About Systema Founders Instructors Schedule Class Locations Photos FAQs Student's Diary Seminars News Articles Links Store		October 26 and 27 seminars with Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev Fighthouse NYC Reviews by Rachel Klingberg Photos by Igor Shteynberg >> Click for photos and reviews of Gunpoint Supremacy Seminars with Konstantin Komarov, November 9-11, 2007 Friday Friday was our 3-hour seminar with Mikhail. Vlad, Valerie, Martin, Valdis, and Frank A. were also on-hand to help out. I missed the first few minutes, because I was behind the front desk, doing registration. Even with four of us behind the counter, we could not get everyone registered fast enough. I had to bail out so I didn't miss too much of the training, but I did miss the introductory remarks.
		We started with some crowd work: walk through the middle of the room, and since we were standing in a circle, it gets pretty dense towards the center. We did the same with eyes closed. It is interesting to observe a crowd of reasonably relaxed people stiffen up and start fighting with each other to get through the crowd and to the other side. Many of these same people walk through crowded places like Grand Central Terminal every day without lashing out at the people nearby, but being in Systema class lends a different flavor, much as we may try to be everyday people, we often end up in fighting mode. On the same theme, we lay on the floor and crawled through the middle of the room on our backs, and then again on our stomachs. We were doing the "Systema crawl" where you propel yourself along with a wave-like movement, without using your arms. Of course this gets difficult as your reach the center of the room and everyone is massed together. I stayed clear of the melee, because I wanted to be careful not to hit my head. I was still recovering from my concussion. I did it only a few times. Later on Saturday, Vlad commended me for doing this even with my head injury. It did make me more scared than I would have been ordinarily, though I wasn't having any dizziness or other symptoms, except the fear of getting brain-damaged by taking another blow to the same place on my head (my physician had warned me strictly that a third concussion to that same place would result in permanent damage. But they tend to scare the repeat customers.) We did the same thing with eyes closed, and then partnered variations on this exercise: leading your partner, whose eyes are closed, through the crowd. Then giving just verbal direction, no touch, to a partner whose eyes are closed. Then to two and three people, all with eyes closed, first walking, then crawling, navigating solely on verbal direction from the 'leader.' I realized how difficult it was for me not to be the leader. As leader, I felt reasonably successful in getting my partners across the room. With someone else leading, I had trouble trusting their leadership. Mikhail said that training is like life and that these are scenarios from war and emergencies. He asked us for comments on how we felt about the exercises. I raised my hand and shared my own experience: When I had to be led by someone, I did not trust him. He told me to crawl straight but I sensed some empty space to my right. I went off on my own, got separated from my partners, and never made it across. They all did. I announced that in a real emergency, I would have died. As typical when you admit you screwed up, everyone laughed and laughed. Vlad in particular gave me a delighted look. I am always honest about my training but never imagined that my failure would be met with such amusement and delight from Vlad and Mikhail. In groups of 3 two people just stand a few feet apart, one of the two closes the eyes and the third person (the leader) gives directions to the person whos eyes are closed. The goal of the leader to tell the person whose eyes are closed how to throw the other person. The person being thrown does not do anything (does not help, does not resist). The catch was that the person giving the directions had to give them all at once, "Take two steps forward, put your left foot here..." then the person carrying out the instructions had proceed forward and do the throw exactly as described. So it was also a memory exercise, because the person giving directions wasn't allowed to 'coach' you once you started to move. It wasn't just about throwing the other person, but doing it exactly the way it was described by your partner, that was the hard part. We did knife work after the crowd work – one person draws, the other has to stop him. This was an awareness exercise, not a disarm drill. To stop the draw, you have to look at the whole person; the shoulder, the face, expression in the eyes. If you can push the shoulder back before the draw, that will prevent it. Mikhail demonstrated with his amazing skills; his slight-of-hand is better than any magician's. He easily outfoxed his opponents and drew the knife on them before they had time to react, and seemed to take much enjoyment in outwitting them. We did the same thing in groups of three: the one in the middle draws and the two on either end stop him. I was quite good at drawing and evading my two partners. I tricked them in all sorts of ways, going down, moving the non-drawing arm, faking them out, using Vlad's trick of scratching my head. They commended me on how well I was doing; by the time they tried to stop me, I already had the knife at their throat or kidney. "Yes, I'm a sneaky little b*tch, aren't I?" I said. Maybe I was a little too pleased with myself. I generally would not use that kind of language. But in some scenarios, like knife work, being a b*tch is not always a bad thing. But it took my two partners only a few tries to get the hang of being just as elusive as I was. I don't know why I took to it right away. Though I may have some skill with drawing the knife, I wouldn't say I'm especially fluent at using it. The knife I carry for self-protection, a small folder, would always be my last resort. But I've gotten better at the knife disarms. We did some of those, as well, though the emphasis was on preventing the draw. Mikhail insisted that we respect the knife and back away when our partners drew and threatened us with it. He also said, "Don't be a hero, it's always better to run away from a knife." This was a good point; too often the training knives make us complacent. Martin Wheeler once told our class he'd run from a schoolgirl with a rusty pocket knife. We did a little free work: draw, attack, and your partner has to disarm. I worked with several guys who were surprised at my skill. Most were pleasantly surprised. I guess they do not train with too many Systema women. Mikhail does not give extensive step-by-step directions; he gives the general idea, the theme of the exericise, demonstrates a few times, and leaves us to figure it out. Martin Wheeler went around the room assisting with the personalized instruction. We practiced keeping the blade flat while our partners rotated it around our arm and hand. This is tough – keeping it away from the inside of the wrist where the vital arteries are; always keeping the blade flat against the outside of the hand or the outer arm. I was working with Martin. "Is this really hard, or am I just dismal at it?" I asked. Martin told me it was hard but when I watched him do it, he made it look easy. Don't they always? Next we did similar work against the body – holding our own knives pressed to the body and partner trying to twist or rotate them to cut, while we had to keep the blade parallel and flat. This was a good deal easier than doing it just on the arm and hand. Later on, one of my classmates told me he looked over at me doing this exercise and though I looked great; he actually described my movement as 'lovely.' It was so kind of him to notice and to make a point to tell me! We did some cutting work on the ground, one partner presses the knife into the other, who lies flat, and then he has to escape and disarm. No thinking, just move. The guy I was working with was extraordinarily open. He didn't know much Systema but he had a good sound base to be an excellent practitioner. It's 90% attitude and his was very open and positive. I showed him a few tricks and tactics I've picked up with knife disarms from Edgar – just simple stuff like one-handed disarming, turning the knife back onto the attacker, and using the momentum of the thrust to initiate the disarms. He liked it a lot and would have been happy to learn more tactics, but we went back to the knife-pressed exercise. Next, a little free work on the ground, one partner attacks the other, who disarms. I was partnered with a woman from my class who's learning Systema very well. She's small and light and once she realized that she had to use her entire body weight, she picked up the groundwork very well. I told her to make sure to turn her body to get out of the way of the incoming blade. I only had to tell her once; she will never forget that. I guess it's sexist, but I find female beginners so much easier to teach than male beginners. They listen well, you don't have to repeat stuff, they are patient and don't expect to get it right away, but when they do get it, you can be sure they will never forget. This woman has only been training a few months and already has more self-defense skills than the average man she may encounter. Mikhail was in excellent spirits, often joking with us. He was much more talkative and witty than the first time I trained with him at Fighthouse. He seemed to be having a ball teaching us, and I sensed genuine enjoyment of teaching. He said that the seasoned gentleman of a certain age were the most tense, which I usually find to be true. It seems that sex has replaced the "buttering toast" analogy for Systema. He made a ribald joke about not being tense when you lay in bed with your wife – except one part! I had a great time on Friday night; it was a true joy to be there with our esteemed master, and several of his top students, as well as many like-minded people. I was sorry when the seminar ended, and my only consolation was that we'd do it again the next day, and for a bit longer. Thanks to everyone who attended, to Peggy and Edgar for putting together a great event on such short notice, and most of all to Mikhail and Vlad for sharing their immense knowledge with us. Spasibo! Saturday Mikhail asked us why we did the crowd work with eyes closed yesterday. Many answered awareness, sensitivity, trust, etc. He said all were right, but not the exact answer he was looking for. Finally someone answered "fire." MR asked how many of us had been in a real fire. I was surprised when about 10 people raised their hands. Mikhail said that when there is smoke, people drop to the ground and crawl. He gave some survival tips: put damp cloth on face, plastic bag over eyes, and if there is no liquid, pee on cloth if no liquid ("often we have to pee in these situations anyway," he quipped.) Mikhail said, "We never do stupid exercises – not enough time to show all we know." I remembered what he had said yesterday: that the drills aren't arbitrary but based in real war and survival situations. In the morning, we worked with the stick. Each of us took one, and Mikhail led us through some strengthening exercises. He said you needed strong hands and wrists to punch well. He had us bending our wrists over the stick, as if trying to snap the stick in half, downward, and upward. I found this to be good stretch for wrists, and it brings blood to hands. He asked us to move around, squat, sit, roll, all the while doing these wrist-strengthening exercises with the stick. Also propping the end of the stick on the floor and lifting the body by pulling the hands up the stick. Since everyone was so impressed with the stick video, and Mikhail said he's show some better work. He also said he and Vladimir are competitive since they both started at the same time, but I don't think is quite true – Mikhail has been training since the age of 5! I know that we did a lot more with the sticks in the morning, but I can't quite recall anything further. My memory isn't perfect. All I can say is that if you were there, I invite you to write your own review and maybe you'll recall more than I do. Mikhail then hit a volunteer with the stick, which looked quite painful. The guy was certainly very stoic about accepting these strikes. Mikhail also showed how to take the pain away. It was quite interesting. He pushed the tip of the stick into the stomach of the volunteer, which is where he had been hit. Then he kind of stirred the muscles with the stick, which dissipated the pain. He also demonstrated with a guy who I think had very little Systema experience. He had asked how to relax. I can't recall the exact details of the demonstration – I think the guy grabbed the end of the stick and Mikhail manipulated the other end to kind of shake him off. The thing I remember clearly is how tense the guy was. When Mikhail shook him off, he leaped up and down, landing with a hard thump on the ground. I have never seen anyone land so hard. It was like a breakfall using the feet instead of the hand. He was 'slapping' the floor with his feet and I was not sure why. I asked someone next to me and he said it was probably his previous training that had schooled him to land so hard. Mikhail told an anecdote of stick instructor who had never been hit by a stick. Mikhail offered to hit him, and he demonstrated how hard on the volunteer, striking him soundly, but being an experienced Systema student, he took the blow well. When he hit the stick instructor in the same way, he fell to his knees in pain. When he stood up, he said that he wasn't going to teach that BS anymore! The stick provided the means for the simplest demonstration of the no-contact work that I've ever seen. Using just the fists, people tend to disbelieve the no-contact work: "the guy is tanking," "it doesn't work on non-Systema people," "he's just waving his hands around." How many times have we heard or read such criticism about Mikhail's work? But no-one could say there's anything mystical or hocus-pocus about Mikhail's stick demonstration. The student who attacked him drew back when threatened with the stick. For obvious reasons, he wasn't about to run right into a sharp, pointy object. By waving the stick strategically, Mikhail showed how to control an opponent without touching him. The same principle would easily apply to knife work and on Friday, Mikhail encouraged us to respect the knife and jump out of the way if threatened with it. Mikhail also did a sword demonstration that segued from his stick demonstration. I noticed that the guy who demonstrated with him did reach for the sword a few times, which could be a very dangerous proposition with a real blade. Vlad took over in the afternoon and first led us through some interesting conditioning exercises. We did pushups, leg lifts, sit-ups, and squats in the following way: with maximum tension, with no tension at all, sort of wiggling up and down, and with a "spring" action. He also led us through different breathing patterns. I found that doing the exercise with tense muscles, especially the squats, helped my joints realign. Tensing the legs as hard as possible while doing a squat is so helpful for rusty knees. I now do squats this way frequently, as I think the benefits are substantial. Vlad asked us to do a simple avoidance exercise: one partner swings or thrusts the stick, the other avoids, staying close, laying a hand on the partner with the stick whenever possible. The thing to remember with this exercise is that, no matter how slowly your partner may be swinging the stick, you cannot reach for it, because it can really hurt if it hits your arms or hands. Your body is better equipped to handle the pain of a strike with the stick; rather than smashing your fingers, better to let it land on your shoulder (of course best of all is to avoid altogether). We did this both slow and fast, and then Mikhail asked pairs of students to come to the center and demonstrate their stick avoidance. I guess about half the class got up to demonstrate, one pair at a time, and Mikhail offered feedback. I told my partner if he wanted to demonstrate, just tap me on the shoulder, but he didn't think it was necessary and neither did I. I'm not one to draw attention to myself unnecessarily, but it was only in retrospect that I realized that getting critiqued on my movement by Mikhail would have been a good reason to draw attention to myself. Vlad had us hit each other with the sticks, to all the muscular parts. My partner wasn't hitting me very hard. This is the perennial pattern of my Systema training: most men don't hit me hard enough. I understand that they don't want to hit a woman. But the instructor generally notices such light hits, and then comes over to illustrate that I can take it by hitting me so hard I practically fall over. This is to show the guy that I am no wilting flower. In this case, I went to Vlad and asked him to hit me to show my partner the proper intensity. He hit me painfully hard on the arm, which not only hurt, but also left a stinging, burning sensation on the skin. "So the hit should be enough to make you move?" I asked, and Vlad said Yes, exactly. After that, my partner was willing to be a bit more adventurous. He pointed out that Vlad had used a downward shearing motion with the stick and that generated a lot more pain. This was a good tip and I shared it with the two guys next to us. Mikhail spoke a bit more towards the end of the seminar. He told a funny anecdote about flashy movements: when going to bed with your wife, do you jump in the air, fly around the light bulb a few times, then descend and go to bed? Of course not – she'd probably kick you out of bed! We also practiced gun draws, a kind of reprisal of Friday's knife draws. Mikhail told us that you don't have to draw immediately; the draw should be invisible. With his amazing sleight of hand, he reached for gun so opponent does not see it. He told us that not even the shoulder lifting should be perceptible. Then we did a drill where you put your arm on your partner's shoulder as soon as you see the movement to draw. It is very difficult to draw in such a way as to be undetected by your partner. Denis talked a little bit about what had been described to him as "Samson exercises" or Biblical training. Apparently descriptions of physical training are found in the Bible, exercises like carrying a donkey and other forms of strengthening and conditioning. Mikhail said that when the rest of the world was still apes roaming in trees, in the cradle of civilization, martial arts were being developed. I am curious about these Biblical references. I could not find them in a searchable annotated Bible, but I'm not as familiar with the Bible as many people are, so it will take a bit more research to find these references. The final demonstration was massage. Mikhail showed the 'tapping' massage with cupped hands that Vlad had also demonstrated in Charlotte. Mikhail's hands were a bit more cupped than Vlad's; Vlad had used two fingers. Mikhail said it was like reflexology. Pressure points on the hands and feet correspond to internal organs. He had Martin lay on his back and Mikhail applied the massage, spending a long time on his face, but tapping all parts of his body with his cupped palm. He said that the lips and eyes would feel big afterwards. As he proceeded with the massage, he asked Martin how he felt. "Deeply relaxed," Martin often answered. He said he felt heavy, relaxed, and disembodied. When Mikhail had completed the massage, Martin said it was like his eyes were floating two inches above head, and he had the "big eyes and lips" feeling that Mikhail had described earlier. He said it was like his eyes, lips, and nose were protruding to drain out the tension. Martin said it was like this one time he had been ill and couldn't eat for 5 days, then when he returned to training after 5 days without food, he resolved a multiple attackers situation in seconds, rather than minutes as usual. When Martin finally sat up, said "it's like everyone's in my bedroom!" He described the feeling as not in the future, not in past, but entirely right now. That was the last bit of work demonstrated and it seemed to me the seminar was over far too quickly. I had such a wonderful time training, learning from Mikhail and Vlad, enjoying their witty remarks and amazing demonstrations, not to mention going out for dinner and drinks afterward. It was a special week for NY Systema and I'm glad I had the chance to be a part of it. Thank you, Mikhail, Vlad, Edgar and Peggy, Martin, Kwan, Frankie, Frank A, and all who came out to train with us on such short notice. It was my privilege to train with you all and I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended.
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