Moscow Training Log 03 (09/01/2015 19:00) Instructor: Artem Usov In class today were two new French guys who happened to have watched at least one video of Mikhail Ryabko and were coming to Moscow and decided to try Systema out for the first time. They had with them a translator who I think is one of their sisters. That lead to an interesting class for everyone and a free translator for me which is great since Artem speaks little English! Unfortunately (I should not bemoan this too much), she later translated primarily into French and I was still lost. Class started with an introduction to Systema, how to stand properly and breathe properly. It turns out I probably haven’t even been standing optimally. When Artem was describing what was the proper posture (50% of the weight in the left leg and 50% in the right), some guy said he had legs of differing length and Artem’s response was actually quite interesting. He just kinda brushed it off and said in his typical way: “Komfort”. He did say a sentence about it but basically there isn’t a whole lot of explanation to it – do what is comfortable. The implication being that you have to know what is comfortable and by extension you have to know yourself. We then did some breathing and walking exercises and difficult variants of the push up and squat. The push up I could handle, but the squat (with on partner sitting on the shoulders of the other) I could not do without breaking form. Bah. And then we began the work. Simple pushes with a relaxed body only tensing the fist as if you were catching a fly that is kept alive in your fist, good form not allowing your wrist to bend inwards or outwards (the direction if you tried to touch your wrist with your fingers) although upwards and downward (when you hold a sword or cup) bends are allowable and pushing not from the shoulder but the fist. I’ve mentioned this before when I teach (push with the fist), but I just felt like a fool when I was in class since the power I generate is so little. So I decided to ask a seasoned practitioner who spoke English how to push. He laughed and said: “Actually you push with the soul, but it is hard to describe so we say push with the fist.” I’m genuinely not quite sure I understand this now. However (I’m not too sure whether this is relevant), but I was trying to look for some Greek words on Biblical exegesis and it turns out the psyche is the Greek word for soul. I’m guessing there is a link. Artem also mentioned that when you push you should have freedom and good posture, not being afraid to move instead of just standing there. Freedom in the psyche does really make a difference in the work as we all know. The whole class was basically around this concept of pushing with small increments in difficulty (which really… it was already out of our reach enough) interspersed with demonstrations. It was good to get pushed around by Artem who I think really was trying to highlight in his demonstrations the whole time the difference between training and real life. In training you let yourself be uncomfortable to know yourself better. You let your partner push you because you want to feel the tension in your body to know yourself better. All this is related to honest work. The difference between Systema and a competitive sport is that in Systema you get a chance to strip away the pretence you learn from young, to clear away the stuff that has layered over the sculpture. One of the French guys said during the circle that it was like philosophical and asked why honest work was so important. Artem mentioned that it was because of the Orthodox teaching and that God made people with an “ideal” which we can work towards. Comfort. Freedom. Honesty. Words which carry such weight beyond our martial training.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:50:24 +0000
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