Sharon Friedman – Vigilance and Tranquility

Try this, lie on your stomach and hold your heels with your hands. Now crawl forward and backwards and than try to roll right and left. If you feel comfortable have a friend roll you forward and backwards. This is just one way to let yourself know where you are tense at the moment. The thing is we are not fixed with our performance. We all have good and bad days. Some time you have a mgor event that takes away your attention and systema helps you raise your bar but still we move up and down. If you don’t have a fixed image of your performance and act by it than you will be more free to see things as they are and not how you wish them to be. Start moving with a partner and have each other stare into the eyes for a while and see how this affects the work and you both. Even if you like the guy you may still feel outside of your comfort zone and it is good to become aware of this. Try to match breath in a group. All inhale and exhale together as you move in union. Do push ups, walk a line and so on. This works on the senses and sensitivity and also makes you aware to how people move and their timing and distance. even walking toward each other matching speed can teach you a lot. Try to work with a frown and than with a smile. See how you react and decide in different states and how you manage for example strikes and shoves as you are in different states. See if you can manufacture a state at will and there is a lot of freedom there. It can really surprise an attacker if you respond with something out of the state of fear or aggression and that point where his emotions fall with no responce gives you a space to do some good proffesional work. Do the work don”t be the work. Remember there are people and so are you. Last one for now. Try having a few people lie on top of you and wiggle out of it using only your breath. It can take a while so don’t be gready with your movement and be sensitive to the responces. Each one has a different take on what is scary and what isn’t so it is good to share and change so you lean more and understand the mind of the person with you