Sharon's Systema blog

Take your normal street or place you live in and walk a known stretch of it during the day. Stop every 100 meters or as many double steps it takes you to pass 100 meters and look back at the road your took and look for places where you are seen but do not see the observer yourself. Wait till dusk and cover the same stretch of land in the same direction and note how the play of light and shadow creates different blind spots and artificial illumination disrupts the perception of distance and height. Now repeat the drill at full darkness and if your breath changes in speed and depth. Listen to your heart beats and take more time to stop and look back not just into the shadows but to the illumination and what comes off it. Remember to take note of not only what you see but what is missing. Do you have different sounds than during the day, do the people dress differently and what is the minimal range from which you can identify a person or a vehicle ?

Count your breaths during a stretch of land like a 100 meters or so and compare it to the same distance in dusk and at night. Realizing you are afraid or with some sight problems can eliminate a lot of the problem. You can calm your breath only once you realize you are breathing too fast. You can do everything as long as you remain honest with yourself.

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.

With two or more partners choose the target man (or woman) and have all the partners walk into him in straight lines. Do a few minutes of this for each one as he evades getting hit by moving with the body and using both eyes to navigate and choose where you want to be.
Follow this by adding either a hit from the legs or arms or both and again you simply evade.
Now we add to this two things. One is that you will place one hand in your pocket or in your belt and you treat it as injures and unable to work (although you can also swing with injured limbs if the situation is dire enough) And two is that you close the eye on the same side of the injured arm. This will place you in a situation where you will see things when it is closer than before and you will have to move your body to respond. Work through this drill more than once to let you bring yourself back from the first state of disorientation and learn to move effectively with your body movement (walking and angles) to allow you to see more with what you have.

Work in teams of three or more with all of you cupping your hands over the back of your necks. Two or more work using their bodies and legs to fell the one and he has to stay upright and mobile. This is good to teach you to work with the body even if the arms are in a bad position or if you suffer from shock and cover your face and ears and if you tense up against the others you will fall or get hit and learn from their tension to relax and keep moving and to avoid fighting for land. This is sometimes a must in bodyguard work but the approach is different. Work and change jobs from time to time and you will learn to move better and to stay relaxed under tension.

Keep breathing and note that this position also narrows your field of sight. You will find that moving and turning serves you well to create a better field of sight and learn to do so even if the arms are free. practice this.

Here is a short sequence for awareness and relaxation:

1. Relax your eyes and broaden the scope to the sides. Do the same to the up and down and in the start you can help yourself broaden the scope of your sight by tracking your fingers moving as you move your hands to the sides of the head or up and down.

2. Maintain 1 and feel your pulse in your chest or throat and spread the feel of the pulse to the entire body.

3. maintain 1 and 2 and note where in your body you feel more heat and where you feel more tension and work till you cover your entire outer shell. (being aware to the heat in the outer shell is a start to controlling your body temperature)

A very simple note about working with a partner. Place both hands at your back and evade as your partner works with his fists on you. Look at all the open air around his fists and all the open ground around his feet. Change places and as you work with your fists look at all the things around you as well as your partner. Vladimir writes in the Systema guidebook to look up to open your horizons and it will be a great release from fear and restriction when you start to see the big picture.

When you work, you need to be inside yourself and choose where you want to be. If you chase someone or choose your position in relation to someone, than you are controlled and not controlling.