Month: June 2006

To really learn sensitivity you have to let go of your ego. The same way you don’t learn to play the violin in a thunder storm. It’s too loud. Now have a partner or more move you as you keep only form for a long while. Do this while standing and on the floor. In a staircase and with closed eyes. The reason for the long duration is you should experience the whole range of movement in all theatres and to the finish so you will not be coping with imaginary choices in the world. The outside matters less on your actions than what is on the inside and if you learn to use whatever emotion or feeling is there than you will be free when you are attacked by surprise and you will, from that freedom, act to reach the logical conclution and avoid framing yourself as victim or a regular joe. There are many tales of heros and rouges. They were born screaming babies just like you. They will die one day, just like all of us. Now roll a few times and try to land exactly where you wanted. Try rolling between door frames. Various widths of doors. over a hill or whatever is there and best, know the rythem or you rolling along a walking person and so on. Even walking backwards close to a walking person can be difficult. try it and add to this. Smart attacks will come when one is favored to win without loss. Your back when carrying a child is a good target. A lone mother with child is a good target. A drunk girl exiting a club at night looking for a ride home is a good target. There is no evil in knowing what can happen. Think through it with the eyes of a proffesional and act. That is all.

To find your natural breathing rythem naturally try this. using any action you choose: For example walking start with a short one in and one out and grow to any number you are comfortable with maybe 41 maybe 5. Now alternate randomly the cycles and proceed for a while till you can pass the function to automatic the same way aiming becomes natural the moment you realize how to let it happen and the cycle that imerges is the natural one for that moment. Remember that there are many variables that effect this. How much you have in your stomach, how sleep have you gotten, how much KG in your hands and on your back. act to prevent lost energy and doing so you will save energy that may be needed later and  think. always think. Sometimes the joy or sadness of a moment can render us slaves to our emotions and you are not whole that way. you breath and your awareness to it will give you better understanding of yourself and you will know when you are up or down before the brick hits. We work to lessen the gap between the recognition and action but be aware that there is one. 

Sometimes we rely on a frame or group for our education. Group meetings have added social nature and so evoke need among us. you should learn to take each moment and make more of it. A walk is a time to think and breath. move naturally and aligned and be a good part of society. Taking dishes out of the rack is a chance to free the hips as you squat and move efficietly as you place the dishes in the best order you can. Same goes for eating, fighting and any other choice we make. And don’t forget to smile. When the face relaxed the whole body does too. That way you have less self to master. 

An important principle in systema is do no harm and keep that in mind for this next tactic. Approach from the wrong angle. Consider a stab from the side and move towards it as you conceal your knife withing the body movement and than slide the knife on the body frame to the people you are working with and repeat. Consider your movement and how you use your feet and the angle between you and everyone’s body position. Now do the same empty handed for a kick and so on. Withing your rythem distupt his (or her) and keep your balance so you do not depend on someone else’s movement to time your own. If you do than you are not free. Still with a knife encounter attacks and respond with two seperate hand movements and be aware of your body position. Even bringing your feet together will change the space between you and others and it will disrupt their rythem. Now close your eyes and do the same while you listen and try to learn from first contact, however initiated how the others have placed themselves. 

Here’s a silly trick. Hold onto your foot with the opposite side hand and roll on the shoulder of that hand holding onto the leg. Nice eh ? Try simply to place the foot on the floor and than rolling at start and later as you give your battle cry and holding something with the other hand.

To learn to be relaxed and solid yet free with your hits, try to walk on your fists and feet with belly up. It will both give you endurance and free your shoulders and neck if you pay them attention and will teach you to hit well since you need to do this quietly. No hammering of fists into the floor. Just place them jently with the mass and move on. Don’t try to keep the way your fingers are and relax the hand while it’s closed. Oh and don’t do it on the heels. Relax the foot too.

Stand in front of a mirror and station your head in relation to the space you have, so and so from this point and so on. Now change your perspective to your head in relation to your body as you move the body but keep the head imobile. Switch from one perspective to the next while you move and breath and repeat for other body parts. Now stand still and shake each part in turn and keep the motion only to the part you are shaking. If you are holding a knife level to punch between the ribs and shake the elbow than the knife will not show it. keep the forearm and hand dense as you shake your hips and consider how this prepares you to mass work and taking out the hits. 

* reverse vector is a term taken from navigation. It means the opposite direction or going back on your tracks. Ig you are rolling forward than point your fingers to where you are going. They don’t have to be rigid unless you find it useful for your movement or they can point to where you are coming from as a fixing point to draw attention, as a draw point or to create a form fit for the roll. Consider this. Take a gun or a knife and point it in one direction and move it forward and backwards. Now point a finger at a point and check your accuracy. Sounds strange does it not ? You know how to aim with you finger naturally. Use it as you aim a point or a gun and leave the tension behind you. As you close you hand the fist becomes the end of the limb and takes that place. Think about this.

Now if you wish to make contact with the floor with a hand before you engage the body which makes sense if you are working in the dark or have no clear line of sight as in entering with a roll. If you place the palm on the floor than the end of you points in a direction that is almost perpendicular to where you wish to go. It can harm your badly and create an impact that is on the spot as you collide with the floor in the meeting of these vectors ( draw a line for each direction and see where they meet. They do so in the ground deep and that is not where you want to go… ) When you place the back of the hand on the floor it has no placing since it is not a gripping tool and you may slide and hurt your self. Consider rolling slowly from kneeling at first and using the back of the hand if you must only as a point of reference so you know where the floor is and put no mass on it. Better yet, Try rolling from a prone position (shooting term meaning on your belly flat) Start from bringing your legs over one shoulder and keeping relaxed while also rotating the shoulder. That way you experience rolling with the core breath rather than hinging yourself on the limb. Same goes for the front roll as you rotate the shoulder and bring your body over it.

There is one girl in my ballet class that has natural flexibility that is amazing. She can do the splits in the air and a bridge without effort. She is also pretty and a great person but that is not the point right now 🙂 Consider this if you are rolling and finding that you are hitting the ground or jumping into it too often, slow down and check these things. Not all of us have that gift and we have to work harder on certain fields: Are your hands palms and fingers directed toward your destination ? If not where do they point and and at what angle to your destination. Experiment with reverse vector and see how this changes the roll. Now move to the feet. Do they point in the direction you are going ? It’s natural to walk or go where your feet are headed (hmmm head-ed ! think about it) Take care and advantage of this. Now put your hands on your hips and do the sailor walk. Now prepare to roll and see if you are stiff in the hips and forcing some other part of you to tense in that chain of movement ?  The reverse vector also works if you are working pistols knives and rifles. The reverse vector lets you do work while in transition but be careful not to harm yourself in trying to do work. Many become fixated on grabing a hand or drawing a pisto quickly. The objective is not the work but the outcome. Consider a man with a handgun in his waistband who simply rotates the gun while held in the pants and firing through it. Limitations are not just but mostly of the mind

If you are naturaly flexible than your joints are more prone to injury due to the extra range of motion and lack of power throughout that range. that is why it can hurt such people to run and do power work like lifting iron… Think about it and be healthy. 

To relax and learn to move freely try this. Lie down and sink each body part as you inhale or exhale into the ground. Move the neck free from the head. The forearm free from the hand or shoulder and so on. This in itself has a good effect on you but try this too in class. Have a partner or more step into you or on you and let the body with as little guidence from you find a solution to the question they are asking. Later  do this faster and change roles. Remember that even when you give a massage you learn to bring life into a spot (for example) and this can show you how to do the opposite if needed. In everything you do there is something to be learned. Try to type this patagraph with the tip of the blade and than with another part. Do it alternating hands and maybe with the knife held by a foot and so on.

the sailor walk: This is something taken from life you can do to learn how to move. Simply start walking in all directions and let the hips and legs move in all directions as if the ground is moving beneath a small ship in a storm. The torso should not be effected and stay upright but not tense. To add to this, hold a sword or something long over your head or balance a book on the top of your head. (if you can do this on the side of your head call me) 

Try this. Relax the diagfram down and let the air come in. Let it rest inside and when you feel the time is right relax it again in the other direction. This is the least amount of effort and a very relaxing way to breath. Expand this to the rest of the body in slow movements and see how you can move better when you stop getting in your way.