Vigilance & Tranquility

ransuru — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:44:37 +0000

Stand on one leg and start to move in a circle in one spot keeping yourself upright or finding what happens when you do not.

Next move on one leg without leaving the ground in a straight line back and forth learning to relax the focus in the eyes and to avoid tension in your movement.

Next squat down a bit on one leg to a quarter squat and repeat the drills written above

Squat half way and repeat the drills

Close your eyes and repeat the drills

Stand on one leg and have a partner move you gently (using either a blade, a stick length or a fist and touching everywhere) and you move without moving your leg off the ground as much as possible and focusing on your breath

Next repeat the drill with you moving as little as possible.

One of the best reasons to smile is that it relaxes the whole body and the mind. Remember that you have emotions but you are not the emotions.

Smile

Water in the waves

ransuru — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:17:51 +0000

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.

SYSTEMA ISRAEL forearm education

ransuru — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:24:49 +0000

ransuru — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:21:26 +0000

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.

ransuru — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:52:17 +0000

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.

ransuru — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:53:47 +0000

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.

ransuru — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:24:07 +0000

ransuru — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:23:16 +0000

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…

ransuru — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:43:05 +0000

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.

ransuru — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:31:08 +0000

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.