Martin Wheeler Guest Teacher - Friday, June 2nd, 2006

Martin Wheeler Guest Teacher - Friday, June 2nd, 2006

I forgot to add that Martin Wheeler guest-taught the Friday evening class preceeding Vlad's seminars. Mostly we practiced wrestling moves, and defense against attacks from the ground. It was a horribly hot and humid day, the air was cloying even with the ceiling fans. Martin started us with fairly light warmups, pushups and situps, and squats in groups of three with arms latched, back-to-back. We also had to roll in groups of three with arms latched, which was quite difficult. When it was my turn to be on top and roll, I couldn't pull my partners along with me, our arms just broke free. Still in groups of three, two people pushed and grabbed one, who tried to remain upright and in the same position. This was not so hard when the pushes were from opposite direction but not so much when both were pushing in same direction, especially on the shoulders. Then Martin demonstrated grabbing from the ground and taking down his partner by wrapping around the legs. He said to latch your hands and roll the arms inward, sort of a wave starting from top, and to try different positions. This was pretty straightfoward but I couldn't help feeling it was a vulnerable position, with my head at knee level, my partner could have broken my neck or kneed me in the face. But the way Martin demonstrated it, he took the person down so fast, I guess there wouldn't have been time for any of that. Next he showed how to break this kind of hold. One simple way is to rock one foot backwards and separate the legs quickly, almost as if you are going into a runner's crouch. We also practiced defending against grabs to just one leg. If you can move away before the grab or just as they touch, he showed how to turn and rotate the leg out of it. Or once they grab, you can take a big step backwards and stretch them out. Also how to lock the arm by moving the leg slightly just as they grab it to stretch out, then lock the elbow with the other leg. For those, you need to be free with the hips. That seems to be where most beginners are stiff. I guess it's hard to relax the hips. I can't remember if I was once stiff around the hips. I think my shoulders were more of the problem. It could be easier for women to loosen the hips than for men, because of the natural angle of the hip-bones. Martin also showed how to defend against a grab to one leg where the grabber is trying to lift the oleg. He demonstrated stepping forward in the same direction of the grab but you have to make it a big, dramatic step that begins from the hip. This shakes the person loose. Another way to handle this is to step with the leg being grabbed and then swivel around with the other leg to hit. And finally, Martin showed just going down or rolling out of it. "Never resist a fall, unless you absolutely have to," he said. Obviously you would not want to fall over the edge of an abyss. But landing on the hard ground won't hurt you, if you've practiced your Systema. Struggling against falling, becoming rigid and remaining in a position where posture is broken will be bad for you. It's very important to accept this basic principle of Systema: that falling isn't a defeat. As long as it remains a worst-case scenario in the mind of the practitioner, it will be an impediment to freedom. Martin also demostrated hopping out of a grab to one leg. He said that when the person has grabbed onto one of our leg, we tend to think that we're standing on one leg, but actually, they are providing support much like your own leg, and you can move around just as if you were standing on both legs. He had us work in groups of three, two grabbing one simulatenously, and showed how you can evade before the grab or work the two against each other. We spent the rest of the class in groups of three. For most of the time, my mom and I could not find a third person, there just wasn't the right number of students to be evenly divided into groups of three. Because of that, I don't really have the same perspective on this group work, we were mostly paired. But for the last five or ten minutes, two people left and we did find a third person. Martin had asked us to incorporate strikes as we were evading, but not as a way to stop our partners approaching. He made that pretty clear; we had to continue the same sort of evasion work, just adding strikes. I didn't have much success with that. I always have an unwillingness to hit my mom and every time I hit the other person, he just backed away. So I didn't want to strike too much because I wanted him to keep attacking me and not scare him off so that he wouldn't attack. Quite honestly, I wasn't training particularly well on that day, but that's no reflection on Martin, he's one of the best Systema teachers in the world, very high-level practitioner and a skilled teacher. It was a nice big group of good people, including four other Systema teachers and two other women. There were lots of people who I didn't know or only saw occassionally at seminars. But I didn't get to work with most of them. I worked with my mom almost the entire time. Usually we break up but she was also unwilling to switch, which is not typical. I'm usually the one who won't switch. As much as I love her, we are not the best training partners. When I observe her working with others, I see that she's doing a lot better than she does with me. And that's probably because I don't attack her with much conviction, nor do I defend against her attacks very well. I am so preoccuppied with not hurting her, it's a psychological restriction. I know that some people will think, what's the big deal, just get on with it. But consider your own mother, if you have a good relationship with her, or if not, some other person that you love and would ordinarily protect. Would you find it easy to strike her, to lock her painfully, or take her down to the ground? I have no problem doing this to other women, even petite ones, if they have some training. I just can't seem to overcome the restraint of practicing with my mom, and it does her no favors. I wish things could be different, but after a few years, I'm beginning to realize that I might not be able to overcome this.