Vigilance & Tranquility

To learn to hold tools and knives in particular well hold one in your hand and have a partner use a stick to first tap you on the arm and hand and than repeat the drill as you tense and relax your arm and shoulder as you are being tapped. Change roles and repeat the drill and than add closing your eyes to the drill by the person holding the knife. Progress to changing grip on the knife as you are being tapped and once you do this start to slowly move your knife letting the breath start the movement as your partner increases the hitting and adds strikes to the rest of your body. Remember to relax your eyes as you move and avoid looking at yourself too much. Feel your body.

Once all partners went through this drill start coming at each other as you are also evading a strike or a stick and work so your hold is not a stop in your movement or perception. Keep breathing and moving and remember while all roads lead to Rome the sides of the roads are littered with the bodies of the people who ignore reality.
The goal of the drill is much more important than simply running through the drill. Here aim to pay attention to the tension in your body and use what is needed while avoiding relenting to fear and impatiance.

Slow movement is great at cleaning out tension and making you stronger and move alive (density) in everything. To illustrate this do these four drills and than work with a partner and see how you fare differently.

1. Stand and very slowly raise your shoulders as high as possible to a twenty breath count and relax them again to the same count. Now repeat the same drill with the elbows to the sides and back and the fists to the front and to the opposite side (right fist goes to the left side parallel to the ground…)

2.  Stand and rise on your toes to the same count and as in all drills keep your breath leading movement and your body relaxed and upright and eyes forward and up. repeat the drill lifting your feet and remaining on the balls of your feet.

3. lie on your back and slowly arch your your back up and your feet pressed to the ground creating an arch with your entire body. note where the movement begins and as you repeat the drill a few times new places come to life out of the benefits of this slow movement.

4. lie on your stomach and place your arms to your sides creating a + sign. Press all limbs to the ground lifting the body off the ground and again as in the third drill feel where the movement actually begins and with slight repetition find new freedom of movement in you. Remember what Vladimir says. He is not flexible, he is free…

Place your hand on your partner in an open palm fashion and check that you are comfortable and avoiding spreading yourself. Tense your body from the toes to the hips and relax a few times letting the breath lead the movement and feel where the body naturally wants to go. Keep in mind also to touch your partner and avoid leaning on him or pressing him in any way. You loose your awareness and freedom this way. Now add the movement to the tensing and relaxing and connect it to your arm and palm to redirect your partner or change his alignment. Work from all sides of the person and include breath holding in this drill to learn to release the fear and tension of sudden contact.

Have your partner come and walk into your open hand or fist as you hold it in front of you and than to the sides and back and exhale the tension that comes from this contact. Start with your eyes closed.

Continue with your partner or partners coming to hit you or move you toward a chosen destination like the trunk or a car and you use your breath and tension wave first in full tension and as the awareness comes to the surface in a more economic fashion to redirect and control the situation to your survival.

Control of others can only blossom from control of self. There is no control without awareness and all things from humility to perception come from it. It is the beginning and the end. Pay attention.

Place you hand or fist on your partner and feel him breathe. Avoid pressing on him in any way and simply touch. Allow your breathing to sync and at any point sink you fist into your partner as you feel an opening or sifting. In this sinking simply move your body and relax the arm so it screws inward along with the opening in your partner density and allow your breath to keep going without stop. Do this several times for each arm and than move on to this:

Breath with your partner as you contact him without support and at some point change your breathing and see how this affects your partner. Do this several times and than progress to sinking in your partner as you change your breath and also a little before and a little after. The same can be done walking together and changing breathing pattern at once and noticing the difference and than adding a change in direction.

This is a sutle drill but the benefits to your striking will be very noticeable.

Have fun and change and vary each time you work. Learning and cleaning are the goals not the drill itself.

Attach a light point marker like the ones used in presentations to the end of the barrel of your rifle a stick a handgun or a simple pensile and point it at your partner. He or she will move logically so the barrel will not be pointing at them and your objective is to see what is happening as you direct the business end of your tool to your partner. Mind to avoid focusing on him because this will narrow your field of sight and allow him to manipulate your posture and direction and instead see the sights whether they are iron sights, laser or light or simply your awareness. This way you are free to move instead or reacting to an external trigger.

Next stand next to your partner and direct the tool to him in the same way minding not to fix your body by paying attention to the soles of your feet and how you choose to place your mass on them. Walk around them while keeping your eyes relaxed to see the next thing coming at your and allowing you to both see the objective and the rest without strain. Start slowly and note how the body can relax and change the alignment and the way you move your limbs to do the work instead of keeping a stance and moving rigidly and with a narrow line of sight. Using a heavy object such as a bag at the end of a stick is good to learn to shift your tension around in your body instead of tensing against it and loosing the battle against reality. Instead simply breathe and as you pay attention the logical solution will present itself. If you are in the armed forces or simply defending someone who cannot do this for himself place the strap or a bag at the end of your rifle or any tool and find a way to keep moving and staying relaxed. Remember life is movement and as you become rigid and strain against reality it will give you a hard lesson in humility. Start with humility and you are without limits.

Now have your partner move to end the possibility of you using this tool on him by taking the tool from you or taking you out of the work (for example a hit to the throat with a stick) or by directing the tool at you. Move slowly to avoid hurting each other but move with intent. Relax your face and remember to keep breathing and the idea of staying alive in mind. Again keep moving where there is less resistance so if for example your handgun hand is held move from the body and allow the elbow to move and keep the hollow in your partner to allow both to learn to move better. An inexpensive and good option to clean ideas of pride from yourself is to use a water gun where you can feel the hit and know that a wet arm or torso or even foot is a bleeding one in reality. Keep breathing and moving and avoid the downfall of pride. Learn from every contact and from everyone you meet and see.

Smiling is not prohibited.

Start with a partner and make threatening postures and movements toward each other. Notice the reaction in your body and intention and watch for the beginning of aggression. Now simply move and work without the aggression and note the difference in the result and the the mirroring of intention and escalation in each other.

Once you have done this and released a bit of tension from outside do a few slow push ups and squats tensing and relaxing body parts as you move and simply paying attention to the change in the whole body alignment in every breath.

Now place one arm or leg and have the partner push and move it using first his body (chest, back head) and than using limbs. First push and than allow the body to simply walk and feel where there is less support or attention in the partner and move logically.

Walk forward and in every step relax into a squat and up keeping your legs under you the entire time and avoiding tensing or spreading your legs more than it is comfortable. First walk and in each step inhale and than exhale. Progress to two steps of one continous inhale and than two of exhale and change directions backwards. Do this moving up in the breath scale and moving forward and backwards and than changing direction and your view in every step.

Have the partner push you using the hips and legs in walking and do one push from you and one from him. Stay in contact with each other the entire time to release the eyes to see more and to feel where you can sink in your movement. let the arms and shoulders and head participate in the push once you feel the body moving relax but as one and see how you can choose where to go no matter which tension or pressure is presented to you.

Add to this movement drill a grab or pinch or both from time to time in the tissue of the face or the clothes or anything that works and allow the breath to lead the movement and note how the body aware can move in more than one direction in order to survive and how you can choose to be tense and move at the same time. It is important to know how to change the movement and rhythm of the body without disturbing the awareness of the mind. Keep doing this drill until you can keep breathing without stop and can direct your self without a fixed rhythm or constant level of tension. To be free means you control your own tension and direct it. We are more than drums that make a noise simply when hit.

Have your partner move into you and you allow him no support except contact to give him a frame of location to follow. First move very slowly paying attention to yourself and where you wish to be and slowly relax your body and eyes and allow the breath to release the tension the partner is moving toward you and give him just enough contact so he spreads himself and has no aggression or tension to feed and work with.

Most important is to move with your own intention and not directed from outside. If there is for example a push in your chest you can move against it or around it or if you pay attention give it no support and feel where it is logical for you to move your body to finish the work. Keep in contact to know what your partner is doing but avoid following. Move slowly at first and remember it is not a match in a ring. Speed is paramount when surprise and guile are taken out of the equation. Stay within yourself and  keep breathing. It makes no matter who shoots first but who hits first

Keep breathing and paying attention. We are already alive so we just have to keep breathing

stand a pace or a bit more from the wall facing either direction and lean toward the wall with your feet relaxed and flat on the ground. Let one limb move from the body to contact the wall and direct and smooth your approach until your body is relaxed against the wall. use the same limb or another to push yourself back upright again without forcing a plan but by feeling where your body can go in each moment. For example we face the wall and collapse toward it with one fist leading. Your fist glides on the wall giving you just the right amount of support to remain calm and in control (pretty much the same thing) and than when before it becomes work to use the fist we move so the forearm provides the support and than the arm and shoulder and back upright. Do this first at a pace to keep things comfortable and progress to a pace and a half and than to two paces. This is a great way to learn to be free in your direction of your own tension and to free the spine and the entire body to move freely without tensing too much against anything. Repeat the drill with closed eyes with a partner if you have one and have him or her stand against the wall. Keep breathing and let the breath lead the movement. It may seem a bit slow at first but the speed will come with the awareness and it will be yours rather than a reaction of fear and tension.

One person stands before you and you use your hand to turn him so he doesn’t see you. It makes sense to do so if a person is acting hostile at times. Do this drill slowly so you find where he is open to the turning and use the lightest touch of your fingertips first and than the hand and only than the fist and arm. Keep breathing and as you progress have him press on you and than come to hit you as you do this simple drill. When you are aware the logical solution will simple be there for you in the way of running from the place or taking him down or simple taking a rock and hitting him in the top of the spine. Do this drill as  a person come to you first from the sides and than from the back and only at the end follow the path where you are attacked from the front. The chances are your attacker is not stupid.

Take a knife and start walking. hold it in different positions while keeping yourself comfortable and relaxed and see how you can work with the knife using just the body movement. Repeat the drill while sitting on your behind and moving about and also prone on the ground taking care to keep breathing and relaxing the eyes from focusing on objects and rotating yourself around a perceived interest.

Now start walking and as you walk move the knife at the end of your arm constantly and as you walk move the knife through the path you just covered so if someone is coming at you he or she will always be coming at the edge and not at you. Remember to move from the sides and back and not just following both eyes and see how you can relax and keep breathing and moving all at once.

Add a partner coming at you with a blade or something else and repeat the drill leaving something either behind where you just were to hit or stab or slash or lever and so on or walking/rolling/ moving out of the way and moving the blade or something else through the path minding not to get caught or tense and don’t forget to stop short the partner from time to time using a hit to his moving tension and keep breathing.

Stand between two partners and have them push you using one hand or fist from one to the other and at the same time turn you to face the other. In this drill focus on avoiding breath stops to think and work with the breath and not by manipulating it so you learn to use what you have at hand. Keep the body as relaxed as possible and using just the least amount of tension. Above all pay attention to the tension and alignment of your feet and legs so you feel when you are giving support to the other by working your tention against his or hers. Simply allow the contact to sink in and to feel where the door is already open. Don’t hurry, especially at first.

Repeat the drill using the legs to push and than the entire body.

Here are a series of drills to teach the feel and idea behind one of the short work tactics:

1 Start walking using the square breathing method and matching your breaths to your heartbeats and breath (one step per pulse and expanding the breath according to the pulse count) keep your arms up in different positions and mind the tension building in the arms and shoulders and release it with the breath. Pay attention to the pulse in the entire body and if you can connect the pulse from different spots to one beat.

This drill allows you to move with relaxed arms and eventually once you pay attention to let the body lead the movement in the arms. As the arms relax in different positions and you feel the pulse uniting you will allow the body to lead the arms and shoulders in a relaxed way with the least amount of tension (effectiveness and efficiency in one)

2 Do push ups on your fists tensing first the arms than the body and than the legs in turn and than choose a number and do this number of push ups using just one breath and learning to listen to the body and knowing when to change breath phases and at times to override it.

This drill allows you to move through the tension and to spread the awareness in the entire body and to move relaxed even when parts of you are tense.

3 Stand up and tense the body completely in one swift wave. Relax and feel where there is movement and exhale and massage the tension out of these places using the end of a stick.

This drill lets you feel the tension inside you in movement and to release it using the breath. The stick allows you to feel more tension so you have a comparison point.

4 Stand up and exhale until you feel you cannot exhale anymore with comfort. Hold your breath as long as you can and shake and move the tension building inside you. Remember to relax the spine and avoid crumbling your ribs inward.

This drill is excellent to learn to truly relax and to build your endurance mentally and physically. I can say it is one of the best drill to learn true relaxation when used wisely and with care. Don’t fight the tension within. Relax and simply be aware of it.

5 Have a partner walk through where you are and you simply move out of his way leaving the arms or a leg behind and letting it relax and become heavy as in the drill where you keep the arms in the air and as the contact forms exhale (later on you will be using all the breath phases) and let the movement go through you and when possible add something to it and remember the goal is to slow down the partner or opponent rather than speed past him or them.

This drill is good to learn that moving out of the way is logical to avoid being injured and to learn how you naturally position and move your limbs and if you can your body to move with and by that direct others. Remember that without self awareness there will be no control.

6 Have a partner pose as in an attack (for example arms out to strangle or strike) and you move the body out of the way and allow the arms to contact the partner and add to his tension (his intention is in his body tension and pose) so you can direct him to avoid injury and gain your freedom. Does this drill when his comes at your sides and back. Remember that people may from time to time attack not from the front J

This drill will allow you to feel how you tense when someone else is tense and to release the tension through breathing and movement and once you feel how easy it is to let go of the press back fear action it’s hold on you will be less and less noticeable. Remember to move very slowly at first and do this drill till you are comfortable and relaxed when a partner or more are sprinting at you with fists and feet.

7 Have a partner strike at you and move the body where it makes sense to move to avoid harm and let the arms and legs to contact and direct the partner working where you can add to his tension or striking where the tension is. For example if a partner is coming to wrap his arm around my neck from the side I may lift the shoulder closer to him as I move forward and as the body moves the arm comes around and strikes at the tension at the back of his neck or wraps around his arm and continues his movement to the side and throws him to the ground.

This drill allows you to work either with or disrupting the tension. You can strike to his bicep as it tenses up or allow the hand to relax and slide on the outer side of his arm as it straightens forward giving the appearance of support as you move forward and the elbow of the same hand connects with his ribs.

Have fun and if you are wondering about work at high speed simply try these drills and mail me if you still feel uncertain.

Start at the static push up position and have a partner lift up your feet using his hands. Your partner will walk in different directions and change directions and speed at will. You move using your body and arms and fists to remain relaxed and comfortable as possible. Remember to keep breathing and to find out how to keep your line of sight clear and free. Change roles and repeat a few times to learn to feel the changes in movement from the touch and to learn to navigate in different positions and limitations. Once you have done this repeat the drill facing up and if you cannot move using just your arms you will find a way to use shoulders and body and the rest of you to keep again as comfortable and free as possible.

There are physical aspects for prayers though stance is not among them because even a nice wave stance is still a constant that can be written down as an equation. Prayer comes to bring more life out of you and connect you to yourself. Prayer can come to you in the form of a vision of beautiful nature or a word from a friend and you are moved to prayer or you can choose to pray on your own in whatever situation you are and while you are engages in any action you choose. It is important to avoid becoming regimented in our minds. If for example you enjoy a ritual do so concisely rather than giving yourself to it. This way you choose it rather than being subjected to it. If you wish to use a wobble board simply place a plank on a basketball or a branch on a rock in nature and move freely rather than just back and forth or side to side. Try to advance and create rather than stay where you are. Our legs are for walking and if we let them, that’s just what they’ll do

Tense the front of your neck and than the left side and the back and than the right side creating a circle of tension and relax in the opposite directions. Do this on the inhale and than on the exhale. Now bend your neck in some way and repeat the drill. Do this several times to get to know how one tense spot affects the tension in others and than have a partner push your head using his fingertips first and you breathe and let the lightest movement move the head as you mind to let it move the least. For example if you have pressure on the side of the temple avoid moving from the neck and let the head move in more than one direction at once so the chin moves toward the tension and the forehead forward or backwards and the given result is much less discomforting and a lot swifter due to your awareness rather than speed. Repeat the drill as you tense one part of the neck and see how you can work around this tension and than as your partner strangles you in some hold and hits you with the other arm.

Nothing works better than brething so focus on it.

The ten minutes static push up can seem intimidating and at first you may feel a lot of tension building as you fight the tension instead of releasing it with the breath. Consider this way to reaching the mark:

Place a timer for ten minutes and start it. For every minute keep the static push up for thirty breaths working to stay relaxed using the exhale to out extra tension and the inhale to draw it from the body. Use the rest of the minute to move your fists around as you sit with a straight back and getting a feel of how a heavy fist feels. As time goes by increase the number of breaths until you fill the entire ten minutes but come back to this drill from time to time to get the feel of the moving heavy fist. Watch your wrist alignment and tension in the palm and fingers.

It’s ok to smile.

Thomas Aquinas made this argument in the 13th century, writing, “If a thing can be done adequately by means of one, it is superfluous to do it by means of several; for we observe that nature does not employ two instruments where one suffices.

In short: have a partner or more come at you and find a solution. Once this is done consider your choice and work again to clean out the extra movement and tension. Repeat and remember to avoid repeating the attack or defence or naming it as such. Keep things clean in your head as well. Placing a label on a movement robs it of its freedom.

I came back from the army yesterday and I have a lot more new drills to share. One of the most basic and more giving is to simply stand with your legs under your hips and lower your upper body upright a few centimeters down while maintaining a relaxed and free feeling in the hips and legs and keeping the eyes forward and up. Count to twenty breaths while in the exhale you release extra tension and than start walking for a few paces in this hight noting where the tension was and releasing it. The more you do this drill there will be more awareness to the tension in your body and you will be able to go lower and you will be more one body moving rather than parts here and parts there. Remember to bring your legs up rather than bend downward.

Place a fist to the face and relax, tense your neck and face to push the fist away and in this manner you learn which muscles you use to resist the movement. Exhale and relax those muscles and let the fist move without following it. Proceed to repeating this drill with your eyes closed and tensing up at the moment of contact and simply paying attention to the tension in the body. Proceed to focusing on breathing continuously as you are now hit from every angle and direction.

Proceed to letting the arms from the shoulders touch the hitting fists and arms or stick if you have one without moving or impacting on them.

Proceed to letting the head shoulders and arms move out of the way and into ending the attack on the same movement without creating any tension inside you from moving someone aside.

This is not always possible but a good drill to release fear of contact and learn to move.

Today I gave a night water lesson. We worked on grappling mostly with the legs being the primary movers and here are a few drills for starters:

Have your partner lift your legs high or support them on a floating object and do push ups facing the waves and thus learn to keep a positive pressure in your lungs (avoid water coming in) and learning to adapt the the air availability and inhaling when you can and exhaling when you need to.

keep the static push up again facing the waves and with the head completely in the water and lift your body and head together to breath only as much as it is needed and have the body move so you avoid cranking your neck up and out and moving with less tension.

Lie down in the waves so you are completely in the water and do sit ups with your back straight. You can only inhale on the top of the up and you must learn to relax the body from jack knifing so you can actually reach the surface in order to inhale.

Lie down facing away from the waves and when you feel the wave coming and the buoyancy starting to lift your upper body roll backwards and learn to move as a whole because otherwise you simply twist and go with the wave. Sometimes you need to transfer the movement to another body part and that includes the lift.

Stand chest deep in the water and start to squat measuring the speed and tension in your body so you can squat and avoid floating and jerking in the water. Learn to direct the mass of the movement so you have control through awareness of the direction and hold of your body.

After this we rolled in the water learning to keep the eyes open and to find with the arms where the surface is safe and where to guide the body in the water away from the sharp rocks and junk.

The rest of the lesson was about movement while in contact and taking down the partner using the water to your advantage. We shot a few movies but there was no light so nothing is discernible.

A big thank you to Vladimir Vasiliev and Mikhail Ryabko for the water lesson on DVD and in person.

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 have your partner walk through you and you move to stay comfortable and in a way you can always keep moving. Avoid getting into uncomfortable positions. Next have him come to you and you while both in movement redirect his movement paying attention to his sight and spine direction. Keep breathing and avoid fixating yourself to the ground in a push. Feel where the door is already open for this type of work.

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.

A new video from Systema Israel.

Tell us what you think.

Sharon.

Systema Israel.

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.