Seminar with Konstantin Komarov

To be re-edited when more time is available. Just drills and random memories for now as a placeholder to that point in time.

Drills:

Saturday:

- Pushups/situps/squats while holding the breath. Gradually excites the psyche as holding the breath becomes harder. Learning how to calm the psyche after doing these exercises by breath work.

- Falling exercise. Partner stands straight and tall, and falls backward, not bending their body. Partner catches them at the neck about 2-3 feet before hitting the ground. Learning how to calm the psyche after a very quick excitation.

- Falling exercise. One person is on all fours, the other is standing on them. The standing person stands straight and tall, and falls backward, not bending their body. Two people catch them about 2-3 feet before hitting the ground. Reinforcement of previous falling drill.

- Studying an attacker without becoming emotionally involved. One partner approaches a few times without attacking. Then after a while they do irritating/jarring things: slapping, punching, etc. The other person has to remain aware of the person but not become psychologically involved in the attack. This is to find the state of the psyche where one can respond to the full situation, rather than hiding inside themselves, or becoming a slave to the attacker's movements.

- Falling/getting up with one breath cycle. Exhale while falling, inhale while getting up. Losing one's breath while doing this indicates excessive tension.

- Free movement on the ground with no thought. Thought interrupts the free movement. Some movements may appear beautiful when planned, but the transition to the next movement may be awkward, or some other aspect of movement/breathing may be crippled from planning the movements.

Sunday:

- Throwing a person drill. Four people grab each limb of the fifth person. They swing him and release on the count of three. The thrown person lands and regains a good psychological state through breathing. Repeat with the person being thrown while face-down. Additional challenge is to throw the person against a wall or pillar.

- Intermixing of social and physiological fear. Partner approaches a few times, calmly putting their hand on the person. Then the partner does something irritating and sharp: punching, slapping, etc. Then the partner goes back to calmly putting their hand on the person. There is often more fear in the partner approaching after being hit, even though intellectually the person knows that they will just calmly put their hands on them. We can develop social fears from physiological ones.

- Hitting a person standing on the wall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFsMa5DuSFs). Experiencing deeper excitation and then overcoming it through breathing.

- Laying on the ground, holding the breath after exhale, then partner push/punches on your stomach when you start to recover from breath holding. After a few minutes or if they sense you've had enough, they let you breath and recover. After recovering, hold your breath on exhale, and they will slap your face/chest when you start to recover from breath holding. They stop after a few minutes or if they sense you've had enough.

- Stick swinging. KK swings the stick back and forth. Our task is to walk towards him and past him without getting hit AND while not changing our pace, being hesitant, thinking too much, or getting excited.

- Walking around randomly with eyes closed. Then walking faster and bumping into people/things. Breath work required to reduce excitation. Then holding hands out and touching those who walk by instead of avoiding them, to experience and overcome various social fears.

Random concepts from KK:

- The proper "state" is similar to a runner experiencing their body in motion w/o the nasty feelings experienced when running. They are just doing the work.

- The psyche has natural flows, like a wave, of highs and lows. A low would be waking up in the morning, transitioning to high when driving to work. There are thresholds for the highs and lows, which can be seen when a person "snaps" and doesn't remember what they did because they were so excited. What we try to do is increase our thresholds to remain aware during high levels of excitement.

- Admitting to being afraid is often socially discouraged, but the truth is that everyone feels certain levels of fear all the time. "I am afraid all the time, but I'm not a coward".

- We all have certain animal/chemical reactions that we can't necessarily work against: adrenaline, final stage of accepting death when attacked (like an antelope). Those exist for evolutionary reasons and often can't be trained away. Our goal is to either work around them or simply accept them as possibilities and move on.

- Advice for shock: slap them on the back a few times to get their attention. KK made the analogy of them being in their house (inside themselves), and someone needing to knock on the door (slap on the back) to get them to get up. Make them look up, and try to get them to follow your finger moving back and forth, to connect them with some external stimulus. Ask them their name to engage them on a social level. Look them in the eyes. If they aren't injured, this may be enough. If they are injured, this may need to be continued to prevent them from going back inside themselves. There was an anecdote about a soldier dying from a broken arm because he went into shock.

Shooting w/ KK:

Konstantin divided us up into two groups: those with significant or professional shooting experience, and the less experienced.

The first drill was to shoot three rounds from a classic one

- Watching him shoot was incredible and unreal. Watching him handle the AK was like seeing a shark being dropped into the water: powerful and natural.

- Difference between guns that are made for shooting from a static position, and those that are made for shooting on the run. He said it was hard to nail down the differences, but a lot of the older WW2-era pistols are made for the on-the-run type shooting.

- Shooting is mostly a result of a clean psychological state, resulting in smooth calm movement and a focus to keep the pistol from deviating even slightly on its aim, even while walking or pivoting.

- Fire at the end of the exhale, extend the step maybe by 6 to 12 inches and fire right before the foot hits the ground. The extending foot must go at the direction of the target, but the movement of the shooter can continue in the original direction after firing. When approaching from the left, if right-handed, the whole body has to face the target.

- Repeated emphasis on knowing where the bullet went. Missing the target is one thing, not knowing where the shot went prevents one from re-adjusting for the next shot, or from receiving valuable feedback during training.

- Two-handed shooting, while providing a more stable platform and allowing for an easier sight picture, makes any re-adjustment in a rapidly changing environment difficult. Running is difficult, both hands are occupied which hinders dynamic movement and getting around obstacles.

- The pistol should be held like a bird that one doesn't want to escape, and the wrist should have enough tension so that it doesn't break from the recoil. The rest of the body should be relaxed so that it can adjust to provide a dynamic platform for each discharge.

A Day at the Range

We had a fantastic day out at the Best of the West range in Liberty Hill, Texas. Gene reserved us a bay, and took us through a series of shooting drills. Let me give some pretext to this post first. Konstantin Komarov is coming to Austin to give a two day Systema seminar, followed by a third day out at the range. As if the first two days weren't enough, the third day is an extraordinary opportunity, even for the most seasoned professionals. Konstantin is a very unique individual in that he has experienced combat psychology both within a highly formalized academic context as well as on a grueling personal level. He has a Ph.D. in combat psychology and has served as a Russian Special Forces Officer in the MVD and GRU. The first two days will involve experiencing and sustaining an optimal internal state. I have no idea what that will entail, and only an abstract sense of what it means, but I am very much looking forward to it. I also have no idea what we will be doing with firearms, but I am sure it will be extremely dynamic and not something to go about flippantly.

As such, Gene has been including pistols as a regular part of class for the last few months. For someone like me, who has little experience with pistols, the time spent with a pistol in hand during class has helped quite a bit. I've been shooting rifles and shotguns since I was a kid, and they feel quite natural to me. Pistols, however, are another story. I shot a pistol for the first time only a couple of years ago, and have only done so infrequently since then.

To me, they are little tiny things that make big noises and can cause a lot of hurt. I am slowly losing my hesitancy with them, due to the exposure as well as training. Pistols are different from rifles in that they have little to no hunting use--bluntly put, they are made for shooting people. The effect that a pistol can have on a person's psyche is different than that of a rifle, at least in my experience. Simply holding a pistol, even unloaded, can cause feelings of fear, aggression, or hesitancy. I am slowly shedding these influences from this particular inanimate object, as I come to understand that my judgement determines the outcome from using such an object. The ability to use judgement in order to effect outcome with regard to pistols is no different than in martial arts practice. I have a responsibility to hone my judgement, decisions, and resulting actions in such a manner that the outcome is beneficial to everyone around me. While that may be a considerably complex thing to consider philosophically, I place a certain amount of trust in the various social, psychological, and physiological constructs available in this universe to do the right thing (or next best thing). To do otherwise would be an affront to humanity. In that regard, I am grateful for Gene, Vladimir, and others for providing training that blends so homogeneously into my own life and circumstances (and heck if it ain't a lot of fun too!).

Anyhow, blathering aside, we started off the day at the range with basic static drills: shooting from a standing position, off-hand, laying on the ground, and crouched. The next level of drills included standing on a person laying on their back and shooting, having someone lightly push from behind while shooting, and shooting close up at the targe.

Every so often, Gene would make us take a break. Some of the drills became more intense, and built upon previous drills, and so we would gradually get a little more over-excited or overly eager. One goal in all of this is to stay calm, stay aware of our surroundings, and most importantly stay aware of ourselves and our internal mechanics (the psyche, breathing, etc.). Over-excitement and eagerness, while not a bad thing in and of themselves, can blind us to reality in situations that require alertness and vigilance. Handling firearms is one of those situations. Handling firearms while moving dynamically and making physical contact with others is, in no uncertain terms, one of those situations. During the breaks we did some pushups, squats, chatted a bit, and got ourselves back to normal before moving on to the next level of drills. Let me be the first to explain that this type of training is F-U-N, so getting back to normal required a little bit of focus. Very slow pushups while letting the rocks dig into my knuckles a little bit, and breathing very intently helped though.

Another level of shooting drills involved dynamic movement. We started at several meters distance from the target, drew our weapon, chambered a round, then advanced towards the target while firing. We then started at the target, and retreated while firing. We also did lateral movement, as well as a combination of lateral and retreating movements. Another sequence was to start from kneeling, then firing while moving to a standing position, then continuing to fire while advancing at the target. The final sequence to this level was to practice moving to cover while firing. These drills were absolutely new to me--I've never moved, ducked, squatted, or rolled with a loaded firearm before (to be candid, the pistol was empty when I rolled, I'm not quite there yet).

The crescendo of drills peaked with a partner drill. I forget the official term for this, but essentially the shooter mirrors their partner's work. Dene and I worked out a sequence in advance that we'd follow. We'd approach the target until Dene shouted "threat!", and then fire at will while still advancing. The first person to run out of ammo would shout "out!", and we would both get to cover and then continue to fire at the targets until out of ammo. This drill put the biggest smile on my face. It built on all of the experiences of the day and then topped it off by throwing another person in the mix.

We finished the day by spreading out across the shooting bay, all in a line, and shooting through two magazines while moving back and forth (and up and down). I even felt comfortable doing a little barrel roll with a chambered round, keeping my pistol pointed downrange of course. I have kept myself honest about hesitations and anxieties over handling a pistol, in the interest of not shooting myself in the foot (literally). Being able to do a little barrel roll with a cocked and locked firearm was especially gratifying, both in the Systema sense of natural ground movement and in the firearms sense of "oh dear this thing is loaded!" I think Gene did a fantastic job of building up these drills in such a way that we grew accustomed to our firearms, all while maintaining complete safety. I am extremely proud of us as a group for the work we did today and the vigilance upheld in maintaining safe conditions.

Three Weeks Grounded

I had stopped training for a while in attempt to bash out some large chunks of my thesis, and ultimately stopped most forms of physical activity (since training comprises 90% of it, the other 10% is walking between chairs, fridges, couches, cars, and beds). The stress of an increased workload and lack of physical activity concluded in a five day long stay at the hospital due to a nasty Crohn's disease flare-up. I have, very abruptly, started training again, being the intelligent individual that I am.

About this time, Gene had decided to start a three week long study of all things involving the ground, being in close proximity to it, and enjoying the company of other fine people doing their worst to each other in the middle of it all. I didn't take any notes during the three weeks, so this recount won't be particularly linear or greatly detailed. The emphasis, or at least my absorption of it, requires little detail: ground work does not require a different mindset than any other work, and in fact will ultimately suffer from a change in mindset. Ground work has always triggered some underlying primal responses in my brain: sensations of claustrophobia when smothered, gasping for air in attempt to escape, overexertion and unnecessary straining, and just a basic underlying panic, especially when facing an aggressive and strong attacker who has any amount of skill on the ground.

The first aspect of ground work Gene led us through, which was touched on throughout the entire three weeks, was solo movement:

• Falling in various ways and directions (collapsing, rolling, etc.)
  
• Getting back up to standing and optimizing the process from a purely structural/energy standpoint.
  
• Some very specific ways of moving around on the ground and intentionally practicing them.
  
• Combining these specific ways of moving around on the ground into an intentional flow of movement.
  
• Moving intuitively and freely, shedding the intentional mechanical specifics that were previously drilled, but observing their influence on the free movement.
  

For one of the classes, we removed half of the mats from the floor so we could do some rolling on the linoleum below. The hard floor is like an overly honest friend, pointing out faults until no one wants to be their friend anymore. I feel fairly comfortable doing anything on the hard floor. Over time, however, my little mistakes started to accumulate into little bruises, and I found myself getting finicky with what I would choose to do on the ground. I must say, though, that after that class, walking about felt different. The ankle, knee, and hip joints felt more fluid. Walking turned into gliding. The hard floor is one force in the world that requires a certain level of compliance, and rarely makes allowances otherwise. I am constantly amazed to see how the body can adjust to such an unforgiving environment, and in cases such as this, come out healthier and stronger. As such, these solo drills at the beginning of class were definitely the appropriate preparation for the work to follow.

Often, after the solo drills, we would wrestle a bit with a single partner. The emphasis during the wrestling was to be as cooperatively dynamic with movement as possible, and, depending on the partner, challenging their movement a little bit. This drill is interesting to participate in and even observe, as ground work can provoke some primal aspects of the psyche or awaken old grappling habits from wrestling of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The work can degrade between two partners as, over time, the primal part of the psyche bubbles up or the regression into old habits takes place. I found myself fluctuating somewhere between the two extremes of fluid/dynamic and primal/overexerting, often influenced by the partner I was working with at the time.

By being involved closely with someone, whether in training, in violent conflict, or in everyday life, we discover how contagious our various states of being are (aggressive, happy, calm, excited, etc). In martial arts training, the notion of aggression constantly is constantly lurking due to the nature of the work (the stress of possible physical and even psychological harm and having to avoid it). As such, the contagiousness of aggression from one person to another seems to come easier than it would in other situations. There seem to be a number of elements involved in overcoming these involuntary primal tendencies that arise during training and their contagiousness:

• First and foremost is the breathing. The breath is a handy staircase down into the basement of our involuntary mechanisms (pain, heart rate, muscle tension, nervous system emotional responses, digestion, etc.) Practicing the breathing while working on the ground is an absolute must. The beauty of training is that getting stomped in the head isn't such a big deal. Take the plunge and accept a glorious stomp to the head on occasion, practicing the breathing instead of panicking and flopping out of the way while holding the breath. I find that the mechanical aspects of Systema, in and of themselves, are largely worthless without breathing, as the training becomes more intense and the breathing becomes more necessary.
  
• Second, in my opinion, or at least my specific case, is just awareness of what's going on inside my head. All too often I find myself carried away in the "thrill of the moment" and end up throwing all the beautiful things Systema has to offer out the window. There are moments where I can catch myself, however, and turn my mind and body's eye back to the Four Pillars (breath, form, movement, relaxation).
• Being sensitive to my training partner also helps. I don't mean in a lets-have-hot-cocoa kind of way, but rather simply looking at them as human. Empathy and compassion, fortunately in this context, do not exclude the opportunity to challenge one's training partner to grow. Growth is often painful and uncomfortable, and, I fully believe that in order to facilitate growth for our training partners, an enormous amount of compassion and empathy must be present in the process. How else could we see their boundaries, struggles, fears, responses, and be able to push them just a little bit beyond their present state? All too often, just as I get carried away in the "thrill of the moment", I find myself just giving my training partners empty work that presents no challenge, or gives them no opportunity for learning, and all because I am simply not paying attention to them.

There were many other drills that I will list here, not in particularly great detail or any particular order (if you want more drills, come train with us or someone else!), before I wrap this post up:

• Three people squat up and down, leaning on each other back to back, and number off: 1, 2, and 3. Gene calls out the number of a person, and the other two people turn around and begin to wrestle with the person whose number was called.
• The first person is on top in a mount position, or some rough equivalent (remember this is Systema, not BJJ), and takes a strike and the second person on the ground. The second person deflects the strike, does some sort of reverse in fluid succession (there should be no pause between the deflection and reversal--ideally it would be one movement), and then strikes at the person now on the ground, and so on. The emphasis in this drill is the focus breaking the structure in such a way that the reversal comes naturally. A second goal for both people is to alternate between these two roles as continuously as possible--continuous movement should be occurring for the duration of the drill.
  
• The first person applies a lock, choke, or some uncomfortable action to the second person on the ground. The person on the ground breaks the structure of the person on top, hopefully using the movement achieved by breaking the structure to reverse. A lock, choke, or some uncomfortable action is applied to the person now on the ground, from which they break the structure, reverse, and so on.
• The classic reverse-the-tackle-to-the-waist-or-legs drill was fun. An rolling-over-the-top type reverse does not have to happen. Often, and especially if the partner is very big, cumbersome, tense, or whatever they may be, the reverse can be done so that they fall to the side, and their momentum is used to follow up with the reverse (try propping them up with a knee or something as you both fall). This drill is good to practice escapes following the reverse. Again, continuity is key. There is no sequence of fall, pause, reverse, pause, escape, pause, disable attacker, pause. These actions are all blended in harmonious synchronicity with the breath, indistinguishable as separate events.
• Especially challenging, in some cases (I got a shoulder through the drywall), was creating a very small and confined space in the corner using people holding up pieces of the mat. Two people attempt to keep a third person shoved in the corner while they pummel him or her. The person who's getting pummeled should simply try to escape. I enjoyed watching the varied responses to being backed into a corner. Some became very panicked, in some cases because the two people pummeling happened to be very aggressive. Others stayed calm but moved quickly. Others moved slowly and inched their way out. My partners took it easy on me and moved slow (maybe because I started out moving slow, or maybe not--it's difficult to tell who effects who sometimes--they might have just felt sorry for me), so I was able to take my time, breathe, and actually got them tangled enough to knock them over before I got out.
• The stomping drills are always excellent for facilitating movement on the ground, especially if there are two or more people doing the stomping. Emphasis for this drill is just to keep moving and breathing, not worrying if a foot or two happens to collide with your face.

These three weeks were fantastic and I feel like I, and a lot of others, greatly benefited. Ground work has always been a challenge for me, as it can spark so many deep-seated and ineffective reactions. In a lot of ways, ground work for me is like taking strikes, especially ground work with very talented, fast, and strong people. I feel compelled to avoid it, even though it's ultimately beneficial for me as a person, let alone a martial artist. Many thanks to Gene for giving us this much time for all the work on the ground!!

Seminar with Vladimir Vasilev

I removed the placeholder for this event, but it's been so long that I've forgotten all about it! I had an absolutely wonderful time and am quite amazed that our little study group has, with Gene's well-timed commitment, developed into a school, and that we're having Vladimir Vasiliev come down here to give a seminar! Here's an itemized list of things I remember:

• Intense pushups! Hearing "spread your arms, down, up, spread them wider, down, up, wider, down, up, wider" was torturous.
• Watching Vladimir do a push up by simply using his breath (i.e. using his breath to affect his structure, rather than using his muscles) was amazing and incredible to witness.
• I enjoyed seeing so many of the people from the previous Dallas seminar.
• I was able to snag Edgars Tsakouls (from Fighthouse in NYC) as a training partner for some of the drills. He is remarkably keen and very quickly assessed where I was at in my training (without saying a word), and pushed me just a little bit further in the small amount of time he was my partner. I find that this quality of instructor is very rare.
• Vlad made some comment about how I've gotten better, and, bursting with so much pride, I fumbled out some nonsense about how cool it'd be like to experience myself back then, and then come back to the now. He just shook his head, said, "just enjoy it", and walked away. Insert foot A into mouth B! :)
  
• Vladimir's demos, as always, are like walking around the Louvre. One particularly memorable demo was where he struck someone in the abdomen, and they began to twist around a little bit, trying to dissapate the pain. Vlad starts to smile, then looks at us and says, "watch this". Vladimir starts to make a twisting movement with his hand at the person he struck, not actually touching the person. The person continues to twist in a particular movement. Vladimir keeps making this twisting movement with his hand, and the person keeps twisting. This goes on for nearly a minute, and by then we are all laughing--the person is starting to look a little bit confused as to why he keeps twisting in the same way. Vladimir's grasp and corresponding application of the pschological and physiological intertwine is ever-elegant and profound.
• Another person, who trains here in Austin, upon being struck by Vlad, would just start laughing histerically (which in turn caused us to start laughing at him, or with him, who knows). Vlad kept hitting him, and he kept laughing.

Fantastic seminar and really an absolute treat to have in our own backyard. Thanks to Gene and Fabian for setting it all up!

Knife Seminar with Vladimir Vasiliev

Interesting points from the knife seminar:

1. The type of knife will generally indicate the type of work the person holding it intends to do. Curved knifes are more likely used for slashing and cutting motions. Straight daggers are more likely used for stabbing motions. Claw shaped knives can be used for raking motions. Some are even made to make messy cuts or to exclusively for stabbing motions (spike bayonets)
   
2. Knives can be made to serve a wide array of functions in addition to stabbing and slashing.
3. Every part of the knife can be used to effectively control an attacker (blade, tip, flat of the blade, butt, hilt)
4. The fear of the knife itself can be used to control an attacker. Vladimir demonstrated a sweeping movement towards a person's abdomen, causing them to bend over to protect it, while he smoothly turned the knife upward into their downward moving neck.
   

Interesting training drills from the knife seminar:

1. Your knife is put in your waistband, sheath, pocket, etc. Your partner places their hands on your shoulders and closes their eyes. You attempt to draw your knife and touch or lightly stab your partner without them picking up on your intent and/or tension. If they do feel your intent and/or tension, they should push you away. The benefit of this drill is being able to draw and handle the knife in such away that it doesn't attract attention.
2. Use the tip of your knife to take your partner to the ground, then bring your partner back up to standing in the same manner. Also have your partner try to stand up on their own while you try to keep them on the ground.

The biggest observation I made about how Vladimir does his work is that he is very discreet, even while you are watching him. In some circumstances, I barely registered his blade making contact with my body (in the part of my brain that says "uhoh better move!"). His movement is very non-aggressive and unassuming. Some of the other drills we tried emphasized this point of making the work with the knife very casual--which can be difficult to do given the psychology of holding a knife. Very cool seminar and as always, very cool to see Vlad work.

Here's a video capturing some of the work we did (Gene even gets a little film time at the end):

Seminar with Yuri Talalaev

So it's been yet another great stretch of time between posting. Life has been busier, and I do believe it will stay that way for a good spell. As such, my postings here will probably only be for events or realizations of what I consider to be of moderate to extreme significance. There will most likely be another coming in December due to a trip up to Vlad's school, and yet another for Vladimir's seminar here in Austin in January.

Yuri came down for a third time. The second time he came I was in the middle of getting married. I am still practicing on explaining the circumstances in such a way where I don't exude any mild regrets about not attending the seminar (especially in front of the missus). The first time he came down, I claimed that I would write more about it. As you can see, I have not. So I will hurry up and start writing about this third time before something distracting happens.

Weeks before Yuri arrived, Gene told me that the topic for the seminar would be "breathing" and that Yuri said it would be "painful". This of course generated a lot of anticipation and mild dread of the upcoming seminar. When Yuri arrived, he explained that the work we would be doing would not be flashy or dramatic. And with that we spent the first few hours exploring tension/relaxation, push ups, squats, leg lifts, and other solo drills.

The Push Up

The push up was strongly emphasized throughout the five hours of the seminar--more specifically the act of getting into the push up position. The act of getting into that position, as Yuri explained it, is simple, and made of one movement. The simplicity of this act is in the automatic alignment of the body occurring through proper form. Proper form is another simple concept which could also be explained as natural form. The body is aligned as it should be, requiring minimal effort to maintain and allowing for the fullest potential for movement. When standing, for example, the spine is straight, the hips are slightly tucked so as to be placed beneath the spine, knees are slightly bent, and the shoulders are relaxed and aligned with the spine. From this position, standing is effortless, taking a step is effortless, falling is effortless, and so on. There is a deceptive complexity to the concept. Awareness, however, will creep in over time by doing the work required, and the concept will present itself naturally. With proper alignment, many tasks are made easier, if not effortless: push ups, squats, striking, shooting, sitting, and any other physical task. Proper form makes use of the whole body--not just the muscles--for whatever activity is taking place.

The simplicity of getting into the position for a push up, using proper form, is that the arms swing down in the right direction with gravity, and the wrists, elbows, and shoulders also align themselves via mere gravitational pull. The push ups are done using fists (instead of palms, or fingers for the sick and twisted) for a variety of reasons, and as such, a great deal about the fist is learned by merely getting into this position. The fist should not be clenched, but instead merely kept in place so that the fingers to not suffer any damage. There are several explanations on how this should be done, but the effect is that no unnecessary effort is spent in maintaining a fist. At first glance, this may appear to result in a loose wrist, at danger of being broken or sprained. However, if the wrist is aligned with the fist, the body will naturally provide the correct amount of tension to keep the wrist from bending during a push up. The best advice, as Yuri gave, is just to play with it. Open the fist while in the push up position, wiggle the fingers around, let one wrist bend under the pressure so that the back of the hand is flat on the floor (try to maintain the fist though), let both wrists bend if they are strong enough.

Lastly, getting into the push up position should be one movement, as opposed to a distinct sequence of squatting down, putting the arms out, placing the arms down, putting the feet out, and then lamenting at the participation in such a sadistic practice. The squatting, placing the arms, placing the feet, and lamentation should all be one blended movement. Finally, as evidence of properly putting one's self into the push up position, the body structure should feel natural and the knuckles should feel comfortable on the ground regardless of the type of surface (mat, hard wood, concrete, asphalt, etc.) Yuri also said to try to smooth the brain out and not the muscles. The neurons fire and the muscles respond. If the muscles aren't doing what they should be doing, then the neurons aren't firing just right (unless there is some illness or injury of course). So smooth out the brain.

Being Comfortable

Being comfortable was an overarching topic that applied to the push up as well as all of the other work we did. Being comfortable is contagious--if a person feels comfortable with themselves, those who are around them will feel more comfortable. This applies to any setting where two or more humans are interacting, physical or non-physical (which begs the question: when is anything purely physical?) Striking should be done in this way for the benefit of both the person being struck and the person doing the striking. There is a great deal of context here. When a training partner is being struck, the person striking them should take great care to help them with their training at whatever level that may be. When an attacker who is seeking to cause harm is being struck, the person striking them should take great care to help them stop whatever it is that is causing harm.

Yuri talked a little bit about Mikhail's strikes. He said the most affecting ones don't even hurt, they just switch off your lights, and you're staring at the floor all of a sudden. The intent behind a strike can be whatever is appropriate at any given time: to destroy someone, stop them, cause pain, remove pain, encourage, strengthen, evoke emotions, etc. At higher levels if work, this becomes more apparent--that everyone hold certain things in their body via their psyche, and strikes can have a very real and obvious effect on them. There isn't anything magical about hitting someone and them becoming angry just like there isn't anything magical about hitting someone and them feeling like a stronger and more confident person (or happier, etc.) A few times throughout the seminar, when Yuri was watching me strike, he mentioned to, "stop trying to hurt them". Yuri could see the intent behind my strike that I was unaware of. For myself personally, my strikes can contain an amount of unintended aggression. There may be a lot of reasons for it (fear, misunderstanding of what striking is about, etc.), but the proof can often be seen in how the person being struck reacts. If I suddenly start observing that everyone I'm striking is becoming angry, is it because these people are just crazy or because I'm striking in a particular fashion? That example is relatively clean cut. Being introspective and sensitive to ones' partners while doing the work is probably the best way to go, in addition to having good instructors who can see the full picture from a removed perspective. "Poznai Sebia", or, "Know Thyself", is a phrase often heard in the same breath with "Systema".

Overall

Overall, I felt like the seminar was profoundly simple. I think I felt this way because Yuri repeated often, "this is very simple". Striking is simple. I've heard Vladimir say, "just hit him, it is so simple", accompanied by an "oof" sound and some quick burst breathing by the receiver of Vladimir's strike. It really is simple. I can't describe the simplicity because the words will here complicate it. I don't mean to sound mysterious. I've just trained, and not extensively by any means, and kept on practicing the fundamentals, and I am starting to see in some small way that a strike is just a strike. You just do it and that's it. Everything else is an unnecessary complication. If the necessary work and sweat is done and the instructor is good, greater conscientiousness is followed by greater abilities. Honestly these last few sentences about simplicity don't even connect with me that much, I know the semantics but the depth eludes me. I think too much and am naturally evasive when it comes to matters of personal depth. Below the surface there is a lot to face that is not comfortable. There is hard work to be done there, and I am ever so slow about getting up off of my couch. So far the water's fine though, I think I have my toenails halfway in!

"For now we see through a glass, darkly." - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Seminar with Vladimir Vasiliev

A few months ago, we had a seminar with Vladimir Vasiliev in Dallas, TX. I haven't written much in a while due to a full time job, getting married, and attempting to finish school. But here's the link to the pictures that were taken:

http://picasaweb.google.com/gaussiran/DallasSystemaSeminar2008

Seminar with Yuri Talalaev

This past Saturday we had a six hour seminar with Yuri Talalaev. I will write some more in this entry soon.