the seven principles of systema breathing

THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF SYSTEMA BREATHING

by Emmanuel Manolakakis

1. Pathway:

Inhale through nose; exhale through mouth.

2. Leading:

Let breath slightly lead physical action in time.

3. Sufficiency:

Take as much breath as you need at the moment, for the action, not more not less.

4. Continuity:

Keep breathing, without interruption or holding, no matter what you are doing unless doing a special breath-hold training)

5. Pendulum:

Let every breath cycle complete itself and reverse naturally, as a pendulum swings and reverses naturally without interference. Allow, and experience, the reversal pause at the end of each cycle.

6. Independence:

No specific type of action is invariantly tied to any particular phase of breath cycle (i.e. you should be able to punch or roll as well on inhale as exhale).

7. No tension:

Keep your muscles and your body overall relaxed.

DID YOU KNOW...

The muscles that move your eyeball are connected to those at the back of your neck.

Bow your head down and then look up so that you are seeing what is in front of you. Feel that stretch? That is the feeling that comes when you strain the muscles connecting your eyes to your neck. Strange feeling, huh?

Each piece of your body is intricately connected to other pieces in subtle, often unexpected ways. In order to be an effective martial artist, one capable of easily manipulating the bodies of

others, it is necessary to understand those internal connections. In order to do this you must first understand such connections in your own body.

What muscles are activated when you do a simple squat? What wider effect does this tension have on your body? On your mind? Ask yourself question like these when you train. Then, if you're up to it, ask yourself about the tension that result from getting up from your desk or out of your vehicle. What muscles are you using regularly? Do you need all of them? How can you find relaxation in daily life?

Consider Your Partner


In a society that rewards looking after yourself, before anyone else, the thought of considering the other person first is difficult. This is where the true mastery of the 'System' lies. Being connected to people in a positive and powerful way, gives your life purpose and meaning. The next time, you're training at the gym with your partner, help show them their weaknesses.

A lot of what makes the Russian Martial Arts so unique is the creative opportunity that is afforded to us during class time. Use it wisely. This is where your purpose comes in. Ask yourself - what are you trying to accomplish from the training?

For example: if your training partner is tense in the hips or shoulders - try touching, pushing, or pulling that area. You need not say a word about what you are doing; your partner will by his own awareness see the flaw. Be patient, your partner may not catch on quickly, but by letting them discover the weakness on their own, it will mean much more. A premium has always been put on self discovery as the essence of true learning.

How many times have you trained and really only satisfied your ego. This is the most fruitless thing you can do. By considering your partner, you immediately become more aware of everything you do as well. This means your learning!! Your partner will also feel that your intention is not a competitive one and will start to look at the things they are doing more closely. That means that their learning!!! The atmosphere that is created as a result becomes a more positive one.

In the true spirit of the up and coming holidays - consider your self the 'architect' of your own greatness. Build something wonderful, but stay connect by helping others as well for it will give you much more than you can ever imagine.

DID YOU KNOW...

Under certain conditions an animal will give up and let itself be assaulted, even killed?

In normal, everyday life there are many shades of behaviour and emotion, but in conflict there are four that count: dominance, submission, aggression, and fear. The aim of an assault is to instill the emotion of fear and the behaviour of submission. This is often accomplished through a display of aggression and dominance such as grabbing a person's collar. The jarring action is meant to stun you and also keep you in range for a close, brutal attack.

During these encounters, you need to take action. Preferably, you need to take dominant action in an aggressive manner. Give someone who grabs you a jolt and let them know that they cannot

take away your will to fight. Keep your posture, remain calm, start to move, and deliver a quick strike to their stomach or a kick to their shin. If necessary, be prepared to follow up in a decisive manner without holding back. Actions like this will both create distance, giving you more time, and let your attacker know that you are serious too. You will not lie down to die.

LAUGH AT YOURSELF


We've all been there before - a bad day where nothing is working properly, or going the way it should. Frustrated, irritated and maybe even embarrassed, we start to 'punish' our training partner. It seems the most convenient thing to do at the time.

In the worst scenario, prolonged frustration, irritation and embarrassment can lead to hostility and anger. And we all know that hostility and anger are usually petty or unjustified. In most situations, people are oblivious to their hostility. Like dominos it is transferred from one person to the next.

I have seen this more times than I care and would like to help people who find themselves in these types of situations. Let's begin with a psychological explanation for this behavior - it's quite simply juvenile. Think of a child who takes a tantrum in order to get attention or something they want. The solution is to grow up, something very hard for adults to do.

There are many strategies to overcome this, here's the one that has worked for me. If you find yourself in a compromising position, try making fun of your own sense of self-importance. Aggression and anger are part of life and we cannot change that, but we can become friends with it. Try instead to make your faults the object of your humor. Anger and humor cannot exist in the same mind at the same time!

"You grow up the day you have the first real laugh - at yourself"Ethel Barrymore

DID YOU KNOW...

People who feel that they are entitled to benefits and rewards have been shown to find hard work more tedious than someone else more humble.

But you'll never do the many small, difficult, and demanding things that lead to mastery if you feel that those exercises are beneath you. Feelings of entitlement will only keep you from attaining your reward.

So try to remain humble during your training. When a simple exercise, such as a push up, is put before you, don't assume that you have nothing to learn from it. Instead, do it as best you can, with control and grace. Often students wish to avoid simple drills in favour of something flashier. It puts me in mind of a short fable.

The young student approaches the Master: "Master, I will learn your art twice as fast as everyone else." The Master replies: "Then I shall have to teach you for twice as long."

STICK TO IT!


The stick is one of the all-time great training tools available. Its genius is in its simplicity, like all good things! Below, I have outlined some basic stick drills that I often use to help me through those training plateaus.

Just remember, the stick is a tool/weapon that does not lie, what ever it did is because you gave it the direction.

Warm-up with a stick:

Begin by hold the stick in one or two hands and rub it all over your body. Rub hard enough to feel some friction but not enough to cause pain.

Once again hold the stick in one or two hands and this time tap the body lightly. Tap lightly enough to feel contact but not enough to cause sharp pain.

* These are two great ways to warm-up the body and increase sensitivity!

Rolls with a stick:

Put a stick through your t-shirt from arm to arm - resembling a scarecrow. Now start to roll slowly.

Put a stick down you pant leg. Start to roll. Once again I recommend going slowly.

Lay a stick on the ground and slowly roll across it (backwards and forwards).

* These are three great ways to develop rolls on uneven surfaces.

Training alone:

Hold the stick in the hand and begin to swing it around the body. .

Hold the stick in the crux of your elbow and begin to swing it around your body. Use only your elbows to handle the stick and not your hands.

Hold the stick in your hands and begin to use your legs to swing the stick around.

* There is no right or wrong way, just don't let the stick stop or hit you. Let the body become light and follow the movements of the stick.

Training with a partner:

Have one person swing the stick, while the other moves from the line without contact. Increase the speed as your partners' confidence grows.

Again with one person swinging the stick, the other takes the strike on the body as softly as possible. You can still move but the idea is to study absorbing strikes. Focus on letting the stick hit tissue not bones and increasing the surface area that comes into contact with the stick to dissipate some of its force.

Each person should now have a stick. One person swings the stick towards the other. The second person should use his stick to redirect the oncoming stick. You can use large or small movements to redirect.

Strike each other with a stick. Hit fleshy areas like the chest, stomach, thighs, butt or hamstrings, avoid bones. This is not body forging and should not be done everyday. Take the pain of the strike away with your breath.

* In the above exercises, the body should be light and follow through each movement. Don't hold them onto yourself.

Remember to always be alert as the stick can change directions suddenly and quickly. The whole body can act as a fulcrum or just parts of it. Look for leverage points to create momentum both for taking and using the stick.

DID YOU KNOW...

A popular saying during the Renaissance was 'festina lente' or 'make haste, slowly.'

Some people learn things quickly. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most important one is that some people know how to learn. One way to learn is to take things slowly, one step at a time. Speed is good, but only if you can use it to get somewhere. The sixteenth-century Grand Duke of Tuscany, who did not know a thing about being a duke prior to taking the position, used a tortoise with a sail on its back as his emblem.

Festina lente was its motto. Before long, the Grand Duke was an efficient ruler. This was because he believed in doing things right, step-by-step until reaching his goal.

When training, try to keep that image of the tortoise in mind. You don't need to get 'good' at martial arts in a hurry. This attitude will only get in your way. Try taking every training exercise, no matter your level of ability, as a job put before you, one that you want to do well. Some exercises might go good for you, some bad. But so long as you do the work, day-by-day, regularly, you will improve.

FIVE MONKEYS


Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all the monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasum! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a forth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have been sprayed with the cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's been always been done around here.

And that, my friends, is how and where problems begin in a society, a company, and in life.

SHOULDERS TO CONSIDER


'You've got the weight of the world on your shoulders'

This simple phrase says it all - our shoulders tell us a lot about ourselves. In many cases, where the shoulders go, you go! Just watch people going to work and those on vacation. Shoulders tell it all!

I have compiled a few of my favorites stretches, exercises and drills for 'activating' or 'awakening' this very intricate part of human anatomy.

Stretches:

• Stand and roll your shoulders in every possible direction.

• Stand and rotate your body left and right from the spine. Let your arms swing freely around your body. Stay relaxed and focused on rotating the body from the spine.

• One at a time, spin your arms around like propellers at your sides. Stay relaxed and generate power from the body not the arm. This will help get the blood flowing to your arms.

• Outstretch your arms. Have two people grab your arms and begin to twist and rotate them. This is a stretch, so go slowly! Remember to relax and breathe.

• Towel wish - Hold your arms out to your sides and parallel to with your shoulders. Twist your arms so that they are rotating in separate directions. This can be done with and without tension through the arms.

Exercises:

• Push-ups - roll your shoulders forward and down. Roll shoulders back and up to starting position. Think of it as a set of small circles with the shoulders going up and down.

• Wheel barrel push-ups - Start in a push-up position, take one arm and rotate it behind to the floor (your chest should now face upwards to the ceiling). Take your other arm around so your chest is now facing the ground again. Continue to repeat.

• Roll-a-Squat - Start in a squat position. Have your partner place his/her hands on your shoulders and push you down slowly. As you ascend, roll your shoulders. It should feel and look like you're going down from the shoulders and not your legs. Once you reach the bottom rise in the same fashion by rolling your shoulders. The main key here is not to power your way up or down with your legs. Focus on the shoulders.

• Positional Tension - Can be done with a partner or using a wall. Stand straight and extend arms forward, do not bend elbows. Have your partner push down on your hands slowly (hold 10 seconds). Next push up on your hands, then from outside to inside, and finally inside to outside. Each time hold the arms straight and resist the directional force.

Drills:

• Push your partner around the room with your shoulders. Try and use as many possible directions. Focus on creativity more than power.

• Have your partner place both his/her hands on your shoulders. Lift one shoulder to your ear. Bend your head under your partners raised shoulder and travel under their arm. Once on the outside, lift your head up and rotate your chest back towards your partner. The hands should pop off with the rotation.

• Crawl along the ground from your back and then your front using just your shoulders, try not to use your legs.

• Place your hands behind your back as if you were handcuffed. Have your partner start to grab you around the head, and try to escape using just your shoulders. Same can be done with kicks, punches and a knife - just begin slowly and progress as your confidence grows.

DID YOU KNOW...

You stand on one foot for roughly half of any given day.

In any given step there is necessarily a transition from one foot to another. During this transition only one of your feet is ever on the ground. This means that during everyday life the structure of our bodies are profoundly unbalanced. It does not take much to trip us up.

This simple truth ought to remind us of both our own weakness and that of others. It also ought to reveal to us how little it takes to disable an opponent. Once their balance has shifted even slightly from one foot to another it does not take much to put them on the ground.

YOUTH AND SYSTEMA


This is a topic that has generated significant attention and questions of late, so I thought I would share with everyone my thoughts and experiences.

I've been teaching youth (ages 8 to 15) at my school for over a year now. Repeated requests from enthusiastic parents convinced me to venture down this path. I will admit initially the thought of teaching such a deadly art worried me.

What to show youth?

Everything - just take the edge off it a little. I try to cover all the topics that we do in the adult class. I have found that the youth really enjoy the variety from class to class. In the very beginning, I tried to avoid topics like strikes, multiple attackers or knife work, but I found it difficult, it was like I was lying to my students. I was assuming that they were not ready to understand. The reality is youth are born ready to understand. In the first year of my youth program

I have taught most of the fundamentals of Systema including multiple attackers, knife, chain, gun, chair and stick work. Their understanding is phenomenal!

Here are some key points that have helped me and my youth program.

• Explain, explain, explain!Youth are naturally curious and can really absorb information, so spend time talking about why your doing things the way your doing them. Be patient - they are listening, it just doesn't look like it!

• Keep them focused!Help them focus on breathing, running, rolls, push-ups, squats, leg and body raises to get rid of the excess energy they seem to have so much of. If you see someone being careless explain it to them. If all else fails - more push-ups!

• Have Fun!This is where your creativity as a teacher must come out. Find ways to make a game out of the principle you are teaching that day. There are countless ways of doing this and many books written about youth games. Just make sure you communicate the idea of fun and learning, not silliness.

Sometime ago, I asked Mikhail Ryabko, "Can you explain how to best teach Systema to youth?" and "What should we teach and not teach?". He replied, "youth need to see you as a

friend first, if they see you as a friend they will trust you and do whatever you ask of them, if they do not trust you, no matter what you show they will not follow".

It occurred to me then that maybe some of the frustration we have with youth is related to the dominate approach we take.

DID YOU KNOW...

It takes less than 1/1000 sec. for neural signals to travel from the retina to the brain.

And yet even this rapid pace is too slow during an attack. By the time that the signal from the eye has transferred to your brain and from your brain to the other relevant parts of your body, 3/1000 sec. or more have passed. And then you need to consider how long it takes for the body to move from point A to point B. It all adds up to lost reaction time.

The point is that you will always be lagging behind your attacker. Unless you do something to change this or learn how to operate without deliberation, it is the attacker who controls the action in a fight.

Traditional martial arts train to overcome this reaction lag through rote memorization of drills. They develop and select for use a series of effective techniques and practice them until they become second nature. This undoubtedly has its benefits in a controlled environment governed by agreed upon rules.

But what about outside of those controlled environments? Systema attempts to access and harness instinctual survival reactions, letting the body do what it needs to do in order to survive. The idea is to trust the complex wisdom that has accumulated in the body over the course of human evolution to select the correct action to take. Ideally, this cuts reaction time to the barest minimum possible.

CHECK YOUR GAUGES


Our bodies are equipped with countless hidden gauges, providing us with critical information on our well being. All too often we ignore them. Imagine a race car driver ignoring his speedometer and tachometer - instruments vital to the success and safe operation of his vehicle. Ignoring them would not fare well for the driver and vehicle.

I often see people ignoring they’re bodies speedometer and tachometer while training. This results in sloppy and careless work, while also leaving them out of breath.

Watch the hands and feet of those that have mastered this system - they are in complete control of their speed, power and breathing. There are many simple things you can do to start to build this awareness and understanding for yourself.

DID YOU KNOW...

The strongest single muscle in the human body is the jaw muscle.

This may seem strange at first. What about the calf? Or the bicep? Or the heart? The jaw muscle doesn’t seem so strong in comparison to those, does it? Indeed, the strength of the jaw is not very great. However, it is one of the few muscles that can operate strictly on its own. Every other muscle in the human body acquires its strength from surrounding muscles. They all work in conjunction to produce their effects.

When strength training it is important to keep this fact in mind. Strength training ought to be total body training. This is one of the many reasons that Systema employs body resistance exercises in its regimen. Something as simple as a push up engages not only the arms but the back, stomach, and legs.

Similarly, a squat does more than just work your legs. It improves your balance, strengthening a whole series of muscle groups, teaching them to work in tandem with one another.

How to begin...

1. Sit or lie quietly with your eyes closed.

2. Inhale through your nose and make your body completely (100%) tense for 10 seconds. Exhale through your mouth and make you body completely (100%) relaxed for 10 seconds.

3. Inhale through your nose and make your body (50%) tense for 10 seconds. Exhale through your mouth and make you body (50%) relaxed for 10 seconds.

4. Inhale through your nose and make your body (25%) tense for 10 seconds. Exhale through your mouth and make you body (25%) relaxed for 10 seconds.

5. Repeat with push-ups, squats, leg / body raises.

* Similar things can be done with speed and breathing, just remember to stay focused on what you are developing. It becomes easy to cheat so have a friend watch you or videotape yourself.

When you’re ready, apply this during training.

1. As your partner grabs, punches, kicks or stabs – Use a 100% of your effort to put them down. Be careful.

2. As your partner grabs, punches, kicks or stabs – Use 50% of your effort to put them down.

3. As your partner grabs, punches, kicks or stabs – Use 25% of your effort to put them down.

* Feedback is critical, so talk to your partners. Ask them if they felt any difference in the work? Look at the difference in your partners reactions? Look at the difference in you reacted?

What I find useful with this work:

1. It allows me to explore one of the key principles in Systema; ‘Using the least amount of effort to control a situation’. By working with minimal effort it allows me to limit the disturbance and irritation to my own and partners psyche.

2. Gives me the option of hiding my abilities; something that you might find necessary in certain situations.

3. It allows me to focus on what needs to be done rather than what I want to do.

THE DISTANCE


Distance changes the way you work.

In most martial artists, you study self defense from a set distance - about an arms length away. Techniques and drills usually stay within this agreed upon space. The reality is aggression comes from many distances, both far and near.

Scenario 1

Someone is 30 feet away walking towards me. I feel uncomfortable and start to sense the aggression. Do I need to see the fist? Or has my training allowed me to develop tactics from 30 feet away?

Scenario 2

I greet someone with a hand shake and feel my fingers squeezed past the point of firm, bordering on pain. Do I now need to push away and set myself before I can respond? What do I do if my fingers are broken? Or has my training allowed me to develop tactics for fighting with injuries?

Both these examples are not that uncommon. What is uncommon is the amount of time spent on these two polar extremes. While you're training make sure to spend time varying your distance. Here are some things to consider:

Far distance (Not close enough to touch):

• Observation skills - The walk, run, look, breathing and tension• Reading the situation - Intuition, fear in yourself and aggressor• Scream and shouting Skills• Throwing skills - Chair, bottle, knife…anything

Close distance (Close enough to touch):

• The use of movement to defend against any aggression• The use of breathing to reduce or increase tension• The ability to use entire body as a weapon

Physical Contact:

• The ability to take various strikes onto the body• Dissipate or isolate tension from the body• Understanding the dynamic rolls from various angles and levels

The Result from Physical Contact:

• Use of movement to lessen impacts• Concentration and focus on the end results; not the moment• Protection and working with injuries

There are thousands of ways to train for distances, so I will stay away from giving specifics - just remember once the distance changes, so does your work.

Be creative and the benefits are remarkable.

DID YOU KNOW...

During periods of stress, such as during an violent attack, your body will literally stop growing.

Stress is a mechanism used by the body to focus its resources on escaping dangerous situations. In dangerous situations, such as an attack, the body halts its digestive, reproductive, and growth faculties in order to redirect energy to the parts needed to survive. Pain receptors dampens to remove unnecessary distractions, the heart rate increases to improve oxygen flow to the muscles, and adrenaline floods the system, inducing tunnel vision and slowing time to a crawl. The body decides that the survival is the most important thing; it'll grow and digest and reproduce later.

Daily stress occurs when one lives in anticipation of danger. Worrying about social security and terrorism, not to mention the simple pressure of your manager or traffic conditions, produces the same effect in the body as a violent attack. Only it does so repeatedly, day after day after day. This means that your body repeated stops growing, stops digesting; that your heart rate repeatedly increases to panic levels. This is the source of stress-related illnesses.

Systema helps to deal with stress in a number of ways. Primarily, it produces an outlet for the release of stress. Rats who are exposed to stressful, even catastrophic, environments will avoid illness if they have a means to express their anxiety. Systema also teaches you how to recognize the effects of stress within the body and offers strategies for mitigating those effects, such as through the relaxation of muscles and calm breathing.

Multiple Attackers


A student can face many of his or her fears head on if taught how to deal with multiple attackers properly. If done improperly a student's fears and false perceptions will remain.

Below I've outlined some steps that might help those students struggling in dealing with multiple attackers.

Step 1 - Objective -breathing and movingWorking with 2 partners, have each walk towards you from a distance and different directions.

Step out of the way with one calm movement, not several small ones. Add proper breathing (In/out or Out/in). Do not try to hold your breathe!

Step 2 - Objective - breathing and moving plus a different variableOnce you've reached a level of comfort and can move freely with both partners, have them change from walking to kicking or punching. Start slowly and from a distance, increase the speed and decrease distance as your confidence and comfort grow.

Step 3 - Objective - breathing, moving and touchingIf you've managed to keep your breathing in tack, a good posture, calm demeanor then your ready for the next step. Start to touch your partners as they pass by you. Remember to just touch, do not strike! You should also be connecting your movements more and be in a constant state of movement.

Step 4 - Objective - breathing, moving, touching and thinkingPay attention to your position when you move from partner to partner. Limit the time that you are between then equally. Instead try to have them cross or interfere with each other - disrupt their movement and strengthen own. If you have any spare energy, start to pay attention to your partner's body dynamics as you touch them.

Step 5 - breathing, moving, thinking, striking and emotions associated with strikesNow change touching to striking. Remember that strikes should come as a result of good movement and generate from the body. Do not be aggressive or want to hit too much, just let it come naturally.

Things to consider:

1. Do not try to recreate a fight; you will never honestly be able too.

2. Start slowly until you feel comfortable, only then increase the speed and complexity of your movements.

3. Always maintain proper posture, but more so with multiple attackers.

4. Think about moving, not about competing.

5. You are developing the body's ability to filter a wide variety of information while moving.

6. If you get confused or tense, always go back to the beginning and start over. Do not skip steps.

7. This is suppose to frustrate you, so don't beat yourself up. Laugh, smile and have fun!!

DID YOU KNOW...

The strongest single muscle in the human body is the jaw muscle.

This may seem strange at first. What about the calf? Or the bicep? Or the heart? The jaw muscle doesn't seem so strong in comparison to those, does it?

Indeed, the strength of the jaw is not very great. However, it is one of the few muscles that can operate strictly on its own. Every other muscle in the human body acquires its strength from surrounding muscles. They all work in conjunction to produce their effects.

When strength training it is important to keep this fact in mind. Strength training ought to be total body training. This is one of the many reasons that Systema employs body resistance exercises in its regimen. Something as simple as a push up engages not only the arms but the back, stomach, and legs.

Similarly, a squat does more than just work your legs. It improves your balance, strengthening a whole series of muscle groups, teaching them to work in tandem with one another.

WORKING THE WALL


We are surrounded by walls for most of our day, but many of us don't pay much attention to them. The most fascinating aspect about walls is their psychological influences, while they provide an element of safety, they also confine and even separate us.

In self defense, people are driven to walls to protect their backs, however when they are in such a position they experience a sense of fear of being trapped. This is an interesting dilemma and even more interesting self defense topic.

Recently I spent an entire class teaching students the many possibilities of using a wall for self defense. This type of training would fall under 'Confined Space' and 'Body Guard' applications. Below I share a brief outline of what I taught in the hope it will inspire you and your training regiment.

DID YOU KNOW...

You stand on one foot for roughly half of any given day.

In any given step there is necessarily a transition from one foot to another. During this transition only one of your feet is ever on the ground. This means that during everyday life the structure of our bodies are profoundly unbalanced. It does not take much to trip us up.

This simple truth ought to remind us of both our own weakness and that of others. It also ought to reveal to us how little it takes to disable an opponent. Once their balance has shifted even slightly from one foot to another it does not take much to put them on the ground.

Warm Ups & Stretches

• Walk beside a wall and stay as close as possible to it without touching it. Breathe and relax yourself completely. You should feel as relaxed as if you were in the middle of the room.

• Try the same with your eyes closed or running instead of walking.

• Place one hand anywhere on the wall. Now move but don't break contact with the wall. Stretch yourself, don't rush, try to see all the little possibilities that exist by relaxing and being creative.

• Place a foot anywhere onto the wall. Now move but don't break contact with the wall. Stretch yourself, don't rush and try to see all the little possibilities that exist by relaxing and being creative.

Exercises

• Push-up, squats, leg raises and body raise all done beside but not touching the wall.

• Push-ups, squats, leg raises and body raise all done touching the wall but not using it to aid in the exercise.

• Push-ups, squats, leg raises and body raise all done ½ on the wall ½ on the floor. For example if I was doing a push-up, one hand would be placed on the floor and the other somewhere on the wall. If I was doing a squat one foot would be placed on the floor and the other placed somewhere on the wall.

• Place one foot on the wall and stand comfortably with a straight back. Try not to lean forward but rather push with your leg or foot forward. Don't let tension carry back into you. This makes you fall back.

• Stand 90 degrees to the wall and place your fist onto it. Much like the previous drill, do not lean but rather push from the fist forward. Again don't let tension carry back into you. This will make you fall back.

Drills

• Roll towards a wall. Start from far away and start to close the distance. You should not touch the wall but rather come as close as possible to it.

• Stand facing the wall about a meter away from it. Have a partner push you from behind towards the wall. You should be able to turn yourself around and land with your back to the wall. As your comfort level increase, close the distance to the wall.

• Place one hand on the wall and have your partner start to push you. Stay relaxed and move without breaking contact with the wall. Progress to taking your partner down and utilizing the wall to your advantage.

• Same as above but now your partner should grab you. Escape without breaking contact. You can move your hand on the wall a little if you need. Progress to taking your partner down and utilizing the wall to your advantage.

• Place yourself with your back to the wall. Have your partner start to strike you lightly to the body. Breathe and relax, if you are tense the strike will hit you twice - once from the front and once from the back. Begin by taking the punches, progress to letting the punches slide off you body and the fist hitting the wall and finally taking the person down and utilizing the wall.

SYSTEMA ROLLS AND FALLS


When you talk about rolls and falling one must first consider their many aspects and applications. A roll or fall can be done by choice, but usually results from a reaction to something. They can also be used as an offensive move but are more commonly a defensive one.

A typical urban street is a hard, uneven surface with lots of little stones or debris. It is not a place you would want to land. On a conscious level this would explain why most people hate going to the ground. On an unconscious level people love or hate the ground because of their training. A wrestler loves this area while a boxer may not, this comes from their training and the psychology around their particular sports.

In SYSTEMA rolling or falling is just another skill that you can call upon when you need. Just like a punch, kick or grab, it is a movement like any other. You don't need to love or hate the ground, just become friends with it. If you need to go there go, if not don't. Your situation will dictate more what is possible.

DID YOU KNOW...

Not all knockouts are created equal. There are three types:

Typical Knockout - characterized by lasting loss of consciousness. When you come back from lala land, you generally have no memory of the event.

Flash Knockout - lasts less than three seconds and you retain memory of the combat that caused it. I experienced this one myself in the one day, my legs suddenly gave out staggering me a bit along with a tingling feeling.

Stunning Knockout - here you don't actually lose consciousness, you're just rendered totally inept. The blow leaves you unable to hear, see, or do much of anything - you're stunned temporarily until you can shake it off.

As I often mention to my students, your chances of falling, slipping or tripping on something during the course of the year are more likely then you getting into a fight. Hospitals are full of people having hurt themselves by falling. Injuries are common to the hands, arms, back and head. Practicing this aspect has an application beyond the martial art.

Training on hard surfaces is preferable to mats. An old Russian saying is "a hard floor is like a good friend, a soft one is like a bad one". Your focus should be on blanketing the ground, not slamming into it. Contact is made only on the soft tissue, not the bones. A good indicator would be the amount of noise from your roll or fall. No noise is excellent. Banging would indicate bones are contacting the ground and could possibly be damaged.

You begin a roll with your hands stretched out in front of you. This is an instinctual position for your hands. They come forward to brace or stop a fall - this is the body's way of trying to protect itself, so start from here. Rotate the arm from the hand so that your shoulder rolls forward. You will be rolling through the shoulder and the back, on the soft tissue and muscles,

not on any bones. The legs will come around and land carefully, not slamming into the ground. Using the momentum of the roll and not fighting it is essential.

Now that we can get to the ground safely let's talk about ground fighting. There are two main perspectives - survival or competition based. You must make decisions when you train about which path you will follow. A lot depends on your personal goals, aspirations and wants from martial arts.

I have done both in my years and can safely say that survival based training is much more practical, efficient and safe. By focusing on survival you more easily build creativity and awareness skills. These two attributes are vital for any real life applications.

SYSTEMA starts by having students simply move on the ground - crawling, sliding, shuffling and rolling. No negative stimulus is initially applied. This gives a student room to discover and learn his or her movements. Following this you can start to progress and have someone walk towards you while you're on the ground. Your objective is to simply move out of the way safely. This simple drill can get very interesting when your training partner starts to run at you and you are forced to move quickly. Add to this the many other students surrounding you in class doing the same thing and the person running is just half the problem. The progress has no limits, you can have your partner start to step or kick you while you are on the ground or have them use a stick or knife to strike you with, the objective is still the same - just move out of the way. The offensive applications come from the movement chosen by each student. Anything is possible, the only limit is the students creativity.

Time is also spent in the more traditional forms of wrestling - where two people are locked or engaged physically. Students are shown how to use the ground to their advantage and how to work with their movements. They learn first hand what works and what does not work for them.

NON-CONTACT TRAINING


A lot of people spend countless hours practicing contact training, which focuses on 'taking' and 'giving' heavy strikes or holds. Non-contact training differs from this type of approach.

Simply put, non-contact training involves avoiding or "closely taking" any strikes or holds through body movement and breathing. It is a difficult practice and requires an in-depth knowledge about body dynamics and movement - both your own and your opponents.

The Basic Principles of Non Contact Training

Awareness

In practicing non contact training, you must be aware of your entire body. Here are some ways to heighten your awareness:

Sit in a chair and think about the various parts of you body while breathing.

Tense and relax all parts of your body. This way you know the difference between the two states - tension and relaxation.

Take punches and kicks close to your body, but not on your body. They should literally be skimming you.

While training concentrate on yourself as much as your opponent.

Honest Movements

Your opponent should be honest with his or her movements and make sure punches, kicks or grabs are deep and true. This in turn will force you to be honest with your reactions.

Please do not practice guided punches and kicks, instead pick a target and go. Start slowly and as you become more comfortable with your movements, you can then increase the speed.

Breathing

Poor breathing is a common problem, but in non contact training it is even more so. Often your attention is focused on your opponent or the situation and breathing is forgotten.

The "catch 22" is that in order to move properly when faced with a situation, you need to breath properly. When training, pay careful attention to your breathing - make sure to continue breathing in and out as you move.

A good training partner can help remind you to breath if he or she sees you stopping.

By practicing 'contact' and 'non contact' training equally, you can improve your skills and much more.

DID YOU KNOW...

Ancient Greeks held popular mixed martial arts competitions.

The art of Pankration, which mixed boxing and wrestling, was a no-holds barred combat sport held in ancient Greece. It was just one of the combat sports used to instil citizens with arête, that is, the quality of excellence. The ancient Greeks believe that in order to be an effective citizen you needed a keen mind and disciplined body. Physical training both calmed the soul and reinforced the will, imbuing the practitioner with courage and determination.

From a modern perspective, there are a number of things about ancient Greek culture that are unappealing. The ancient Greeks held slaves, repressed women, and sometimes engaged in a complex form of pederasty. These are certainly not things to emulate now! However, we may borrow from them the concept of arête. Martial arts training, especially that taught at FightClub, brings calmness and focus to those who practice it. Carrying such qualities out of the gymnasium and into the world can only improve your life and thereby the lives of those around you.

TRAINING THE LEGS


I've had a lot of questions from students about how to develop leg movements, working flexibility and creativity. Below I have compiled some drills and training ideas that I hope will help everyone. These are just a few ideas that have helped me personally and my hope is that they do the same for you.

WARM-UP / STRETCHING

1. Stick Rubbing

Begin by rubbing your legs with a stick (any kind will do). Rub as hard as you can without causing any pain. 'Wake up' your skin.

2. Stick Tapping

After rubbing your legs start tapping them all over. Tap as hard as you can without causing any pain. 'Wake up' your muscles.

3. Joint Rolls

Roll your ankles, knees, hips and waist, one at a time in a circular fashion. Make the circles as large as possible, without losing balance. Remember to breath. Image you have a pen stuck to the joint and you want to draw a circle in the air.

4. Movement Stretching

A. Start to stretch legs out from standing position. As you reach the end of your flexibility for a given movement, switch into another direction and continue with your movement/stretch. Just never hold anyone position.

B. Same as number 'a' but use a wall to help you stretch. Remember don't hold anyone position or your breath.

C. Same as 'a' & 'b' but now go the ground and use the ground to help you stretch.

STRENGTH

1. Wall Work

Squat up against a wall. Make sure that your back, heals and shoulders stay in constant contact as you go up and down with breathing. Same from the front

2. Vertical Jumps

With your feet in a comfortable position - jump straight up as high as you can and land as softly as you can. Think of how a cat lands - very softly, almost catching itself upon landing.

3. Tension

Contract your entire lower body during inhaling then relax on exhaling.

Repeat 1 & 2 with the left and right legs.Repeat 1 & 2 with the front, back and inside of the legs.Hold the tension or relaxation as long as you can inhale and exhale.

4. Piggy Back Walking

Put someone on your back and start walking. Focus on breathing and posture.

DRILLS

1. Broken Leg

Make one leg straight and declare it broken. Go to the ground and get up without disturbing or bending the injured leg.

2. Move a Chair (standing)

Put a chair in the middle of a room and start moving it with your feet first. Then progress to using your knees.

3. Move a Chair (from ground)

Put a chair in the middle of a room and start moving it with your feet first. Then progress to using your knees.

4. Shoe Toss

Get a pair of old shoes - one's that don't lace up. Practice taking then half off and throwing them from your foot with a whip like fashion. Once proficient in the move, focus in on targets on a wall and try to hit them with your shoes. Start to see your legs and tools as well as weapons.

DID YOU KNOW...

By massaging and gently pulling on your ears - top, middle and bottom of outer earlobes once per day increases your immune system and protects your organs and tissues. As all of your acupuncture and TCM points are located within each ear.

For athletes having a good body massage before an athletic event even improves the athlete's flexibility, enhances speed and power, and reduces risk of injury.

THE SQUAT


The squat has long been considered the "King of all Exercises". If you were to pick just one exercise to condition yourself, the squat would provide the greatest overall benefit. It is a free-body movement that requires use of almost every muscle in the body.

Proper form is critical - the proper squat is done with the head, shoulders and spine straightly aligned and the feet flat on the ground. The butt should be close to the ground but not touching. Make sure you go as low into the squat as you can without discomfort. To keep focused simply think of your breathing. By utilizing and incorporating various breathing patterns with the basic squat, you will start to notice the benefits quickly.

Add squats to your daily routine not just you workouts, start with 30 a day and build your way up. If you are unable to do 30 than do as many as you can in intervals throughout the day. This is an excellent way to energize your body and combat the effects of sitting. Many of you will start to notice that your breathing, strength, flexibility, digestion, elimination, energy, appearance and concentration all improve.

Body weight squats offer the following benefits:

• Improved respiration of working tissues used in the squat. The squat uses almost all the muscles in you body;

• Improved pumping of body fluids, aiding in removal of waste and delivery of nutrition to all tissues, including organs and glands;

• Spinal health;

• Improved movement of feces through the colon and more regular bowel movements; and

• Beneficial physiological stress to your hormonal system. Properly performed breathing squats actually shift the body away from sympathetic nervous system dominance and encourage parasympathetic activity. This aids in tissue repair and cultivation of life-force energy.

The beauty of the squat is in its simplicity. Like most truly wonderful things in life.

DID YOU KNOW...

Exercise can speed up wound healing. A study out of Ohio State found that skin wounds healed an average of 10 days faster in the exercise group compared to the non exercise group.

GET FOCUSED


You know the feeling. You're sitting down to write an e-mail to a friend when you recall it's your mother-in-law's birthday. So you switch over search the web for a flower site to order a gift only to be interrupted again with the ring of your cell phone - it's your wife, who wants to know what day the parent-teacher meeting is - as you reach for the calendar the front door bell rings.

Feeling frantically torn in a million directions and unable to concentrate fully on the task at hand? You probably are. Even when we manage to nab a few minutes of peace, our heads are often so full of clamoring demands that it's hard to focus on the here and now.

We eat while we're driving. We talk on the phone while we're doing laundry. And the more we multitask, the harder it is to stay focused.

It seems that 'Modern Life, thought, conspires to distract us.'

Here are helpful tips that will help you get the most out of life and training….

1. Feed Your Brain

Although the gray matter makes up only 2 percent of a human's total body weight, it gobbles up 25 percent of the food energy we consume, so don't skip meals. Make the most of training and ensure you're fueled for the workout.

2. Move

One of the single best ways to improve concentration is just moving. Movement gives you life by sending blood flowing to the brain and helping stimulate the production of new nerve cells and promoting increased mental focus.

Remember this when training and always keep moving. Even if you're not sure what to your doing, the solution will appear more often with movement.

3. Practice

"Focusing is like any skill - the more you practice, the better you get", says Steven Yantis PH.D., a brain researcher at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. "We see it all the time in the laboratory. When we challenge volunteers with mental tests, the more often they do them, the better they perform."

Apply this to your training by tuning out distractions and focus the mind on the drill, exercise, technique or concept being shown. Make the most of your training time.

You might not be able to shorten your to-do-list, but you can improve the way you tackle each item. Try these simple points and you will find yourself becoming more productive and relaxed at work, home and at fightclub. Better able to savor the pleasure life has to offer.

DID YOU KNOW...

It takes less than 1/1000 sec. for neural signals to travel from the retina to the brain.

And yet even this rapid pace is too slow during an attack. By the time that the signal from the eye has transferred to your brain and from your brain to the other relevant parts of your body, 3/1000 sec. or more have passed. And then you need to consider how long it takes for the body to move from point A to point B. It all adds up to lost reaction time.

The point is that you will always be lagging behind your attacker. Unless you do something to change this or learn how to operate without deliberation, it is the attacker who controls the action in a fight.

Traditional martial arts train to overcome this reaction lag through rote memorization of drills. They develop and select for use a series of effective techniques and practice them until they become second nature. This undoubtedly has its benefits in a controlled environment governed by agreed upon rules.

But what about outside of those controlled environments? Systema attempts to access and harness instinctual survival reactions, letting the body do what it needs to do in order to survive. The idea is to trust the complex wisdom that has accumulated in the body over the course of human evolution to select the correct action to take. Ideally, this cuts reaction time to the barest minimum possible.

GIVE YOURSELF A MISSION


Do you have a mission when you arrive to class for train? If you don't, you are missing the opportunity to build on the fundamentals of SYSTEMA. You see, the Special Forces are trained to understand missions. So why not train in the same fashion. Special Forces are always asked one question - did you accomplish your mission?

So, I ask yourself - did you accomplish your mission.

Training Mission

Start to see your fighting abilities as weapons. Your purpose in training is to add weapons to your arsenal. Start by analyzing yourself. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? If you're unsure, ask your teacher or training partners.

Now the hard part, forget about your strengths and focus on your weaknesses. Your strengths do you limited good, since it's already 'yours'. Before getting to class, pick a weakness and focus your efforts to overcome it. Once you have decided on the mission; be diligent and stay focused all class. I realize sometimes it can be difficult. I guess that is why the Special Forces are so coveted.

Here are some ideas that you can use to get started in developing your great arsenal.

• Ability to utilize and defend• Punch & kick• Grabs, locks, holds• Elbow & knee• Hip & shoulders• Chest, back & stomach• Movement & body weight• Weapons - conventional & unconventional• Multiple opponents• Left side versus Right side• Rolls and falls• Fight injured or with and injury• Understand the various injuries

Remember to periodically change your mission and do not focus a lot of time on any one mission. The changes do not have to be huge but they do need to happen. I personally have 4 missions I rotate constantly.

After class, make sure to take time to analyze the results. Did you fail or succeed in accomplishing you mission? Why or why not? Make sure to take the time to ask yourself these questions or you will be doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again and never build that great arsenal.

Be tough on yourself and focus on the mission!

DID YOU KNOW...

International law does not recognize special reconnaissance (dropping forces behind enemy lines) as espionage so long as the members of the recon unit retain their uniforms.

Life is full of silly rules. Only in the realm of international law would spying not be spying so long as someone was wearing a coloured costume. Yet we don't have to look that far to see other silly rules. They extend from the laws regarding witchcraft (still on the books in Ontario) to the arcane mathematics that underpin our tax collection. We might even look at something as seemingly commonsense as stop signs and wonder why they are mandatory.

We accept rules in our daily life for a number of good reasons. Car accidents are avoidable so we legislate to avoid them. The redistribution of wealth is a difficult thing and the math reflects that reality. Cooperation and compromise are important if we are going to get anywhere! But during an attack situation, rules are a little less important. You have to be willing to forgo social convention and do what you need to do in any given moment in order to survive. You need to be 'sneaky' or 'dirty.' Or, to put it in a different way, you need to be 'creative.'

PRECISION IN MARTIAL ARTS


Precision (Noun) - The state or quality of being precise; exactness.

Precise(Adjective) - Clearly expressed or delineated; definite. Exact, as in performance, execution, or amount; accurate or correct.

Many times we are consumed by the quest to develop power and speed. This is mainly because they both have strong associations; power with ego and speed with fear. As a result, precision which is associated with exactness, ranks below power and speed. However if you watch any true master work you will see precision foremost, no matter what the endeavor.

So take time when you train to focus on this skill and you will not be disappointed in your results!

Here are four tips to help you in this endeavor:

SLOW DOWN

Do not rush through drills for the sake of completing them. Speed can be added later as your abilities improve. Think of good food, enjoy it and savor every aspect of it. What good is accomplished by eating quickly? Not much, other than a stomach ache.

QUALITY BEFORE QUANTITY

Whether it be your words or actions, the fewer you use to accomplish the same task, the more efficient you are and the more energy you will retain. Think of someone who rambles on and on about a topic that could be summed up in a few words - they agitate people and tire themselves out. Or the defensive movement that required one good punch but you deployed 4 mediocre ones instead.

FOLLOW THROUGH

When training be clear and confident with your actions. There should be no doubt about its potential effects. For example, if you practice grab and escapes with a partner, both of you can work with precision. The person who is grabbing should pick a target and proceed in a committed and focused way. If the partner does not move, the grab is completed and person is put to the ground. On the other end the person defending himself or herself should also work with precision and stop the grab, leaving no doubt.

USE YOUR WORDS

Look for precise words and statements when explaining yourself. Whether it be at the end of class in the circle or explaining something to a fellow student. Conveying your message in a concise and effective manure is one true hallmark of a master.

Striving to achieve this skill will truly make your 'work' beautiful.

DID YOU KNOW...

Refined sugar is a poison just as toxic as alcohol and cigarettes are to the body. Just make this simple calculation sugar = poison.

KEEPING YOUR VISION IN CHECK


While we have many senses, our sight seems to be the primary collector of information.

It is necessary to keep our vision in check by not rely on it too heavily. By improving all other senses, you can indirectly reduce the dominance that vision plays. This is a good thing when you consider it doesn't always give us a correct picture of things. By using your other senses, such as smell, touch, taste and hearing, you begin to become more aware of them and the information they convey. Take a look at how this information affects you and your decisions.

Here are some ideas for "visionless" training that I hope you will try. Start slowly, as your comfort and confidence grows, increase the level of difficulty.

Some example (eyes closed):

• Walk through your house.• Try to guess what is on your dinner plate. I mean everything...• Get in and out of your car.• Go through the laundry and find specific clothes.• Put the groceries away.• Empty the dishwasher.• Peel and apple, make sure not to leave any skin on.

Some RMA Training examples (eyes closed)

• Grab and escape.• Take strikes, punches and kicks.• Roll on the floor, stairs and hills.• Take strikes from a weapon - stick and whip.• Ground fighting.• Knife fighting and defense.

There are thousands of ways of checking out your different senses - just be creative the benefits are remarkable.

Think of your six senses as radio stations - all you need to do is tune in.

DID YOU KNOW...

Exercise can speed up wound healing. A study out of Ohio State found that skin wounds healed an average of 10 days faster in the exercise group compared to the non exercise group.

El Systema se fundamenta en cuatro grandes pilares: la respiración, la relajación, la posición y elmovimiento. La respiración conduce a la relajación, y ésta permite la libertad de movimientos del cuerpo desde posiciones naturales. A continuación examinamos cada uno de estos pilares:

1.- Respiración[1]

Las emociones incontroladas generan tensión. El miedo y la ira bloquean el cuerpo y la mente. A través de la respiración evitamos esos estados de alteración. Respirando adecuadamente mantenemos la calma y la relajación.

Además, los ejercicios de respiración son una excelente práctica de salud. Yuri Vedov, médico y díscipulo de Mikhail Ryabko, aplica estas técnicas de respiración con sus pacientes en la Clínica St. John’s de Moscú. Afirma que limpian la conciencia y el cuerpo.

2.- Relajación

La mayoría de los seres humanos desconocen los mecanismos que conducen a un estado de relajación. Creen erróneamente que la relajación es el subproducto de una actividad placentera. La realidad es que el grado de relajación obtenido por esa vía resulta insuficiente. Relajarse es una habilidad adquirida que necesita de un aprendizaje y de una práctica constante.

La combinación de técnicas de respiración y de relajación permite tomar conciencia de la tensión en el cuerpo, para después eliminarla. Como veremos más adelante, sus movimientos también saldrán beneficiados.

En medio de la tensión del combate real, el individuo actuará con mayor efectividad en un estado de calma, y sus probabilidades de sobrevivir se incrementarán.

3.- Posición

Dos factores principales determinan la posición adecuada del cuerpo: estabilidad y libertad de movimientos. La base del Systema es la destrucción de la posición del rival, pero conservando siempre la posición propia.

4.- Movimiento

Esta disciplina marcial se basa en el movimiento continuo. El practicante de Systema utiliza su propio movimiento para inducir a su rival a realizar acciones que le colocarán en posiciones vulnerables y desventajosas. La percepción de las intenciones del rival y la sincronía con sus movimientos es quizás una de las características más sútiles del Systema.

Los movimientos en Systema son libres, naturales e intuitivos. Para que fluyan se necesita un estado de relajación. La tensión reduce nuestra capacidad de respuesta al bloquear nuestro cuerpo y nuestra mente. Sin respiración no hay relajación, y sin relajación queda limitada la libertad de movimientos.

the seven principles of systema breathing

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