INSPIRED BY MOVEMENT… Film reviews

“It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see.” Thoreau

It is always nice to have a video of a seminar you have attended. It is also rather annoying to see the things you missed while you were there.
Vlad’s newest DVD: Movement and Precision is now among my favorites of his videos. The first thing I noticed was the superb camera work. The work itself takes place during the May 2009 seminar with Sergey Ozereliev and Vladimir Vasiliev, and what work it is!

Take your pick, there is something for everyone in this video: slow work, brutal work, partner work (one against two, two against one, two against two), exercises, and drills. There is also some fun! Seeing Vlad and Sergey doing knife work against one another is worth the price of this video alone. In all that Systema is (brutal yet fun, serious yet enjoyable), this video shows it if you will but see it.

In the midst of this video, a medical doctor and student of Systema, gives a great explanation on the difference between thinking, and feeling and the effects of learning.

Something a little different in this video is a Camera 2 segment. You see some of the same material except from another angle, from a different camera. This actually provides you with a greater sight picture, if you will.

Thankfully, what this video does not have is any fluff. There are no time fillers such as crowd scenes and the like.

This video really reminds me of what keeps me in Systema, the sheer fun of brutality.
Ok, that did not come out quite right.
The sheer joy of two professionals doing the work and sharing that work with us…

This is video is one to have.

Brad Scheel
Systema Instructor teaching in Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Strength and Flexibility… Two Birds, One Stone
by Kwan Lee

Strength and flexibility… these are two things that everyone wants to develop and improve but are rarely combined together in proper balance.

A major hurdle for most beginning Systema practitioners is understanding the nature of tension in their bodies and being able to relax parts of the body that are not needed while working alone or with partners. Instead of engaging sets of elements along a kinetic chain (like the leg or arm) as is usually done in traditional strength moves, the work in Systema requires the ability to generate strength and flexibility together in a very controlled way to help you escape destructive energy or protect yourself while falling down.

One unique feature of Systema conditioning is that many of the exercises stretch and strengthen the body at the same time in a healthy and functional way this allows the student to gain control of individual elements in their bodies so that they can use less energy and get out of their own way. There are simply no other mainstream methods that match the effectiveness of this approach when it is combined with proper breathing.

Try standing up from a prone position without using your arms, and you will immediately realize that you need to work the connective tissues first (tendons and ligaments), in order to gain favorable positioning. Then, as the joints are beginning to lift off of the ground, the work and strain is more apparent and more heavily focused at the tendons. As you get to a place of leverage with your legs, the muscles can then be utilized more directly. Doing these kinds of movements slowly allows you to keep the focus on the connective tissues while engaging the breath. If you try to power through this exercise, you may find yourself holding your breath involuntarily and even causing sprains in the muscles or worse.

There are countless exercises that stress the tendons in this way. Done over time, you can strengthen tendons and ligaments by stressing them and at the same time expanding your ability to work at the extreme ranges of motion, places where the traditional notion of work and strength do not apply.

Understanding the interaction of the muscles, joints, and connective tissues in load-bearing movements and developing selective control over these elements in uncomfortable positions is the key to progressing toward the natural, free-flowing, effortless, and precise movement that is displayed by the masters in Systema.

About the author.
Kwan Lee is one of the top senior instructors of Systema for Vladimir Vasiliev. Currently living in Phoenix, Arizona, he is the Director and Chief Instructor of Russian Martial Art Arizona and a structural engineer for military aerospace. He teaches classes and seminars to law enforcement officers, military personnel, and the general public.

WHY SYSTEMA?
by Martin WheelerOver the recent years I have read with interest on the internet back and forth as to the validity of training in Systema by observers who have only viewed experts in the art on YouTube or video. Usually a comparison is made to the most visual of fighting arts, mixed martial arts. The same types of questions are posted over and over again, “Why do they train slowly? Why does this look way too easy? Why did that guy fall over and seem unable to get back up?”

And I read with equal interest the various ways in which the art is defended by practitioners of Systema. Not that they are not valid questions, they definitely are, it is just I rarely hear these same questions from anyone in seminars, classes, or in sparring sessions, no matter what their background or what speed they work at.

Just for the sake of balance, I began in the martial arts at a tender age and have studied in many full contact environments from boxing systems to grappling systems, to clever weapons based and ‘street-fighting’ arts, and have enjoyed sparring, fighting and training for the last thirty years with anyone who’s paths I have crossed from beginners to world-class full contact fighters. I was a bouncer for ten years and I am currently contracted to share my views on close-quarter-combatives with professionals from elite security services around the world, as-well-as MMA fighters, Systema practitioners, traditional martial artists and civilians.

So why, if I have studied all these other full contact systems with relative success, would I choose Systema?

For me that is easy to answer. It’s because I have tried it. I am just one of many who brought whatever I had in my little bag of tricks to test Vladimir Vasiliev, or heaven forbid, Mikhail Ryabko, when I first met them. And I have yet to see anyone who did not come out the other end of the experience the same as I did, that is to say, confused, in pain but with a profound insight into the fact that something fundamental had changed.
To put it mildly, there is a lot more going on with Systema than meets the eye. And if there were not, if you could really just see what was happening by watching it on YouTube, then it would not be very good Systema.

Mixed martial arts are dramatic, fast and superbly visual. The best method for two pugilistic grapplers to go at it since the gladiators of old Rome. You can see what is happening and the results are self evident. It hosts some of the best conditioned and most versatile athletes.

I love to watch it, I love to train in it and always enjoy working with anyone from that world. And in my opinion, anyone who trains in MMA who is even half decent, a man or woman, is to be taken very seriously.

So I hear you ask: Well, if Systema is so good why isn’t it in the UFC? And I think that is an excellent question.

But I might ask: Well, if the UFC was any good why don’t they throw a knife in the cage?

As unrealistic as that is, maybe you get my point? The dynamic of a fight would change immediately if a knife were indeed tossed into the cage. You would see two highly trained fighters having to immediately adapt to a completely new set of rules or die almost instantaneously.
I think anyone would agree that eating jabs from a skilled fighter, possibly the least lethal of MMA striking attacks, sucks, but by comparison is quite pleasant compared to a single knife wound.

When I first trained with Vladimir he stopped me in the middle of a sparring session and said in his own inimitable way, ‘Martin, I know men that you would take to pieces in the ring’. Of course, stupidly beaming with pride I thought he was complimenting me, until he turned away to attend another student and added flatly… ‘But they would kill you.’

And there’s the rub. Almost every visible strategy, philosophy and motion that is great in an MMA sport environment is useful in the street and even on the battlefield. But only useful. Whereas everything in Systema is purposely designed for both of the later environments, is not visual, and has been proven as effective in those arenas as MMA has in the cage. Systema’s structure is intentionally designed to appear structureless, and the speed of the action although registering as slow to the eye is actually a highly developed relational timing, deceptive due to the Systema practitioner remaining calm.

Recently I was invited to introduce the concept of Systema to an overseas Special Operations Unit. While there, I was shown a video of various instructors that had been invited to train their operators and show what they had to offer. Among them was a top MMA coach from Pride. I asked what they thought of his training. ‘Excellent’ the Colonel said ‘but for us, virtually useless.’

This is in no way disparaging to the Pride coach, he was obviously excellent. But the fact remains, what is good in one arena is not necessarily good for another. Systema is not designed primarily for a sport environment or a sport mentality anymore than MMA is primarily designed for a battlefield environment or a combat mentality.

One could train for twenty years in Jujitsu, for example, and be an amazing grappler. But if you were to introduce just one more opponent into the fight you would not be doing Jujitsu anymore. It is simply not designed for fighting two opponents efficiently at the same time, even on the ground. It is primarily structured to fight one opponent at a time.

I am not saying the Jujitsu fighter would not prevail, I am merely suggesting that if he had to fight two or more possibly armed opponents at the same time on a daily basis then his training might soon start to look, at least from the outside, like Systema. And then armed with that knowledge, the way he worked against a single opponent again would also dramatically change. After ten years or so it would look as alien to another Jujitsu practitioner observing it from the outside as Systema does now after centuries of refinement.

Systema, as a martial art, in the form it exists now is primarily designed for real life application, it works for unpredictable situations (such as multiple opponents, various weapons, uneven terrains, poor lighting, confined space, etc.) for professionals in the military, law enforcement and security, for someone who’s got to fight while injured or wounded or has to protect a woman or child, for someone who is older or in a poor physical condition. Training and fighting in Systema is designed to avoid injuries, and even heal your old ones. And that requires a very different bag of tricks, look and feel to a sport fighting art.

Although, as Vladimir once remarked with that casual profound quietness ‘Systema just happens to be a martial art’. And to have any understanding of that gem, one cannot merely observe it from the outside…

About the author.
Martin Wheeler is a Senior U.S. Systema Instructor certified under Vladimir Vasiliev. Martin is teaching regular Systema classes at Los Angeles School of Russian Martial Art. He has trained in the martial arts for over thirty years ranging from Boxing, Grappling, Weapons fighting, Kenpo Karate and for 10 years in Systema. He is contracted to teach SWAT teams and Special Operations Units and is also produced Hollywood screen writer.

Here is another great article by Emmanuel Manolakakis…

Will You Achieve Your Health & Fitness Goals?

With commitment and responsibility,
Emmanuel

This article was written by a good friend and mentor Emmanuel Manolakakis…

Paying attention to yourself, to others and to the situations.

”Pay attention to others’

Flow, the Psychology of Optimal Experience, 
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 

“We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like….. moments like these are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times…the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

An engaging book, packed with information and new ways of thinking about life. Csikszentmihalyi has spent his professional life researching happiness, and his conclusions have led him to believe (with considerable evidence) that most people are happiest at these times when they are stretching themselves to achieve something.

The conditions for the ideal flow activities are that they provide a sense of discovery, a creative feeling of transporting the person into a new reality. They push the person into higher levels of performance, and lead to previously undreamed-of states of consciousness. They transform the self by making it more complex. In turn that means that the activity needs to continue to grow and become more complex so that it continues to provide the growth and challenge to make it meaningful. 
The book goes on to describe all the different ways in which people have achieved flow throughout the centuries, and how much of music, art, literature and religion can be viewed through a lens which suggests that they are all ways in which the human race tries to formalise ways in which flow can be achieved more easily.

Hey Guys & Biff

We had an unexpected change of venue for practices and
wanted to keep you updated so you can find us the next time
you come to train…

We will be training starting this Thursday at Hogan’s Fountain in Cherokee Park…

Click on the link for the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hogan%27s+fountain+louisville,+kentucky&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.701751,56.601563&ie=UTF8&ll=38.263524,-85.717564&spn=0.061326,0.11055&z=13&iwloc=B

The times are going to remain the same which are:

Thurdays from 6:30 to 8:30pm

and

Saturdays from 9:30 to 11:30am

The training will be outside so dress according to the weather.  There are sheltered places around just incase we have any more ice storms! 

Once again here is the link to find our new training location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hogan%27s+fountain+louisville,+kentucky&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.701751,56.601563&ie=UTF8&ll=38.263524,-85.717564&spn=0.061326,0.11055&z=13&iwloc=B

Talk soon,

Bill

P.S. - If you have any difficulties locating us just give me a call at 502.664.7179

by Stanley Pranin

Published Online

Seeing Systema for the first time

Mikhail Ryabko

My first exposure to Systema, the Russian Martial Art popularized by Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev, came in April 2001. I was in attendance at the formal presentation of a Shindo Yoshin-ryu Menkyo Kaiden to Sensei Toby Threadgill in Dallas, Texas. At the party following the ceremony, a group gathered in the living room to watch martial arts videos. At least 20 of us—mostly seasoned martial artists with decades of training experience—watched parts of videotapes of several styles and eventually got to one on a Russian martial art that most were seeing for the first time.

The tape featured a certain Mikhail Ryabko conducting a seminar in Russia for a group of visiting foreign martial artists. Mikhail. a recently-retired colonel in the Russian Army, is a short, stout man with incredible sensitivity whose movements seemed more “aiki”-like than what goes on in most aikido dojos. The husky foreign students on the video were obviously strong, experienced people and Mikhail easily dispatched them in a way that might look faked to the untrained eye. We all were captivated by Mikhail’s skills and some very nice compliments were offered by those present. I made a mental note to check out this Systema more in detail at some later date.

James Williams

A few months later I received an enthusiastic call from James Williams of Bugei Trading Company who had visited Toronto to attend a Systema seminar taught by Mikhail Ryabko and hosted by Vladimir Vasiliev. James, as is well-known to many Aikido Journal readers, has an extensive background in both empty-handed and weapons-based arts and is not easily impressed. He was effusive in his praise of Mikhail and Vladimir and went on to say that he had never seen a teaching methodology that could develop skilled students so quickly.

Shortly thereafter, I purchased several Systema tapes featuring Mikhail and Vladimir to take a closer look for myself. What I saw was truly impressive! The scope of the curriculum and sophistication of the techniques were remarkable. Not only did I want to try Systema myself, but I got to thinking that cross-training in this art might be of great benefit to aikidoka so compatible were the two systems. It was a natural jump from there to proposing to James that Systema might fit very nicely with the theme of Aiki Expo 2003. James liked the idea and, on my urging, extended an invitation to Vladimir Vasiliev to join our group of seminar instructors at this year’s Aiki Expo. Vladimir seemed pleased at this invitation coming from outside of the Systema circle and accepted.

Since I still had no first hand knowledge of Systema, I talked with James about going to Toronto to meet with Vladimir in person. James, whose enthusiam for Systema had redoubled after traveling to Moscow to again train with Mikhail, seemed to be looking for a good excuse to go a second time to Toronto.

To Toronto with James to meet Vladimir

Vladimir Vasiliev

On October 10, 2002, James and I boarded a plane for Toronto to spend the weekend training with Vladimir and his students. We scheduled a time to meet with Vladimir privately to conduct an interview and to explain in greater detail the concept behind Aiki Expo 2003. I had high expectations about Vladimir based on what James had told me and my viewing of the Systema videotapes. Vladimir didn’t disappoint. He is one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met and a credit to the kind of person that Systema develops. His skills are astounding and in perfect consonnance with the philosophy of aikido. He never opposes an attack, but blends and leads the attacker into a fall or submission. Vladimir is humble but with complete confidence born of his many years of training and exposure to life-and-death situations.

Out on the mat I found the training in Systema to be very rigorous. It includes lots of pushups, situps, varied breathing exercises, and body strengthening exercises. Since it is so demanding, anyone who seriously trains will become very fit quickly. The techniques themselves are applied with wave and spiral-type motions which can transform into a cascade of follow-up movements depending on the reaction of the attacker. An important part of training time is devoted to light, sparring exercises that are quite enjoyable and constantly challenge you to resist the temptation to use power. Systema techniques performed at the highest level use only the minimum amount of energy and operate largely on a mental/psychic plane. Also, the variety of training scenarios is vast ranging from empty-handed attacks, to the use of various street and military weapons, multiple attacks, car-jackings, bodyguarding work, etc. You name it, Systema has a body of techniques to deal with it.

Vladimir has produced a series of more than 10 videotapes featuring Mikhail Ryabko and himself that are highly recommended.

James and I and two other visiting Americans were invited to Vladimir’s house for lunch on Saturday afternoon. His gracious wife Valerie and their three girls comprise the other members of the close-knit Vasiliev family. We had a chance to talk at length and I found Vladimir to be a deep thinker and, by nature, very spiritual. He also has a terrific sense of humor. Although not at liberty to discuss most aspects of his military career, he did relate a few episodes that underscored the life-and-death nature of some of his assignments.

Like Mikhail Ryabko, Vladimir is also a religious person. From visiting his home it was apparent by the prominent placement of Russian Orthodox icons that religious observances are a daily part of his family’s life. Having an intimate relationship with the Creator is an essential tenet of the Systema philosophy. Here are some quotes from a booklet he published a few years ago that touch on this theme:

Religion is [also] important. Realizing that, despite your skills and experience, you are still below God is essential. Humility must be served. Staying in contact with your “good” side and regular prayer are essential to a true master of the Russian Martial Art…

Certainly, not everyone who practiced these arts became good and respectful of God and nature, but the best masters did. When you reach a very high level of training, you come to understand that there is something beyond you. This understanding brings you to new levels of ability.

From The Russian System Guidebook, by Vladimir Vasiliev

Quoting Mikhail on religion during our conversation, Vladimir also related this semi-humorous and very perceptive remark: “[Mikhail] says, ‘There are no atheists in the trenches. Soldiers think of God ‘just in case.’

About Systema

The Systema that is being taught today to the general public has been refined by Mikhail Ryabko and disseminated by several of his students in Europe and North America. Mikhail Ryabko currently resides in Moscow and is an advisor to the Minister of Justice in Russia. In addition to his military duties and teaching assignments, Mikhail also hosts groups of foreign students who come to him for intensive training in Moscow.

Vladimir Vasiliev is one of Mikhail’s top students and relocated to Canada in 1993. He spent some 10 years with a Special Operations Unit of the Russian Army Special Forces. Vladimir operates a successful school in Toronto and teaches mainly in Canada and the USA.

The antecedents of Systema go far back in Russian history and much of the credit for the preservation of these traditions is due to Russian Orthodox monasteries. Following the Russian Revolution the military coopted these fighting skills and taught them to elite troops. Mikhail states that he received his training from one of Stalin’s bodyguards starting from boyhood. He further refined the knowledge transmitted to him eventually developing Systema into its modern form.

The technical curriculum taught to the Spetsnaz forces is extremely rigorous and designed to eliminate the fear of death in the trainees. Many of the drills inflict tremendous pain and suffering among the men in an effort to harden them for the battlefield and dangerous special missions. The training develops the trainees’ intuition to a high degree and teaches them to act spontaneously when in harm’s way.

Vladimir in action

In reading a description of some of the training exercises these men are put through, one is both shocked and fascinated at the same time that human beings can endure such treatment and maintain a state of mental equanimity. It’s hard to imagine anyone more prepared than these men for the kind of dangerous operations they carry out.

Vladimir Vasiliev’s training philosophy

Here are a few quotes from the above-mentioned booklet that will give some insight into Vladimir’s personal training approach which has been adapted for teaching to the general public:

… [I] try to keep the training sessions fun and urge you to do so, too. You should be serious on the inside, but on the outside look so as to relax your opponent. Again, I must make this point: If you’re serious when there is no threat, when a threat really does arrive you’ll be left with nothing in reserve. You’ve used yourself up and left no more room to make the transition from civilian to warrior.… to master this system you must also be able to move so that your appendages and the rest of your body can move in different ways simultaneously. It’s a kind of 3-dimensional movement of the body.

All movements should be dynamic and multi-functional. You should never move just for the sake of moving. And at any moment, the whole body should be perceived and used as a complete system. Though one part of the body may be moved while others relax, they should never be cut off or physically or psychologically separated from the actions of the other parts.

… it is also essential to learn what your natural response is so that you can guard against it when in situations where it may be harmful…. awareness of your own body and identity along with what’s going on around you is essential to mastery of the Russian system.

Russian Health Method

Vladimir also practices a Russian health system that was developed by a philosopher named Porfiri Ivanov. This method was also a part of his training while serving in the Special Operations Unit in the Russian Army. The premise of this approach is to anticipate physical problems before they occur and stimulate the body’s immune system to ward off disease. Great care is taken to prevent the body and mind from reaching a state of exhaustion. Special breathing exercises and daily cold-water dowsing are used to energize the body and are important parts of this health method.

Systema and Aikido

Soon after getting my first serious glimpse of Systema, I began thinking that many of the principles and training methods employed by Mikhail and Vladimir might be highly relevant to aikido practice. As you know, the theme of Aiki Expo 2003 is “Realizing Aikido’s Potential.” Basically with Aiki Expo 2003, our hope is to bring to the forefront the martial aspect of aikido that has become rather neglected in the modern forms of the art. I believe Systema can play a significant role in this regard. We hope to have serious aikidoka reevaluate their training approaches and consider bringing their current practice more in line with the techniques and philosophy of Founder Morihei Ueshiba.

Ueshiba O-Sensei was heavily influenced by the Omoto religion during a turbulent time of Japanese hisotry. He emphasized both the martial and spiritual aspects of aikido and considered the two inseparable. Systema was born out of centuries of technical refinement on the battlefield as Russians repelled a multitude of enemies under vastly different combative conditions. It has had strong ties to the Russian Orthodox Church historically, a tradition that continues with Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev. With its dual emphasis on the martial and the spiritual, Systema shares much common ground with aikido. Aikidoka looking to revitalize their training will find in the techniques of Systema a powerful, energizing example. Systema will find in the aikido world a large community of serious-minded and ethical people desirous of impacting society in a positive, moral way.

I am certain that Systema will impact Aiki Expo 2003 in a major way that special weekend of September 19-21. I am equally sure that the interaction between Vladimir Vasiliev and the other Expo instructors and participants will result in the blossoming of lasting friendships and important interactions that will reshape our thinking and practice of aikido.

Stanley Pranin
February 2003

Those interested in more information on Systema and the relevant products we offer at Aikido Journal are encourage to click here.