This is a three people drill. One is the observer and the switcher and two are working with contact. The job of the observer is to choose the interesting time to switch roles between the partners working and to learn by watching. The two work in this fashion: One takes the hand or fist of the other and twists walks turns goes up and down and side to side in order to create discomfort in his partner without placing himself in an uncomfortable position. The one being worked has to avoid becoming uncomfortable (remember! uncomfortable and swift movement means pain and injury) For this he or she will use these guidelines. Constant movement as to not react but act (count your steps and movement continuously in the form of 1.2.3) relax your eyes from focusing on the discomfort in your body and you will be able to see and feel more options to move and stay free, keep breathing and exhale the tension being built out, avoid unnecessary movement and be minimal in your twisting of your main body (example: if your wrist is in a lever, let it even out on its own and avoid jumping if there is no need) unless it is working for you keep your hands to yourself and avoid stretching yourself out. A tout lines breaks much harder than a coiled spring. when your arms and legs are closer to you you will be less tense and will have less ground to cover in order to let the tension out.
The last one is the most important: avoid plans and special movement. Move as it fits the moment and don’t be afraid to look silly or make a mistake. This way you will learn and clean yourself. Otherwise you will simply learn how to perform and not how to live.
Take a group of friends and tart to hit each other at random walking in each others path and hitting whoever is in range of comfort and not straining to hit who you see. Continue by placing a fist on your partner and pushing. Let the fist move by stepping rather than being shoved around and allow the body to move and the arms which are connected to the body move as well and you hit your partner where it is comfortable rather than desirable. Avoid becoming a drum by response and continue to walk and change direction so you see more than one direction and your body remains free. Return to the hitting everyone while walking drill and add hitting to the head allowing the entire body to move as one and the head to rotate on the neck to allow the fist to move but without controlling the direction of the eyes. It is important to keep your attacker in sight if possible and you can accomplish this by combining neck eyes and body movement. Remember to start slow.
Return to the one on one work and now have at least two people come towards you and away from you with strikes and you work to hit them both using the same body movement (step) relax breath and move and keep your fists loose. You cannot foresee all angles in a situation feel and choose how to move without preconceptions.
Take a friend or a kid and two or more tennis balls. Mark one or more of them in a pattern or color and walk around your partner while he is standing. Throw the ball at him and say the color or marking out loud with this designation. If the color match the ball the partner will move out of the way and intercept the ball and continue to throw it to you with the least amount of stoppage or change in direction and if the color doesn’t match he will just move out of the way. You can do this with almost any object but tennis balls tend to leave less scarring on the face if you accidently impact hard. In a room without expensive chinaware it is also beneficial to note the bouncing about and the ricochets of the bouncing balls. Remember to keep breathing and to keep the eyes relaxed and not on the ball. Look at more than one thing at once and your coordination will relax into action better with little time.
Have a partner place their fist on your neck and press. Feel the tension from your body resisting the movement and allow the leg which is in the direction or closest to the continouation of the press to negate the movement and no more. Have your feet rest under your hips and your hips above your feet so when the neck is under pressure your entire body spreads the pressure and moves to avoid injury and no more. Do this with eyes closed and from all directions without aggressiveness. This way you have the chance to clean out the flinch and the fear control over you and you can use them as tools rather than them wielding you. Continue to spread the fists over the entire body and also have your partner squat close to you and press the legs and hips with his fists. It is a good way to relax and to move naturally. Once you covered the entire body move to the head and here allow the fist to align with the contact without becoming uncomfortable as the pusher and as the person being pushed remember the eyes are very soft and avoid sticking someone else thumbs there.
Breath without stop during the drill paying attention to let the breath stay within bounds of comfort as well. Avoid pulling too much air inside and becoming stiff and avoid breathing to shallow and becoming less dense.
Both should have their eyes free from focusing solely on the partner. The worlds is big and there are a lot of people with tire irons…
Place yourself in a position such as the static push up and have a partner walk toward you and away from you. Your job is to strike him in any way you can without creating discomfort for yourself in twisting or bending of the spine. Keep your eyes relaxed and remember to think of yourself first. This way you learn to strike from a point of comfort and avoid getting into an uncomfortable position just to hit.
If you are already in an uncomfortable position like being chocked from behind repeat the drill and avoid escalating your discomfort.
Even if you have a knife to your body you can lessen the injury. When you give up you are hurting yourself and that makes no sense. This does not mean you need to look hard and tough. Sometimes you can survive using your wits and communication. In fact most life is like that and it is a shame not to use skills you are honing each day. Consider though that we work on breathing and moving and when you add talking you need to first maintain your awareness of the former and add to this. This way you will not be completely out of the water and it is wise to work on this before it happens.
Give your partner a whip rope or a stick and have him close first one eye. Now try to reach him first with your feet as he swings and moves himself to either deter and avoid you and you change places and closed eye from time to time. Next close both eyes and work again minding to keep the movement minimal and paying attention to the speed we work in. Breath and note if fear is driving you or you are choosing at which speed to move. The stick drill is also great to do while sitting on the ground and moving in this way.
Keep an open mind and change heights and locomotion as the work requires.
Take a partner and walk toward him to hold or hit him as you please. His drill is to push you or hit you and you work to first evade with the body and to use his movement to bring him to you. For example if he raises a hand to push you away, make contact with it and come through the channel it creates while you use his movement to add some of yours. If he wants to push you away than his arm is moving away from him with force and you simply add a bit to it to connect and control his movement. A beginning where you simply make contact to just feel his movement will aid you greatly in this drill to understand when to start moving and how to move with him rather than try to impose your own intern.
Once you are close and your legs are inside him (meaning you can place your feet or one foot within his or very close and you know you can move freely with his body without learning or bending your own form) place one hand or arm gently on his head and with a step bring your head and your hand to lever his head with the movement of your body moving. This takes paying attention to your movement as most tend to tense up and use force to bring the person to them but this also plants us in place and limits both sight and awareness on our side. Use your legs for walking and eyes to look around so you remain free and aware of what is around you. There will be a clip to show the work later on. Once you are all comfortable with this work using your heads work with headbutts and the aforementioned tactic of bringing the partner to you using whatever he brings you to lever him down and once he is down start kicking your partner to help him learn that staying in the same place is not always a good idea with someone you are at his feet.
Keep breathing and remember to keep the mouth closed and relaxed through this drill unless you are over amorous of your dentist 
With a partner hit each other one at a time using either limbs or the body taking 10 breaths to complete each movement. Use your body and limbs to escort the attack to you without moving away at first and simply feeling the movement and the tension in your partner. This looks weird but it lets you move with your partner without trying to move him and thus to actually feel without fear and tension. Do a few of those from different sides and different limbs. Now pay attention to where your body wants to go as you feel the tension from the attack and let the body move as you still let the limbs simply touch and feel the attack ( you may feel you are already moving him or her without intention because he will feel the lack of resistance and his movement will be grander than his intention) Do this for a while and work on matching his or her speed or less so you avoid flinching by awareness. Start to move as you feel the tension and now while in contact feel where there is an opening and add to the movement still keeping with the 10 breaths per movement and keep the breaths even and relaxed. This is a hard drill especially in the beginning where if feels ridiculous to guide the hits in but consider that when you clean the tension and fear and allow your partner or partners to enter, you will be free to do as you wish as you are within the movement.
Take a partner and cradle his head in your hand on your body. Start by turning in all directions at normal height and than on half and full squat. Add to the turn another direction such as back and to the right and again follow all heights. Now add bending and curving your body in a way to make the head more comfortable on your body, for example you create an inner curve in your right chest as you turn right and bend forward and go to half height. During this both work on breathing without stop and on staying as comfortable as possible. Try to work so you choose your steps and alignment rather than complying with another. This way you will be free even in the hold. Continue by repeating the drill on the ground sitting and laying flat and here add another focus to use your eyes all the time and to spread you awareness all around rather than what is already in reach. Give yourself permission to reach the heavens first with your eyes. Continue by using your legs to lever your partners body and limbs in movement in order to control them more aptly and remember to avoid getting levered yourself by keeping your breath and tension within your awareness and having the right goal.
A third partner with a whip to let you know when you forget to use your eyes and calm your mind is a great add on to this and any drill.
Start by laying on the ground with your limbs to the sides and simply breathing and relaxing on the ground. Let every part in turn press to the ground and rise from it and note how this affect the rest of you. Now do the same drill using two parts at a time and you will enjoy more freedom of movement from this.
Have a partner walk to you and walk through you using his feet a few times from all directions and do the same for him. Have your partner roll over your body without standing and than rolling but all in one sequence and avoid holding your breath. The contact will come. Look to being able to prolong any breath phase to stay comfortable and to shift the pressure within using tension selection in your various awareness locations.
Have your partner stand next to you and you move without sitting up to find ways to move and direct him using all parts of you and yes using your head as well (biting his shoes can lead to some strange looks and a case of bad breath
Next lie down face up and than face down and have your partner hit you from all direction using his limbs and body. Keep breathing and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Make sure you spread your awareness in your entire body and work on feeling the pulse everywhere.
Have your partner or more than one person attack you while prone and find a way to move so you are not hit. Running, throwing objects, kicking, rolling and so on. Choose to fight when you thing it is the right thing to do. Avoid letting others decide for you.
Smile.
Start with one partner standing and the other moves around him and closer and further all the time keeping at least one limb on him without any pressure and simply sliding on his or her form. Let the breath start each movement and relax your form from your joints to your tendons to your tissue. Continue to posing your partner in any way such as one arm up and repeating the drill to find how you can move inside his form and use the no eyes method as well to become more aware of your skill and different feelings here.
Continue to squatting a few centimeters and doing the same work while minding that your eyes are free to look where your body is heading (or is it the other way around) and avoiding focusing on the partner and in thus fixating and levering your own movement.
Continue to doing the same work in different heights while your partner slowly changes form and placement and now work on letting the arms and legs roll and slide on his body and limbs and head so as to release the point of contact and making it float and move around according to the movement and tension you feel in yourself and in your partner.
Continue to work where you are on one leg and find out how you can still move even if you are on one leg without leaning on your partner.
Continue to working where there is no contact between you and the partner and it is formed when you are contacted by him and after that you enter where his body is.
Remember to breath and smiling is allowed.
It is hard to work on being stabbed which is a given but we can work on the feeling of it using a simple pinch. Start on the back of your partner and pinch a large piece of skin and flesh using the thumb and the side of the pointing finger. His job is to move and position his body while breathing to escape without harm from the pinch. Note that parts of you which may seem indirect to the work can help a lot with the tension and pressure map which affects you movement. If you are pinched in the center of the back and raise one shoulder as you move back the other you will find an opening already there willing to let you escape the pressure. Move slowly to a smaller and harder pinch using your nails and smaller parts of you partner and keep breathing. Move to the front of the center mass and repeat the drill and then work from the sides. Move to the legs and repeat the drill and note to work from different starting points such as a wide stance or with one leg in the air. Avoid referring to a natural stance. The only one is change. Add work on the upper limbs and neck and the face using care not to take out something you don’t know how to put back in and add in this stage another hold or attention point such as a hand over the face pushing or leaning one leg against their feet. Keep working and in this place add a dull knife and pinch using the thumb and the blade. Take care to keep breathing and slowly find a solution using all of your body. When you spread your attention in all your body a single point is less of a threat to your calm and you are able to move more freely doing more with less.
Move to stabbing and slashing using one point and then holding your partner and stabbing and slashing him from different points working from the ground up and remember.
Move from the breath starting with the body (be efficient and effective)
Relax your eyes and the body will relax as well (you can move in more than one direction at once)
Keep breathing (you can do the work no matter which stage of breathing you are in)
Smiling can hurt if you cheek is open. Take care to know the purpose of what you are doing.
We often strive to complete what we started whether it is working for us or we are working for it. For example if you are asked for advice you usually give more than what was intended and end up doing something not too benefiting for yourself. Take knife work for example. If you work to complete a deflection or a step rather than making the goal clear in your head you will end up moving in directions that can get you killed or worse getting a loved one killed. Work first in evading one attacker with a knife (you work with the person rather than against the knife) focus on moving just to get the job done and note if you move more than you have to. Add a second attacker and again this is great to feel where you move without care or complete what has no relevance. Add another one and remember to keep both eyes free and relaxed from focus and after a while a good clean sense of survival and letting go of the outcome will emerge. This way you will do just what is needed and no more. This way you may survive.
A technical note. when you raise your hand to deflect a knife you are giving it resistance which is a form of support. Work slowly first to feel and move with the blade limb and blade without resistance and learn to ghost the attack with the touch of your limb or body and you body moving. For example if I am attacked from the front and I block the attack than the attacker can glide and slice over this resistance to get to me. If I make contact and move, I feel where I am more comfortable and move there and I can guide the attack where I want it and keep breathing.
Consider this: Every inhale has an exhale potential in it but not every exhale holds as inhale within it. The nature of tension is different for every movement and mirroring or balancing should take this into account.
More on this later on in the DVD.
It is important to pay attention to ourselves first and to others after. People who wish to blend or enter another in training or in an actual conflict tend to make themselves in the shape and tempo of the other to blend into him or her. In doing this we distort and change ourselves giving us tension, change of alignment and breath. For example if someone comes at me with his arms to grab me I may see an opening to perform a technique and mold myself to make it happen but within this action I break my own form and try to fit in. Work to see instead of looking for something, and you will see all. Work to blend by seeing and feeling where you can go as a whole moving the way you do and breathing without changing your own rhythm and avoid trying to complete someone else’s picture. Paint your own.
A nice way to note this tension from outside created by the focus in outer things is by looking at a direct target. Look at a tree and have a friend move and twist your neck for you and find how you tense up and how you are already tense by fixating on the outside. Now relax your eyes and just see and repeat the drill and note if there is less initial tension and less tension in movement as you remove this leaning of the eyes. Now close your eyes and repeat and take something from the drill.
Let me know what you think.
Sharon
Systema Israel.
The more we learn the easier and simpler things become. To make this leap simply think of the purpose of what you are doing and pay attention. When you think and pay attention you stay calm and attentive.
Take for example the static push up. People do this for “core” power and that is all they get from this because that is their intention. If you are clean of intention you are free to receive whichever gift the drill or person have for you. The same goes for an attack. All attacks have openings and tension in it and if you are calm using your breath you will see or feel those as well as the danger.
Keep breathing.
Take any basics movement such as push ups, squats and leg raises and do them with tension in only one limb. For example do a push up while tensing one arm and learn to do your work as you want it without having to tense against the tension and with simple awareness let the affect of it go past you without affecting you. Do a squat with one leg tensed and note the effects it has on your alignment and vision. It is vital to spead yourself in the body to feel how this affects you and how you naturally clean the tension and it’s affects out. This way you learn yourself.
Take this into your life rather than into just a class and find new freedom for yourself and those around you.
Start with a plastic bottle and press it to your body with just enough pressure to keep it on your person with your arms without using your hands. Have a partner work to take the bottle from you using pushing pulling and anything he or she wants and you simply move as you wish to keep the bottle touching your body somewhere. This is a great drill to learn to flatten knives on the body for children and older children and it teaches the value of movement and awareness in a fun and engaging way. Later on you will use a short stick and later on a knife to feel the more real objects at work and add more people and less awareness to the mix such as one closed eye or with a thick coat on to learn to move as you are.
Remember to keep breathing and remember it is not about perfect movement but simply getting the job done so you can go home to your wife and kids.
I got married on the third of this month and it is a great pleasure to have a person to share your life with. In Systema we learn to make the circle we draw around us larger and larger and it is also deeper in effect. Remember to keep your eyes forward and up and your heart clean.
Take each finger and tense and relax it in turn using the breath to place density in it. Now roll twenty rolls with each roll tensing one finger either up or down and going through all the fingers. Now how your body moves naturally to ease the tension and how your alignment serves to balance you out. Now leave the extra tension behind and roll again.
A simple drill with many benefits.
Tense a part from a finger to a leg and roll with the tension lasting throughout the roll. Go over the body and continue to tensing and releasing once you touch the ground with anything other than your feet. Go over the body again and finish by tensing and relaxing on the inhale/exhale timing while you roll.
Work before and after and watch the awareness and natural movement arise from within.
There is a thing called mass and usually as a soldier you think you have a bit too much on you. It can range from a 20 litter load of water to a 120 kg of a leaking friend and more. It is important to note how different locations on your body changes the way you feel and move with it. Fore example if you are walking with boots in the mud you will fee a lot of tension in the hips pulling you out and moving all the extra mass on your boots and if you had the same mass on your back you would feel much lighter and able to move. Consider this idea and play with it in your work to make life less stressful and free. Consider also the workability of the situation. Sometimes we need the handgun on the hip rather than on the pack or chest.
Lie on the ground and breath without ceasing. Have a partner press on you with his foot one place at a time and you work to tense first where you feel the contact and at the next breath relax. Work to keep your breath undisturbed and become aware of the stoppage and change we experience in our breath as a reaction to contact.
Continue and now instead of rising the tension relax the parts which are close to the one in contact and let the body move without focusing on any part and allowing yourself to spread in the body. This way you allow the body to move instead of collapsing and you will note the difference between awareness and just relaxation.
This is a solo drill: Do a breath pyramid where you walk and increase the number of steady steps you take on the inhale and on the exhale and on the inside listen to your thoughts. Avoid judging or evaluating your thought and simply listen. Once this is done repeat this frame of mind during movement with a partner either talking or talking with your fists and release the need to succeed. Just breath and move and feel.
Place a stick over your spine and press it to it using both arms. Now start moving the stick using your spine and see in how many directions and ways you can do this. Note how this affects your limbs and head and work so your breath leads the movement.
To relax sit on your shins and place the stick on the back of the shins. Press it through the tension using your arms and breathe to let the tension clean out and move the pressure around so you make your legs more free rather than soft. Remember it is not relaxation but awareness and control of tension. No tension at all means death.
Note that your posture affects your mood and energy in the same way that your mood affects your posture. If the face is relaxed it is easier to relax within and if the spine is bent forward and the shoulders fall it is hard to see the heavens and see the birds overhead. Pay attention to other people as well as we mirror our surroundings and in many times become happy or sad just to be like the person close to us. Pay attention and it will set you free.
Take any movement from winding your wristwatch to rolling and do it on the inhale allowing the movement to be withing this phase completely from start to finish, Repeat for the exhale and the pause and remember to avoid rushing through the movement and allowing yourself to relax even if you panic a bit. Accept the fear and it will be just another tool for you.
Take a couple of partners and run this drill session:
First have both partners walk through you with a fist to the body and you simply move to avoid getting hit while focusing on keeping breathing.
Next place both hands at the back of the neck and repeat the drill with the focus of keeping your eyes relaxed and avoiding any contact so your body sense will extend further. Look forward and up.
Next place your fists on your hips and repeat the drill focusing on paying attention to your alignment. Note the difference in movement in your hips and shoulders and find your breathing and eyes to help you simply feel what is happening. Avoid trying to fix yourself, you are not broken just a bit dirty with tension and fear and once you notice them they vacate on their own accord.
Next Close one eye and than the other (not both) and work on how this affect the way you see and not see the world and what happens when you relax and move where you wish to be rather than relax. (communicate with your partners about the best speed for this drill and remember you are here to learn rather than push through pain)
Next extend on arm straight to one side and repeat the drill, This is a good drill to show how much we focus on attractions in front of us rather than stay inside and calm. When you feel relaxed enough move so your evasion is hitting your partners on their way without stopping them but adding to their movements. Remember to avoid getting stuck in response and choose where you want to be.
Start in the static push up and for a few breaths move your ankles so your entire body moves from the legs and you relax your fist so the fingers and palm feel the tension move through them and allow the arm to align as a total so you are always aligned and relaxed.
Have a partner lie down and place your fist on him or her. Relax your arm and fist so you rest your fist on your partner from the shoulder and match his breath so you breath as one. Allow the fist to change alignment from the shoulder and elbow with his breath and slowly sink as the movement permits without pressing. Feel where there is no density and avoid pushing and tensing yourself. You will need to find your patience for this drill. Later on use this in movement and in the work to allow the strike to come in rather than pressing.
Feel what you have at hand rather than try to mold without feeling.
Patience is a great quality in life when applied properly, as a teacher you must let the student create his own body of knowledge even if you think you see the way ahead of time and as a student you must avoid mimicking the teachers movement which seems more affective than your own movement. The patience to let the true natural movement come out and through awareness clean tension from ourselves will aid us when a hit comes our way when we will be humble enough to be afraid and patient to let it come and simply do our work rather than responding with a strike or block of our own. It is best to practice without fear in order to allow the body to recognize it’s own nature and from time to time work fast to feel the worth of breathing to let the tension come out of us and to avoid lowering our eyes and bending our spine out of reactive fear.
Stand tall but not fixed
look up and see all
Let every breath build you anew and smile with the gift of every moment.
When you roll consider that two forces are pushing or pulling you in different directions (or more than two) and relax and allow your body to find the logical solution while staying as relaxed and aligned as possible so you can continue to move and breath freely. For example if you are pushed back in your forehead and sideways from within on the thigh, the body goes with both directions while adding his direction and completing this with either a step or a roll. In the beginning it is good to use hands and fists and later on move to sticks and knives. Remember to also grab a part and apply pressure somewhere else or vice verca so the partner learns to avoid making movement which are redundant such as throwing himself.
On a personal note: if you do the slow movement and rolling combined with breathing you are pretty much covering all bases in solo work.
Note to yourself that the inhale is also a way to suck tension from your body and prepare it the exhale. If you inhale and allow your body to tense up from the rising pressure within it will damage your health and movement a lot. Freedom lies in recognizing the tension within and letting it go with the breath.
Don’t think about the end when you do the work. Shortcuts tend to cut us short. Think of a knife moving and reaching the resting spot of it’s movement and the same blade getting cut short on it’s path. When does it make more sense to guide it and from which point in the trajectory does it make sense to guide it from from the hand or from the body ?
Start by taking a friend by hand or arm and walk with him in a crowded place like a grocery store or a busy street and your job is to avoid hitting your partner into any person or object. Change places and work this drill closing first the eye you shoot less with (guns, balls …) and than the later.
Repeat the drill but now have your partner face the other way and close his eyes so you have to read his tension so you can guide him without getting tensed and rooted in one spot.
Repeat the drill but now have your partner face the other way and close his eyes so you have to read his tension so you can guide him without getting tensed and rooted in one spot.
Later on you can work with a few partners on a group settings in a more pressure type of work and remember all the implications of your work.
Tips: Keep breathing, relax the spine, avoid getting into a mission oriented frame of mind and just do the work. Being a hero is a good recipe for a story but a bad one for a long life. Keep movement to what works and avoid other movements.
Have a partner press the knife tip to you and allow the tip to move you as a whole without tensing or trying to navigate away at first. You may try to compare trying to work straight away without relaxing and feeling and note where you feel the blade run deeper. Once you clean part of the fear of penetration move along the initial relaxation movement and feel where it is safer to be. Keep breathing and moving with your body even if your limbs are under the knife to avoid tensing up and allow the blade to run its course without you giving it any support (tension and resistance)
Next have your partner do the same to you and at the same time press his hand or fist to your head. This will allow you to better feel where you bend and twist yourself and you will be able to move more with and guide your partner rather than trying to outsmart or out maneuver him.
Next have your partner do the same to you and at the same time press his hand or fist to your head. This will allow you to better feel where you bend and twist yourself and you will be able to move more with and guide your partner rather than trying to outsmart or out maneuver him.
You may than add an arm or any limb to the work to help the body work rather than work with your arms and letting the body parish in static. Remember life is movement and movement comes from the breath.
Many times we have ideas on how to make something work and we follow through with the plan and end with nothing close to what we had in mind. It can be a good thing but consider when you learn to have the goal in mind all the time. For example if you want to stop a fist coming your way and your arm rises up avoid getting too involved with the arm tension and keep moving and seeing what is inside and in front of you. When you are levered you tend to want to return to normal but instead feel where the tension is in yourself and than in others and from that the solution for that specific moment will present itself. For example struggling to get out of a hold in place of taking advantage of his immobile arms and hitting him and levering him at the same time without even using your arms.
Another way to look at this is in your personal practice. Many times you will be without a partner besides god and you might look at a piece of paper with many instructions on it for help. Keep the parameters to a minimal and give yourself freedom to let yourself truly come out.
My best example so far is to spread ten steps with fists over ten minutes. You are bound to learn something from that slow movement drill and something new every time since you are not burdened by working on everything at the same time.
Have two partners hold one of your limbs and relax yourself. Feel where you tense up against their touch and simply allow the relaxation to take the punch from their hold. Breathe without stop and work on where you feel you are comfortable to move and note as well how this effects your partners in relation to each other. Move with the breath only where you feel the door is open and avoid trying to complete a movement and work on building yourself anew with every breath. You can tense and relax your limb from time to time to better feel the place it is natural to go and move our entire body as one to avoid tensing up against their own direction and tension. Feel your tension first and from that control of yourself and than others will come.
Second drill: Place a stick over your shoulders or your back and have two or more partners move you with their fingers and later with knives or sharps of any kind. Their goal (note the way is not so important as the end in mind) is to have you collide with the others and you work to keep free from getting stabbed and at the same time avoiding hitting others. You must relax and move freely to achieve this and to relax your eyes as well.
Breathe relax and move, you may think you did something wrong but try to work with what you have and let the way present itself. If you try to win, you work on another and he must loose. This way creates aggression and tension and harms you a lot. Work on relaxing your contacts and see where that takes you.
Take a stick and place it over your shoulders and place your forearms on it to come over the stick and point forward. Now lie on the ground and relax. Tense and relax your body in this position and than press each part in turn into the ground while relaxing the neighboring parts. Now slowly and with breath leading movement do one slow sit up with your back straight
Breath and let the movement come rather than force it.
Some people are uncomfortable working with more than one partner and I wrote with on purpose. If you want to learn to move with more than one body start by moving them yourself. have two partners hold your arms sitting or standing and you move your body with the breath to learn to move them against each other or to the direction you want to move in.
Have one partner walk toward you with a fist as the other is holding you and you move the one holding you to have them engage each other and repeat.
Have one partner hold your head and another one of your limbs and move them so they oppose each others intentions.
Have one partner walk toward you with a fist as the other is holding you and you move the one holding you to have them engage each other and repeat.
Have one partner hold your head and another one of your limbs and move them so they oppose each others intentions.
Remember you are not in a contest in a Systema lesson nor in life. You need to work on not loosing and you will gain control by paying attention to your breath and to your pulse and to your blood pressure.
And relax the face, it helps.
In most public spaces today we have many reflective surfaces like mirrors, clean shiny glass and metal and lots more. Walk slowly and without moving your head to look observe in how many ways you are visible around you. Note that many people can see you without looking at you by seeing your reflection. Now note which people or object you block from sight by your movement and take the time to see this from different angles. Work with a partner to see where you are completely shown and where you are completely blocked from sight and try and find a way to understand the design which allows for this. Consider having a person standing in one place and you have to come close to him and touch him without showing in his fixed line of sight. Have fun and remember that awareness is life.
Take a very deep inhale starting with the diaphragm adding the inter-coastal muscles (your ribs) and ending with your shoulders. Feel and sense how your body shape and tension is affected through this and slowly exhale in the reverse fashion. Repeat the drill with a fist or the end of a stick pressed into you and feel how your body moves to allow itself to breathe fully and move away from harm. Repeat this in different positions and directions and after you switch with your partner a few times continue to pushing into your partner during any part of the breath and after this is done simply breath without stopping and have your partner hit you using a fist or a stick all over your body (the head and neck and legs as well) and you allow the strike to move through you without stopping and attacking yourself to it. You might want to pay attention to your eyes by looking forward and up or by closing them at first to avoid tensing up out of fear and expectations of what you think might happen.
You can smile but I am not forcing anyone
In the work we do in Systema there is satisfaction and pleasure. In my humble opinion pleasure comes from learning and satisfaction comes from the results. It is logical that if we work on the pleasure the satisfaction will take care of itself.
It is important to keep both ego and tension in check. Both need to exist in some way but as a tool rather than an existence for its own sake. When you join in combat consider it joining in combat. There is more than your movement and wishes on the ground so allow yourself to enter rather than force your way.
Start by tensing up and letting yourself get hit all over and feeling and sensing how your body moves and handles.
Repeat the drill as you relax in increments till you are without tension that is not working for you and again note the direction your eyes follow and how the tension and alignment change during the drill.
Repeat the drill and now let the hitting move you and work to move as a whole relaxed together (start with pushing) so for example if you are hit in the leg your body moves rather than your leg moves from under you or if you are hit in the chin your body moves rather than your head twisting off your neck (I think you can see where I am headed here…)
Repeat the drill and now come to meed the hitting with your limbs and or body relaxed and letting them hit you and simply feel the tension in your partner or partners (you can feel the tension of your partner if he is hitting you with a stick as well you simply need to address the man with the stick rather than the stick with the man)
Repeat the drill and now add to the movement of the hit to guide it so you avoid getting harmed and avoid getting tensed up beyond what is working for you.
Repeat the drill and now connect with him or her or them wherever you want and ride their hits to use their tension and movement for your own needs and survive (this is good to do with a group surrounding one person with everyone hitting without stop)
This drill sequence is meant to allow you to relax and be humble when you do the work. You don’t need to be faster than someone else when you can ride his fist and control his form and spirit through this. You don’t have to be stronger than the taller heavier person if you can see all of him as a person and feel where he is unaware and without density. you need to work on yourself and through this comes Control and humility.
To my student: This will be on Thursday or Friday lesson and remember there is great fun in hitting your partners legs with fists.
Pick an animal like a cat or a dog and follow it around staying clear of his area of movement. Keep with it from place to place as you mind to make the least amount of noise and movement (hand gesture and head movements which are not doing anything for you) and through this you will get to know and appreciate the circle we form around ourselves in terms of comfort and reaction. It is different when we call for or move toward a person than when he approaches us. Make a note to be aware of this and how better you can move and breathe to clean the building tension in you and you can create less tension in others in your movements and thoughts. A street dog or a cat are a good place to start in places where they are not lunch and in nature after a while you will begin to note the circles of awareness you have according to your senses as you let go of the tension under the trees.
Deserts also work well for this if you have water. 
Have a partner move around you without stopping and follow him with your eyes without fixating on him. Move your body rather than your neck to keep him or her in your sight and note the difference in your freedom of movement when you take care to keep both your body relaxed and your eyes free.
Take any natural position you find yourself in as in standing, sitting and prone and slowly tense one side of you. It can be the front, back side or lower and upper half and keep yourself tense. Once you feel you are fully tense on the picked side start to feel and relax the other side of you and through awareness feel where you got tense in the neighborhood of the tension and this will bring a lot of awareness and through this control to your movement.
Now do this in a non natural position such as twisted or bend by yourself or by a partner. Work on just minding the tension in your body as you are being twisted and feel how this tension or its elimination by awareness can free you to do the work rather than responding to someone else working.
Sometimes it is important and sobering to consider failure and looking at yourself when you are down. Consider what would you do if you are stuck in an elevator for an unknown length of time and need to go to the toilet or if you happen to be sucker punched and are on the ground with a black eye and three large and armed people are hovering over you. Are you going to try to fight your urges or accept them for what they are and yourself for what you are a man a woman a child. We are not perfect and realizing this will bring a new level of control and awareness to your performance. You might cry fire fire and alert the unfriendly neighbors to call for help as you hand over your wallet but your cash is in your shirt or you may find a crack in the opening between the cage of the elevator and the shaft to aliviate some of the tension and maintain some form of decorum. Some times we get punched in the face in this way or another. Think about it.
