso twists,
> > > upper body limb waves and transferring energy.
> > >
> > > 3. Marionette: Move only the body parts addressed by your
partner and
> > > try to keep good
> > > relaxed carriage. Return to true form upon decision rather than
> > > automatic response.
> > >
> > > 4. Light as a feather, stiff as a board: learn to keep the torso
> > > straight and relaxed
> > > under pressure from your partner (getting ready for strikes)
> > >
> > > 5. Rag doll: you turn, rotate and move your partner GENTLY till
there
> > > is no more ROM or
> > > balance and you sense the tension load to the next link in the
structure.
> > >
> > > 6. Freeze: extra slow sit down and get up to teach awareness and
> > > balance via movement
> > > with no momentum.
> > >
> > > 7. Puppets: One starts from the prone position and his partner
lifts
> > > him up to a standing
> > > position while he keeps the body totally relaxed.
> > >
> > > 8. Ants: You roll on the ground while keeping eye contact with
your
> > > partner who is
> > > motivating you to move with stomps and kicks.
> > >
> > > 9. Ties: One partner twists the other till he is satisfied with
the
> > > result. His partner
> > > than, untwists and returns the favor.
> > >
> > > 10. Capture the flag: There is a target in the form of a man or
> > > whatever comes to mind
> > > and one has to use natural everyday movement to redirect
anothers
> > > progress to it.
> > >
> > > 11. Twister: You stand your ground and your partner applies
pressure.
> > > You have to twist
> > > and move up and down to negate the tension and stay in your
place.
> > >
> > > 12. End game: Stand in a circle and talk about the lesson.
> > >
> > > I attached my current personal training guideline and here is a
list
> > > Also important is to keep yourself free from a fixed plan and
advance
> > > if you FEEL it is needed.
> > >
> > > Breath Relaxation Posture Natural Movement
> > > DO NO HARM
> > > Know yourself
> > > Drink water (one bottle)
> > >
> > > 10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
> > > pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
> > > circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while
maintaining
> > > the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.
> > >
> > > Systema breath: Start by breathing via the hands while swaying
and
> > > balancing with a hold phase for a 20 count (last one: hold your
breath
> > > for as long as you can and try to relax and smile :). Now go
through
> > > the body in a 10 count using LOW fox walk. Walk forward going
through
> > > the upper body and backwards for the lower body. Breath through
limbs,
> > > joints and what is important for the moment. Hold your arms
high!
> > >
> > > Wholeness of body
> > > 20 Tense up the and relax (waves of tension and different parts
play)
> > >
> > > * Softly hit your body with slaps and fists employing continuous
> > > motion to wake it up and explore mobility.
> > >
> > > Bottle turning in hand (10 turns forward and back using the
three
> > > basic turns) + around the body and over the shoulder to the back
> > >
> > > * stretch and rotate the body levers wrists, elbows, shoulders,
head,
> > > torso, hips, knees, ankles.
> > >
> > > 100 steps in the sailor walk
> > > 5 walk up and down a wall with your fists
> > > 100 steps on your feet and fists (belly up to free the
shoulders; mind
> > > how you place the fist)
> > > Big band slow movements for joint health especially the muscle
up move
> > >
> > > SYSTEMA CORE
> > > Let your breath lead you
> > > Ballet Plie ou Releve: 2 slow of each
> > > Face the wall with feet pointing to the sides parallel to the
wall and
> > > torso straight.
> > > Now, with your back to the wall and feet pointing to the sides
away
> > > and parallel to the wall
> > >
> > > DO ONE OF EACH AND REPEAT 2 TIMES
> > > SLOOWLY (30 breaths each way)
> > > >Push up on the fists in the Be aware of the fist angle to the
body
> > > >Squat with the legs and feet pointing forward and keep a
straight
> > > back (in front of a wall to keep the form)
> > > > sit up and Legs overhead with a straight back on the up and
down
> > >
> > > 5 minutes of SYSTEMA ROLLING
> > >
> > > 5 minutes of juggling (3 metal balls)
> > >
> > > ODD DAYS
> > > 1 minutes moving in the wrestler's bridge alternating with a
gymnastic
> > > one
> > > 5 minutes of foot bag work
> > > 5 minutes of continuous squat level movement
> > > 10 minutes of hitting whole body movement
> > > 10 minutes of whip work
> > > 20 pull-ups with both hands holding on to towels on the bar (as
ropes)
> > >
> > > EVEN DAYS
> > > 5 minutes in the push up position
> > > 15 minutes of rolling continuously on a hard surface
> > > 10 minutes of knife or Stick work
> > > 10 minutes shadow fighting with the sword
> > >
> > > Nocturnal
> > >
> > > 10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
> > > pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
> > > circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while
maintaining
> > > the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.
> > >
> > > 2 minute hanging from the bar using one hand (alternating hands)
> > >
> > > 30 push up on the fists: (inhale and release on the way down
{let
> > > yourself fall almost all the way down} and exhale on the way
up) keep
> > > your wrist and forearm aligned
> > > 30 squats: where you "fall" down (almost all the way up storing
the
> > > energy in the tendons) keeping a straight back with the inhale
and
> > > exhale on the way up. Hands held at the back to learn to
release the
> > > tension in the torso
> > > 30 legs overhead: inhale as the legs move up and exhale as you
let
> > > them fall down.
> > >
> > > Saturday
> > >
> > > Start the day with 10 steps of slow movement in nature so if
you cast
> > > a shadow; let it be that of a cloud moving unnoticed.
> > > Go through the Chinese balls routine. Rotate them in your hand
without
> > > touching ball to ball, one way than the other. Now, move them
one over
> > > the other and back and with the palm facing down rotation both
ways.
> > > 3 times each of the Boken and Jo Kata
> > > Fast
> > > Read and view new material
> > > Douse
> > > Write in my book always
> > > SLOW DOWN SO YOU
> > > LEARN!
> > > And have fun
> > >
> > > Finally I get to sleep a bit, Sharon.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>

Those are great suggestions Sharon. I'll keep this for when I have
more students, right now it's just the two of us and we are
classmates from Fighthouse at the same level.
I intend to follow the format of Fighthouse classes which do include
conditioning/breathing exercises, because I am expecting that most of
the students will not be physically fit. And also, I want to
encourage people who work out in the gym to join the Systema class
instead. You can learn a lot without even breaking a sweat, but
people will expect to burn a few calories during the class in lieu of
their Stairmasters, etc., so I will include the conditioning
exercises and explanation of proper breathing.
With beginners, I feel learning to fall and roll correctly is
extremely important. The sooner the fear of falling is lost, the
greater the progression. I will also be covering the Systema
fundamentals: form, breathing, movement, and relaxation, with some
drills such as the ones you posted. Stepping with coordinated
breathing, going up to ten steps with one breath, and down again, and
pushing/yielding drills, also, stepping and moving your partner
around with each step ('the ballroom dance' drill). The last part of
class will be applications. I do feel it's important to teach self-
defense. That is one of my main goals in starting this group, to
teach people how to defend themselves. So I expect to spend at least
20 minutes per class on self-defense scenarios.
The training group is still in the planning stage until I get formal
permission from the university. If they won't permit it (I can't
imagine why not, as yoga and kickboxing are taught in the gym and
self-defense is just as valid an endeavor as those), then I'll have
to team up with the Self-Defense Club or the Russian Club in the fall
when the students return.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "Sharon Friedman" <ransuru@...>
wrote:
>
> First let me apologise for my writing skills. I haven't slept in
three
> day and it does affect :)
>
> I started a training group in IL after meeting Mikhail for a seminar
> in London which he suggested. I started to write in a paper notebok
a
> while ago and a few months ago I went online. I hope you benefit
from
> the blog and I appriciate any suggestion from any one:
>
> http://systemablog.blog.com/
>
> here is a general outline of systema progress as it applies to me.
> Take what fits you and
> add your own :)
>
> 1. Intro: the four principles along with demonstration and scenario
> explanation (people understand stories and it comes natural) actual
> work to gauge the students as they walk
> and so on.
>
> Important to introduce the concept of living as opposed to fighting.
> Working professionally and it's benefits in life altogether. Do not
> harm and know yourself.
>
>  *** A gentle no power take down can really open a persons mind.
(The
> "beyond the physical stuff")
>
> Begin with purpose ! doing things like sit ups and push ups make no
> sense outside the self adoration crowd unless there is a higher
> purpose (also I am very lazy) Introduce the logical movements of
life
> like siting down and getting up and lace them with the principles
(for
> example sit down during one exhale and get up with one inhale, Learn
> to sit down and get up without use of hands and show them how tense
> and unstable we are by telling them to put their hands on their hips
> or head, Do an extremely slow repetition of the lie down and get up
so
> they learn to move balanced without out of bound momentum, Show them
> the internal spring of the body by twisting and untwisting and
tensing
> and untensing different parts (stand up and lean forward so your
chest
> lies on the thighs, now move the hips alone to the side =left/right=
> and as you reach the end of the comfort zone twist them and show
them
> how you can erect the torso using this inner spring and tie that
with
> breath by having them do it first holding their breath and than
using
> it ) Natural movement drills like simply putting your hand on
another
> and them having to remove the hand without violence and place their
> own hand or hands on the other by stepping and changing the body
> position, Learn to be clam while touched by doing push ups
> on someone else which also teaches solidity and placement and also
> climbing with either your legs or hands from the prone position on a
> standing person, learn to overcome the ego by holding hand in hand
and
> twisting and levering with the other coming along and not
> getting attacked, Walk toward each other drills with first just
> getting out of the way and than placing a hand on the other or
> redirecting him, Learning to accept the ground by
> rolling first from belly to back and than belly to back with feet in
> the air which teaches your the value of soft on hard and hard on
soft,
> From standing going down to on knee (overlooked fall options many do
> not consider ! and than rolling forward without instruction other
than
> placing one hand on the side of the head and later two hands, from
> the knees you can also lean backwards to free the heels which are
too
> overlooked a lot and you can do so much by simply inventing new ways
> to advance such as 1 walking on your feet and fists with belly up
and
> belly down 2 walking by jumping with feet together 3 walking by
having
> the feet at a fixed distance and simply doing 180 turns left and
right
> 4 walking very low with a straight back and going down and up in
this
> state 5 walking guided by another with eyes closed and learning to
> feel with the feet and getting to know where a person is just by
touch
> 6 walking on your knees and so on.) now you can play simple pushing
> games of letting go by moving just the moved part or moving as a
> whole, playing with getting away from a staff or avoiding being
> grabbed by another or more, being held in a bear hug and getting
away
> using breath and relaxation which also apply to
> the nelson hold)
>
> I found that I use an up and down curve of intensity where one
lesson
> is more about understanding and the next more about application and
> intensity which draws a sihn graph. You will feel better if you
create
> tasks which teach such as guide her with eyes closed from a to b but
> do do in a circle. Place a mock wallet and have someone try to
> snatch it and play with the intensity of it. have they count out
loud
> what why do and show them to keep both the analytical and the
> imagining side of the mind working. The simple step forward and hit
> and than step back in a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
> count can challenge many as they become to attached to working
instead
> of getting the job done like a professional.
>
> here is a small note I wrote before giving my first systema class:
>
> First Systema class
>
> 1. Introductions all around.
>
> 2. What is Systema: Knowing yourself, the body's natural movement,
> relaxed mind and body,
> free thinking with no dogma, natural breath, awareness
>
> 3. Warm up: breathing in growing scales while walking in patterns,
> rolling the joints and
> spine, moving your partner's joints (shaking them, rolling them),
the
> sit up, push up and
> squat.
>
> Learning games:
>
> 1. Dueling: Walk toward each other with straight-arms (fingers
control
> the energy
> vectors) and navigate around the obstacle. Later on with minimal
contact
>
> 2. Pendulum: demonstrate the principle using one's body and
partner's.
> Use torso twists,
> upper body limb waves and transferring energy.
>
> 3. Marionette: Move only the body parts addressed by your partner
and
> try to keep good
> relaxed carriage. Return to true form upon decision rather than
> automatic response.
>
> 4. Light as a feather, stiff as a board: learn to keep the torso
> straight and relaxed
> under pressure from your partner (getting ready for strikes)
>
> 5. Rag doll: you turn, rotate and move your partner GENTLY till
there
> is no more ROM or
> balance and you sense the tension load to the next link in the
structure.
>
> 6. Freeze: extra slow sit down and get up to teach awareness and
> balance via movement
> with no momentum.
>
> 7. Puppets: One starts from the prone position and his partner lifts
> him up to a standing
> position while he keeps the body totally relaxed.
>
> 8. Ants: You roll on the ground while keeping eye contact with your
> partner who is
> motivating you to move with stomps and kicks.
>
> 9. Ties: One partner twists the other till he is satisfied with the
> result. His partner
> than, untwists and returns the favor.
>
> 10. Capture the flag: There is a target in the form of a man or
> whatever comes to mind
> and one has to use natural everyday movement to redirect anothers
> progress to it.
>
> 11. Twister: You stand your ground and your partner applies
pressure.
> You have to twist
> and move up and down to negate the tension and stay in your place.
>
> 12. End game: Stand in a circle and talk about the lesson.
>
> I attached my current personal training guideline and here is a
list
> Also important is to keep yourself free from a fixed plan and
advance
> if you FEEL it is needed.
>
> Breath   Relaxation   Posture   Natural Movement
> DO NO HARM
> Know yourself
> Drink water (one bottle)
>
> 10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
> pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
> circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while maintaining
> the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.
>
> Systema breath: Start by breathing via the hands while swaying and
> balancing with a hold phase for a 20 count (last one: hold your
breath
> for as long as you can and try to relax and smile :). Now go through
> the body in a 10 count using LOW fox walk. Walk forward going
through
> the upper body and backwards for the lower body. Breath through
limbs,
> joints and what is important for the moment. Hold your arms high!
>
> Wholeness of body
> 20 Tense up the and relax (waves of tension and different parts
play)
>
> * Softly hit your body with slaps and fists employing continuous
> motion to wake it up and explore mobility.
>
> Bottle turning in hand (10 turns forward and back using the three
> basic turns) + around the body and over the shoulder to the back
>
> * stretch and rotate the body levers wrists, elbows, shoulders,
head,
> torso, hips, knees, ankles.
>
> 100 steps in the sailor walk
> 5 walk up and down a wall with your fists
> 100 steps on your feet and fists (belly up to free the shoulders;
mind
> how you place the fist)
> Big band slow movements for joint health especially the muscle up
move
>
> SYSTEMA CORE
> Let your breath lead you
> Ballet Plie ou Releve:  2 slow of each
> Face the wall with feet pointing to the sides parallel to the wall
and
> torso straight.
> Now, with your back to the wall and feet pointing to the sides away
> and parallel to the wall
>
> DO ONE OF EACH AND REPEAT 2 TIMES
>  SLOOWLY (30 breaths each way)
> >Push up on the fists in the Be aware of the fist angle to the body
> >Squat with the legs and feet pointing forward and keep a straight
> back (in front of a wall to keep the form)
> > sit up and Legs overhead with a straight back on the up and down
>
> 5 minutes of SYSTEMA ROLLING
>
> 5 minutes of juggling (3 metal balls)
>
> ODD DAYS
> 1 minutes moving in the wrestler's bridge alternating with a
gymnastic
> one
> 5 minutes of foot bag work
> 5 minutes of continuous squat level movement
> 10 minutes of hitting whole body movement
> 10 minutes of whip work
> 20 pull-ups with both hands holding on to towels on the bar (as
ropes)
>
> EVEN DAYS
> 5 minutes in the push up position
> 15 minutes of rolling continuously on a hard surface
> 10 minutes of knife or Stick work
> 10 minutes shadow fighting with the sword
>
> Nocturnal
>
> 10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
> pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
> circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while maintaining
> the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.
>
> 2 minute hanging from the bar using one hand (alternating hands)
>
> 30 push up on the fists: (inhale and release on the way down {let
> yourself fall almost all the way down} and exhale on the way up)
keep
> your wrist and forearm aligned
> 30 squats: where you "fall" down (almost all the way up storing the
> energy in the tendons) keeping a straight back with the inhale and
> exhale on the way up. Hands held at the back to learn to release the
> tension in the torso
> 30 legs overhead: inhale as the legs move up and exhale as you let
> them fall down.
>
> Saturday
>
> Start the day with 10 steps of slow movement in nature so if you
cast
> a shadow; let it be that of a cloud moving unnoticed.
> Go through the Chinese balls routine. Rotate them in your hand
without
> touching ball to ball, one way than the other. Now, move them one
over
> the other and back and with the palm facing down rotation both ways.
> 3 times each of the Boken and Jo Kata
> Fast
> Read and view new material
> Douse
> Write in my book always
> SLOW DOWN SO YOU
> LEARN!
> And have fun
>
>
> Finally I get to sleep a bit, Sharon.
>

Well, part of the consideration of me not subbing for Edgar when he's
away is just the business side of Fighthouse. A good number of our
students are the 'ego guys.' Most are new to Systema, a few are not.
Maybe this attitude will wear off the newcomers eventually. But if I
were to teach in Edgar's absence, some of these 'ego guys' might
complain or feel ripped off. Many don't even want to train with me at
all, why would they accept instruction from me? And we can't afford
to lose students, overhead is very high in NYC. I don't know if me
subbing for Edgar would drive students away, but I would expect that
there would be some complaints, at the least. And I would not want
the business of Fighthouse to suffer on my account. And frankly, I
don't want the hassle. Some of the students don't even listen to
Edgar and I would not welcome the prospect of trying to get them to
listen to me.
I know it seems odd to some of you who accept that women can be as
skilled at fighting as men, but many students in our class do not
believe that, and unfortunately their tuition is needed to keep
Fighthouse going, so all we can do is hope that they will have a
change of heart as a result of training with us. It would be great if
more women would join our class but it has proven difficult to
attract women and get them to stay. Edgar has mentioned the idea of
starting a women's only class but we just don't have enough interest
from female students to warrant it.
We have a "core" group of students who are very dedicated and any of
us could teach the class. It does not take expertise to lead a
Systema class. I would accept instruction from any student who has
been training regularly for about a year, even though I have been
training longer. That is enough time to become familiar with the
basic principles and drills. We are all learning together and even
when Edgar teaches, he also does the drills along with us, if we have
enough students for him to have a partner.
But we have a few guys who have the right personality for teaching
and fill in for Edgar when he's gone. I do not feel I am missing out
on anything. With willing students, I am sure I'd have no problem
teaching. I haven't publicized my study group yet, because I am
awaiting formal permission from the university. But I've always
enjoyed public speaking and I have demonstrated a knack for training
people to do other things like writing and using computer programs.
So I think with a class of beginners who are eager to learn, it will
be no problem. But with a bunch of 'ego guys' who don't particularly
want to listen to anyone, I think it's just too much hassle.
The classes at Fighthouse are pretty large and they are often at
least half beginners. Many of these people won't last more than 3-4
months. That's just the way it goes. I am no longer perturbed by the
sexism I encounter in martial arts training. It does seem to be worse
among New Yorkers than students from other locations. I don't know
why that is. But it no longer bothers me. I know I am one of Edgar's
top students, and he knows it, too. Our "core" group respects me for
my ability. It does not matter what other students think.
I wouldn't say I am totally devoid of ego, btw, it's just that lack
of confidence is usually more of an issue with me.
So far I have nothing to report about my group because it's just been
my and my classmate from Fighthouse, who works downtown. Things move
slowly around the university and I am hoping that I will soon have
permission to formally publicize the training group.
Ideas for training are always appreciated. Sharon Friedman's blog has
some good ideas http://systemablog.blog.com/
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, r f <ibnmazir@...> wrote:
>
> Rachel, absolutely fantasic news! Your observations will be no
doubt welcomed by most of the students as they have been online for
quite some time. I know you said you don`t consider yourself
qualified to teach becuase you don`t have all the skills, but i`d
argue that you have enough experience to be able to guide new
students, and more importantly, you have psychological skills that
qualifies you more than many of your contemporary students - many of
the men, for example. What i am talking about, of course is the lack
of ego. I doubt anyone who is still obstructed by thier ego can teach
effectively. I still can`t believe that they would refuse to be
taught by you based on the fact that you are a woman! And the fact
that they refuse to go back to partner with you if you have bettered
them in a drill just shows how psychologically weak they really are -
i guess true psychological strength lies in the destruction of the
ego, as many world traditions have taught for centuries.
>  I hope u continue to keep journals of your classes. They really
are a major source of information for systemists around the world,
whether you are aware of the fact or not. In fact, perhaps we can use
this message group to help move things along. Based on the curriculum
provided above, can anyone post drills or suggestions for Rachel that
might be able to be used by her group? I`ll try and post a few when i
can, which might be difficult, since i still don`t have a
computer...delivery boys never showed up. IN the meantime,
congratualations and all the best. Take it easy, Rob.
>
> rkxyz <rkxyz@...> wrote:          Hello,
> I've received Vlad's permission to start a training group at the
> university where I work. I intend to train on Wednesdays and
Fridays
> from 12:30 to 1:30, during lunchtime. Hopefully I can get some
> interest from my colleagues. If it's successful, I plan to invite
> the entire university to join but for now, it will be for faculty
and
> staff only.
> My instructor, Edgar Tsakouls, would like to start a women's only
> class and have me assist him with the teaching, but we don't have
> enough interest from women. Maybe someday. Although I am as
qualified
> as any of our other students to fill in for Edgar when he's out of
> town, the guys in our class will not accept instruction from a
woman.
> That's just the way they are, we have a fair number of egotistical
> guys. Edgar does think I am ready to begin teaching at a junior
> level, but the guys are not ready to accept my instruction.
> Fighthouse is a business and they cannot risk complaints from
> students about the quality of the teaching. Overhead is high in NYC
> and we need every student we can get...
> There are other people in my class who are actually more suited to
> teach, anyway. It's one thing to have the skills, but a teacher
needs
> to be psychologically ready to instruct, as well. I don't consider
> all students who have the skills to be ready to teach, and I think
I
> fall into that category as well. But I do consider myself qualified
> to teach beginners and that's who will be in my study group at the
> university, providing I can get some students to join me. I'm
making
> up a flyer today and hopefully at least my immediate coworkers will
> join me.
> We have a nice large gym with benches, mats, and hardwood floors.
> It's mostly empty because they moved all the athletic teams to
> another campus. So it's usually just a pickup basketball team and a
> karate guy doing katas, maybe he will be interested in trying RMA.
My
> curriculum will be 15-20 minutes of warmup and conditioning, 15-20
> minutes of fundamentals like falling and rolling, breathing,
posture,
> movement, and relaxation, basic yielding drills, and other
elementary
> principles, and 15-20 minutes of self-defense scenarios and Q&A
from
> the students. We won't be sparring nor striking at least until the
> students reach an intermedieate level.
> I have been training since October of 2004 and I do enjoy training
> with beginners at Fighthouse. I think I have a good connection with
> them. Since my training group will be free, I expect everyone who
> shows up will be open to instruction from a woman. If not, they do
> not have to remain.
> There is still a lot of chauvinism in martial arts, unfortunately.
> There is one guy in my class who refuses to work with me. The guys
> like me OK until I prevail over them a few times, then, they resent
> me for it and sometimes refuse to work with me because they feel
> humiliated. But what they don't understand is that women can be
just
> as deadly as men. I don't mean martial artists. Hundreds of men are
> killed by women each year. It can and does happen, and probably
> always will. To look at a woman and judge her as no threat based on
> her gender is a grave mistake that could cost a man his life.
> If anyone works in downtown NYC, you are welcome to come train with
> the group. I will have to sign you into the building, though, so be
> sure to send me an e-mail at rklingberg@... to RSVP. If anyone
> else has a training group of their own, I'd love some tips and
advice
> about starting up.
> I will keep you posted as to our activities.
> *Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
> Rachel
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs.Try it free.
>

Zdravstvui!

We train in Des Plains (on the NW side) on Monday/Friday
in Chicago Broadway/Devon on Wednesday

Please email me if you need more information simas78@...
Thank you

Simeon

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "Squeaky Clean"
<seppukudaily@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>      Where in Illinois do you train?  I'm from Chicago (Northwest
side), and
> would like to enjoy Systema a bit.  Do you know of others training
in the
> Chicago area?  Thank you.
>
> Squeaky Clean

Sharon ,

IL may actually mean Israel in this case?
Thanks for the wonderful information.


On 26/07/06, Squeaky Clean <seppukudaily@...> wrote:
> Hello,
>
>      Where in Illinois do you train?  I'm from Chicago (Northwest side), and
> would like to enjoy Systema a bit.  Do you know of others training in the
> Chicago area?  Thank you.
>
> Squeaky Clean
>
> On 7/25/06, Sharon Friedman <ransuru@...> wrote:
> >
> >   First let me apologise for my writing skills. I haven't slept in three
> > day and it does affect :)
> >
> > I started a training group in IL after meeting Mikhail for a seminar
> > in London which he suggested. I started to write in a paper notebok a
> > while ago and a few months ago I went online. I hope you benefit from
> > the blog and I appriciate any suggestion from any one:
> >
> > http://systemablog.blog.com/
> >
> > here is a general outline of systema progress as it applies to me.
> > Take what fits you and
> > add your own :)
> >
> > 1. Intro: the four principles along with demonstration and scenario
> > explanation (people understand stories and it comes natural) actual
> > work to gauge the students as they walk
> > and so on.
> >
> > Important to introduce the concept of living as opposed to fighting.
> > Working professionally and it's benefits in life altogether. Do not
> > harm and know yourself.
> >
> > *** A gentle no power take down can really open a persons mind. (The
> > "beyond the physical stuff")
> >
> > Begin with purpose ! doing things like sit ups and push ups make no
> > sense outside the self adoration crowd unless there is a higher
> > purpose (also I am very lazy) Introduce the logical movements of life
> > like siting down and getting up and lace them with the principles (for
> > example sit down during one exhale and get up with one inhale, Learn
> > to sit down and get up without use of hands and show them how tense
> > and unstable we are by telling them to put their hands on their hips
> > or head, Do an extremely slow repetition of the lie down and get up so
> > they learn to move balanced without out of bound momentum, Show them
> > the internal spring of the body by twisting and untwisting and tensing
> > and untensing different parts (stand up and lean forward so your chest
> > lies on the thighs, now move the hips alone to the side =left/right=
> > and as you reach the end of the comfort zone twist them and show them
> > how you can erect the torso using this inner spring and tie that with
> > breath by having them do it first holding their breath and than using
> > it ) Natural movement drills like simply putting your hand on another
> > and them having to remove the hand without violence and place their
> > own hand or hands on the other by stepping and changing the body
> > position, Learn to be clam while touched by doing push ups
> > on someone else which also teaches solidity and placement and also
> > climbing with either your legs or hands from the prone position on a
> > standing person, learn to overcome the ego by holding hand in hand and
> > twisting and levering with the other coming along and not
> > getting attacked, Walk toward each other drills with first just
> > getting out of the way and than placing a hand on the other or
> > redirecting him, Learning to accept the ground by
> > rolling first from belly to back and than belly to back with feet in
> > the air which teaches your the value of soft on hard and hard on soft,
> > From standing going down to on knee (overlooked fall options many do
> > not consider ! and than rolling forward without instruction other than
> > placing one hand on the side of the head and later two hands, from
> > the knees you can also lean backwards to free the heels which are too
> > overlooked a lot and you can do so much by simply inventing new ways
> > to advance such as 1 walking on your feet and fists with belly up and
> > belly down 2 walking by jumping with feet together 3 walking by having
> > the feet at a fixed distance and simply doing 180 turns left and right
> > 4 walking very low with a straight back and going down and up in this
> > state 5 walking guided by another with eyes closed and learning to
> > feel with the feet and getting to know where a person is just by touch
> > 6 walking on your knees and so on.) now you can play simple pushing
> > games of letting go by moving just the moved part or moving as a
> > whole, playing with getting away from a staff or avoiding being
> > grabbed by another or more, being held in a bear hug and getting away
> > using breath and relaxation which also apply to
> > the nelson hold)
> >
> > I found that I use an up and down curve of intensity where one lesson
> > is more about understanding and the next more about application and
> > intensity which draws a sihn graph. You will feel better if you create
> > tasks which teach such as guide her with eyes closed from a to b but
> > do do in a circle. Place a mock wallet and have someone try to
> > snatch it and play with the intensity of it. have they count out loud
> > what why do and show them to keep both the analytical and the
> > imagining side of the mind working. The simple step forward and hit
> > and than step back in a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
> > count can challenge many as they become to attached to working instead
> > of getting the job done like a professional.
> >
> > here is a small note I wrote before giving my first systema class:
> >
> > First Systema class
> >
> > 1. Introductions all around.
> >
> > 2. What is Systema: Knowing yourself, the body's natural movement,
> > relaxed mind and body,
> > free thinking with no dogma, natural breath, awareness
> >
> > 3. Warm up: breathing in growing scales while walking in patterns,
> > rolling the joints and
> > spine, moving your partner's joints (shaking them, rolling them), the
> > sit up, push up and
> > squat.
> >
> > Learning games:
> >
> > 1. Dueling: Walk toward each other with straight-arms (fingers control
> > the energy
> > vectors) and navigate around the obstacle. Later on with minimal contact
> >
> > 2. Pendulum: demonstrate the principle using one's body and partner's.
> > Use torso twists,
> > upper body limb waves and transferring energy.
> >
> > 3. Marionette: Move only the body parts addressed by your partner and
> > try to keep good
> > relaxed carriage. Return to true form upon decision rather than
> > automatic response.
> >
> > 4. Light as a feather, stiff as a board: learn to keep the torso
> > straight and relaxed
> > under pressure from your partner (getting ready for strikes)
> >
> > 5. Rag doll: you turn, rotate and move your partner GENTLY till there
> > is no more ROM or
> > balance and you sense the tension load to the next link in the structure.
> >
> > 6. Freeze: extra slow sit down and get up to teach awareness and
> > balance via movement
> > with no momentum.
> >
> > 7. Puppets: One starts from the prone position and his partner lifts
> > him up to a standing
> > position while he keeps the body totally relaxed.
> >
> > 8. Ants: You roll on the ground while keeping eye contact with your
> > partner who is
> > motivating you to move with stomps and kicks.
> >
> > 9. Ties: One partner twists the other till he is satisfied with the
> > result. His partner
> > than, untwists and returns the favor.
> >
> > 10. Capture the flag: There is a target in the form of a man or
> > whatever comes to mind
> > and one has to use natural everyday movement to redirect anothers
> > progress to it.
> >
> > 11. Twister: You stand your ground and your partner applies pressure.
> > You have to twist
> > and move up and down to negate the tension and stay in your place.
> >
> > 12. End game: Stand in a circle and talk about the lesson.
> >
> > I attached my current personal training guideline and here is a list
> > Also important is to keep yourself free from a fixed plan and advance
> > if you FEEL it is needed.
> >
> > Breath Relaxation Posture Natural Movement
> > DO NO HARM
> > Know yourself
> > Drink water (one bottle)
> >
> > 10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
> > pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
> > circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while maintaining
> > the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.
> >
> > Systema breath: Start by breathing via the hands while swaying and
> > balancing with a hold phase for a 20 count (last one: hold your breath
> > for as long as you can and try to relax and smile :). Now go through
> > the body in a 10 count using LOW fox walk. Walk forward going through
> > the upper body and backwards for the lower body. Breath through limbs,
> > joints and what is important for the moment. Hold your arms high!
> >
> > Wholeness of body
> > 20 Tense up the and relax (waves of tension and different parts play)
> >
> > * Softly hit your body with slaps and fists employing continuous
> > motion to wake it up and explore mobility.
> >
> > Bottle turning in hand (10 turns forward and back using the three
> > basic turns) + around the body and over the shoulder to the back
> >
> > * stretch and rotate the body levers wrists, elbows, shoulders, head,
> > torso, hips, knees, ankles.
> >
> > 100 steps in the sailor walk
> > 5 walk up and down a wall with your fists
> > 100 steps on your feet and fists (belly up to free the shoulders; mind
> > how you place the fist)
> > Big band slow movements for joint health especially the muscle up move
> >
> > SYSTEMA CORE
> > Let your breath lead you
> > Ballet Plie ou Releve: 2 slow of each
> > Face the wall with feet pointing to the sides parallel to the wall and
> > torso straight.
> > Now, with your back to the wall and feet pointing to the sides away
> > and parallel to the wall
> >
> > DO ONE OF EACH AND REPEAT 2 TIMES
> > SLOOWLY (30 breaths each way)
> > >Push up on the fists in the Be aware of the fist angle to the body
> > >Squat with the legs and feet pointing forward and keep a straight
> > back (in front of a wall to keep the form)
> > > sit up and Legs overhead with a straight back on the up and down
> >
> > 5 minutes of SYSTEMA ROLLING
> >
> > 5 minutes of juggling (3 metal balls)
> >
> > ODD DAYS
> > 1 minutes moving in the wrestler's bridge alternating with a gymnastic
> > one
> > 5 minutes of foot bag work
> > 5 minutes of continuous squat level movement
> > 10 minutes of hitting whole body movement
> > 10 minutes of whip work
> > 20 pull-ups with both hands holding on to towels on the bar (as ropes)
> >
> > EVEN DAYS
> > 5 minutes in the push up position
> > 15 minutes of rolling continuously on a hard surface
> > 10 minutes of knife or Stick work
> > 10 minutes shadow fighting with the sword
> >
> > Nocturnal
> >
> > 10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
> > pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
> > circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while maintaining
> > the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.
> >
> > 2 minute hanging from the bar using one hand (alternating hands)
> >
> > 30 push up on the fists: (inhale and release on the way down {let
> > yourself fall almost all the way down} and exhale on the way up) keep
> > your wrist and forearm aligned
> > 30 squats: where you "fall" down (almost all the way up storing the
> > energy in the tendons) keeping a straight back with the inhale and
> > exhale on the way up. Hands held at the back to learn to release the
> > tension in the torso
> > 30 legs overhead: inhale as the legs move up and exhale as you let
> > them fall down.
> >
> > Saturday
> >
> > Start the day with 10 steps of slow movement in nature so if you cast
> > a shadow; let it be that of a cloud moving unnoticed.
> > Go through the Chinese balls routine. Rotate them in your hand without
> > touching ball to ball, one way than the other. Now, move them one over
> > the other and back and with the palm facing down rotation both ways.
> > 3 times each of the Boken and Jo Kata
> > Fast
> > Read and view new material
> > Douse
> > Write in my book always
> > SLOW DOWN SO YOU
> > LEARN!
> > And have fun
> >
> > Finally I get to sleep a bit, Sharon.
> >
> >
> >
>
>

First let me apologise for my writing skills. I haven't slept in three
day and it does affect :)

I started a training group in IL after meeting Mikhail for a seminar
in London which he suggested. I started to write in a paper notebok a
while ago and a few months ago I went online. I hope you benefit from
the blog and I appriciate any suggestion from any one:

http://systemablog.blog.com/

here is a general outline of systema progress as it applies to me.
Take what fits you and
add your own :)

1. Intro: the four principles along with demonstration and scenario
explanation (people understand stories and it comes natural) actual
work to gauge the students as they walk
and so on.

Important to introduce the concept of living as opposed to fighting.
Working professionally and it's benefits in life altogether. Do not
harm and know yourself.

  *** A gentle no power take down can really open a persons mind. (The
"beyond the physical stuff")

Begin with purpose ! doing things like sit ups and push ups make no
sense outside the self adoration crowd unless there is a higher
purpose (also I am very lazy) Introduce the logical movements of life
like siting down and getting up and lace them with the principles (for
example sit down during one exhale and get up with one inhale, Learn
to sit down and get up without use of hands and show them how tense
and unstable we are by telling them to put their hands on their hips
or head, Do an extremely slow repetition of the lie down and get up so
they learn to move balanced without out of bound momentum, Show them
the internal spring of the body by twisting and untwisting and tensing
and untensing different parts (stand up and lean forward so your chest
lies on the thighs, now move the hips alone to the side =left/right=
and as you reach the end of the comfort zone twist them and show them
how you can erect the torso using this inner spring and tie that with
breath by having them do it first holding their breath and than using
it ) Natural movement drills like simply putting your hand on another
and them having to remove the hand without violence and place their
own hand or hands on the other by stepping and changing the body
position, Learn to be clam while touched by doing push ups
on someone else which also teaches solidity and placement and also
climbing with either your legs or hands from the prone position on a
standing person, learn to overcome the ego by holding hand in hand and
twisting and levering with the other coming along and not
getting attacked, Walk toward each other drills with first just
getting out of the way and than placing a hand on the other or
redirecting him, Learning to accept the ground by
rolling first from belly to back and than belly to back with feet in
the air which teaches your the value of soft on hard and hard on soft,
From standing going down to on knee (overlooked fall options many do
not consider ! and than rolling forward without instruction other than
placing one hand on the side of the head and later two hands, from
the knees you can also lean backwards to free the heels which are too
overlooked a lot and you can do so much by simply inventing new ways
to advance such as 1 walking on your feet and fists with belly up and
belly down 2 walking by jumping with feet together 3 walking by having
the feet at a fixed distance and simply doing 180 turns left and right
4 walking very low with a straight back and going down and up in this
state 5 walking guided by another with eyes closed and learning to
feel with the feet and getting to know where a person is just by touch
6 walking on your knees and so on.) now you can play simple pushing
games of letting go by moving just the moved part or moving as a
whole, playing with getting away from a staff or avoiding being
grabbed by another or more, being held in a bear hug and getting away
using breath and relaxation which also apply to
the nelson hold)

I found that I use an up and down curve of intensity where one lesson
is more about understanding and the next more about application and
intensity which draws a sihn graph. You will feel better if you create
tasks which teach such as guide her with eyes closed from a to b but
do do in a circle. Place a mock wallet and have someone try to
snatch it and play with the intensity of it. have they count out loud
what why do and show them to keep both the analytical and the
imagining side of the mind working. The simple step forward and hit
and than step back in a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
count can challenge many as they become to attached to working instead
of getting the job done like a professional.

here is a small note I wrote before giving my first systema class:

First Systema class

1. Introductions all around.

2. What is Systema: Knowing yourself, the body's natural movement,
relaxed mind and body,
free thinking with no dogma, natural breath, awareness

3. Warm up: breathing in growing scales while walking in patterns,
rolling the joints and
spine, moving your partner's joints (shaking them, rolling them), the
sit up, push up and
squat.

Learning games:

1. Dueling: Walk toward each other with straight-arms (fingers control
the energy
vectors) and navigate around the obstacle. Later on with minimal contact

2. Pendulum: demonstrate the principle using one's body and partner's.
Use torso twists,
upper body limb waves and transferring energy.

3. Marionette: Move only the body parts addressed by your partner and
try to keep good
relaxed carriage. Return to true form upon decision rather than
automatic response.

4. Light as a feather, stiff as a board: learn to keep the torso
straight and relaxed
under pressure from your partner (getting ready for strikes)

5. Rag doll: you turn, rotate and move your partner GENTLY till there
is no more ROM or
balance and you sense the tension load to the next link in the structure.

6. Freeze: extra slow sit down and get up to teach awareness and
balance via movement
with no momentum.

7. Puppets: One starts from the prone position and his partner lifts
him up to a standing
position while he keeps the body totally relaxed.

8. Ants: You roll on the ground while keeping eye contact with your
partner who is
motivating you to move with stomps and kicks.

9. Ties: One partner twists the other till he is satisfied with the
result. His partner
than, untwists and returns the favor.

10. Capture the flag: There is a target in the form of a man or
whatever comes to mind
and one has to use natural everyday movement to redirect anothers
progress to it.

11. Twister: You stand your ground and your partner applies pressure.
You have to twist
and move up and down to negate the tension and stay in your place.

12. End game: Stand in a circle and talk about the lesson.

I attached my current personal training guideline and here is a list
Also important is to keep yourself free from a fixed plan and advance
if you FEEL it is needed.

Breath   Relaxation   Posture   Natural Movement
DO NO HARM
Know yourself
Drink water (one bottle)

10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while maintaining
the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.

Systema breath: Start by breathing via the hands while swaying and
balancing with a hold phase for a 20 count (last one: hold your breath
for as long as you can and try to relax and smile :). Now go through
the body in a 10 count using LOW fox walk. Walk forward going through
the upper body and backwards for the lower body. Breath through limbs,
joints and what is important for the moment. Hold your arms high!

Wholeness of body
20 Tense up the and relax (waves of tension and different parts play)

* Softly hit your body with slaps and fists employing continuous
motion to wake it up and explore mobility.

Bottle turning in hand (10 turns forward and back using the three
basic turns) + around the body and over the shoulder to the back

* stretch and rotate the body levers wrists, elbows, shoulders, head,
torso, hips, knees, ankles.

100 steps in the sailor walk
5 walk up and down a wall with your fists
100 steps on your feet and fists (belly up to free the shoulders; mind
how you place the fist)
Big band slow movements for joint health especially the muscle up move

SYSTEMA CORE
Let your breath lead you
Ballet Plie ou Releve:  2 slow of each
Face the wall with feet pointing to the sides parallel to the wall and
torso straight.
Now, with your back to the wall and feet pointing to the sides away
and parallel to the wall

DO ONE OF EACH AND REPEAT 2 TIMES
  SLOOWLY (30 breaths each way)
>Push up on the fists in the Be aware of the fist angle to the body
>Squat with the legs and feet pointing forward and keep a straight
back (in front of a wall to keep the form)
> sit up and Legs overhead with a straight back on the up and down

5 minutes of SYSTEMA ROLLING

5 minutes of juggling (3 metal balls)

ODD DAYS
1 minutes moving in the wrestler's bridge alternating with a gymnastic
one
5 minutes of foot bag work
5 minutes of continuous squat level movement
10 minutes of hitting whole body movement
10 minutes of whip work
20 pull-ups with both hands holding on to towels on the bar (as ropes)

EVEN DAYS
5 minutes in the push up position
15 minutes of rolling continuously on a hard surface
10 minutes of knife or Stick work
10 minutes shadow fighting with the sword

Nocturnal

10 deep Breathes where you inhale and contract the pelvic floor
pulling up and forming a half circle with the spine and neck to
circulate the life energy in the body. You exhale while maintaining
the sphincters closed to avoid energy drain and repeat.

2 minute hanging from the bar using one hand (alternating hands)

30 push up on the fists: (inhale and release on the way down {let
yourself fall almost all the way down} and exhale on the way up) keep
your wrist and forearm aligned
30 squats: where you "fall" down (almost all the way up storing the
energy in the tendons) keeping a straight back with the inhale and
exhale on the way up. Hands held at the back to learn to release the
tension in the torso
30 legs overhead: inhale as the legs move up and exhale as you let
them fall down.

Saturday

Start the day with 10 steps of slow movement in nature so if you cast
a shadow; let it be that of a cloud moving unnoticed.
Go through the Chinese balls routine. Rotate them in your hand without
touching ball to ball, one way than the other. Now, move them one over
the other and back and with the palm facing down rotation both ways.
3 times each of the Boken and Jo Kata
Fast
Read and view new material
Douse
Write in my book always
SLOW DOWN SO YOU
LEARN!
And have fun


Finally I get to sleep a bit, Sharon.

Hello,
I've received Vlad's permission to start a training group at the
university where I work. I intend to train on Wednesdays and Fridays
from 12:30 to 1:30, during lunchtime. Hopefully I can get some
interest from my colleagues. If it's successful, I plan to invite
the entire university to join but for now, it will be for faculty and
staff only.
My instructor, Edgar Tsakouls, would like to start a women's only
class and have me assist him with the teaching, but we don't have
enough interest from women. Maybe someday. Although I am as qualified
as any of our other students to fill in for Edgar when he's out of
town, the guys in our class will not accept instruction from a woman.
That's just the way they are, we have a fair number of egotistical
guys. Edgar does think I am ready to begin teaching at a junior
level, but the guys are not ready to accept my instruction.
Fighthouse is a business and they cannot risk complaints from
students about the quality of the teaching. Overhead is high in NYC
and we need every student we can get...
There are other people in my class who are actually more suited to
teach, anyway. It's one thing to have the skills, but a teacher needs
to be psychologically ready to instruct, as well. I don't consider
all students who have the skills to be ready to teach, and I think I
fall into that category as well. But I do consider myself qualified
to teach beginners and that's who will be in my study group at the
university, providing I can get some students to join me. I'm making
up a flyer today and hopefully at least my immediate coworkers will
join me.
We have a nice large gym with benches, mats, and hardwood floors.
It's mostly empty because they moved all the athletic teams to
another campus. So it's usually just a pickup basketball team and a
karate guy doing katas, maybe he will be interested in trying RMA. My
curriculum will be 15-20 minutes of warmup and conditioning, 15-20
minutes of fundamentals like falling and rolling, breathing, posture,
movement, and relaxation, basic yielding drills, and other elementary
principles, and 15-20 minutes of self-defense scenarios and Q&A from
the students. We won't be sparring nor striking at least until the
students reach an intermedieate level.
I have been training since October of 2004 and I do enjoy training
with beginners at Fighthouse. I think I have a good connection with
them. Since my training group will be free, I expect everyone who
shows up will be open to instruction from a woman. If not, they do
not have to remain.
There is still a lot of chauvinism in martial arts, unfortunately.
There is one guy in my class who refuses to work with me. The guys
like me OK until I prevail over them a few times, then, they resent
me for it and sometimes refuse to work with me because they feel
humiliated. But what they don't understand is that women can be just
as deadly as men. I don't mean martial artists. Hundreds of men are
killed by women each year. It can and does happen, and probably
always will. To look at a woman and judge her as no threat based on
her gender is a grave mistake that could cost a man his life.
If anyone works in downtown NYC, you are welcome to come train with
the group. I will have to sign you into the building, though, so be
sure to send me an e-mail at rklingberg@pace.edu to RSVP. If anyone
else has a training group of their own, I'd love some tips and advice
about starting up.
I will keep you posted as to our activities.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Hello,
I've received Vlad's permission to start a training group at the
university where I work. I intend to train on Wednesdays and Fridays
from 12:30 to 1:30, during lunchtime. Hopefully I can get some
interest from  my colleagues. If it's successful, I plan to invite
the entire university to join but for now, it will be for faculty and
staff only.
My instructor, Edgar Tsakouls, would like to start a women's only
class and have me assist him with the teaching, but we don't have
enough interest from women. Maybe someday. Although I am as qualified
as any of our other students to fill in for Edgar when he's out of
town, the guys in our class will not accept instruction from a woman.
That's just the way they are, we have a fair number of egotistical
guys. Edgar does think I am ready to begin teaching at a junior
level, but the guys are not ready to accept my instruction.
Fighthouse is a business and they cannot risk complaints from
students about the quality of the teaching. Overhead is high in NYC
and we need every student we can get...
There are other people in my class who are actually more suited to
teach, anyway. It's one thing to have the skills, but a teacher needs
to be psychologically ready to instruct, as well. I don't consider
all students who have the skills to be ready to teach, and I think I
fall into that category as well. But I do consider myself qualified
to teach beginners and that's who will be in my study group at the
university, providing I can get some students to join me. I'm making
up a flyer today and hopefully at least my immediate coworkers will
join me.
We have a nice large gym with benches, mats, and hardwood floors.
It's mostly empty because they moved all the athletic teams to
another campus. So it's usually just a pickup basketball team and a
karate guy doing katas, maybe he will be interested in trying RMA. My
curriculum will be 15-20 minutes of warmup and conditioning, 15-20
minutes of fundamentals like falling and rolling, breathing, posture,
movement, and relaxation, basic yielding drills, and other elementary
principles, and 15-20 minutes of self-defense scenarios and Q&A from
the students. We won't be sparring nor striking at least until the
students reach an intermedieate level.
I have been training since October of 2004 and I do enjoy training
with beginners at Fighthouse. I think I have a good connection with
them. Since my training group will be free, I expect everyone who
shows up will be open to instruction from a woman. If not, they do
not have to remain.
There is still a lot of chauvinism in martial arts, unfortunately.
There is one guy in my class who refuses to work with me. The guys
like me OK until I prevail over them a few times, then, they resent
me for it and sometimes refuse to work with me because they feel
humiliated. But what they don't understand is that women can be just
as deadly as men. I don't mean martial artists. Hundreds of men are
killed by women each year. It can and does happen, and probably
always will. To look at a woman and judge her as no threat based on
her gender is a grave mistake that could cost a man his life.
If anyone works in downtown NYC, you are welcome to come train with
the group. I will have to sign you into the building, though, so be
sure to send me an e-mail at rklingberg@... to RSVP. If anyone
else has a training group of their own, I'd love some tips and advice
about starting up.
I will keep you posted as to our activities.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Rachel and Ken - spasibo za pomosch (thank you for your help)

Dima wroute to me that "north side" group is still running (same
location and times) so I am looking forward to rejoining them

Simeon

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "rkxyz" <rkxyz@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
> Sadly, the instructor of Systema Chicago, Arkadiy Stepankovskiy, is
no
> longer with us. I thought the school was going to try to continue,
but
> I guess they couldn't keep it up. I don't believe there is a
Systema
> school in Chicago anymore. I know that Dima Trumanov is very
> experienced and I expected him to take Arkadiy's place as
instructor.
> You might try contacting him through the forum at
> russianmartialart.com, send him a private message and ask if he
knows
> of a study group in the area that you could join. Also, one of our
> former students at Fighthouse, Christopher Robinson, moved to
Chicago
> and might be interested in practicing Systema. But I don't know how
to
> get in touch with him, he travels a lot and might be hard to pin
down.
> If you cannot find an instructor or a study group, I would suggest
you
> start one of your own. Arkadiy had a number of students and it's
likely
> that they are still practicing somewhere, if they don't have a
formal
> group, I'm sure you could find some like-minded people to get
together
> and train. Worst-case scenario, buy some DVDs, get a friend, and
try
> practicing some of the exercises on your own. Better to have a
veteran
> student for some real-time guidance, but if you can't find one, you
can
> still learn a lot from the DVDs and a willing friend or two.
> Good luck and *vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
> Rachel
>
> --- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "simas782000" <simas782000@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Good morning to everyone,
> >  Interesting in learning if anyone is aware of any Systema
training
> in
> > Chicago area.
> >
> > Simeon
> >
>

Hi Ken,
I'm so glad you're OK. I know Vlad would be glad to read of your
experiences, have you submitted anything to the Let Every Breath Web
site? Also of course you are welcome to share your breathing tips and
compiled list with this group. I am sure the blog will be interesting
and I would love to read it, so when you get it up and running, send
a message to the group.
I guess you had a close one! That's got to be a sobering experience,
but at the same time, I'm sure there is something to be learned from
it, as well...life is funny that way.
Best wishes, and *na zdorovye* to you, too!
Rachel

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, Ken Harper <kinfolkharper@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Rachel,
>
> I started to reply to this but my computer's quick trigger finger
may have sent it off before I completed it.
>
> In any event, you wrote a great review of "Let Every Breath." I
completely agree that it can change your life -- perhaps even save
it.
>
> In early June I got the shock of my life: I was diagnosed with
middle-grade/intermediate prostate cancer. The most significant bit
of advice from my doctor was; take up to 30 days to decide what to
do, but don't take 3 months.
>
> Long story short, I opted for surgery. Prior to surgery, I
worked on 2 things: 1) get my weight down and my blood pressure with
it, and 2) breathing.
>
> A week ago Tuesday, I had the surgery and a good thing too -- the
tumor was even nastier than the biopsy indicated. But my lymph nodes
are clean, so no further treatment is anticipated.
>
> During recovery, I could feel exactly how intimately connected
various internal organs are as my body learned to take in food and
water again. At the same time, I could feel just how far and deep my
breathing could go -- without having to visualize the processes. It
was remarkable.
>
> I won't clog up everybody's email with any more of "my" travails
and experiences, except to say that you owe it to yourself to get the
book and the related DVD and do the work.
>
> If you are interested in other resources on breathing and
healing, let me know, because I'm compiling a list, and will be
putting them on line, along with a blog intended for anyone who might
benefit from my experience as well as what I've learned from others
who've been through similar experiences.
>
> Na Zdorovye! (to your health!)
>
> Ken Harper
>
> rkxyz <rkxyz@...> wrote:
> I bought this book at our school after class on Saturday.
I finished
> reading it on Tuesday right before our next class. I knew the book
> would be helpful to my training, but I honestly did not even
believe
> reading the book would make such a difference! But preconceptions
do
> not matter; this book will help you even if you don't expect it to.
> One particular way it helped me is with the "no breathing"
confidence
> exercises we do in Systema class. After doing 20 pushups with
> different inhale/exhale patterns, I was always "out of breath," a
> phrase to ponder, because how can I "run out" of something which is
> so plentiful and available? So I'd always struggle to do another 10
> without breathing. And because I was "out of breath," not breathing
> while exerting myself further caused me to panic, even though I
knew
> that panicking was only using up oxygen faster. My instructor and
> fellow students offered much advice: don't freak out, think of
> something else, look around the room, try not to dwell on lack of
> air. But it always ended up the same, I'd do two or three without
> breath, panic, and lay there panting while the rest of the class
> finished the set. It was only after reading Let Every Breath that I
> realized why this was happening and was able to correct my
breathing
> so that I was not so winded. Of course, I still need lots of
> practice, particular with the leg lifts which are the hardest "no-
> breath" exercises for me. Sometimes I forget what was so crystal-
> clear immediately after finishing the book. But if I remember the
> principles described in Let Every Breath, I can get to 5 and
> occassionally or 7 or 10 without breath, which is a pretty dramatic
> improvement from just 2 or 3. As suggested, it's very helpful to
> reach what I think is my maximum and try for just one more; in this
> way, my confidence improves gradually.
>
> I'm describing the "no-breath" exercises because they are the
biggest
> challenge for me. Two things in particular helped me approach these
> in a different way. First, for the inhale/exhale sets, I shifted my
> focus from movement to breathing. Instead of matching my breathing
to
> movement, I tried it the other way around. And that is how I became
> aware of movement that extended beyond my breathing. The book
> describes a natural pause between inhale and exhale. But with the
> exertion of movement, my pause was a bit longer than natural. Even
> though I began my inhale or exhale before the movement, as
described,
> I was still halting it between inhale and exhale so that my
movement
> could "catch up" with my breath. Again, these were very tiny
pauses,
> barely noticeable, but they do add up! And that is why I was so
> often "out of breath" at the end of the sets. By shifting my focus
to
> breathing, movement connects to breathing naturally, rather than
> artificially, and I'm less likely to force myself to move when
there
> is no breath to support it.
>
> If you are wondering why is so important to me, it's because I do
> consider it potentially life-saving knowledge. Recently I was
> watching a documentary program about accidents at sea and how
people
> survive them. It's an extremely difficult survival situation
because
> of hypothermia, which causes people to make irrational decisions
and
> even worse, to lose the will to live. At the end of the program,
they
> interviewed a survival expert who trained people to prepare for
> disasters at sea. He was asked, "What can an average person do to
> increase their chances of survival when lost at sea?" And he
> said, "Know your own capabilities. Can you swim? How long can you
> hold your breath? These things will give you the confidence to know
> that you can make it through extreme circumstances." Before reading
> Let Every Breath, if I had found myself in a situation where I
could
> not breathe, I know for a fact that I would have panicked, felt
> despair, maybe even enough to give up! But now, I know that I can
> hold my breathe at least for a little while without panicking, it
> will certainly increase my chances of surviving such a situation.
>
> Another paragraph from the book which helped me quite a bit was the
> idea of breathing "through" the entire body during difficult
> conditioning exercises. I knew that it is helpful to
> visualize "breathing in" through the muscles that are under
exertion,
> but the breath penetrates the entire body. Not just symbolically,
> it's a biological fact that every cell needs oxygen. If the muscles
> are stiff, tight, sore, tense, or otherwise restricted, it's harder
> to process the oxygen-rich blood and also to eliminate metabolic
> wastes. This is a difficult cycle; the tight muscles that would
> benefit most from increased blood flow actually get the least of
it.
> Lack of oxygen and accumulation of wastes perpetuate and spread the
> problem to surrounding areas, and this can cause muscular pain as
> severe as joint and bone pain, and a lack of mobility so dramatic,
> many people resort to surgery. But I have to confess, I wasn't
> entirely convinced that visualizing breathing through the entire
body
> would actually bring increased oxygen to restricted areas. But it
> does seem to help, I'm not sure how or why, but I definitely feel
> less restriction to those areas when I envision breathing "through"
> the entire body. In fact, sometimes I'm not aware of the
restriction
> until I visualize the breathing permeating my entire body.
>
> One thing I'd like to work on further is the concept of
independence
> of breath, because I think that I have too closely tied pain
> management or exertion with exhaling. Focussing on the exhale is a
> little bit easier and I think most beginners are taught to start
with
> that. But now that I've been training for a few years, I think it
> would be beneficial to look more closely at my breathing and its
> correlation to certain activities in training like accepting
strikes,
> yielding to joint locks, falls and rolls, and even just exertion.
> Actually, there are many more ideas to ponder in Let Every Breath,
> and I've found it to be an inspiration. In my day-to-day life, I
can
> gauge the effectiveness of my breathing by my commute to work each
> weekday morning. When I get out of the subway, I'm about as far
> underground as anyone can be in Manhattan, and there are two
> platforms above me. So I have to climb two flights of stairs and
> ascend a very steep ramp to get out to the street. If I'm stuck in
a
> big crowd, this can be a slow process. And it actually makes me a
bit
> sad to see people who look young and fit heaving themselves up the
> stairs as if it's taking every last bit of energy to do so. Usually
I
> take the stairs quickly, but if I'm sleepy or carrying heavy bags,
> it's always harder than if I'm well-rested and empty-handed. If I'm
> out of breath when I reach the street, then I know I have forgotten
> some of those basic principles!
>
> This book is a treasure. You don't have to be a martial artist or
an
> athlete to benefit from reading it. If you breathe, it will help
you!
> The principles of Russian breathing are so clearly described, with
> illustrations, exercises, and ideas to consider at every moment of
> the day. Just for starters: how often do you hold your breath?
> Holding the breath doesn't necessarily mean you are puffed up and
> blue in the face. As the author explains, pay close attention to
your
> breathing as you perform simple tasks: lift a heavy package, thread
a
> needle, catch a ball. Is your breathing truly continous? It's such
a
> simple idea, and one that we take for granted: of course we don't
> stop our breathing, or else we'd die. Even though I have been
> training in Russian Martial Art, after reading Let Every Breath, I
> realized that I stop my breathing at certain times, especially when
> I'm suprised: when the train lurches suddenly, when I accidentally
> drop something I'm carrying, or stumble, or knock something off my
> desk. These small pauses, barely noticeable until I thought to
check
> for them, might seem inconsequential, but breath is life, and when
> it's halted by fear or surprise or tension, it is contrary to our
> very survival, and it disconnects us from the natural harmony of
the
> force of life. It's subtle, but so important, if you think of how
> long most people can go without breathing, 10 or 20 seconds,
perhaps
> a bit more, then it becomes apparent why even the smallest change
in
> breathing will affect the whole body, and overall quality of life.
>
> "Everyday that you live without proper breathing is another little
> step of submitting to stress and deterioration of your health." -VV
>
> And that's why Let Every Breath is such an important book. It is
not
> a book to change your lifestyle, get you to eat specific foods,
> follow any sort of schedule, or do anything by rote. The real gem
of
> the book is simply the way it changes our perception of our own
> breathing, that which connects us to the greater universe around
us.
> We look at a fish out of water, flopping around, and we know it is
> doomed. But somehow, we consider ourselves higher than those fish,
as
> if they are imprisoned by their inability to survive without water.
> We even have an expression for those who are ill at ease: "like a
> fish out of water." But we are no different! Fish need water, we
need
> air, no creature can survive without the life-giving force of the
> universe, and the best way to appreciate any gift is to accept it
> with humble gratitude, and use it wisely and well.
>
> "You breathe in when you're born and out when you die; in between
is
> your life." -MR
>
> Many thanks to Scott and Vladimir for creating this book, and to
> Mikhail, without whom it would not be possible. It is truly a gift
to
> the Systema community and to the world beyond.
>
> *Spasibo i vsego nailuchshego* (thank you and best wishes),
> Rachel
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Want to be your own boss? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
>

Hi Ken,
I'm so glad you're OK. I know Vlad would be glad to read of your
experiences, have you submitted anything to the Let Every Breath Web
site? Also of course you are welcome to share your breathing tips and
compiled list with this group. I am sure the blog will be interesting
and I would love to read it, so when you get it up and running, send
a message to the group.
I guess you had a close one! That's got to be a sobering experience,
but at the same time, I'm sure there is something to be learned from
it, as well...life is funny that way.
Best wishes, and *na zdorovye* to you, too!
Rachel


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, Ken Harper <kinfolkharper@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Rachel,
>
>   I started to reply to this but my computer's quick trigger finger
may have sent it off before I completed it.
>
>   In any event, you wrote a great review of "Let Every Breath."  I
completely agree that it can change your life -- perhaps even save
it.
>
>   In early June I got the shock of my life:  I was diagnosed with
middle-grade/intermediate prostate cancer.  The most significant bit
of advice from my doctor was;  take up to 30 days to decide what to
do, but don't take 3 months.
>
>   Long story short, I opted for surgery.  Prior to surgery, I
worked on 2 things:  1) get my weight down and my blood pressure with
it, and 2) breathing.
>
>   A week ago Tuesday, I had the surgery and a good thing too -- the
tumor was even nastier than the biopsy indicated.  But my lymph nodes
are clean, so no further treatment is anticipated.
>
>   During recovery, I could feel exactly how intimately connected
various internal organs are as my body learned to take in food and
water again.  At the same time, I could feel just how far and deep my
breathing could go -- without having to visualize the processes.  It
was remarkable.
>
>   I won't clog up everybody's email with any more of "my" travails
and experiences, except to say that you owe it to yourself to get the
book and the related DVD and do the work.
>
>   If you are interested in other resources on breathing and
healing, let me know, because I'm compiling a list, and will be
putting them on line, along with a blog intended for anyone who might
benefit from my experience as well as what I've learned from others
who've been through similar experiences.
>
>   Na Zdorovye!  (to your health!)
>
>   Ken Harper
>
> rkxyz <rkxyz@...> wrote:
>           I bought this book at our school after class on Saturday.
I finished
> reading it on Tuesday right before our next class. I knew the book
> would be helpful to my training, but I honestly did not even
believe
> reading the book would make such a difference! But preconceptions
do
> not matter; this book will help you even if you don't expect it to.
> One particular way it helped me is with the "no breathing"
confidence
> exercises we do in Systema class. After doing 20 pushups with
> different inhale/exhale patterns, I was always "out of breath," a
> phrase to ponder, because how can I "run out" of something which is
> so plentiful and available? So I'd always struggle to do another 10
> without breathing. And because I was "out of breath," not breathing
> while exerting myself further caused me to panic, even though I
knew
> that panicking was only using up oxygen faster. My instructor and
> fellow students offered much advice: don't freak out, think of
> something else, look around the room, try not to dwell on lack of
> air. But it always ended up the same, I'd do two or three without
> breath, panic, and lay there panting while the rest of the class
> finished the set. It was only after reading Let Every Breath that I
> realized why this was happening and was able to correct my
breathing
> so that I was not so winded. Of course, I still need lots of
> practice, particular with the leg lifts which are the hardest "no-
> breath" exercises for me. Sometimes I forget what was so crystal-
> clear immediately after finishing the book. But if I remember the
> principles described in Let Every Breath, I can get to 5 and
> occassionally or 7 or 10 without breath, which is a pretty dramatic
> improvement from just 2 or 3. As suggested, it's very helpful to
> reach what I think is my maximum and try for just one more; in this
> way, my confidence improves gradually.
>
> I'm describing the "no-breath" exercises because they are the
biggest
> challenge for me. Two things in particular helped me approach these
> in a different way. First, for the inhale/exhale sets, I shifted my
> focus from movement to breathing. Instead of matching my breathing
to
> movement, I tried it the other way around. And that is how I became
> aware of movement that extended beyond my breathing. The book
> describes a natural pause between inhale and exhale. But with the
> exertion of movement, my pause was a bit longer than natural. Even
> though I began my inhale or exhale before the movement, as
described,
> I was still halting it between inhale and exhale so that my
movement
> could "catch up" with my breath. Again, these were very tiny
pauses,
> barely noticeable, but they do add up! And that is why I was so
> often "out of breath" at the end of the sets. By shifting my focus
to
> breathing, movement connects to breathing naturally, rather than
> artificially, and I'm less likely to force myself to move when
there
> is no breath to support it.
>
> If you are wondering why is so important to me, it's because I do
> consider it potentially life-saving knowledge. Recently I was
> watching a documentary program about accidents at sea and how
people
> survive them. It's an extremely difficult survival situation
because
> of hypothermia, which causes people to make irrational decisions
and
> even worse, to lose the will to live. At the end of the program,
they
> interviewed a survival expert who trained people to prepare for
> disasters at sea. He was asked, "What can an average person do to
> increase their chances of survival when lost at sea?" And he
> said, "Know your own capabilities. Can you swim? How long can you
> hold your breath? These things will give you the confidence to know
> that you can make it through extreme circumstances." Before reading
> Let Every Breath, if I had found myself in a situation where I
could
> not breathe, I know for a fact that I would have panicked, felt
> despair, maybe even enough to give up! But now, I know that I can
> hold my breathe at least for a little while without panicking, it
> will certainly increase my chances of surviving such a situation.
>
> Another paragraph from the book which helped me quite a bit was the
> idea of breathing "through" the entire body during difficult
> conditioning exercises. I knew that it is helpful to
> visualize "breathing in" through the muscles that are under
exertion,
> but the breath penetrates the entire body. Not just symbolically,
> it's a biological fact that every cell needs oxygen. If the muscles
> are stiff, tight, sore, tense, or otherwise restricted, it's harder
> to process the oxygen-rich blood and also to eliminate metabolic
> wastes. This is a difficult cycle; the tight muscles that would
> benefit most from increased blood flow actually get the least of
it.
> Lack of oxygen and accumulation of wastes perpetuate and spread the
> problem to surrounding areas, and this can cause muscular pain as
> severe as joint and bone pain, and a lack of mobility so dramatic,
> many people resort to surgery. But I have to confess, I wasn't
> entirely convinced that visualizing breathing through the entire
body
> would actually bring increased oxygen to restricted areas. But it
> does seem to help, I'm not sure how or why, but I definitely feel
> less restriction to those areas when I envision breathing "through"
> the entire body. In fact, sometimes I'm not aware of the
restriction
> until I visualize the breathing permeating my entire body.
>
> One thing I'd like to work on further is the concept of
independence
> of breath, because I think that I have too closely tied pain
> management or exertion with exhaling. Focussing on the exhale is a
> little bit easier and I think most beginners are taught to start
with
> that. But now that I've been training for a few years, I think it
> would be beneficial to look more closely at my breathing and its
> correlation to certain activities in training like accepting
strikes,
> yielding to joint locks, falls and rolls, and even just exertion.
> Actually, there are many more ideas to ponder in Let Every Breath,
> and I've found it to be an inspiration. In my day-to-day life, I
can
> gauge the effectiveness of my breathing by my commute to work each
> weekday morning. When I get out of the subway, I'm about as far
> underground as anyone can be in Manhattan, and there are two
> platforms above me. So I have to climb two flights of stairs and
> ascend a very steep ramp to get out to the street. If I'm stuck in
a
> big crowd, this can be a slow process. And it actually makes me a
bit
> sad to see people who look young and fit heaving themselves up the
> stairs as if it's taking every last bit of energy to do so. Usually
I
> take the stairs quickly, but if I'm sleepy or carrying heavy bags,
> it's always harder than if I'm well-rested and empty-handed. If I'm
> out of breath when I reach the street, then I know I have forgotten
> some of those basic principles!
>
> This book is a treasure. You don't have to be a martial artist or
an
> athlete to benefit from reading it. If you breathe, it will help
you!
> The principles of Russian breathing are so clearly described, with
> illustrations, exercises, and ideas to consider at every moment of
> the day. Just for starters: how often do you hold your breath?
> Holding the breath doesn't necessarily mean you are puffed up and
> blue in the face. As the author explains, pay close attention to
your
> breathing as you perform simple tasks: lift a heavy package, thread
a
> needle, catch a ball. Is your breathing truly continous? It's such
a
> simple idea, and one that we take for granted: of course we don't
> stop our breathing, or else we'd die. Even though I have been
> training in Russian Martial Art, after reading Let Every Breath, I
> realized that I stop my breathing at certain times, especially when
> I'm suprised: when the train lurches suddenly, when I accidentally
> drop something I'm carrying, or stumble, or knock something off my
> desk. These small pauses, barely noticeable until I thought to
check
> for them, might seem inconsequential, but breath is life, and when
> it's halted by fear or surprise or tension, it is contrary to our
> very survival, and it disconnects us from the natural harmony of
the
> force of life. It's subtle, but so important, if you think of how
> long most people can go without breathing, 10 or 20 seconds,
perhaps
> a bit more, then it becomes apparent why even the smallest change
in
> breathing will affect the whole body, and overall quality of life.
>
> "Everyday that you live without proper breathing is another little
> step of submitting to stress and deterioration of your health." -VV
>
> And that's why Let Every Breath is such an important book. It is
not
> a book to change your lifestyle, get you to eat specific foods,
> follow any sort of schedule, or do anything by rote. The real gem
of
> the book is simply the way it changes our perception of our own
> breathing, that which connects us to the greater universe around
us.
> We look at a fish out of water, flopping around, and we know it is
> doomed. But somehow, we consider ourselves higher than those fish,
as
> if they are imprisoned by their inability to survive without water.
> We even have an expression for those who are ill at ease: "like a
> fish out of water." But we are no different! Fish need water, we
need
> air, no creature can survive without the life-giving force of the
> universe, and the best way to appreciate any gift is to accept it
> with humble gratitude, and use it wisely and well.
>
> "You breathe in when you're born and out when you die; in between
is
> your life." -MR
>
> Many thanks to Scott and Vladimir for creating this book, and to
> Mikhail, without whom it would not be possible. It is truly a gift
to
> the Systema community and to the world beyond.
>
> *Spasibo i vsego nailuchshego* (thank you and best wishes),
> Rachel
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Want to be your own boss? Learn how on  Yahoo! Small Business.
>

I bought this book at our school after class on Saturday. I finished
reading it on Tuesday right before our next class. I knew the book
would be helpful to my training, but I honestly did not even believe
reading the book would make such a difference! But preconceptions do
not matter; this book will help you even if you don't expect it to.
One particular way it helped me is with the "no breathing" confidence
exercises we do in Systema class. After doing 20 pushups with
different inhale/exhale patterns, I was always "out of breath," a
phrase to ponder, because how can I "run out" of something which is
so plentiful and available? So I'd always struggle to do another 10
without breathing. And because I was "out of breath," not breathing
while exerting myself further caused me to panic, even though I knew
that panicking was only using up oxygen faster. My instructor and
fellow students offered much advice: don't freak out, think of
something else, look around the room, try not to dwell on lack of
air. But it always ended up the same, I'd do two or three without
breath, panic, and lay there panting while the rest of the class
finished the set. It was only after reading Let Every Breath that I
realized why this was happening and was able to correct my breathing
so that I was not so winded. Of course, I still need lots of
practice, particular with the leg lifts which are the hardest "no-
breath" exercises for me. Sometimes I forget what was so crystal-
clear immediately after finishing the book. But if I remember the
principles described in Let Every Breath, I can get to 5 and
occassionally or 7 or 10 without breath, which is a pretty dramatic
improvement from just 2 or 3. As suggested, it's very helpful to
reach what I think is my maximum and try for just one more; in this
way, my confidence improves gradually.

I'm describing the "no-breath" exercises because they are the biggest
challenge for me. Two things in particular helped me approach these
in a different way. First, for the inhale/exhale sets, I shifted my
focus from movement to breathing. Instead of matching my breathing to
movement, I tried it the other way around. And that is how I became
aware of movement that extended beyond my breathing. The book
describes a natural pause between inhale and exhale. But with the
exertion of movement, my pause was a bit longer than natural. Even
though I began my inhale or exhale before the movement, as described,
I was still halting it between inhale and exhale so that my movement
could "catch up" with my breath. Again, these were very tiny pauses,
barely noticeable, but they do add up! And that is why I was so
often "out of breath" at the end of the sets. By shifting my focus to
breathing, movement connects to breathing naturally, rather than
artificially, and I'm less likely to force myself to move when there
is no breath to support it.

If you are wondering why is so important to me, it's because I do
consider it potentially life-saving knowledge. Recently I was
watching a documentary program about accidents at sea and how people
survive them. It's an extremely difficult survival situation because
of hypothermia, which causes people to make irrational decisions and
even worse, to lose the will to live. At the end of the program, they
interviewed a survival expert who trained people to prepare for
disasters at sea. He was asked, "What can an average person do to
increase their chances of survival when lost at sea?" And he
said, "Know your own capabilities. Can you swim? How long can you
hold your breath? These things will give you the confidence to know
that you can make it through extreme circumstances." Before reading
Let Every Breath, if I had found myself in a situation where I could
not breathe, I know for a fact that I would have panicked, felt
despair, maybe even enough to give up! But now, I know that I can
hold my breathe at least for a little while without panicking, it
will certainly increase my chances of surviving such a situation.

Another paragraph from the book which helped me quite a bit was the
idea of breathing "through" the entire body during difficult
conditioning exercises. I knew that it is helpful to
visualize "breathing in" through the muscles that are under exertion,
but the breath penetrates the entire body. Not just symbolically,
it's a biological fact that every cell needs oxygen. If the muscles
are stiff, tight, sore, tense, or otherwise restricted, it's harder
to process the oxygen-rich blood and also to eliminate metabolic
wastes. This is a difficult cycle; the tight muscles that would
benefit most from increased blood flow actually get the least of it.
Lack of oxygen and accumulation of wastes perpetuate and spread the
problem to surrounding areas, and this can cause muscular pain as
severe as joint and bone pain, and a lack of mobility so dramatic,
many people resort to surgery. But I have to confess, I wasn't
entirely convinced that visualizing breathing through the entire body
would actually bring increased oxygen to restricted areas. But it
does seem to help, I'm not sure how or why, but I definitely feel
less restriction to those areas when I envision breathing "through"
the entire body. In fact, sometimes I'm not aware of the restriction
until I visualize the breathing permeating my entire body.

One thing I'd like to work on further is the concept of independence
of breath, because I think that I have too closely tied pain
management or exertion with exhaling. Focussing on the exhale is a
little bit easier and I think most beginners are taught to start with
that. But now that I've been training for a few years, I think it
would be beneficial to look more closely at my breathing and its
correlation to certain activities in training like accepting strikes,
yielding to joint locks, falls and rolls, and even just exertion.
Actually, there are many more ideas to ponder in Let Every Breath,
and I've found it to be an inspiration. In my day-to-day life, I can
gauge the effectiveness of my breathing by my commute to work each
weekday morning. When I get out of the subway, I'm about as far
underground as anyone can be in Manhattan, and there are two
platforms above me. So I have to climb two flights of stairs and
ascend a very steep ramp to get out to the street. If I'm stuck in a
big crowd, this can be a slow process. And it actually makes me a bit
sad to see people who look young and fit heaving themselves up the
stairs as if it's taking every last bit of energy to do so. Usually I
take the stairs quickly, but if I'm sleepy or carrying heavy bags,
it's always harder than if I'm well-rested and empty-handed. If I'm
out of breath when I reach the street, then I know I have forgotten
some of those basic principles!

This book is a treasure. You don't have to be a martial artist or an
athlete to benefit from reading it. If you breathe, it will help you!
The principles of Russian breathing are so clearly described, with
illustrations, exercises, and ideas to consider at every moment of
the day. Just for starters: how often do you hold your breath?
Holding the breath doesn't necessarily mean you are puffed up and
blue in the face. As the author explains, pay close attention to your
breathing as you perform simple tasks: lift a heavy package, thread a
needle, catch a ball. Is your breathing truly continous? It's such a
simple idea, and one that we take for granted: of course we don't
stop our breathing, or else we'd die. Even though I have been
training in Russian Martial Art, after reading Let Every Breath, I
realized that I stop my breathing at certain times, especially when
I'm suprised: when the train lurches suddenly, when I accidentally
drop something I'm carrying, or stumble, or knock something off my
desk. These small pauses, barely noticeable until I thought to check
for them, might seem inconsequential, but breath is life, and when
it's halted by fear or surprise or tension, it is contrary to our
very survival, and it disconnects us from the natural harmony of the
force of life. It's subtle, but so important, if you think of how
long most people can go without breathing, 10 or 20 seconds, perhaps
a bit more, then it becomes apparent why even the smallest change in
breathing will affect the whole body, and overall quality of life.

"Everyday that you live without proper breathing is another little
step of submitting to stress and deterioration of your health." -VV

And that's why Let Every Breath is such an important book. It is not
a book to change your lifestyle, get you to eat specific foods,
follow any sort of schedule, or do anything by rote. The real gem of
the book is simply the way it changes our perception of our own
breathing, that which connects us to the greater universe around us.
We look at a fish out of water, flopping around, and we know it is
doomed. But somehow, we consider ourselves higher than those fish, as
if they are imprisoned by their inability to survive without water.
We even have an expression for those who are ill at ease: "like a
fish out of water." But we are no different! Fish need water, we need
air, no creature can survive without the life-giving force of the
universe, and the best way to appreciate any gift is to accept it
with humble gratitude, and use it wisely and well.

"You breathe in when you're born and out when you die; in between is
your life." -MR

Many thanks to Scott and Vladimir for creating this book, and to
Mikhail, without whom it would not be possible. It is truly a gift to
the Systema community and to the world beyond.

*Spasibo i vsego nailuchshego* (thank you and best wishes),
Rachel

Hello,
Sadly, the instructor of Systema Chicago, Arkadiy Stepankovskiy, is no
longer with us. I thought the school was going to try to continue, but
I guess they couldn't keep it up. I don't believe there is a Systema
school in Chicago anymore. I know that Dima Trumanov is very
experienced and I expected him to take Arkadiy's place as instructor.
You might try contacting him through the forum at
russianmartialart.com, send him a private message and ask if he knows
of a study group in the area that you could join. Also, one of our
former students at Fighthouse, Christopher Robinson, moved to Chicago
and might be interested in practicing Systema. But I don't know how to
get in touch with him, he travels a lot and might be hard to pin down.
If you cannot find an instructor or a study group, I would suggest you
start one of your own. Arkadiy had a number of students and it's likely
that they are still practicing somewhere, if they don't have a formal
group, I'm sure you could find some like-minded people to get together
and train. Worst-case scenario, buy some DVDs, get a friend, and try
practicing some of the exercises on your own. Better to have a veteran
student for some real-time guidance, but if you can't find one, you can
still learn a lot from the DVDs and a willing friend or two.
Good luck and *vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "simas782000" <simas782000@...>
wrote:
>
> Good morning to everyone,
> Interesting in learning if anyone is aware of any Systema training
in
> Chicago area.
>
> Simeon
>

Hello,
Sadly, the instructor of Systema Chicago, Arkadiy Stepankovskiy, is no
longer with us. I thought the school was going to try to continue, but
I guess they couldn't keep it up. I don't believe there is a Systema
school in Chicago anymore. I know that Dima Trumanov is very
experienced and I expected him to take Arkadiy's place as instructor.
You might try contacting him through the forum at
russianmartialart.com, send him a private message and ask if he knows
of a study group in the area that you could join. Also, one of our
former students at Fighthouse, Christopher Robinson, moved to Chicago
and might be interested in practicing Systema. But I don't know how to
get in touch with him, he travels a lot and might be hard to pin down.
If you cannot find an instructor or a study group, I would suggest you
start one of your own. Arkadiy had a number of students and it's likely
that they are still practicing somewhere, if they don't have a formal
group, I'm sure you could find some like-minded people to get together
and train. Worst-case scenario, buy some DVDs, get a friend, and try
practicing some of the exercises on your own. Better to have a veteran
student for some real-time guidance, but if you can't find one, you can
still learn a lot from the DVDs and a willing friend or two.
Good luck and *vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "simas782000" <simas782000@...>
wrote:
>
> Good morning to everyone,
>  Interesting in learning if anyone is aware of any Systema training
in
> Chicago area.
>
> Simeon
>

I bought this book at our school after class on Saturday. I finished
reading it on Tuesday right before our next class. I knew the book
would be helpful to my training, but I honestly did not even believe
reading the book would make such a difference! But preconceptions do
not matter; this book will help you even if you don't expect it to.
One particular way it helped me is with the "no breathing" confidence
exercises we do in Systema class. After doing 20 pushups with
different inhale/exhale patterns, I was always "out of breath," a
phrase to ponder, because how can I "run out" of something which is
so plentiful and available? So I'd always struggle to do another 10
without breathing. And because I was "out of breath," not breathing
while exerting myself further caused me to panic, even though I knew
that panicking was only using up oxygen faster. My instructor and
fellow students offered much advice: don't freak out, think of
something else, look around the room, try not to dwell on lack of
air. But it always ended up the same, I'd do two or three without
breath, panic, and lay there panting while the rest of the class
finished the set. It was only after reading Let Every Breath that I
realized why this was happening and was able to correct my breathing
so that I was not so winded. Of course, I still need lots of
practice, particular with the leg lifts which are the hardest "no-
breath" exercises for me. Sometimes I forget what was so crystal-
clear immediately after finishing the book. But if I remember the
principles described in Let Every Breath, I can get to 5 and
occassionally or 7 or 10 without breath, which is a pretty dramatic
improvement from just 2 or 3. As suggested, it's very helpful to
reach what I think is my maximum and try for just one more; in this
way, my confidence improves gradually.

I'm describing the "no-breath" exercises because they are the biggest
challenge for me. Two things in particular helped me approach these
in a different way. First, for the inhale/exhale sets, I shifted my
focus from movement to breathing. Instead of matching my breathing to
movement, I tried it the other way around. And that is how I became
aware of movement that extended beyond my breathing. The book
describes a natural pause between inhale and exhale. But with the
exertion of movement, my pause was a bit longer than natural. Even
though I began my inhale or exhale before the movement, as described,
I was still halting it between inhale and exhale so that my movement
could "catch up" with my breath. Again, these were very tiny pauses,
barely noticeable, but they do add up! And that is why I was so
often "out of breath" at the end of the sets. By shifting my focus to
breathing, movement connects to breathing naturally, rather than
artificially, and I'm less likely to force myself to move when there
is no breath to support it.

If you are wondering why is so important to me, it's because I do
consider it potentially life-saving knowledge. Recently I was
watching a documentary program about accidents at sea and how people
survive them. It's an extremely difficult survival situation because
of hypothermia, which causes people to make irrational decisions and
even worse, to lose the will to live. At the end of the program, they
interviewed a survival expert who trained people to prepare for
disasters at sea. He was asked, "What can an average person do to
increase their chances of survival when lost at sea?" And he
said, "Know your own capabilities. Can you swim? How long can you
hold your breath? These things will give you the confidence to know
that you can make it through extreme circumstances." Before reading
Let Every Breath, if I had found myself in a situation where I could
not breathe, I know for a fact that I would have panicked, felt
despair, maybe even enough to give up! But now, I know that I can
hold my breathe at least for a little while without panicking, it
will certainly increase my chances of surviving such a situation.

Another paragraph from the book which helped me quite a bit was the
idea of breathing "through" the entire body during difficult
conditioning exercises. I knew that it is helpful to
visualize "breathing in" through the muscles that are under exertion,
but the breath penetrates the entire body. Not just symbolically,
it's a biological fact that every cell needs oxygen. If the muscles
are stiff, tight, sore, tense, or otherwise restricted, it's harder
to process the oxygen-rich blood and also to eliminate metabolic
wastes. This is a difficult cycle; the tight muscles that would
benefit most from increased blood flow actually get the least of it.
Lack of oxygen and accumulation of wastes perpetuate and spread the
problem to surrounding areas, and this can cause muscular pain as
severe as joint and bone pain, and a lack of mobility so dramatic,
many people resort to surgery. But I have to confess, I wasn't
entirely convinced that visualizing breathing through the entire body
would actually bring increased oxygen to restricted areas. But it
does seem to help, I'm not sure how or why, but I definitely feel
less restriction to those areas when I envision breathing "through"
the entire body. In fact, sometimes I'm not aware of the restriction
until I visualize the breathing permeating my entire body.

One thing I'd like to work on further is the concept of independence
of breath, because I think that I have too closely tied pain
management or exertion with exhaling. Focussing on the exhale is a
little bit easier and I think most beginners are taught to start with
that. But now that I've been training for a few years, I think it
would be beneficial to look more closely at my breathing and its
correlation to certain activities in training like accepting strikes,
yielding to joint locks, falls and rolls, and even just exertion.
Actually, there are many more ideas to ponder in Let Every Breath,
and I've found it to be an inspiration. In my day-to-day life, I can
gauge the effectiveness of my breathing by my commute to work each
weekday morning. When I get out of the subway, I'm about as far
underground as anyone can be in Manhattan, and there are two
platforms above me. So I have to climb two flights of stairs and
ascend a very steep ramp to get out to the street. If I'm stuck in a
big crowd, this can be a slow process. And it actually makes me a bit
sad to see people who look young and fit heaving themselves up the
stairs as if it's taking every last bit of energy to do so. Usually I
take the stairs quickly, but if I'm sleepy or carrying heavy bags,
it's always harder than if I'm well-rested and empty-handed. If I'm
out of breath when I reach the street, then I know I have forgotten
some of those basic principles!

This book is a treasure. You don't have to be a martial artist or an
athlete to benefit from reading it. If you breathe, it will help you!
The principles of Russian breathing are so clearly described, with
illustrations, exercises, and ideas to consider at every moment of
the day. Just for starters: how often do you hold your breath?
Holding the breath doesn't necessarily mean you are puffed up and
blue in the face. As the author explains, pay close attention to your
breathing as you perform simple tasks: lift a heavy package, thread a
needle, catch a ball. Is your breathing truly continous? It's such a
simple idea, and one that we take for granted: of course we don't
stop our breathing, or else we'd die. Even though I have been
training in Russian Martial Art, after reading Let Every Breath, I
realized that I stop my breathing at certain times, especially when
I'm suprised: when the train lurches suddenly, when I accidentally
drop something I'm carrying, or stumble, or knock something off my
desk. These small pauses, barely noticeable until I thought to check
for them, might seem inconsequential, but breath is life, and when
it's halted by fear or surprise or tension, it is contrary to our
very survival, and it disconnects us from the natural harmony of the
force of life. It's subtle, but so important, if you think of how
long most people can go without breathing, 10 or 20 seconds, perhaps
a bit more, then it becomes apparent why even the smallest change in
breathing will affect the whole body, and overall quality of life.

"Everyday that you live without proper breathing is another little
step of submitting to stress and deterioration of your health." -VV

And that's why Let Every Breath is such an important book. It is not
a book to change your lifestyle, get you to eat specific foods,
follow any sort of schedule, or do anything by rote. The real gem of
the book is simply the way it changes our perception of our own
breathing, that which connects us to the greater universe around us.
We look at a fish out of water, flopping around, and we know it is
doomed. But somehow, we consider ourselves higher than those fish, as
if they are imprisoned by their inability to survive without water.
We even have an expression for those who are ill at ease: "like a
fish out of water." But we are no different! Fish need water, we need
air, no creature can survive without the life-giving force of the
universe, and the best way to appreciate any gift is to accept it
with humble gratitude, and use it wisely and well.

"You breathe in when you're born and out when you die; in between is
your life." -MR

Many thanks to Scott and Vladimir for creating this book, and to
Mikhail, without whom it would not be possible. It is truly a gift to
the Systema community and to the world beyond.

*Spasibo i vsego nailuchshego* (thank you and best wishes),
Rachel

Yes, Adam's suggestion is a good one. A few affiliate schools may
still have copies, if budovideos doesn't have any, check under "other
schools" on the official site russianmartialart.com and then click
the links to visit the school sites. Many of them have online stores.
I doubt anyone will want to photocopy the entire book, but it's
possible that someone will someday make a PDF of it and make it
available online. It is a terrific book, I think everyone beginning
the study of Systema should read it. Of course, Let Every Breath is
also fantastic, but the Guidebook has more background of Systema, Let
Every Breath is very much "hands-on" and practical.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Rachel

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "Adam Garrison"
<adamgarrison@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Rob,
>
> You may give these folks a try as they may have some copies of the
> guidebook still in stock:
> http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/product.php?
> productid=18201&cat=382&page=1
>
> Good luck and best wishes,
>
> Adam
>
>
> --- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "ibnmazir" <ibnmazir@> wrote:
> >
> > I tried ask about buying a copy of the systema guidebook the
other
> day,
> > only to be told that it was out of print! Does anyone have a copy
of
> > the guide book that they are willing to sell, or is anyone
willing
> to
> > photocopy it and sell it to me for the same price as the original
> > guidebook? If anyone can help me out on this, let me know, i
would
> > appreciate it. Thanks, Rob F.
> >
>

Good morning to everyone,
  Interesting in learning if anyone is aware of any Systema training in
Chicago area.

Simeon

Hi Rob,

You may give these folks a try as they may have some copies of the
guidebook still in stock:
http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/product.php?
productid=18201&cat=382&page=1

Good luck and best wishes,

Adam


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "ibnmazir" <ibnmazir@...> wrote:
>
> I tried ask about buying a copy of the systema guidebook the other
day,
> only to be told that it was out of print! Does anyone have a copy of
> the guide book that they are willing to sell, or is anyone willing
to
> photocopy it and sell it to me for the same price as the original
> guidebook? If anyone can help me out on this, let me know, i would
> appreciate it. Thanks, Rob F.
>

I tried ask about buying a copy of the systema guidebook the other day,
only to be told that it was out of print! Does anyone have a copy of
the guide book that they are willing to sell, or is anyone willing to
photocopy it and sell it to me for the same price as the original
guidebook? If anyone can help me out on this, let me know, i would
appreciate it. Thanks, Rob F.

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the ideas about the pulse work! Yes, I think that if my
heartbeat was elevated, it would probably be easier to sense it.
After doing Vlad's inhale/exhale breathing exercises, I was so
relaxed, my pulse was pretty slow and regular. Running a kilo is not
exactly my favorite activity! I have to admit I am quite lazy about
running. And if I'm out of breath and my heart is pounding after
doing our conditioning exercises, then I think that I haven't been
paying attention to my breathing. Although sometimes if we're doing a
lot of takedowns, I do get a bit out of breath. Being knocked down,
and standing up again, over and over again for a few hours does tend
to get me winded. But for Systema practice, I try to avoid getting
getting my heart rate too elevated. Edgar's classes are long,
generally 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and I would not have the stamina to make
it through the whole class if I get too winded.
But outside of class, I think I could try just doing a few jumping
jacks or even just dancing around to fast music for a few minutes to
get the heart-rate elevated, and then try to sense it. But my
ultimate goal is to be sensitive enough to detect it at a normal
heart-rate.
Thanks for the ideas! I hope you are enjoying your new home in
Japan...I know there is a small Systema group there, not sure where
they are in relation to your location, but I think you can find their
information on Vlad's site russianmartialart.com
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "ibnmazir" <ibnmazir@...> wrote:
>
> fantastic post, rachael! sorry i haven@t been around for a while,
> but the move to japan really complicated things. i can only check
up
> my emails at internet cafes now, and that is whenever i get the
> chance to get into town. by coincidence i just came back from an
> afternoon session with a russian ex soldier who seems to be a
> fanatic about knives. he was taught systema during his time in the
> military, but i don@t think it@s our systema, it seems to be
another
> one. and he has amalgamated techniques from asian martial arts in
> there too - he uses a technique based system of learning. anyways,
> at one point, i went to disarm him and i focused too much on the
> knife, just as you described, and found that his fist had readilly
> found my face! so it is important to be aware of the whole person
> and not just limit you attention to one aspect or area.he also
> mentioned that many people tend to tense up at the sight of knives
> and this limits the choices of movement that are available to them.
> it is important to be comfortable with the presence of knives.
> anyways, a big thank you for your post. once again sorry for my
long
> absence from the group.
>
> with the pulse exercise, perhaps at first, try and do it after
> intesnse aerobic exercise, like a kilometre straight running and
> fifty burpees or something. then see if you can sense the pulses
and
> connect them. the work you just did should make the pulses fairly
> prominant. eventually decrease the amount of work you do so that
the
> pulse is not as strong. you should eventually, continuing in this
> way, be able to sense a relaxed pulse. just a thought anyways. it
> may work or it may not. anyways, take care, rob.
>
>
> --- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "rkxyz" <rkxyz@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> > Here are some notes from Vlad's recent knife seminars at
> Fighthouse
> > on June 3-4. As always, a big thank-you to Vlad for coming all
the
> > way from Canada to teach us, and of course to Peggy and Edgar for
> > hosting another fine seminar. I don't know if you realize how
> lucky
> > we are in the metro NY area. In just over two and a half years,
> I've
> > attended 12 two-day seminars at Fighthouse, with such illustrious
> > teachers as Scott Connor, Jim King, Emmanuel Manolakakis, Mikhail
> > Rybako, Vladimir Vasiliev, and Martin Wheeler, many of them more
> than
> > once. So I just wanted to add a public thank-you to Peggy and
> Edgar
> > for all the training opportunities they provide for students, I
am
> > convinced we are among the most fortunate of all students in
North
> > America, thanks to their hard work and dedication.
> > *Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
> > Rachel
> >
> >
> > Saturday
> >
> > It was great to see Vlad again. Feeling shy, I didn't want to
> > interrupt his conversation with the other students, so I wasn't
> going
> > to greet him before the seminar. Then I saw that he was looking
> right
> > at me with a big friendly smile, as if he couldn't be more glad
to
> > see me. He's such a warm, kind person, it's hard not to feel
> > comfortable around him. My mom and I went over to say Hello, and
> she
> > told him that working with knives was her favorite Systema topic,
> and
> > I admitted it wasn't mine but I hoped the seminars would change
> that.
> > I enjoy Systema training no matter what the topic; working with
> > knives is just not one of my favorites. I'm not entirely sure
why,
> > maybe it has something to do with the way the knife draws the
> > consciousness. Some people focus so entirely on the knife when
> > disarming me, wrenching the knife out of my hand, which seems
> rather
> > reckless, and ignoring the rest of the body. On the other hand,
> the
> > person wielding the knife is usually more aware of the blade than
> of
> > the rest of his body, which can be helpful for self-defense. Even
> so,
> > I can't help agreeing with Martin Wheeler, who once told us he'd
> run
> > away from a schoolgirl with a rusty pen-knife. But I can't count
> on
> > awareness, avoidance, and discretion as my only means of self-
> > defense; some things are beyond our control. Knife attacks are
> some
> > of the most psychologically challenging self-defense situations
> and
> > I'm very glad to have learned a bit about it from an expert who
is
> > also an exceptional teacher.
> >
> > We started out with the breathing and tensing exercises, which
are
> > described in the back of Let Every Breath. These are familiar to
> most
> > Systema students. We lay on the floor and Vlad led us through
> inhales
> > and exhales while tensing or relaxing different parts of the
body,
> > starting with the whole body, then just the legs, arms, and
chest,
> > sometimes fast, or slow, and rotating different parts. For
> example,
> > we'd inhale and tense the arms and legs, exhale and relax the
arms
> > and legs and tense the torso. It's hard to isolate the parts, to
> > tense the arms without the shoulders, or the legs without the
> butt.
> > Incidentally, I saw a survival documentary (The Science's
> Channel's
> > Survivorman) where this tensing and relaxing was described as a
> > defense against hypothermia. If your spine feels cold, your body
> > temperature might be dangerously low and tensing and releasing
the
> > muscles could save your life.
> >
> > Vlad then asked us to feel our pulse in the temples, then the
> throat,
> > and then the heartbeat itself. I couldn't feel my heartbeat,
> although
> > I could feel it in my throat and temples. He then asked us to
> connect
> > the pulses, but I was still distracted by not feeling my pulse
> below
> > the neck. Actually I've never had much success with this
> particular
> > exercise, maybe because of muscular restriction (`trigger
points')
> > which can limit sensitivty to biorthymns.
> >
> > After the breathing, we did a few pushups, for which Vlad asked
us
> to
> > move our arms around into different positions, straight in front,
> out
> > to the side, slide the legs back, and then 5 without breath, also
> a
> > few sit-ups. The no-breath is easier when you have no warning;
> Vlad
> > would tell us to inhale or exhale and then ask us to do them. We
> also
> > did 10 pushups on our partner's prone bodies, back and front,
> which
> > is a nice massage in some places, in others, quite uncomfortable.
> > Then some pushups using knives in one or both hands, balancing
the
> > hilt or the point on the floor and leaning into it to go up and
> down,
> > or with both hands around the knife, alternating the hand that's
> on
> > top. I found the latter to be the easiest. We did a few squats
and
> > some very difficult partnered one-legged squats where you hold
> each
> > other's opposite leg straight and go down to the floor, sit down,
> and
> > rise again without letting go of each other's legs. This was a
> tough
> > one, I looked around and saw that very few people could do it.
> Also
> > solo one-legged squats where your partner holds your hand as you
> go
> > up and down. Vlad explained if they're having trouble balancing,
> you
> > can help steady them, but if it's too easy for them, to move the
> hand
> > around and throw them off balance.
> >
> > Then he showed how wiggle underneath someone on the laying on
> their
> > back on the floor by poking them with the tip of the knife to
make
> > them rise up again. He asked us to do this, on our stomachs, and
> on
> > our backs, and he showed how if the person sank down again while
> you
> > were still crawling under, continue to poke them to make space
for
> > yourself. It's a lot easier than doing it without the knife as we
> did
> > at the Delaware seminar!
> >
> > We also did a group drill with five or six people, tossing the
> knives
> > around. At first we started with just one knife, throwing it
> randomly
> > at another person, then two, then three, until there were as many
> > knives as people. Vlad had asked us to catch the knives only by
> the
> > handles, making this more difficult than doing the same drill
with
> > short sticks, as we did at Scott C.'s stick seminars. Pretty
soon,
> > all you could hear was the sound of clattering knives hitting the
> > floor. Most people can catch knives throw at them from the front,
> > it's the ones from the side that are tricky. Since we've been
> > practicing some of these exercises in Edgar's subsequent classes,
> > I've gotten a little better at catching them (alas, not so much
at
> > throwing them). One thing that helps is to stand back a bit so
you
> > can use your peripheral vision to see in all directions. If you
> were
> > to draw a circle connecting the people throwing the knives, it
> should
> > be rounded, if you're standing too far in from the others,
> breaking
> > the curve, it's difficult to see the knives. Another thing that
> helps
> > is to just let the knife come to you. Of course, you have to move
> to
> > catch it. But if you focus on catching it like an outfielder
> catching
> > a fly ball, you'll miss all the other ones flying in your
> direction.
> > And finally, there's a paradoxical piece of advice that Edgar
once
> > gave me, long ago, when he was throwing a tennis ball at me from
> > behind, dropping it over my head or pitching it from underneath,
> and
> > I kept missing. He told me to just relax and not think about
> catching
> > the ball. I couldn't believe how well this worked. As soon as I
> > stopped focusing so intently on catching it, it became a lot
> easier.
> > Catching the knives is no different, it's strange how the more
you
> > want to catch them, the harder it is, whereas if you just let
> > yourself catch them without thinking, it's a lot easier. However,
> I
> > only got the hang of these things in Edgar's subsequent classes;
I
> > recall that during Vlad's seminar, I was dropping the knives all
> over
> > the place.
> >
> > We spent a lot of time on Saturday learning how to use the knife
> and
> > especially the tip of it to control our partners. Vlad told us
> that
> > to use the knife effectively, the wrists have to be strong, but
> > relaxed. A little bit later, he asked people to put their knives
> in a
> > pile in front of him on the floor and had us all come in closer.
> > There were maybe a dozen different knives, mostly practice ones.
> > Someone was called up to translate, which I think allowed Vlad to
> be
> > more precise in his explanations (many thanks to the bearded
> fellow
> > who translated for us.) "The knife determines how you will fight,
> not
> > the other way around," he said, picking up a short curved
> > blade. "This couldn't be used for stabbing, it's for slashing,"
> and
> > said the same for a small blade. The most durable knives, he
said,
> > are the ones made entirely of one piece of metal. He picked up
one
> > with a hilt and said the pommel is useful so you don't cut
> yourself,
> > but if the metal of the blade didn't extend all the way to the
end
> of
> > the handle, it would not be as strong. He talked about "mercy
> blades"
> > used in ancient warfare, long stilettos used to put gravely
> wounded
> > knights out of misery, and highly damaging four-sided bayonet
> blades
> > used for stabbing. He described a large military blade as
> functional
> > with a measuring ruler and serrated edge for sawing. He also
> talked a
> > bit about withdrawing the blade and how difficult it can be, for
> that
> > reason, it's not necessary to thrust so deeply to wound the
> attacker.
> > For non-lethal defense with a knife, he suggesting opening a
small
> > cut on the face, rather than slashing the throat. This will cause
> a
> > lot of blood flow and probably adverse psychological effect on
the
> > attacker. Vlad also explained how if you were cut, it was
> important
> > to hold the wound so as not to bleed further. Aside from not
> bleeding
> > out, it will also help control your own fear as well as
preventing
> > the attacker from seeing you bleed. He said you if you were cut
on
> > your hand, you could hold the knife handle against the cut in
such
> a
> > way as to minimize bleeding, and also prevent the knife from
> > slipping.
> >
> > While Vlad was telling us about the various knives on the floor,
> he
> > slipped in an interesting anecdote about soldiers who were
> grievously
> > wounded. He said that some of them had crawled for miles to get
to
> > safety, sometimes holding in their own entrails. But when they
> > arrived and were under medical care, thinking they were safe,
they
> > gave up the psychological struggle and died. There was a kind of
> > black humour in this story, but I found it rather sad. I think it
> > illustrates an important point about the struggle for survival,
> > particular as it was right after Vlad told us about how to
> mimimize
> > bleeding from knife wounds. As Paul Genge wrote on the
MartialTalk
> > forum, a knife-wielding attacker can still kill you with his last
> > breath, and the challenge of survival might be far more than
> > incapacitating the attacker, just as the wounded soldiers'
> struggle
> > was beyond crawling to safety.
> >
> > Vlad also recounted a story about a man who was stabbed in the
> back
> > of the shoulder with a knife, but kept on fighting, then later,
> when
> > he was told he had a knife sticking out of his back, he passed
> out.
> > Thinking about how he told us that it's not necessary to thrust
so
> > deeply, I can't help wondering about whoever stuck that knife in
> the
> > guy's shoulder. Not only did he lose his knife, but the guy kept
> > fighting. It's hard to thrust deeply without also exposing
> yourself
> > to danger from hyperextending your arm or getting very close to
> the
> > opponent's blade. If you miss the vital target and thrust too
> deeply
> > into cartilage or bone, it could cause you to lose the knife, or
> > tarry too long trying to get it out again, giving the attacker a
> > chance to retaliate. There was a recent rash of subway stabbings
> here
> > in NYC, 4 victims in 24 hours. One of them said that he didn't
> notice
> > he had been stabbed until he looked down and saw blood. There are
> > also anecdotes about people who have been stabbed continuing to
> > fight, like Jim Bowie's legendary "Sandbar Fight", which is
> probably
> > somewhat exaggerated by popular imagination. But it is documented
> > that Bowie was shot through one lung and stabbed repeatedly with
> > sword-canes, yet still managed to kill his assailant from a prone
> > position with his famous knife. Vlad demonstrated that cuts and
> > slashes can damage an attacker as well as a thrust. Loss of
blood,
> > even from a minor wound such as a cut on the face, can cause
> > psychological distress which will weaken the resolve of some
> > opponents.
> >
> > Even though the above discussion was a bit later in the seminar,
I
> > think it makes sense at the beginning of these notes. But
> returning
> > to the proper chronology, Vlad demonstrating putting someone down
> by
> > poking them with the knife tip, then making him stand up again
> also
> > using the point of the knife, and asked us to practice the same.
> For
> > this, the person being poked was stationary. Vlad walked around
> the
> > room offering pointers. He was very engaged with the students and
> I
> > think he spent time teaching everyone individually. He poked me
> down
> > to the floor and then up again with the point of the knife and I
> > moved quickly to avoid the pokes. He said, good! But I wasn't
sure
> > what he was complimenting me about, as I thought that the
exercise
> > was mainly for my partner, but when we did it again in Edgar's
> class
> > afterward, he explained it's also sensitivity work for the
partner
> > being poked up and down. At the seminar, I didn't quite
understand
> > this, nor did my partner, and we were waiting for pressure from
> the
> > practice blade to force us to fall rather than yielding to light
> > contact which would be more appropriate for a knife. Of course a
> real
> > blade would make anyone look alive if poked! We also did the same
> > thing but with the one person moving away and trying to escape
the
> > knife, and the other following and using either the point to
poke,
> > the handle to apply pressure to the areas exposed, or using the
> knife
> > as a lever to lock the neck or the arm, to collapse them. The
> knife
> > handle works very well against the fingernails and collarbone.
> >
> > Next we did an exercise where your partner grabs your knife hand
> with
> > one or both hands and you rotate your wrist to use the handle to
> > apply pressure to the undersid of their wrist to break the hold.
> For
> > this, Vlad told us the wrist has to be relaxed, it cannot be done
> if
> > the wrist is tense. We spent a brief time on grab and escape
> drills,
> > first, empty-handed, then using the knife to counter the grabs.
We
> > also practiced a dexterity exercise. One person makes triangular
> > opening with both hands by placing the thumb and forefingers
> > together, hands flat and palms facing outward. The other person
> has
> > to thrust the knife through it, moving away, and back again, from
> > different directions. Then the other person moves the opening
> around
> > at different levels and side-to-side, then finally, walks around
> and
> > moves the opening, at which point it does become tricky to thrust
> the
> > knife into the opening, timing is critical.
> >
> > We did a group drill where one person used the knife to defend
> > against two. Vlad demonstrated this slowly: the two were only to
> > approach the one with hands outstretched at head level, as if to
> > grab. They were not to rush in and tackle the one in the center;
> we
> > all had to respect the knife even though most of us were working
> with
> > dull practice blades (Earlier, Vlad told us that live blades are
> > rarely used in martial arts training for legal and moral reasons,
> all
> > it takes is one idiot to inflict serious and possibly lethal
> injury
> > to a student). The person in the center had to use the knife to
> > defend against their approach, using the tip to cut, the edge to
> > slash, putting them into each other, etc. I corralled a Systema
> > teacher for this one, as I felt it would be good to get some
extra
> > advise, so we had a group of four. But I don't think one extra
> person
> > makes much of a difference. The teacher in our group went first
to
> > give us some ideas. I went next, I wasn't sure exactly how to
> > proceed, but the teacher said I was doing well. Suddenly Vlad was
> at
> > my side saying, good! I got nervous at his sudden, unexpected
> > presence and froze up. Vlad gave us a brief demonstration. I saw
> that
> > he was much more proactive with the knife, where I had been sort
> of
> > waving aside the attacking people; he was using it decisively,
> making
> > small cuts and slashes, in a more offensive way. After that, I
> forgot
> > my nervousness at being observed. it was easier to continue.
> Vlad's
> > demonstrations are more helpful than any words, just watching him
> > makes the principles so much more clear.
> >
> > Returning to pairs, we did a fairly straightforward drill where
> your
> > partner comes at you with the knife, you take him down and make
> sure
> > to control the knife or disarm, but using one arm only. This
> sounds
> > harder than it is. Actually, I find that using one arm doesn't
> make
> > much difference. Sometimes it can even be easier, because when
> using
> > one arm, there are less choices, less to think about, you just
> have
> > work with what you have. For some reason, I find that the
> > restrictions free my mind, maybe because I have a kind of
> reserved,
> > restrained personality, and if there are too many choices, I find
> > myself unable to move decisively. I think that's why working in
> > confined spaces, especially against the wall or in a chair, is
> some
> > of my favorite Systema practice.
> >
> > We also did the same drill but both partners had knives. One
> person
> > attacks the other, who has to use the knife to defend, by using
> the
> > knife to rotate or lock the attacking arm, or just taking them
> down,
> > but making sure to control or disarm their knives and positioning
> > your own knife at a vulnerable point. Our focus on Saturday was
> very
> > much on using the knives, and especially being aware of both the
> > attacker's blade as well as our own. The knife leaves no room for
> > sloppiness. Vlad said it's important to know where the knife is,
> not
> > where your hand is. He demonstrated aiming his hand at someone's
> neck
> > while the point of the knife missed entirely, or slashing in a
> wide
> > arc and cutting himself accidentally, as examples of how this
lack
> of
> > awareness can be costly.
> >
> > Vlad also showed us a bit about withdrawing and drawing the
knife.
> > For withdrawing, he had someone hold the knife between their
> palms,
> > hands pressed firmly together, with the handle facing outward.
> Vlad
> > showed us how pulling the knife straight out was very difficult,
> as
> > mentioned earlier when he explained that it can be difficult to
> > withdraw the knife from a body. He demonstrated twisting the
> knife,
> > then withdrawing, and also rocking the knife either upwards or
> > downwards, then withdrawing with a rapid whiplike motion. I found
> > that with the rocking the knife up or down, you have to withdraw
> it
> > quickly, dropping your body weight as you pull it. Simply tugging
> > won't do the trick, you first have to twist or rock it up or
down,
> > and then withdraw it as if cracking a whip. Even though it's only
> > between one person's two palms, it's actually a lot harder to
> > withdraw it that one might have guessed. Vlad also had us leading
> the
> > person holding the knife between the palms, walking around
holding
> > the handle of the knife, leading them up and down, etc., and they
> had
> > to follow and stay close. He also showed up how you can draw the
> > knife from the waist or pocket by extending the leg back, moving
> leg
> > first, to make it come out more easily. He had us practice this
> and
> > when he came to me, he said I should make sure to move the leg
> first
> > before drawing the knife. Not only does it allow the knife to be
> > drawn more quickly and easily, it's also a distraction, because
> the
> > movement of the leg camoflauges the knife itself. To practice the
> > draws, our partners approached us and we had to draw the knife as
> > Vlad had shown us and touch them with it, front or back. Sounds
> > simple, but timing is everything, and sometimes, my partner had
> > already walked too far past me by the time I drew my knife.
> >
> > For our final exercise, Vlad asked us all to walk around, and
each
> > time he clapped, we were to draw our knives. At first we didn't
> quite
> > understand, everyone just drew their knives and sort of wondered
> what
> > to do. Then he told us that when he clapped, we were to either
> fall
> > or roll, draw the knife, and be in a position of readiness with
> it.
> > I've always enjoyed these "clapping" drills where you have to
fall
> or
> > roll or lay flat each time the instructor claps. It's very much
> like
> > a game, but at the same time, it's completely practical, you
don't
> > have a chance to plan what you are going to do, so it's great for
> > practicing spontaneous movements.
> >
> > Vlad asked us if we had any questions, but I don't think anyone
> did
> > on Saturday evening. He explained everything quite well,
sometimes
> > through a translator, and he also went around the room
instructing
> us
> > individually. A great experience for all of us, I am sure. A few
> > hours later, Edgar and Peggy set up a marvelous Russian banquet
> and
> > we all enjoyed many delicious authentic foods, wine, and beer,
and
> > good conversation with friends. Although I will post again about
> > Sunday, I just want to include a quick thank-you to Edgar and
> Peggy
> > for being such terrific hosts, and for arranging another fine
> seminar
> > at Fighthouse, and of course, many thanks to Vlad for coming all
> the
> > way from Canada to teach us, and to everyone who came to
> participate.
> >
>

fantastic post, rachael! sorry i haven@t been around for a while,
but the move to japan really complicated things. i can only check up
my emails at internet cafes now, and that is whenever i get the
chance to get into town. by coincidence i just came back from an
afternoon session with a russian ex soldier who seems to be a
fanatic about knives. he was taught systema during his time in the
military, but i don@t think it@s our systema, it seems to be another
one. and he has amalgamated techniques from asian martial arts in
there too - he uses a technique based system of learning. anyways,
at one point, i went to disarm him and i focused too much on the
knife, just as you described, and found that his fist had readilly
found my face! so it is important to be aware of the whole person
and not just limit you attention to one aspect or area.he also
mentioned that many people tend to tense up at the sight of knives
and this limits the choices of movement that are available to them.
it is important to be comfortable with the presence of knives.
anyways, a big thank you for your post. once again sorry for my long
absence from the group.

with the pulse exercise, perhaps at first, try and do it after
intesnse aerobic exercise, like a kilometre straight running and
fifty burpees or something. then see if you can sense the pulses and
connect them. the work you just did should make the pulses fairly
prominant. eventually decrease the amount of work you do so that the
pulse is not as strong. you should eventually, continuing in this
way, be able to sense a relaxed pulse. just a thought anyways. it
may work or it may not. anyways, take care, rob.


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "rkxyz" <rkxyz@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
> Here are some notes from Vlad's recent knife seminars at
Fighthouse
> on June 3-4. As always, a big thank-you to Vlad for coming all the
> way from Canada to teach us, and of course to Peggy and Edgar for
> hosting another fine seminar. I don't know if you realize how
lucky
> we are in the metro NY area. In just over two and a half years,
I've
> attended 12 two-day seminars at Fighthouse, with such illustrious
> teachers as Scott Connor, Jim King, Emmanuel Manolakakis, Mikhail
> Rybako, Vladimir Vasiliev, and Martin Wheeler, many of them more
than
> once. So I just wanted to add a public thank-you to Peggy and
Edgar
> for all the training opportunities they provide for students, I am
> convinced we are among the most fortunate of all students in North
> America, thanks to their hard work and dedication.
> *Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
> Rachel
>
>
> Saturday
>
> It was great to see Vlad again. Feeling shy, I didn't want to
> interrupt his conversation with the other students, so I wasn't
going
> to greet him before the seminar. Then I saw that he was looking
right
> at me with a big friendly smile, as if he couldn't be more glad to
> see me. He's such a warm, kind person, it's hard not to feel
> comfortable around him. My mom and I went over to say Hello, and
she
> told him that working with knives was her favorite Systema topic,
and
> I admitted it wasn't mine but I hoped the seminars would change
that.
> I enjoy Systema training no matter what the topic; working with
> knives is just not one of my favorites. I'm not entirely sure why,
> maybe it has something to do with the way the knife draws the
> consciousness. Some people focus so entirely on the knife when
> disarming me, wrenching the knife out of my hand, which seems
rather
> reckless, and ignoring the rest of the body. On the other hand,
the
> person wielding the knife is usually more aware of the blade than
of
> the rest of his body, which can be helpful for self-defense. Even
so,
> I can't help agreeing with Martin Wheeler, who once told us he'd
run
> away from a schoolgirl with a rusty pen-knife. But I can't count
on
> awareness, avoidance, and discretion as my only means of self-
> defense; some things are beyond our control. Knife attacks are
some
> of the most psychologically challenging self-defense situations
and
> I'm very glad to have learned a bit about it from an expert who is
> also an exceptional teacher.
>
> We started out with the breathing and tensing exercises, which are
> described in the back of Let Every Breath. These are familiar to
most
> Systema students. We lay on the floor and Vlad led us through
inhales
> and exhales while tensing or relaxing different parts of the body,
> starting with the whole body, then just the legs, arms, and chest,
> sometimes fast, or slow, and rotating different parts. For
example,
> we'd inhale and tense the arms and legs, exhale and relax the arms
> and legs and tense the torso. It's hard to isolate the parts, to
> tense the arms without the shoulders, or the legs without the
butt.
> Incidentally, I saw a survival documentary (The Science's
Channel's
> Survivorman) where this tensing and relaxing was described as a
> defense against hypothermia. If your spine feels cold, your body
> temperature might be dangerously low and tensing and releasing the
> muscles could save your life.
>
> Vlad then asked us to feel our pulse in the temples, then the
throat,
> and then the heartbeat itself. I couldn't feel my heartbeat,
although
> I could feel it in my throat and temples. He then asked us to
connect
> the pulses, but I was still distracted by not feeling my pulse
below
> the neck. Actually I've never had much success with this
particular
> exercise, maybe because of muscular restriction (`trigger points')
> which can limit sensitivty to biorthymns.
>
> After the breathing, we did a few pushups, for which Vlad asked us
to
> move our arms around into different positions, straight in front,
out
> to the side, slide the legs back, and then 5 without breath, also
a
> few sit-ups. The no-breath is easier when you have no warning;
Vlad
> would tell us to inhale or exhale and then ask us to do them. We
also
> did 10 pushups on our partner's prone bodies, back and front,
which
> is a nice massage in some places, in others, quite uncomfortable.
> Then some pushups using knives in one or both hands, balancing the
> hilt or the point on the floor and leaning into it to go up and
down,
> or with both hands around the knife, alternating the hand that's
on
> top. I found the latter to be the easiest. We did a few squats and
> some very difficult partnered one-legged squats where you hold
each
> other's opposite leg straight and go down to the floor, sit down,
and
> rise again without letting go of each other's legs. This was a
tough
> one, I looked around and saw that very few people could do it.
Also
> solo one-legged squats where your partner holds your hand as you
go
> up and down. Vlad explained if they're having trouble balancing,
you
> can help steady them, but if it's too easy for them, to move the
hand
> around and throw them off balance.
>
> Then he showed how wiggle underneath someone on the laying on
their
> back on the floor by poking them with the tip of the knife to make
> them rise up again. He asked us to do this, on our stomachs, and
on
> our backs, and he showed how if the person sank down again while
you
> were still crawling under, continue to poke them to make space for
> yourself. It's a lot easier than doing it without the knife as we
did
> at the Delaware seminar!
>
> We also did a group drill with five or six people, tossing the
knives
> around. At first we started with just one knife, throwing it
randomly
> at another person, then two, then three, until there were as many
> knives as people. Vlad had asked us to catch the knives only by
the
> handles, making this more difficult than doing the same drill with
> short sticks, as we did at Scott C.'s stick seminars. Pretty soon,
> all you could hear was the sound of clattering knives hitting the
> floor. Most people can catch knives throw at them from the front,
> it's the ones from the side that are tricky. Since we've been
> practicing some of these exercises in Edgar's subsequent classes,
> I've gotten a little better at catching them (alas, not so much at
> throwing them). One thing that helps is to stand back a bit so you
> can use your peripheral vision to see in all directions. If you
were
> to draw a circle connecting the people throwing the knives, it
should
> be rounded, if you're standing too far in from the others,
breaking
> the curve, it's difficult to see the knives. Another thing that
helps
> is to just let the knife come to you. Of course, you have to move
to
> catch it. But if you focus on catching it like an outfielder
catching
> a fly ball, you'll miss all the other ones flying in your
direction.
> And finally, there's a paradoxical piece of advice that Edgar once
> gave me, long ago, when he was throwing a tennis ball at me from
> behind, dropping it over my head or pitching it from underneath,
and
> I kept missing. He told me to just relax and not think about
catching
> the ball. I couldn't believe how well this worked. As soon as I
> stopped focusing so intently on catching it, it became a lot
easier.
> Catching the knives is no different, it's strange how the more you
> want to catch them, the harder it is, whereas if you just let
> yourself catch them without thinking, it's a lot easier. However,
I
> only got the hang of these things in Edgar's subsequent classes; I
> recall that during Vlad's seminar, I was dropping the knives all
over
> the place.
>
> We spent a lot of time on Saturday learning how to use the knife
and
> especially the tip of it to control our partners. Vlad told us
that
> to use the knife effectively, the wrists have to be strong, but
> relaxed. A little bit later, he asked people to put their knives
in a
> pile in front of him on the floor and had us all come in closer.
> There were maybe a dozen different knives, mostly practice ones.
> Someone was called up to translate, which I think allowed Vlad to
be
> more precise in his explanations (many thanks to the bearded
fellow
> who translated for us.) "The knife determines how you will fight,
not
> the other way around," he said, picking up a short curved
> blade. "This couldn't be used for stabbing, it's for slashing,"
and
> said the same for a small blade. The most durable knives, he said,
> are the ones made entirely of one piece of metal. He picked up one
> with a hilt and said the pommel is useful so you don't cut
yourself,
> but if the metal of the blade didn't extend all the way to the end
of
> the handle, it would not be as strong. He talked about "mercy
blades"
> used in ancient warfare, long stilettos used to put gravely
wounded
> knights out of misery, and highly damaging four-sided bayonet
blades
> used for stabbing. He described a large military blade as
functional
> with a measuring ruler and serrated edge for sawing. He also
talked a
> bit about withdrawing the blade and how difficult it can be, for
that
> reason, it's not necessary to thrust so deeply to wound the
attacker.
> For non-lethal defense with a knife, he suggesting opening a small
> cut on the face, rather than slashing the throat. This will cause
a
> lot of blood flow and probably adverse psychological effect on the
> attacker. Vlad also explained how if you were cut, it was
important
> to hold the wound so as not to bleed further. Aside from not
bleeding
> out, it will also help control your own fear as well as preventing
> the attacker from seeing you bleed. He said you if you were cut on
> your hand, you could hold the knife handle against the cut in such
a
> way as to minimize bleeding, and also prevent the knife from
> slipping.
>
> While Vlad was telling us about the various knives on the floor,
he
> slipped in an interesting anecdote about soldiers who were
grievously
> wounded. He said that some of them had crawled for miles to get to
> safety, sometimes holding in their own entrails. But when they
> arrived and were under medical care, thinking they were safe, they
> gave up the psychological struggle and died. There was a kind of
> black humour in this story, but I found it rather sad. I think it
> illustrates an important point about the struggle for survival,
> particular as it was right after Vlad told us about how to
mimimize
> bleeding from knife wounds. As Paul Genge wrote on the MartialTalk
> forum, a knife-wielding attacker can still kill you with his last
> breath, and the challenge of survival might be far more than
> incapacitating the attacker, just as the wounded soldiers'
struggle
> was beyond crawling to safety.
>
> Vlad also recounted a story about a man who was stabbed in the
back
> of the shoulder with a knife, but kept on fighting, then later,
when
> he was told he had a knife sticking out of his back, he passed
out.
> Thinking about how he told us that it's not necessary to thrust so
> deeply, I can't help wondering about whoever stuck that knife in
the
> guy's shoulder. Not only did he lose his knife, but the guy kept
> fighting. It's hard to thrust deeply without also exposing
yourself
> to danger from hyperextending your arm or getting very close to
the
> opponent's blade. If you miss the vital target and thrust too
deeply
> into cartilage or bone, it could cause you to lose the knife, or
> tarry too long trying to get it out again, giving the attacker a
> chance to retaliate. There was a recent rash of subway stabbings
here
> in NYC, 4 victims in 24 hours. One of them said that he didn't
notice
> he had been stabbed until he looked down and saw blood. There are
> also anecdotes about people who have been stabbed continuing to
> fight, like Jim Bowie's legendary "Sandbar Fight", which is
probably
> somewhat exaggerated by popular imagination. But it is documented
> that Bowie was shot through one lung and stabbed repeatedly with
> sword-canes, yet still managed to kill his assailant from a prone
> position with his famous knife. Vlad demonstrated that cuts and
> slashes can damage an attacker as well as a thrust. Loss of blood,
> even from a minor wound such as a cut on the face, can cause
> psychological distress which will weaken the resolve of some
> opponents.
>
> Even though the above discussion was a bit later in the seminar, I
> think it makes sense at the beginning of these notes. But
returning
> to the proper chronology, Vlad demonstrating putting someone down
by
> poking them with the knife tip, then making him stand up again
also
> using the point of the knife, and asked us to practice the same.
For
> this, the person being poked was stationary. Vlad walked around
the
> room offering pointers. He was very engaged with the students and
I
> think he spent time teaching everyone individually. He poked me
down
> to the floor and then up again with the point of the knife and I
> moved quickly to avoid the pokes. He said, good! But I wasn't sure
> what he was complimenting me about, as I thought that the exercise
> was mainly for my partner, but when we did it again in Edgar's
class
> afterward, he explained it's also sensitivity work for the partner
> being poked up and down. At the seminar, I didn't quite understand
> this, nor did my partner, and we were waiting for pressure from
the
> practice blade to force us to fall rather than yielding to light
> contact which would be more appropriate for a knife. Of course a
real
> blade would make anyone look alive if poked! We also did the same
> thing but with the one person moving away and trying to escape the
> knife, and the other following and using either the point to poke,
> the handle to apply pressure to the areas exposed, or using the
knife
> as a lever to lock the neck or the arm, to collapse them. The
knife
> handle works very well against the fingernails and collarbone.
>
> Next we did an exercise where your partner grabs your knife hand
with
> one or both hands and you rotate your wrist to use the handle to
> apply pressure to the undersid of their wrist to break the hold.
For
> this, Vlad told us the wrist has to be relaxed, it cannot be done
if
> the wrist is tense. We spent a brief time on grab and escape
drills,
> first, empty-handed, then using the knife to counter the grabs. We
> also practiced a dexterity exercise. One person makes triangular
> opening with both hands by placing the thumb and forefingers
> together, hands flat and palms facing outward. The other person
has
> to thrust the knife through it, moving away, and back again, from
> different directions. Then the other person moves the opening
around
> at different levels and side-to-side, then finally, walks around
and
> moves the opening, at which point it does become tricky to thrust
the
> knife into the opening, timing is critical.
>
> We did a group drill where one person used the knife to defend
> against two. Vlad demonstrated this slowly: the two were only to
> approach the one with hands outstretched at head level, as if to
> grab. They were not to rush in and tackle the one in the center;
we
> all had to respect the knife even though most of us were working
with
> dull practice blades (Earlier, Vlad told us that live blades are
> rarely used in martial arts training for legal and moral reasons,
all
> it takes is one idiot to inflict serious and possibly lethal
injury
> to a student). The person in the center had to use the knife to
> defend against their approach, using the tip to cut, the edge to
> slash, putting them into each other, etc. I corralled a Systema
> teacher for this one, as I felt it would be good to get some extra
> advise, so we had a group of four. But I don't think one extra
person
> makes much of a difference. The teacher in our group went first to
> give us some ideas. I went next, I wasn't sure exactly how to
> proceed, but the teacher said I was doing well. Suddenly Vlad was
at
> my side saying, good! I got nervous at his sudden, unexpected
> presence and froze up. Vlad gave us a brief demonstration. I saw
that
> he was much more proactive with the knife, where I had been sort
of
> waving aside the attacking people; he was using it decisively,
making
> small cuts and slashes, in a more offensive way. After that, I
forgot
> my nervousness at being observed. it was easier to continue.
Vlad's
> demonstrations are more helpful than any words, just watching him
> makes the principles so much more clear.
>
> Returning to pairs, we did a fairly straightforward drill where
your
> partner comes at you with the knife, you take him down and make
sure
> to control the knife or disarm, but using one arm only. This
sounds
> harder than it is. Actually, I find that using one arm doesn't
make
> much difference. Sometimes it can even be easier, because when
using
> one arm, there are less choices, less to think about, you just
have
> work with what you have. For some reason, I find that the
> restrictions free my mind, maybe because I have a kind of
reserved,
> restrained personality, and if there are too many choices, I find
> myself unable to move decisively. I think that's why working in
> confined spaces, especially against the wall or in a chair, is
some
> of my favorite Systema practice.
>
> We also did the same drill but both partners had knives. One
person
> attacks the other, who has to use the knife to defend, by using
the
> knife to rotate or lock the attacking arm, or just taking them
down,
> but making sure to control or disarm their knives and positioning
> your own knife at a vulnerable point. Our focus on Saturday was
very
> much on using the knives, and especially being aware of both the
> attacker's blade as well as our own. The knife leaves no room for
> sloppiness. Vlad said it's important to know where the knife is,
not
> where your hand is. He demonstrated aiming his hand at someone's
neck
> while the point of the knife missed entirely, or slashing in a
wide
> arc and cutting himself accidentally, as examples of how this lack
of
> awareness can be costly.
>
> Vlad also showed us a bit about withdrawing and drawing the knife.
> For withdrawing, he had someone hold the knife between their
palms,
> hands pressed firmly together, with the handle facing outward.
Vlad
> showed us how pulling the knife straight out was very difficult,
as
> mentioned earlier when he explained that it can be difficult to
> withdraw the knife from a body. He demonstrated twisting the
knife,
> then withdrawing, and also rocking the knife either upwards or
> downwards, then withdrawing with a rapid whiplike motion. I found
> that with the rocking the knife up or down, you have to withdraw
it
> quickly, dropping your body weight as you pull it. Simply tugging
> won't do the trick, you first have to twist or rock it up or down,
> and then withdraw it as if cracking a whip. Even though it's only
> between one person's two palms, it's actually a lot harder to
> withdraw it that one might have guessed. Vlad also had us leading
the
> person holding the knife between the palms, walking around holding
> the handle of the knife, leading them up and down, etc., and they
had
> to follow and stay close. He also showed up how you can draw the
> knife from the waist or pocket by extending the leg back, moving
leg
> first, to make it come out more easily. He had us practice this
and
> when he came to me, he said I should make sure to move the leg
first
> before drawing the knife. Not only does it allow the knife to be
> drawn more quickly and easily, it's also a distraction, because
the
> movement of the leg camoflauges the knife itself. To practice the
> draws, our partners approached us and we had to draw the knife as
> Vlad had shown us and touch them with it, front or back. Sounds
> simple, but timing is everything, and sometimes, my partner had
> already walked too far past me by the time I drew my knife.
>
> For our final exercise, Vlad asked us all to walk around, and each
> time he clapped, we were to draw our knives. At first we didn't
quite
> understand, everyone just drew their knives and sort of wondered
what
> to do. Then he told us that when he clapped, we were to either
fall
> or roll, draw the knife, and be in a position of readiness with
it.
> I've always enjoyed these "clapping" drills where you have to fall
or
> roll or lay flat each time the instructor claps. It's very much
like
> a game, but at the same time, it's completely practical, you don't
> have a chance to plan what you are going to do, so it's great for
> practicing spontaneous movements.
>
> Vlad asked us if we had any questions, but I don't think anyone
did
> on Saturday evening. He explained everything quite well, sometimes
> through a translator, and he also went around the room instructing
us
> individually. A great experience for all of us, I am sure. A few
> hours later, Edgar and Peggy set up a marvelous Russian banquet
and
> we all enjoyed many delicious authentic foods, wine, and beer, and
> good conversation with friends. Although I will post again about
> Sunday, I just want to include a quick thank-you to Edgar and
Peggy
> for being such terrific hosts, and for arranging another fine
seminar
> at Fighthouse, and of course, many thanks to Vlad for coming all
the
> way from Canada to teach us, and to everyone who came to
participate.
>

Hello,
Here are some notes from Vlad's recent knife seminars at Fighthouse
on June 3-4. As always, a big thank-you to Vlad for coming all the
way from Canada to teach us, and of course to Peggy and Edgar for
hosting another fine seminar. I don't know if you realize how lucky
we are in the metro NY area. In just over two and a half years, I've
attended 12 two-day seminars at Fighthouse, with such illustrious
teachers as Scott Connor, Jim King, Emmanuel Manolakakis, Mikhail
Rybako, Vladimir Vasiliev, and Martin Wheeler, many of them more than
once. So I just wanted to add a public thank-you to Peggy and Edgar
for all the training opportunities they provide for students, I am
convinced we are among the most fortunate of all students in North
America, thanks to their hard work and dedication.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel


Saturday

It was great to see Vlad again. Feeling shy, I didn't want to
interrupt his conversation with the other students, so I wasn't going
to greet him before the seminar. Then I saw that he was looking right
at me with a big friendly smile, as if he couldn't be more glad to
see me. He's such a warm, kind person, it's hard not to feel
comfortable around him. My mom and I went over to say Hello, and she
told him that working with knives was her favorite Systema topic, and
I admitted it wasn't mine but I hoped the seminars would change that.
I enjoy Systema training no matter what the topic; working with
knives is just not one of my favorites. I'm not entirely sure why,
maybe it has something to do with the way the knife draws the
consciousness. Some people focus so entirely on the knife when
disarming me, wrenching the knife out of my hand, which seems rather
reckless, and ignoring the rest of the body. On the other hand, the
person wielding the knife is usually more aware of the blade than of
the rest of his body, which can be helpful for self-defense. Even so,
I can't help agreeing with Martin Wheeler, who once told us he'd run
away from a schoolgirl with a rusty pen-knife. But I can't count on
awareness, avoidance, and discretion as my only means of self-
defense; some things are beyond our control. Knife attacks are some
of the most psychologically challenging self-defense situations and
I'm very glad to have learned a bit about it from an expert who is
also an exceptional teacher.

We started out with the breathing and tensing exercises, which are
described in the back of Let Every Breath. These are familiar to most
Systema students. We lay on the floor and Vlad led us through inhales
and exhales while tensing or relaxing different parts of the body,
starting with the whole body, then just the legs, arms, and chest,
sometimes fast, or slow, and rotating different parts. For example,
we'd inhale and tense the arms and legs, exhale and relax the arms
and legs and tense the torso. It's hard to isolate the parts, to
tense the arms without the shoulders, or the legs without the butt.
Incidentally, I saw a survival documentary (The Science's Channel's
Survivorman) where this tensing and relaxing was described as a
defense against hypothermia. If your spine feels cold, your body
temperature might be dangerously low and tensing and releasing the
muscles could save your life.

Vlad then asked us to feel our pulse in the temples, then the throat,
and then the heartbeat itself. I couldn't feel my heartbeat, although
I could feel it in my throat and temples. He then asked us to connect
the pulses, but I was still distracted by not feeling my pulse below
the neck. Actually I've never had much success with this particular
exercise, maybe because of muscular restriction (`trigger points')
which can limit sensitivty to biorthymns.

After the breathing, we did a few pushups, for which Vlad asked us to
move our arms around into different positions, straight in front, out
to the side, slide the legs back, and then 5 without breath, also a
few sit-ups. The no-breath is easier when you have no warning; Vlad
would tell us to inhale or exhale and then ask us to do them. We also
did 10 pushups on our partner's prone bodies, back and front, which
is a nice massage in some places, in others, quite uncomfortable.
Then some pushups using knives in one or both hands, balancing the
hilt or the point on the floor and leaning into it to go up and down,
or with both hands around the knife, alternating the hand that's on
top. I found the latter to be the easiest. We did a few squats and
some very difficult partnered one-legged squats where you hold each
other's opposite leg straight and go down to the floor, sit down, and
rise again without letting go of each other's legs. This was a tough
one, I looked around and saw that very few people could do it. Also
solo one-legged squats where your partner holds your hand as you go
up and down. Vlad explained if they're having trouble balancing, you
can help steady them, but if it's too easy for them, to move the hand
around and throw them off balance.

Then he showed how wiggle underneath someone on the laying on their
back on the floor by poking them with the tip of the knife to make
them rise up again. He asked us to do this, on our stomachs, and on
our backs, and he showed how if the person sank down again while you
were still crawling under, continue to poke them to make space for
yourself. It's a lot easier than doing it without the knife as we did
at the Delaware seminar!

We also did a group drill with five or six people, tossing the knives
around. At first we started with just one knife, throwing it randomly
at another person, then two, then three, until there were as many
knives as people. Vlad had asked us to catch the knives only by the
handles, making this more difficult than doing the same drill with
short sticks, as we did at Scott C.'s stick seminars. Pretty soon,
all you could hear was the sound of clattering knives hitting the
floor. Most people can catch knives throw at them from the front,
it's the ones from the side that are tricky. Since we've been
practicing some of these exercises in Edgar's subsequent classes,
I've gotten a little better at catching them (alas, not so much at
throwing them). One thing that helps is to stand back a bit so you
can use your peripheral vision to see in all directions. If you were
to draw a circle connecting the people throwing the knives, it should
be rounded, if you're standing too far in from the others, breaking
the curve, it's difficult to see the knives. Another thing that helps
is to just let the knife come to you. Of course, you have to move to
catch it. But if you focus on catching it like an outfielder catching
a fly ball, you'll miss all the other ones flying in your direction.
And finally, there's a paradoxical piece of advice that Edgar once
gave me, long ago, when he was throwing a tennis ball at me from
behind, dropping it over my head or pitching it from underneath, and
I kept missing. He told me to just relax and not think about catching
the ball. I couldn't believe how well this worked. As soon as I
stopped focusing so intently on catching it, it became a lot easier.
Catching the knives is no different, it's strange how the more you
want to catch them, the harder it is, whereas if you just let
yourself catch them without thinking, it's a lot easier. However, I
only got the hang of these things in Edgar's subsequent classes; I
recall that during Vlad's seminar, I was dropping the knives all over
the place.

We spent a lot of time on Saturday learning how to use the knife and
especially the tip of it to control our partners. Vlad told us that
to use the knife effectively, the wrists have to be strong, but
relaxed. A little bit later, he asked people to put their knives in a
pile in front of him on the floor and had us all come in closer.
There were maybe a dozen different knives, mostly practice ones.
Someone was called up to translate, which I think allowed Vlad to be
more precise in his explanations (many thanks to the bearded fellow
who translated for us.) "The knife determines how you will fight, not
the other way around," he said, picking up a short curved
blade. "This couldn't be used for stabbing, it's for slashing," and
said the same for a small blade. The most durable knives, he said,
are the ones made entirely of one piece of metal. He picked up one
with a hilt and said the pommel is useful so you don't cut yourself,
but if the metal of the blade didn't extend all the way to the end of
the handle, it would not be as strong. He talked about "mercy blades"
used in ancient warfare, long stilettos used to put gravely wounded
knights out of misery, and highly damaging four-sided bayonet blades
used for stabbing. He described a large military blade as functional
with a measuring ruler and serrated edge for sawing. He also talked a
bit about withdrawing the blade and how difficult it can be, for that
reason, it's not necessary to thrust so deeply to wound the attacker.
For non-lethal defense with a knife, he suggesting opening a small
cut on the face, rather than slashing the throat. This will cause a
lot of blood flow and probably adverse psychological effect on the
attacker. Vlad also explained how if you were cut, it was important
to hold the wound so as not to bleed further. Aside from not bleeding
out, it will also help control your own fear as well as preventing
the attacker from seeing you bleed. He said you if you were cut on
your hand, you could hold the knife handle against the cut in such a
way as to minimize bleeding, and also prevent the knife from
slipping.

While Vlad was telling us about the various knives on the floor, he
slipped in an interesting anecdote about soldiers who were grievously
wounded. He said that some of them had crawled for miles to get to
safety, sometimes holding in their own entrails. But when they
arrived and were under medical care, thinking they were safe, they
gave up the psychological struggle and died. There was a kind of
black humour in this story, but I found it rather sad. I think it
illustrates an important point about the struggle for survival,
particular as it was right after Vlad told us about how to mimimize
bleeding from knife wounds. As Paul Genge wrote on the MartialTalk
forum, a knife-wielding attacker can still kill you with his last
breath, and the challenge of survival might be far more than
incapacitating the attacker, just as the wounded soldiers' struggle
was beyond crawling to safety.

Vlad also recounted a story about a man who was stabbed in the back
of the shoulder with a knife, but kept on fighting, then later, when
he was told he had a knife sticking out of his back, he passed out.
Thinking about how he told us that it's not necessary to thrust so
deeply, I can't help wondering about whoever stuck that knife in the
guy's shoulder. Not only did he lose his knife, but the guy kept
fighting. It's hard to thrust deeply without also exposing yourself
to danger from hyperextending your arm or getting very close to the
opponent's blade. If you miss the vital target and thrust too deeply
into cartilage or bone, it could cause you to lose the knife, or
tarry too long trying to get it out again, giving the attacker a
chance to retaliate. There was a recent rash of subway stabbings here
in NYC, 4 victims in 24 hours. One of them said that he didn't notice
he had been stabbed until he looked down and saw blood. There are
also anecdotes about people who have been stabbed continuing to
fight, like Jim Bowie's legendary "Sandbar Fight", which is probably
somewhat exaggerated by popular imagination. But it is documented
that Bowie was shot through one lung and stabbed repeatedly with
sword-canes, yet still managed to kill his assailant from a prone
position with his famous knife. Vlad demonstrated that cuts and
slashes can damage an attacker as well as a thrust. Loss of blood,
even from a minor wound such as a cut on the face, can cause
psychological distress which will weaken the resolve of some
opponents.

Even though the above discussion was a bit later in the seminar, I
think it makes sense at the beginning of these notes. But returning
to the proper chronology, Vlad demonstrating putting someone down by
poking them with the knife tip, then making him stand up again also
using the point of the knife, and asked us to practice the same. For
this, the person being poked was stationary. Vlad walked around the
room offering pointers. He was very engaged with the students and I
think he spent time teaching everyone individually. He poked me down
to the floor and then up again with the point of the knife and I
moved quickly to avoid the pokes. He said, good! But I wasn't sure
what he was complimenting me about, as I thought that the exercise
was mainly for my partner, but when we did it again in Edgar's class
afterward, he explained it's also sensitivity work for the partner
being poked up and down. At the seminar, I didn't quite understand
this, nor did my partner, and we were waiting for pressure from the
practice blade to force us to fall rather than yielding to light
contact which would be more appropriate for a knife. Of course a real
blade would make anyone look alive if poked! We also did the same
thing but with the one person moving away and trying to escape the
knife, and the other following and using either the point to poke,
the handle to apply pressure to the areas exposed, or using the knife
as a lever to lock the neck or the arm, to collapse them. The knife
handle works very well against the fingernails and collarbone.

Next we did an exercise where your partner grabs your knife hand with
one or both hands and you rotate your wrist to use the handle to
apply pressure to the undersid of their wrist to break the hold. For
this, Vlad told us the wrist has to be relaxed, it cannot be done if
the wrist is tense. We spent a brief time on grab and escape drills,
first, empty-handed, then using the knife to counter the grabs. We
also practiced a dexterity exercise. One person makes triangular
opening with both hands by placing the thumb and forefingers
together, hands flat and palms facing outward. The other person has
to thrust the knife through it, moving away, and back again, from
different directions. Then the other person moves the opening around
at different levels and side-to-side, then finally, walks around and
moves the opening, at which point it does become tricky to thrust the
knife into the opening, timing is critical.

We did a group drill where one person used the knife to defend
against two. Vlad demonstrated this slowly: the two were only to
approach the one with hands outstretched at head level, as if to
grab. They were not to rush in and tackle the one in the center; we
all had to respect the knife even though most of us were working with
dull practice blades (Earlier, Vlad told us that live blades are
rarely used in martial arts training for legal and moral reasons, all
it takes is one idiot to inflict serious and possibly lethal injury
to a student). The person in the center had to use the knife to
defend against their approach, using the tip to cut, the edge to
slash, putting them into each other, etc. I corralled a Systema
teacher for this one, as I felt it would be good to get some extra
advise, so we had a group of four. But I don't think one extra person
makes much of a difference. The teacher in our group went first to
give us some ideas. I went next, I wasn't sure exactly how to
proceed, but the teacher said I was doing well. Suddenly Vlad was at
my side saying, good! I got nervous at his sudden, unexpected
presence and froze up. Vlad gave us a brief demonstration. I saw that
he was much more proactive with the knife, where I had been sort of
waving aside the attacking people; he was using it decisively, making
small cuts and slashes, in a more offensive way. After that, I forgot
my nervousness at being observed. it was easier to continue. Vlad's
demonstrations are more helpful than any words, just watching him
makes the principles so much more clear.

Returning to pairs, we did a fairly straightforward drill where your
partner comes at you with the knife, you take him down and make sure
to control the knife or disarm, but using one arm only. This sounds
harder than it is. Actually, I find that using one arm doesn't make
much difference. Sometimes it can even be easier, because when using
one arm, there are less choices, less to think about, you just have
work with what you have. For some reason, I find that the
restrictions free my mind, maybe because I have a kind of reserved,
restrained personality, and if there are too many choices, I find
myself unable to move decisively. I think that's why working in
confined spaces, especially against the wall or in a chair, is some
of my favorite Systema practice.

We also did the same drill but both partners had knives. One person
attacks the other, who has to use the knife to defend, by using the
knife to rotate or lock the attacking arm, or just taking them down,
but making sure to control or disarm their knives and positioning
your own knife at a vulnerable point. Our focus on Saturday was very
much on using the knives, and especially being aware of both the
attacker's blade as well as our own. The knife leaves no room for
sloppiness. Vlad said it's important to know where the knife is, not
where your hand is. He demonstrated aiming his hand at someone's neck
while the point of the knife missed entirely, or slashing in a wide
arc and cutting himself accidentally, as examples of how this lack of
awareness can be costly.

Vlad also showed us a bit about withdrawing and drawing the knife.
For withdrawing, he had someone hold the knife between their palms,
hands pressed firmly together, with the handle facing outward. Vlad
showed us how pulling the knife straight out was very difficult, as
mentioned earlier when he explained that it can be difficult to
withdraw the knife from a body. He demonstrated twisting the knife,
then withdrawing, and also rocking the knife either upwards or
downwards, then withdrawing with a rapid whiplike motion. I found
that with the rocking the knife up or down, you have to withdraw it
quickly, dropping your body weight as you pull it. Simply tugging
won't do the trick, you first have to twist or rock it up or down,
and then withdraw it as if cracking a whip. Even though it's only
between one person's two palms, it's actually a lot harder to
withdraw it that one might have guessed. Vlad also had us leading the
person holding the knife between the palms, walking around holding
the handle of the knife, leading them up and down, etc., and they had
to follow and stay close. He also showed up how you can draw the
knife from the waist or pocket by extending the leg back, moving leg
first, to make it come out more easily. He had us practice this and
when he came to me, he said I should make sure to move the leg first
before drawing the knife. Not only does it allow the knife to be
drawn more quickly and easily, it's also a distraction, because the
movement of the leg camoflauges the knife itself. To practice the
draws, our partners approached us and we had to draw the knife as
Vlad had shown us and touch them with it, front or back. Sounds
simple, but timing is everything, and sometimes, my partner had
already walked too far past me by the time I drew my knife.

For our final exercise, Vlad asked us all to walk around, and each
time he clapped, we were to draw our knives. At first we didn't quite
understand, everyone just drew their knives and sort of wondered what
to do. Then he told us that when he clapped, we were to either fall
or roll, draw the knife, and be in a position of readiness with it.
I've always enjoyed these "clapping" drills where you have to fall or
roll or lay flat each time the instructor claps. It's very much like
a game, but at the same time, it's completely practical, you don't
have a chance to plan what you are going to do, so it's great for
practicing spontaneous movements.

Vlad asked us if we had any questions, but I don't think anyone did
on Saturday evening. He explained everything quite well, sometimes
through a translator, and he also went around the room instructing us
individually. A great experience for all of us, I am sure. A few
hours later, Edgar and Peggy set up a marvelous Russian banquet and
we all enjoyed many delicious authentic foods, wine, and beer, and
good conversation with friends. Although I will post again about
Sunday, I just want to include a quick thank-you to Edgar and Peggy
for being such terrific hosts, and for arranging another fine seminar
at Fighthouse, and of course, many thanks to Vlad for coming all the
way from Canada to teach us, and to everyone who came to participate.

Thursday

Thursday's focus was leg work, one of my favorite Systema topics.
Back in October of 2004, Jim came to Fighthouse to do a 2-day seminar
on "Fundamental Principles of the Russian System and the Dynamic Use
of the Legs for Offense and Defense." One thing I remember from Jim's
2004 leg work seminar is how many leg exercises we did to exhaust and
therefore relax the legs. It's actually the hips that must be relaxed
to kick three-dimensionally, just as the shoulders must be relaxed to
strike effectively. Stiff hips will make it very hard to get the full
range of possibilities of Systema leg work.

As he told us in 2004, Jim again reminded us that Systema kicking is
just like walking... "If the kick misses, you just keep walking, it's
not something you have to re-set." Other martial styles have powerful
kicks, but if the kick misses, the leg returns to its original
position and must be "re-set," to restore balance before doing
something else. Systema kicks are completely adaptable and three
dimensional. They do not follow straight lines nor consistent
circumferences. By stepping, rotating, and "changing levels" (up and
down), a single step can result several blows to vulnerable areas,
often from surprising directions. The Systema practitioner does not
need to practice the same kick over and over again to learn it by
rote. Instead, there are different opportunities with every step...I
also recall Jim telling us in October that "we fight the way we
walk." This is quite different from most other MAs. Here's a
description from an introductory karate tutorial describing the
phases of the kick: coil, kick, recoil, recover, which illustrates
the contrast:

Quote:
The recoil stage is often the most neglected stage of the kick. It is
important to fully recoil the kick. Consider that perhaps the kick
was off target or an attempt was made to grab the kicking leg. From a
proper recoil position, a second kick could be delivered (though this
would have significantly less power than a kick moving forward). The
recoil position is the same as the position described for the end of
the coil position. Recoil of all kicks should quick. Leaving the kick
out after it has reached its maximum extension can be
dangerous...Lastly exists the recover stage. This is the part where
you return the kicking leg to the floor, preferably into a strong
stance. This should be done as quickly as possible...It is important
to remember that whenever a kick is performed, there is a severe
reduction in stability and balance. When one's entire body weight is
supported by one leg the reduction in balance must be equal to at
least 50 percent. When balancing on one leg while performing another
technique (such as a kick for example), the loss of balance will
likely be even greater than that. Therefore, it would make sense to
return the kicking leg to the floor as quickly as possible. One
possible view is that the longer it takes to perform the entire kick,
the bigger the risk you are taking that you will lose your balance.

That's quite a different approach to Systema. I've learned than being
able to recover and adapt from any situation is more important than
not "missing" or even "getting hit." Training by rote is a way to
learn to "miss" less, until the movement becomes almost second
nature. Almost, but not quite, because it's still a kind of
memorization, and humans are more fallible than computers when it
comes to pattern recognition. It's unrealistic to presume that you
will never be taken by surprise, that you are untouchable, and that
your memorized response will always be fast enough to counter. Even
if it works 99 times out of 100, there might be a high price for that
one time it doesn't work. I think Systema training is unique in
exploring situations that many people would consider to be
already "lost," as Rob Poyton describes in two of his essays:

Quote:
...In Systema we sometimes start from a position of "muck up". Things
have gone wrong - the knife is touching you, the guy has got a lock
on, you are sitting down - then see what you can do to work out of
it...Now and then try working from an "inescapable" position. Put
yourself on the floor, in a chair, or turn the lights off - see what
happens. You may well feel less in control and less of a "martial
artist" at first but you will sure as hell be better equipped to deal
with the reality of fighting outside of the dojo.

To bring this back to the topic of working with the legs, "missing"
is not such a loss as described in the karate tutorial, since you are
still moving. If you're running to catch an elevator and the doors
are just closing but you're not quite there, of course you would not
stop and think, "oh, that last step didn't bring me close enough,
whatever should I do now?" You'd just take another step, and that's
what Jim encouraged us to do.

We also learned about defending from kicks on Thursday, so the topics
were fairly broad. The students were more laid-back than Wednesday's
crowd and not as competitive. They were seriously interested in
learning the topic at hand rather than proving themselves. Jim
started us in groups of four: 3 people kicking at one in the center,
who was to avoid or yield. But Jim warned us not to run all over the
room trying to outrun the kickers. The idea was to learn how to
handle these kicks, not to run away from them. Personally, I'd prefer
to run away from 3 attackers if at all possible, but of course I
can't depend on always having that option. So it's good to learn how
to deal with those situations where you cannot run away. With 3 or
more people kicking, chances are that some of the kicks will make
contact and we practiced learning how to minimize the effects.

Jim also warned us to look alive or he'd come around and kick us
himself. I guess my group wasn't kicking me hard enough, or perhaps I
was moving lazily, because Jim made good on his promise. I found that
constant movement was the only way to handle the four of them kicking
at once. Stopping even for a second was less effective than moving
all the time. But I also found that people who kick lightly don't
really make it an easier for the person in the center. It's hard to
know how to avoid a kick that doesn't really make contact. It seemed
much easier to yield and avoid Jim's kicks even though they were much
harder than my fellow students, because he kicked "through" me rather
than keeping me at a distance. It's important to commit to attacks,
though, even when it means that you are going to be knocked down or
otherwise made uncomfortable. But it's not fair to your partner to
attack at arms' length; both people will learn much more when the
attacks are committed. As Paul Genge explains in one of his essays:

Quote:
Attacks have to be committed. When people really try to hit you at
full speed they will follow through with the movement to a degree
even if you avoid the attack. The better the timing shown during the
escape the more follow through there will be. I know there are people
out there that train to hit no further than their reach allows. I was
one of them. Despite this I have nearly lost my balance when fighting
a person who ducked out of the way at the last moment.

We did this kicking and yielding exercise in groups of four at
different speeds: slow, fast, and "as fast as you can go." For the
latter, the people surrounding me were kicking fast so I had to move
more quickly myself—no chance to be lazy. Them, to get the feel of
kicks, we got into pairs and just explored different ways to kick.
One person kicked in various ways, exploring different kinds of
movement and takedowns, while the other avoided just enough to yield
without running away. The other person was somewhat compliant, but
this gave us a chance to learn how much pressure to use and which
areas of the leg are easiest to collapse. On the back of the calf, it
doesn't take much pressure to collapse the other person. Then we did
this same exercise but the other person was allowed to move away and
escape from the kicks. Strangely enough, this didn't make it any
harder, at least not for me. In fact, I find it's often easier to
work against my partner when he is moving rather than standing still.
As my partner tried to avoid me, I adapted my kicks so that he became
sort of tangled up and collapsed. Jim happened to look at me at this
moment and he said "That's good work!" I was really pleased with the
way he complimented me, not just a "you've improved" type of
compliment, which is also nice to hear, but this time, I got the
sense that he really was impressed with the way I was using my legs.
It's always encouraging when they look over at you when you are doing
something well (and conveniently look away when you are stumbling
around clumsily)!

Next we did a classic Systema yielding exercise, where one person
leads the other around by cupping his head and stepping back and
forth. This is an important sensitivity drill for both people. The
leading person should use as light contact as possible, and move the
other person by stepping, not by pulling the arms. The following
person should yield as soon as they feel the direction; it's also
important not to predict the movement, but let the other person move
you. For this reason, many people find it easier to do this with the
eyes closed. Jim had us do this as different levels, mid-level (45
degrees), half-squat, and "as low as you can go." This exercise seems
very basic, yet it's an important principle of Systema. Edgar
recently explained to our class how Systema has a very different
approach to contact. We do not tense up at the touch of even someone
who is attacking. That takes some getting used to, as I recall from
when I first started training. The very concept of a "fight" seems to
be based in the idea that it's bad for the other person to touch you,
and that you want to avoid it at all costs, and if that's not
possible, then you are going to become tense and stiff. But in
Systema, it's not always bad for the other person to touch you,
sometimes, it can even be an advantage. There is also an important
psychological principle of not tensing up at contact. Tension is
contagious; it tends to exacerbate the conflict, to telegraph to the
opponent that you are going to do something. Relaxation is also
contagious, and can have the effect of placating the opponent, to
calm him down, or to trick him into thinking that you are nothing to
be concerned about, but actually, this calmness and relaxation is the
exact opposite, the mark of a true professional, far more dangerous
that a hotheaded type who lets his emotions steer his actions.

We spent time also learning different ways to avoid common kicks. We
did an exercise where one person kicks, and the other steps in grabs—
to the neck, shoulder, arm, pretty much anywhere. Once again I found
timing to be critical. With proper timing, you can step in and affect
your partner's balance quite easily and almost invisibly as he kicks.
But if you're too soon or too late, it becomes a physical struggle.
One thing that seems almost counter-intuitive is to avoid watching
the kicking leg. It seems almost illogical, but you can see the
movement sooner when you look at your partner's entire body. Other
parts of the body, the shoulders, hips, even the head, will probably
move before the leg kicks, so looking at just the leg is like tunnel
vision. We also tried mixing up the sequences: one person kicks, the
other counters with a kick and a strike, but the kick must come
first. This was helpful in learning how to connect the upper and
lower part of the body so that everything moves fluidly; just
movement, rather than a particular technique.

Jim showed us several nifty ways to work against a roundhouse, from
inside the kick, staying close to the body (safer than staying at the
outside where there is more velocity and the impact of the foot) and
moving away from leg as it swings around. Jim also demonstrated going
under a high roundhouse, sliding the arm down into the crook of the
kicking leg just as it lands, and I think he then just pulled back to
lock the knee just as the foot landed (the notes are a bit fuzzy on
that but I remember being impressed.) He also showed us different
ways to strike the kicking leg to stop the kick, for that, timing is
very important. With proper timing, the kicking person moves his leg
right into your fist, and all the energy with which he intended to
kick is instead returned to him with a strike. Jim also showed how to
pull the kicking leg around in the same direction it's going and work
against the opposite shoulder to unbalance your partner...kind of
circular movement.

Jim also demonstrated working against straight kicks in similar
ways...sliding down the kicking leg with the arm so that as soon as
the foot lands, the knee is straight and locked. We tried this
ourselves, with caution, of course, since it can really damage the
knees. Jim also showed us how to "pass" the straight kick to one side
and take out the base leg. It's not so much grabbing or trying to
pull on the kicking leg, as that can be rather dangerous at high
speeds, but more like slipping an arm between your body and the
kicking leg, and allowing the kicking to slide off the arm, then
taking out the base leg from behind your partner. Once again timing
is of the essence, if the kicking foot has landed and the person is
already put weight on it, it's hard to affect the base leg.

Rather than trying all these things one-by-one, Jim gave us a bunch
of ideas for our "toolbox," as he described it, and let us try them
all out as we pleased. This was not only a time-saver, it gave us a
chance to individualize the movements. We spent the last few minutes
of class working sort of freely, kicking, punching, grabbing,
practicing all the various ways to kick and counter that we had
learned. I think the free work is probably easier for most people,
even though "sparring" is sometimes considered more "advanced" in the
lingo of other MAs, but I actually find many of the Systema drills to
be more challenging than working freely. My mom surprised me, nailing
me with quite a few good strikes, and using her legs much more
effectively than when we were doing the drills. I think that working
freely, there is less internal pressure to do something "correctly"
and less of a perception of "success/failure." But at the same time,
I also think that learning new skills and working with constraints is
equally important, and I won't be drawn into sparring when the
instructor has us working on a particular drill, even though it's
easier and very often, more fun, than trying something new, or
working with just one arm, or practicing any number of things which
are more difficult than doing whatever is easiest. It's a lot like
playing music; it's fun to play songs that you know well, it sounds
good, and the audience will be impressed. But to learn a new song, or
to write your own, it rarely sounds very good at first. An audience
does not enjoy listening to someone practice a new song or tinker
around with lyrics and chords, but that's no justification for
playing the same songs over and over again.

We finished by striking each other to "get the ego out," and Jim
emphasized to strike in a positive way and not to increase the
negativity. The guys hit each other in the chest. My mom and I didn't
strike each other, because we cannot take such hard strikes to the
breasts without intense pain. This was discussed extensively on
another thread, but taking hits there is just not the same for women
as for men, just as taking hits to the groin is different for both
sexes. But as Emmanuel explained to me during his visit, women don't
carry pride in the chest in the same way that men do, so when
striking to "get the ego out," it's probably more effective to hit to
another part of a woman.

As he did on all five days, Jim remained at Fighthouse afterwards for
as long as people had questions to ask. His commitment to teaching is
obvious, and he literally would not leave until no more questions
were asked. We were fortunate to have this opportunity to ask
questions on top of the class time. Although I left right away on
Thursday, I did stick around for a pretty long time on Friday night,
to ask Jim some questions which I will describe in the next post.

(to be continued)

Hi,
It was more than a month ago, but I still wanted to share a few
thoughts from Jim King's visit to Fighthouse in early March. Work and
school prevented me from posting sooner, but even though my notes may
be a little haphazard, here is part 1 of 5.
*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel

Jim taught classes for three days at Fighthouse in the week preceding
the 2-day seminar. It goes without saying that this was a great
experience for us, to train with Jim all week, what a bonus on top of
the two seminars! The focus was "short work" and Wednesday evening
Jim introduced us to this topic, Thursday evening we practiced leg
work, Friday, ground work, Saturday, all topics, and Sunday,
everything plus striking. It was a lot of information to absorb, and
for the week following, I was still thinking about the experience and
couldn't even begin to write about it. It also quite tough, I have to
confess. Training for six consecutive days has never exhausted me so
much during any previous seminars, guest instructors, or even summer
camp. It wasn't that it was too tiring, and I got plenty of rest each
night, but I got sort of dinged-up with various minor injuries. By
Sunday morning, I was so sore and stiff, I almost wanted to stay
home. Almost, but not quite! I wasn't about to miss the final day for
any reason.

Jim is a great teacher, friendly and engaging, highly skilled, but
humble. I remember him telling us on Friday that during one
demonstration, the other guy (who was very strong) had him pretty
good and he wasn't sure he'd escape. It was an interesting
perspective, as I tend to think of the instructors as invincible, but
they certainly do not see themselves that way! Throughout the five
days, Jim often stopped us to ask, "What is the goal of this
exercise?" He wanted to make sure we knew the drills have purpose,
and of course, to encourage us to think for ourselves and not just do
the drills because we were supposed to. Jim described Systema's
applications as "physical, psychological, spiritual, and social." He
also said something interesting that I missed, but my mom related to
me. He said that the goal was not necessarily to eliminate all
mistakes, as that would be nearly impossible for any of us, but only
to learn to recover from those mistakes more quickly. (See Rob
Green's post on the "Vlad the magician thread" for more on that!)

I had thought that training every day would be much more fun than
working, but you may be surprised to read that by Sunday morning, I
didn't feel I could recover quickly enough to do so. I'm not one of
those students who wants the actual Spetz training. I never had any
desire to join the military, and if for some reason I had to, I'm
sure I'd wash out. So how could I succeed training in a military
style? I just figured I'd continue to give it my best shot without
expecting to excel. A couple of things changed my mind. On Sunday,
while Jim was answering questions, I asked him if we should be able
to train like that every day. It was a rhetorical question; I didn't
expect any answer but Yes. To my surprise, he said, "No, I was trying
to condense a lot of information in a very short time," so it was
more intensive that we were accustomed to. Another thing surprised me
quite a bit, as I was saying Goodbye at the curb before Jim was
getting into the car, I said off-handedly, "I give anyone a lot of
credit just for showing up for all five days." Jim said, "So do I! It
was hard, and I meant it to be!" I had thought it was rigorous for me
simply because I wasn't fit enough for it. Until that moment, I never
thought that it was tough for me because Jim intended to challenge us.

Wednesday

Before this gets too unwieldy, let me get to the point: Wednesday
night's class. After introductions, Jim started off telling us that
this was a different approach to Systema than were probably
accustomed to: less art, and more functionality. And also that a
fight shouldn't last more than 2  or 3 seconds, ideally, and that he
wanted to help us discover this kind of quick resolution, which some
people call short work.. Short, in "range" or distance, in that it's
often close quarters or in confined spaces, but also short in the
timeline of the conflict resolution, which is a lot more compressed
than the slow exploratory flow training (although after class, when I
talked to Jim, he agreed that flow training also has an important
role in Systema training). With short work, there's no art, it's
about ending the conflict quickly and not necessarily with any sort
of elegant style.

We started with grab and escape, a very basic Systema drill, where
you simply grab your partner and he escapes. Jim demonstrated how we
can fall into a pattern of grabbing in stupid ways, allowing our
partners to escape almost unconsciously. In the [i]Guidebook[/i],
Vlad describes a simultaneous unconscious desire to help your partner
as well as thwart him. I had to break myself of the habit of grabbing
like a Frankenstein monster, visible from halfway across the room.
Jim said to take your partner down if there was an opportunity to do
so. My partner grabbed me and as I tried to escape, and it was quite
simple for him to take me down, he did so every time I approached
him.

But, when it was my turn to grab him, I realized I was grabbing my
partner, but still allowing him to escape. So I grabbed him, and as
he evaded, met him again with another grab, one leading into the
next, trying to feel where he was going and meet him, sometimes, I'd
give a little push here and there. I realized how easy it is to break
someone's posture if they aren't doing anything to stop you. Even
though he was moving well, he was not using his arms or legs nor
doing anything else to prevent my grab. So I could break his posture
easily, but I didn't take him down, because I wasn't sure how much I
ought to pursue it. Would sinking an elbow into his back go beyond
the simple grab and escape?  So I just continued to grab him,
breaking his posture sometimes, but not taking him down. Jim had us
do this slow, faster, and "as fast as you can go," which for me, is
rather "as fast as I want to go." I'm afraid this isn't very fast—I
have a terrible lazy streak when it comes to running or going very
fast.

Jim explained that evading a grab successfully was all about moving
your feet—that's where the evasion starts. I've noticed that when
things aren't working well for me in Systema practice, it's nearly
always because I'm not moving my feet. Another thing that Jim told us
throughout the entire week was how the spine must be changed from a
straight position to affect the other person. He demonstrated pushing
on the head of someone with a straight spine to very little effect,
but as soon as the head was bent in one direction or the other,
pushing easily changed the structure."Align the spine" he told us
many times, a straight spine will make it difficult, if not
impossible, to affect the other person's stability.

We switched partners to do the same grab and escape drill. My new
partner was more aggressive. Although I didn't strike him, somehow,
my fist seemed to end up at his face as I stepped to avoid, and I
just gave a gentle push to turn his body away. He commented that I
liked to go for the face, he seemed sort of glum about it. When I
grabbed him and met him again as he was evading, he also seemed a bit
miffed about that; I had this vague feeling that I was going beyond
what the drill required, just as with my previous partner, I felt
that I was not quite doing all the drill required….a change of
partners is always a bit of a revelation! He muscled me to the ground
a few times, and even though using strength to prevail is not the
Systema way, nonetheless, I think it's good practice for me (though
not so much for the stronger partner). I started to take him down
from the ground, sort of rolling him over me so that he ended up on
the opposite side. I'm not sure why he was letting me do this. If he
moved around to my head or kneeled on me or otherwise controlled me
once I was down, it would have been impossible for me to do so.
Things weren't very smooth between us; I got the feeling that he was
getting angry with me. It wasn't that this guy was a poor student, a
bit too physical, but he was probably not very experienced and that's
typical of students who are just starting out. It's just that he did
not like that I was prevailing sometimes, even though he was also
doing the same to me sometimes, but he seemed to want to "win" 100%
of the time. When he tried to take me down, sometimes he ended up on
the floor instead. I think what ticked him off was what he perceived
as "cheating," pushing his face, taking him down from the ground, not
giving up. Maybe he was right, perhaps I was being a bit stubborn,
not giving up unless my partner truly demonstrates that he has
control, if he leaves me any wiggle room, then I'll try to escape.
Since he remained by my legs, it was easy to entangle him and bring
him down, or else he fell with me, but did not stop me from getting
the advantage on the ground.

But finally, just before we ended the exercise, he did take me down
so that I fell forward, then he was able to sit on me and lock my arm
very hard. I was breathing fast to manage the pain, as he applied
more and more pressure to my arm. Being stubborn, I said nothing,
though it was painful, but what would it accomplish to say Ow, ow?
But I think he wanted me to say something. He knew he could easily
break my arm, he really did a good job of locking me up tight. I have
to give him credit for that, after all those other times I managed to
wiggle free after he took me down, he wasn't going to let that happen
again. But the more pressure he applied to my arm, the less I was
inclined to say anything. Briefly I wondered if I was going to let
him break my arm, and I was glad he had my left instead of the right.
I can certainly be stubborn. But finally, my partner got tired of
waiting, and said "OK?" meaning, have you had enough? And I
said "OK," and he let me go. When I stood up, Jim was nearby, he had
probably been observing the whole interaction. I gave him a big
smile, and he said, "Ah, so you're the first casualty." I looked in
the mirror; there was blood all over my teeth, certainly not the
first time my attempt to be charming came off ghoulish instead.

Next we did some isometric exercises, and truthfully, I wasn't
thrilled to be working with this same guy. I don't think we had a
very good interaction. I have to be honest and this means that I am
sometimes critical of my training partners. In the past, some of the
readers of this forum really came down hard on me for this,
e.g., "What right do you have to rip the guy apart on this forum?"
All I can say about that is that I hope you can see that I am not
absolving myself of any responsibility for my actions. No doubt the
other guy thought I was being unreasonable about this whole
interaction. However, it's for obvious reasons, a bit harder to be
objective about yourself. Now, if any of my classmates wanted to
write about training with me, and describe all my little foibles and
stubborn flaws, I'd be delighted. Sure, it would be hard to read,
just as it was hard to listen to some of the suggestions Jim King
gave me on Friday night, when I waited until Edgar had stopped
videotaping and almost everyone had left before I asked him for
advice. But it's helpful. I've gotten better at accepting criticism
as I grow older. So lest you think I'm ripping this guy apart, it's
just not possible for me to describe training without also mentioning
my partner's behaviour, and just because no-one is writing about
training with me, doesn't mean I don't have my own foibles and flaws.

The isometric exercises we do in Systema are partnered work, and I
think the intention is to strengthen and limber the tendons. Usually
they take the form of one person trying to spread their arms or legs,
or else bring their arms and legs together, while the other provides
some subtle resistance. I can feel that my whole limbs are involved,
even the bones seem to be doing their share of the work. Jim
described this as a chance to see how well everything was
functioning, as any kind of small injury or weakness will be revealed
by this exercise.

We did a few variations on this, one person lying on the ground,
trying to spread the legs, while the other stands over them, holding
the legs together with the feet, and just inching out slowly to allow
the person to gradually spread their legs with just a subtle amount
of resistance. It takes some sensitivity to do this. Usually I have
to ask my partner if it's too much or too little. We did this in all
different ways, mostly sitting or laying down, raising the legs at a
90 degree angle and pushing down to the floor while the partner
provides resistance, raising the arms from a sitting position while
the partner provides resistance, raising one leg and lowering the
other at the same time while the partner provides two different kinds
of resistance. Also sitting with arms stretched out on either side,
which was hard, and stretched behind, very difficult.

My partner had very strong arms. The leg exercises were OK, but for
the arms, I was unable to provide any significant resistance, he
simply closed or opened rather than pressing them slowly. Then, when
it was my turn, when I was supposed to spread my arms to his subtle
resistance, he easily prevented me from moving my arms at all. When I
was supposed to close my arms from a spread position, he simply
pressed down on them so that my arms were quickly pinned to my sides,
rather than gradually inching downward with steady consistent
pressure. We tried a few more times but always with the same results,
instead of opening or closing my limbs, he just pinned me until Jim
led us to the next position. I was sorry, not because I couldn't do
the isometrics, but because we should have been helping each other,
instead, it was just a way to demonstrate who was stronger. I felt
bad about the whole thing, obviously, he found the isometrics
pointless. I thought about all the other times I've done these with
stronger partners, and whether they also found it to be pointless…but
even among the men, no two people have exactly the same strength, and
surely it's not a one-sided exercise.

When I described this to one of my classmates at a later point, he
said, "That guy does not belong with us." Yes, perhaps not yet, he
has not accepted Systema, but let's not forget where we all started.
Systema is so natural, it can be hard to remember that many of us
also started out tense and competitive and ego-driven. Even if
someone has not accepted Systema, I hope that Systema, and its
practitioners, can accept him and his potential.

I have described only the first half-hour or so of the Wednesday
class; yet it was typical of the psychological challenges presented
by the training. Most of the class was spent on variations of grab
and escape.  Jim reminded us to keep moving, a simple thing, but how
often we forget!

There was one point when one of the demonstrators took Jim down real
close to the wall so we couldn't really see what was happening, it
seemed the other guy had the advantage, but we saw Jim's fist fly up
and pop the other guy in the face, after which Jim escaped easily. We
all laughed, the way it appeared to us was almost like a cartoon
fight where you see a mass of bodies and a fist fly out. I know this
was hotly contested on another thread, but a punch to the face can be
surprising when the other person is distracted by doing something
else. Jim said when a person is grabbing you, they can become so
focused on grabbing that the punch is unexpected. This is NOT to say
a punch is the closer (if such a think even exists in Systema), only
that when the other person is so focused on doing one thing, like
grabbing, or thrusting with a knife, or any of the other actions
where our consciousness tends to be focused in one area, a strike can
be unexpected.

Jim also reminded us to be careful about that ourselves, and not to
target the face with the punch, because then it's easy to be locked
into the mindset of too focused on one target. He said, "let the
punches land where they may," then, if you miss, it's no big deal
because your mind wasn't locked into a particular target. Jim made it
clear that this it's important not to do the predictable, the kind of
fights you see in Hollywood movies, and that in some cases, a strike
to the face can be the very thing the other guy is expecting and
therefore will be aware of it. Letting the strikes fall where they
may is more unexpected to the opponent, and even sometimes, to
yourself, so it's a bit of a leap of faith. I see Systema as a faith-
based system and I don't mean in the religious sense. You have to
have faith in the System, because the System is composed of the
physical laws of the universe, as James Williams described so
succinctly in his essay. It's just movement and biomechanics. Edgar
often talks about physics when he is teaching us, sometime he
surprises me with his knowledge of physics. And if you reject the
physical laws of the universe, basic stuff like gravity and kinetic
energy and even the biomechanical structure of the human body, the
results can be painful. Then there's another level, the acceptance of
things that you cannot see with the naked eye, most people accept the
existence of molecules and atoms, although we cannot see them, but
when we see an advantaged practitioner do a little of the no-contact
or other highly subtle work that seems a bit mysterious to the eye,
it seems more magical to us. But just because the eye cannot follow
everything that is happening does not mean it is not real.

We spent a few minutes of "wrestling," i.e. "in a clinch." We grabbed
each other and starting wrestling in that sort of old-fashioned way
which reminds me of old black-and-white stills of professional
wrestlers before it became all phony and staged. Jim had us try this
with one partner very tense and the other relaxed, with both tense,
and finally with both relaxed. Of course it was much easier when I
was relaxed, so much so that when it was my turn to tense up, I kept
relaxing as soon as my partner began to lock me or otherwise work
against me. I guess I've learned that it's easier to escape when the
body is not rigid. I had to keep reminding myself to stay tense and
even then, I had to resist the almost automatic reaction to relax.
Since I started training, I've gone from being tense and thinking
that tension is my natural state of being, to being relaxed and
almost unable to bring myself to the tense state in which I started.
Systema certainly has a way of reversing what we consider to
be "natural"!

With Jim, we learned to play around with tension, and not just avoid
it altogether. A lot of people have wondered if we should attack each
other like Systema-ists or like unschooled thugs. And I think Jim
demonstrated that it's good to play around with both at times, to try
working with rigidity as well as softness. This simple wrestling
exercise demonstrated why we aim to be relaxed, not floppy like a rag
doll, but the proper ratio of tension and relaxation, without which
we'd not even be able to walk down the street (Edgar later told us
that being 100% relaxed was equivalent to being dead, and that we
would not even be able to stand up if we were 100% relaxed.).

We also did a 20-count slow pushup; those are always a challenge for
me. My upper arms have gotten so much stronger since I started
Systema training, from all the pushups. Unfortunately, the pushups
have not developed my pectoral muscles; for that, I guess I'd have to
do targeted training. So when I do a pushup, my arms are supporting
my entire body weight and I think this is why many women find pushups
more difficult than men do. The funny thing is that Edgar always
counts to 30, not 20, and it has become such a "habit" that I was
still going down when Jim reached 20, and not yet all the way up when
he reached 20 on the up.

After that, more grab and escape. This time, the person being grabbed
struck or kicked at the grabber to escape…this is what I had been
doing with the first exercise. Of course, it made escaping much
easier. Looking around, I saw some people getting a bit competitive.
I'm sure I was guilty of the same. I think, with more time, it might
have benefited us to become more exhausted, but with an hour and a
half, it was understandable that we couldn't spend too much time on
controlled fatigue drills. After class, Jim told us not to be
aggressive or competitive with each other, because "one day you'll
prevail, the next day, the other guy." And actually, it's more fun
that way. If it was always easy to prevail over my partners, why
would I continue training? And as Jim frequently reminded us, "we're
all on the same team."

Jim taught us well beyond the time we were supposed to stop and then,
most generously, stuck around to answer questions. Afterwards, I
asked Jim why I felt strikes level the playing field for me, and that
when I couldn't strike, I felt at more of a disadvantage against the
stronger men. Striking really changes the dynamics for me. My
partners, no matter how big and strong, are much more wary of
approaching me.And I also feel more relaxed since getting hit is
painful otherwise. He said I shouldn't feel that way, and asked me to
grab him. I grabbed him around the neck and he demonstrated hitting
me with an elbow. I said, Oh, I guess my definition of a strike is
rather broad, I would put not only punches with closed fist, but also
elbow and forearm strikes, as well as slaps and other kinds of hits,
all into the same category. I think Jim was encouraging me to look
beyond the "closed fist punch" into more options, the ones that
happen naturally, as you avoid an attack, limbs ending up in the most
convenient places. This is another reason I believe the universe will
give me a chance to survive, if only I can see it. When I'm training
well, my arms and legs just naturally end up in the right places
without thinking about it, which leads me to believe that the ability
to defend myself is something to be discovered, rather than acquired.

to be continued...)