Sharon's Systema blog

When we receive a hit we breath it out but if we cannot breath because we are gagged, chocked or underwater we need to use movement to let the strike move and clear out. Start by breathing normally and having your partner stop you at any time according to what he sees as right (too much air, too little or anything that catches the eye) now start by pushing and as you hold your breath you move just enough to move the hit out, down or up and away. Keep this until you cannot hold your breath anymore and than change places. Do this for a while and than do a few rolls to clean the body of accumulated tension and repeat the drill using hits. Build this slowly to avoid harming each other and allow yourself to move freely without judgement to find out more about your movement under tension. This is not a complex drill but simple is not always easy.

To learn to find and use pressure points as people call them or tension points as they are in structure, simply have a partner lie on the ground and roll forward using just light touch of your finger tips. Relax your wrist as you do the elbow in hitting and allow it to sink and roll into the body to encourage the partner to roll. Remember to keep yourself comfortable in order to be aware and than repeat with you facing away from him and roll him backwards as you squat and walk with no knee contact with the ground. This way you learn to use this with some tension already in the mix and you learn not to sacrifice your alignment in order to chase a spot.

We are used to articulate ourselves with our mouths fingers and feet at the phone, the wheel, the levers and so on. Work on gaining more awareness and control by drawing the numbers in the air using your elbows, shoulders, knees and heels while on the ground and than standing. First draw 1-20 and than after you go though the list, do the same numbers only now draw from the opposite direction meaning by starting to draw from where you previously ended and remember you can use your body to move the focus by walking you draw a line in the air with your every point. Keep this in mind as you work.

Write a list of five basic actions you take and than do them very slowly twice. We do them twice in order to let the body and mind feel the difference and we do it slowly to expand our attention to more of what is happening and to become aware of our weaknesses.

For example: Climbing a flight of stairs.
                    Typing on the keyboard
                    reaching overhead for a plate or a shelve
                    tying your shoe laces
                    putting your wrist watch on

Check where your eyes are and do you really need them there? How are you breathing, how is your alignment, are you tensed up without need, can you do it in a more comfortable way and so on.

Another way to do this is with a partner who tells you to freeze whenever something "pops" in his eyes and you have to gather something for yourself within the freeze and only them move ahead with the task.

Take your stick and a small ball or a few of them (about the size of a large marble or one of the small rubber balls for kids to bounce off walls) Place the ball on the ground and slowly use the stick to move the ball by touching first and than moving it without loosing contact. Do this for a while as you relax the shoulders and hips so you don't become bent from the attention and than using a wall send the ball to bounce off the wall and play return with it for a while. Un-focus your eyes and let them take in all that is around you. Once this is done Throw the ball in the air and work on directing it either up or down using the end of the stick. Remember to move from the body and use a comfortable grip. Place no importance on where you start the movement from (left right high low) and remember that the body when aligned can move in any direction from any location.
Throw the ball behind you or in front of you with your eyes closed and than open them and work. Have a partner help you with this if you can and work also using either hand or or from the position of holding the stick as a walking stick. Relax your face and keep your breath going. Close either eye and work to find your range of vision and how you can best move to survive with this happening to you.

Remember that it is easier to keep moving than to move and stop and move. Keep your breath going. It is the beginning of all movement.

Take a partner or better yet your child and sit or stand comfortably with them. Relax your eyes by avoiding focusing on one thing or traveling from one thing to another all the time and see his chest and throat move with the breathing. Observe for a while and than start to breathe with him and follow his changes in breath. Feel if there is a difference in your interaction and than with your partner or if your child is grown enough work on a drill like take downs or hitting and while you do this observe the breathing again and note to yourself how this works for you.

Have a partner put you in a lock or lever such as a wrist twist which causes the tension to move from the impacted joint to the next in the tension chain and breath. Relax and walk and as you walk move your entire body to move that impacted body part and find the opening in your partner through this contact. For example if your partner takes your hand and and turns it so your little finger is facing up and and your elbow is twisted to point at your middle, relax your hand and become aware of his intended movement and tension and for example note that he is leaning on the hand forward. Take a step to the side to allow him to complete his movement and at the same time move your hand so he is unbalanced. This takes a lot of patience and awareness to do so progress slowly and don't be afraid of moving all your body at the same time. Kneel, lever your own limbs, use your neck as a fulcrum and so on. Learn to find a way.

Lie face down on the ground and place a flat hand under your chest. Slowly inhale and using the movement of the inhale lift your chest and head supported by the part touching the hand. Exhale and let it come down at the same pace. Repeat this in both directions up and down and and work on first relaxing your body despite the disturbance of the hand and than becoming aware of the movement you have in the area the hand touches and than from that location to the rest of you.

Repeat this process using a fist after you have done it with a flat hand and use both hands in different locations and one over the other to see how you find a way to move.

Work on letting the breath actually move you and add to that and see how you fare afterwards in the rest of the drills. Remember you have to work constantly to clean yourself as tension is building all the time. Have a partner aid you by placing a stick under you and moving it from place to place and afterwards add to this a knee or a foot on the opposing side of the stick to help you learn to be free under pressure.

Do the same drill facing up and remember to keep the spine safe.