Sharon's Systema blog

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.

Here are two breathing drills to help you see the power breath gives you.

Start by standing and slowly squat down with your back aligned going down in small steps as you exhale and relax. Once you are down move your hips and shoulders a bit to relax in this hight as well and slowly climb up in small steps using the inhale to move the body. This may seem strange at first but will help connect the gaps in letting the breath move you.

The second drill is just like the first only you drop and raise one hip at a time while keeping the spine aligned from it upwards.

Try them a few times with awareness to the small happenings and check how you work afterwards.

A simple note: To increase your awareness and power in a drill or work simply increase the number of breaths you take during it without dropping the count. Example: do a push up and breath once during it and try to increase it to ten per push up one by one. Than climb back down and note your progress in cleaning the tension.

Take note of the temperature of the air coming in. It is important.

Choose one of the four basics (push up, sit up, leg raise and squat) and do 1 per each breath phase. Prolong this to do 3 to 4 per phase and go to your max and try to go past it from time to time. For example if you can do 12 sit ups on the exhale, try to do more and relax to reach a higher level of relaxation. If you collapse keep moving through whatever breath phase comes next to learn to keep moving if you are hurt or surprised in a fight. Remember that the movement comes from the breath but you have to still do the work. Keep doing the work and moving as your control of breath is finished will help you reach a better level of calmness and lower your surprise rate in a fight.

Try it.

Start square breathing doing 2,2,2,2 on all phases or as high as you can 10 15 and start to move as if you are gliding on ice. If you have never done this imagine and start to move. Here focus on the hips and think of a flame coming from an oil lamp. The flame will align upwards no matter where the oil is tilted so relax the hips and let them move freely as the spine aligns underneath them to make your movement more free and relaxed. Relaxed means you are aware and controling the tension. It does not mean without tension at all. Only the dead have no tension in their bodies.

Bring up the shoulders and let the chest widen as you reach a point of difficulty. It lets the other two breathing ways work. You have the flat muscle under the lungs which massages the stomach and contracts and expands the lungs. You have the muscles between the ribs which protect and encase your lungs and the shoulders which expand the lungs as well.

Stand or sit on your knees under a door frame or post and place your hand one side of the door frame. Now turn as if you want to pass under the arm on the door and relax forward keeping your breath swift to exhale the tension that is brought up in this way and your feet relaxed on the ground. After you do this a few times it will relax and open your shoulders and it feels good after a long stay in one pose with the shoulders forward or with the neck looking up as you lie down. You can do this drill in many ways as long as you keep the goal or direction positive. Remember that a goal has an end and a direction has not. It can be both good and bad.