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):