Month: January 2009

Take a strip of sand or another type of soft earth and walk over it. Look back and trace your steps minding the gap between strides, the depth of the heel and toe and the drag if any of the earth in the direction of the walk. Next cover your path with leaves or soft branches and walk again over it. Squat and follow with a knife or a thin branch to follow your tracks as you are projecting from what you have seen before and following to disturb the cover as least as possible. Follow this by removing all signs of your track in any way you can so that another person will not know you were there. Think that when you follow someone you can be followed as well and the more you stay in one place the deeper and harder to undo the track is.
Take a knife that is not too sharp and a partner. Have the partner press the tip or line of the blade to your body including the head and work on pushing it away from your body with tension and movement using just the point you are touched with. This is of course not how you will do it to survive but a drill to feel the outcome and sensory input from fright and tension. Begin using the full power and tension in the body and once you and your partner (or you can do this solo by pressing the knife to you or fixing the knife in a jam and using that) have a go at this lower the tension to half and than to no tension. You need to recognize the tension before you can control it.

Do this drill for the static push up starting point, standing and off the wall or ground and note how your body creates different points of support in these different tension and alignment conditions when you refer to support points and Mrs gravity 🙂

Take a partner and a knife and an uncomfortable situation. For example start working from a sitting position when he is standing, Start walking with your back to him, Start with one eye closed, start holding the knife in a hold you dislike, start with your hands in your pockets, Start after half a minute of holding your breath (a very important one), Start with your hands behind your neck or back, Start with him having his hands already on you, Start with one shoe on and one off, Start with your backpack on, Start with a package in your hands.

All of these examples are here to illustrate that we learn to clean out tension and build our intuition rather than a set technique. We are not trained animals. We are free. All you have to do is to realize this.

All the examples are on how you start. Your job is to end it as peacefully as possible with you and your loved ones in one piece. How you get there is less important. Avoid focusing on the way and have the end in mind. That way you will find a way without the limitations of a hard plan.

Stand or sit with a knife in your hand and have your partner move around you and near you with the goal of coming in close so he can control you without being hit with the knife. You let him move as close as he can and only strike him when you feel aggression from him or when you recognize an attack. This is a good drill to learn to recognize the aggression in the early stages and take care of it and to also learn not to place yourself in the path of the blade so if you are with no other option you will still be able to survive against an armed assault. This can also be a crowd drill with all walking and one has the knife hidden and only takes it out when he or she has to and remember that in life we will move so don’t defend the spot you are on, move so you can keep moving and do the least amount of harm to get the job done. Start from a standing or sitting position to learn to move yourself as little as you can and learn small movement with the knife and on the approach and later in moving it will pay off in efficient movement and in keeping free to move.
Take a number between one and ten and add one hundred to it. Now take as many steps as you  decided to and with every step both change your direction with your body and add a hand strike to it using the leg you stepped with. Note to keep your eyes with the direction of your body and to always keep your legs under your hips. Avoid falling onto the stepping leg by moving from the body first and letting the legs simply keep you off the ground. This is a good drill to prepare yourself for mass work and to always remember to work calm and with yourself in mind.
Have a few partners together and do any of the basic drills (push up, sit up, leg raise, squat) very slowly (60-120 count) as you move start saying the numbers one at a time and every seven divider you say something else instead of it (it can be boom, go and so on) As long as everyone is aware and relaxed you continue but if one misses a divider such as saying you start from the start again. Have fun and keep all your faculties aware when you work.

Talking involves breathing which you already know but can you direct your breathing as you are talking. Start by talking or praying or counting on your back as your partner walks with his fist on your body and follow this with your back off the ground. Continue by doing this while standing and having a partner or more push you and follow this by hitting and both of you hitting. Note if your voice changes and where do you generate it from. A good measure to do this is to work on speaking (praying has an added value and if you don’t pray simply use a positive affirmation such as the world is a nice inviting place and this will clear you to see more of what is already near you) without stop. This forces you to speak on the inhale as well and you will gain awareness and thus relaxation and control out of this practice.

Use the axioms of Vigilance & tranquility

Sharon
Systema Israel.

A good drill to teach yourself to be aware of your feet and the spread of your mass is to lean forward from the hips while the feet are flat on the ground and your behind stays in place and avoids leaning back to balance out the body. Using a wall or a post to let you know you are doing things right and not touching it with your behind start to lean forward with breathing as fast as you need to and use the ankles, knees and mostly the feet to create the right amount of support through tension in the right places. Feel out your feet first and tense and relax them in parts. Don’t be surprised if you feel areas of your legs activating first in alarm as you move this way and Learn to calm down and find a way. You can always smile and breath.

Another way to calm yourself down is to count out loud or speak out a prayer you enjoy.

There are many kids games where you work to read your partner and avoid being read yourself. Fore example you have the game where you place your hands on the palms of your partner and he has to try and slap the back of your hands without you puling them back. You can adapt this great drill yourself and include your pistol and knife in the mix.
For example you can sit back to back and check how to move without triggering your partner as you draw. You can walk hand in hand (or push each other or wrestler) and check how you can control your partner so he is unable to draw without you redirecting him and one of the best drills can be looking at a partner’s reflection in the mirror or his shade and reading that to survive. Avoid limiting your actions and senses by looking for big signs. Everything starts at the breath.

Take a knife and place it on yourself in a way that suits your carry purposes. For example if you are a tour guide to the forest you will hang it in a dangling loop on your belt and if you are a lawyer you will place a small Swiss army knife in your back pocket. Now have a partner stand at a comfortable distance from you (you decide for yourself what is comfortable) and at his will start walking toward you. You move and take the blade out and ready it for use if need be and mind how close your partner got to you while you practice this. Do this several times from all directions and while standing, sitting, leaning and note the differences in the work and what you can do to get the job done without getting hurt yourself.
Next do the same thing as your partner runs toward you and follow this with work in uncomfortable distances and locations as walking side by side and sitting alongside each other. A knife is just a tool. You decide how to use it and it is a very small shelter even when used well.