Martin Wheeler Mass Attacks Seminar - Sunday, December 12th, 2004

Martin Wheeler Mass Attacks Seminar - Sunday, December 12th, 2004

We started with a 30-count pushup to warm-up. 30 on the downpress, 30 on up. This is extremely difficult and I was reminded of Martin's advice not to let our muscles feel pity. But I'm afraid there was a good amount of pitying in the muscles of my upper body as I struggled through the slow pushup. Then we did sit-ups with our partners. One person kneels on all fours, the other sits on their shoulder facing their feet. They lower themselves down, over the other person's head, and back up again. You are supposed to go all the way down so your head touches the floor. Even though I was sitting on Edgar whom I know is quite strong, I was scared to go all the way down, thinking I would surely collapse us both.

Then Martin had us get on all fours, kind of a like a pushup position but more splayed out like an X, and maneuver around using the "circular scorpion" type moves where you change from all fours to on your back in bridge position, then back again, or you can slide your legs forward between your arms to turn onto your back. He had us move to the other end of the room with only our feet and hands touching the floor. Of course the goal is not just to walk on all fours, but to rotate around and find new ways of moving. Then we got into pushup position and "hopped" across the room, where feet and hands were off the floor simultaneously. This is very hard. I could barely get any daylight between my hands and the floor. Then we did the same thing in the opposite direction backwards. Of course Martin demonstrated all these movements with ease. Watching Martin, you get a sense of the real capabilities of the human body. "It's not the body that prevents you from doing these things," said Martin. "If you had to live this way because of some physical deformity," he demonstrated duck-walking around, "you'd find a way to do it with ease. It's only because you don't have to do it that it seems hard." (Once again I am paraphrasing what Martin said, my memory is regrettably not of the photographic kind.)

Then we lay on our backs and moved across the floor using only the shoulders, dragging our legs, going backwards and forwards. Then on our stomachs, grabbing the ankles behind us, and going forward and backwards using just the chest and shoulders. These exercises are probably familiar to most Systema students. The hardwood floor at Fighthouse got quite a polishing as we moved across it on our stomachs and backs.

Next we moved into some practice with rolls. I was so glad to learn this from Martin, as I've never seen anyone roll so softly. I consider rolling to be an intermediate to advanced technique. Getting over the fear of the floor is so important to learning Systema. As Martin reminded us, children fall softly and easily, but once we learn to walk, we no longer fall and thus become afraid of what we are not used to. It's just a matter of getting used to it. I think I had to spend many more hours than your average student just to lose a little of my fear of hitting the ground. I spent every weekend over the summer rolling on the grass and even though it's getting a bit nippy out, I still try to practice for a few minutes in the park each weekend. (My apartment is a little small for rolling and there are some fragile items I'd just as soon not risk knocking over.). Now that they've closed the lawns in the park for the winter, the only grass I can find is on a pier in the Hudson. The wind has a way of whipping off the river to make it at least 10 degrees colder on the riverfront that on the Village streets, so my rolling practice has been somewhat abbreviated of late, but I still try to make time for it every Sunday.

I consider rolling to be a more advanced Systema skill because I've noticed the more experienced practitioners roll more softly. If you don't know how to roll or fall in such a way as to avoid getting hurt by the hard ground, then it doesn't matter how effective you are standing up, because you'll be your own worst enemy as soon as you hit the ground. There's no skipping over these crucial skills if you wish to become proficient in the System.

We started by having our partners push us from behind and we fell forward into a roll. Or they pushed one shoulder and we rotated into a roll. Also the pushed us from the front and we fell back and immediately rolled backwards. But Martin didn't want this to be a rocking backwards kind of movement. He told us to make sure that we fell and lay with legs flat before beginning to roll back.

We practiced a little offensive rolling, beginning by standing a few feet away from our partners, rolling forward and taking them down as we rolled over. Martin showed us how we should use the person's downward momentum to propel ourselves up again. As they fall, you use that motion to roll on top of them in a superior position and then up to a standing position. Also we did the same thing starting with a backwards roll and using the roll to take down our partners.

Then we did these offensive roll with three people. One person stood in the middle between the other two, one of whom pushed, and the other was the target to be taken down with the roll. We also did this while the rolling person kept their eyes closed.

Rolling for a few minutes always relaxes me, it's very therapeutic. In addition to practicing rolls to become proficient, I also use it as pain management. I think the contact with the ground must be hitting some acupressure points; it's like a massage. I love to start Systema class with rolling, as I can always use more practice in getting over my fear of the floor.

Next we did what Jim King calls the "squirt" drill where three or more people circle around one and push as hard as they can from all directions. If you relax and loosen one part of your body, the circle collapses. You have to feel which person is pushing the hardest, by yielding in the opposite direction, you collapse the circle. We also did this at half squat and at full squat and with closed eyes.

We spent the rest of the class working in groups of four with one person in the center. We pushed at the person simultaneously as he yielded and allowed our hands to slip off. Then we did the same thing but instead of just yielding, the person in the center passed the pushing arms away. This passing can be done in many ways, the "combing the hair" motion, or ducking underneath the arm and passing it along with the shoulder. The idea was to pass a pushing arm into one of the other people in the group, to introduce the topic of passing a punch from one attacker into another in a multiple- attacker situation.

We also did a little work with the legs, while the people on the outside of the circle pushed, the one in the center allowed his leg to swing around and kick each of the people on the outside lightly. You can't plan who to kick, you just have to let yourself be moved and your leg will find its target. We tried this with closed eyes as well.

Next the person in the center had to target just the elbows and try to lock the people pushing. We also worked also on head butts and Martin cautioned us to go very slowly as this can be dangerous. The people on the outside of the circle push and you yield and allow yourself to be moved, making contact with your head. I find this kind of tricky and I think you have to make sure your neck is relaxed to make this work. Then we began to make contact with the elbows as the people on the outside pushed at the one in the center, picking up from yesterday's lesson about elbow strikes. Again Martin cautioned us to go slowly and not hurt our partners. The idea was to just let the people on the outside of the circle move you, not to plan your attacks but go in the direction of the pushes. Martin told us to try using the elbow in unusual ways, not just a straight elbow jab, but coming from below or above or winding the arm around to strike with the elbow in surprising ways. We also did some strikes as the people on the outside of the circle pushed, but Martin asked us to just touch the people on the outside lightly with the fist rather than actually striking them.

At some point on Sunday, as Martin demonstrated using both arms for the elbow strikes, he theorized that Systema is a sword art. Denis took this opportunity to fetch the shaska he had recently purchased. Martin said he's not very proficient with swords and demonstrated slashing at two volunteers as they avoided. Then Denis took the sword and slashed at Martin, who amazed us all with his skill in avoiding the blade. His demonstration illustrated how softness and fluidity are essential to avoiding harm from edged weapons. It also illustrated how the principles are the same whether there is a weapon or just bare hands.

Finally Martin asked us to put everything together and work more freely. The person in the middle was pushed and responded with kicks, punches, locks, elbow strikes, etc taking down the other people if the opportunity presented itself. We also did this with our eyes closed. I was much more effective in making contact with my eyes closed. I had no idea who I was hitting but in letting myself be pushed, I used the same energy as the pushers and sometimes, if the push was hard, the people wound up getting hit harder than I would have liked. I was trying to be gentle but ended up kicking and punching my partners harder and more frequently than I did with my eyes open. With my eyes open, I can hold back and not make such hard contact if I see that the person isn't going to avoid. I am not sure why having my eyes closed makes it harder to do this. As strange as it sounds, I may be more effective against multiple attackers if my eyes are closed. Certainly I'm more relaxed. (Well, except for this one time when Jim King asked half the class to lay on the floor on our backs while the other half ran over us, with everyone's eyes closed. I have to admit I wasn't very relaxed at the prospect of half the class running over me with their eyes closed. But then, I probably would have been tenser if I could see what was about to happen.)

As the seminar drew to an end, Martin led us into a sensitivity exercise where the people on the outside try to push the person in the middle who avoids contact altogether. You can also pass the pushing arms if avoidance isn't possible or slide your hand between the pushing arm and your own body to prevent contact.

Martin demonstrated some no-contact work which, although I know it's not magic, still seems pretty amazing to me. When Martin manipulate you without contact, even though you know what's going to happen, you can't stop yourself from moving, his intent is so convincing. It does look a little bit as if he's mesmerizing the other person. We tried this ourselves and I found it quite difficult. My attempt to feint at my mom by sticking a hand in her face only led to me poking her in the eye. Too late a classmate advised me to keep my palm flat when trying a feint to the eyes. Fortunately she wasn't hurt, but I wonder how you do this and get the other person to move? Because I found that the rest of the group wasn't as afraid of contact from me as they are from Martin, for obvious reasons. If Martin looks like he's going to hit someone, they definitely move! But people don't always move away from me and a lot of times I just wound up making contact when I was trying to feint. Still, it was some inspirational work and a demonstration of what we can accomplish if we train with diligence, sincerity, and most of all, patience, as Martin frequently reminded us.

Lucky for us, Martin will teach this week's classes at Fighthouse and so we might see some expansion of the topics covered at the seminars. I intend to take all his classes but one (a quarterly meeting at the office that I can't get out of prevents me from taking that morning off). It's such a special opportunity to immerse myself in training with one of the most senior Systema instructors in the world. What a rare opportunity for a Systema student, I am very excited about this coming week. So I might have some more notes to share with you all next weekend, after my six consecutive days training with Martin Wheeler.