Friday | July 04, 2008

A few drills with the stick to make the body move as one and to learn to move under tension of structure:

1. Take a strong stick and place one end on the floor. now place some of your mass on the stick and use your hands to go up and down first facing down and than facing upward. Note that movement that follows breath will succeed more and is less tasking and that movement that start from your body will work better. For example if you are down and looking up with the stick in both hands and you want to push yourself up, try just using your hands and try starting the movement in the body (hips and shoulders) and note to yourself what is easier and what will keep you doing this longer (as a measure of work under tension you need to consider a lack of air, sleep, conditioning of muscles and so on)

2. Stand and place the stick at the back of the neck supported with your wrists behind you. Now go down softly to a sitting position. Lie down and get up with a straigt back and stand up again not using your hands or your knees on the ground. Not all the time you are working on smooth clean floors so find a way to get on your feet literally. hint: Move as one unit with everything playing their part and breath to help yourself move in the desired direction. Remember a direction has no end and no limit in mind and in action. (do the same drill with the stick resting against your back and locked by your elbow pits)

3. Do the same as in number 2 but place the stick in the back position and when you lie down, roll backwards while minding your spine and placing soft on hard and vice verca and here again breathing is key.

4. Place the stick with one end on the ground behind you and loop your palms around it. Squat up and down without pressing on the stick or moving it to learn to move more aligned and to use the hands to guide without getting stuck.

Inspired by the seminar given by Mikhail and friends in Moscow and by the DVD by Vladimir Vasiliev.

Smile, it helps.
Posted by ransuru at 22:07:06 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | July 03, 2008

Developing relaxed heavy hands

Start by placing a very loose fist in the other hand and relaxing the arm completely. Now Throw the fist up and let it relax and fall with a sound into your open hand. Do this many times and notice your alignment according to your mass devision (are you bending forward because your hands are tensed and pulling you) and relax it.
Now take a small stick like a non sharp pencil or a closed metal pen and place it at the inner side of the elbow. Relax the arm and do not look at it and lift it using the pencil and let it hang with relaxation. This can and will hurt because we naturally tense up against the existing tension in the arms so do this using breathing to take out some of this tension and don't forget to smile from time to time.
Now return to the first drill and note changes to yourself. Remember that you can feel the arm so don't look down at it and cause the shoulders and neck to tense up.
Now do the same drill using the pencil in the inner side of the wrist and work very slowly to pick up and learn to increase and decrease the tension. This is good to become aware and to control the tension and alignment in the wrist and to further your wrist and forearm density

One hour of honest work is worth many in the library reading without understanding how to do the work.

Add to this part this drill: Raise your forearm and align the wrist. Now use the other hand to pull one of the fingers up or to any side and relax the shoulder so it acts like a pivot spring. Do this a few times till you feel the movement is smooth and relaxed and than do this with the hand in the loose fist form.
Posted by ransuru at 17:25:53 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday | July 02, 2008

This is a drill for three or more. Have two stand next to each other and the third walk toward them to attack one of them. The one who feels the attach coming moves to stand behind his friend and the attacker tries to attack anyway. Find different ways to lower the tension and stop the fight.

Examples:

1. Push the partner on the attacker and run away.
2. Grab the arms of the attacker and wrap him around the third one
3. Collapse the non attacked and move so you are behind him so you have a few more seconds to think and act
4. push the non attacked so he hits the attacker (Mikhail and Vladimir show how to do this on the Summit of Masters DVD)
5. Continue to move around the non attacked so you are at the back of the attacker and work from there.
Posted by ransuru at 18:21:42 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Stand on one leg and slowly bend forward and relax your spine and head. now slowly raise your air leg as high as you can and tense up to 50% and relax a few times (this is to create and control the fear of falling). Now rise and repeat this for the other leg and do this to the sides and to the back. Mind the position of your arms as you go near the point of no return and do this a few times so you can realize where you go when you tense up and where you go when you relax. Mind where your eyes are looking when you move and where they rest when you relax in the down end of the pendulum and note that the eyes usually direct the heading of the body either directly or in reverse. So if you want to roll over one shoulder you can look forward and than turn the head or look under the opposite shoulder for the body to align it self naturally for your intention.

Relax the face and remember to keep breathing.
Posted by ransuru at 12:13:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday | July 01, 2008

Have a partner come at you to wrap his arms around you. Move your body away and place your fist on his neck and allow it to move your arm so it just rests there until he moves away. This stage is to teach you to not tense up and collide and to escape as a priority. Next do the same but let the fist sink in, in order to unbalance your partner and make sure you do not stop moving and keep looking around. Do the same on the hips and shoulders and remember that when you don't succeed you can still learn from what happened and keep moving.
Posted by ransuru at 12:16:48 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Go into a room where you have furniture that does not break like a soft sofa or outside where you have bushes and trees and close your eyes. Roll from place to place without opening your eyes and correct your rolls when you bmp into things like the wall, a tree or a rock. Learn to roll with care and to protect all of your parts as best as you can. Move slowly because if you are alone and with a broken leg in the woods it is a good bet you will not see your friends again.

Afterwards note how you placed your hands and legs as you were going down and rising to see what fear and awareness bring out of you and use it to your benefit. Add to this to create your own way of movement.

Posted by ransuru at 09:41:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Take a water bottle about 1/2 to 2 litter according to your size and move it around your body shifting hands and grips. Move to moving the bottle overhead and in an X over your body from the back and up and over the head and down and after you relax start to throw the bottle and catch it. Work so there is less impact when you touch the bottle and when you can blend with its movement and redirect it work to catch it on a specific end. Do this with throws overhead and from behind you to the front and note if you can relax your arms and hands and work better on hitting from this.

Relax the face and eyes for this. Remember practice is till you die and maybe even after.

Posted by ransuru at 08:01:36 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday | June 30, 2008

Take your blade and tie the handle to a cord about thirty centimeters long. Hold the end in one hand and flat out your palm and backhand against the blades flat a few times. Now lift it in your hand a little bit and move the rope so the blade follows the natural lines of that you created and move accordingly to avoid harm. Do the same for the forearms and arms and play with this while sitting, flat on the ground, standing and walking. This works great for your awareness and sensitivity weather your eyes are open or closed and do take care not to injure yourself. Put a bit of tape on the edge or use a dull knife until you can handle the real thing. Remember there is no replacement to the real thing so seek an instructor or friends to work with you and make all of us better.


Here is my work knife: Model 760
Posted by ransuru at 15:40:36 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |


Squat and place both fists on the ground behind you or at your sides depending on where it is more comfortable. now move the fists on the ground like zig zags using the wrist to move the hand around. once you feel your wrist is full and you your shoulders relaxed and aligned with the rest of the body move your mass to the fists till your legs are off the ground and back again a few times. This is a good way to make the wrists more healthy and full and to learn to push better in different ways which is the first step to good deep hitting.

Have fun and smile from time to time.
Posted by ransuru at 11:13:57 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday | June 29, 2008

Take a knife and gently push it into your body. Relax your hips and roll to avoid the stab and as you go down hit the partner or where it should be to defend yourself. Get back up and check where your eyes are pointing and repeat. If you have a partner to do this with it will be better so if you don't have a systema partner have your wife or kid push a pen into your flesh and if you don't move relaxed have her line you in blue or red Innocent (do avoid hitting the wife and child, a tickle is just as good in this case since you have to place your hand relaxed to land the desired result)

Another solo or partner drill is to take a stick and sweep it through your legs. Lift the leg closer to it and move your body to blend with it and to control it. Remember that if you stay in place you are following his lead and not avoiding the fist. Remember to land soft on hard on this one or learn through the work...
Posted by ransuru at 14:22:32 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |