Mikhail Ryabko Seminar (with Vladimir Vasiliev)

Mikhail Ryabko Seminar (with Vladimir Vasiliev) - Sunday, June 5th, 2005

Sunday was probably my favorite of the three seminars, perhaps because by that time, I was more relaxed and beginning to understand the concepts a bit more. (It was also a mild, pleasant day in NYC, unlike Saturday which was, as Brad noted, cloyingly humid).

Mikhail asked, "How many of you didn't drink last night?" I think two or three people raised their hands. He laughed and said we'd start slow, and that we'd be sweating more than usual to get rid of the toxins and it would smell very bad because of the alcohol. On that promising note , we started with walking around the floor, as on Saturday, with the pyramid breathing, working up to holding the breath for ten steps then back down to one again. Then, every five steps, we were to drop into a roll, stand up, walk another five steps, fall, five steps, roll, etc. This was a nice morning exercise for just finding your own pace and getting familiar with your relationship to gravity and the floor—good for people with hangovers!

Knives were the topic for much of the morning. We did the yielding exercise where you push the knives into each one another, and the same while lying on the floor. Next, a very simply avoidance exercise: one person attacks with the knife, the other just moves out of the way by rotating or stepping. The latter was done at a distance of several feet, which I found helped to enhance my sensitivity to the knife. Vlad demonstrated a knife attack exercise: one person slashes or stabs once with the knife from a distance, the other simply avoids, then they close in to slash or stab again, and the other disarms. The whole exercise should be done fluidly, as Vlad showed us—it's one attack in two moves.

Because the first slash was at a distance, the slow speed made it tempting to disregard it and move into disarm without responding to the method of attack. On both days, Mikhail reminded us to go slowly, and sometimes stopped us to politely request we try again with more "precision." This I interpreted to mean not only the flawless timing, but also an inward relaxation and control. "No wasted movement...eliminate non-essentials," a kind of Occam's razor of martial arts.

We practiced the exercise Vlad had demonstrated, slowly and beginning from a distance for the initial slash or thrust, then moving in for the attack/disarm. In our class, and in last year's seminar with Vlad, we'd done similar exercises with sticks and knives, where one person attacks without contact once or twice and on the second or third attack, the other person disarms. Edgar told our class it was "stretching time," but these exercises can also be compressed so that the attacks are faster and at closer range. Working slowly is helpful for developing precision; it only looks easier than going fast, but with slow speeds, there's no room to be sloppy. This exercise, with its one-two rhythm, reminded me of dancing.

Mikhail demonstrated some "hostage" scenarios with three volunteers. One held the "hostage" immobile while the other pressed a knife to a vulnerable point, such as the throat or ribcage. Then, with a single motion, he defused the situation, released the lock on the "hostage" and eliminated the threat of the knife. I personally found this among the most impressive demos in a weekend full of, well, impressive demos. There was nothing flashy or dramatic about it. I guess it was the ease with which he altered a complicated scenario in which the safety of the "hostage" must also be considered. Mikhail warned us that for this exercise, the hostage must be freed in one movement—no room for mistakes or second chances! "Please try," he said, and we formed groups of four to practice.

Mostly I found myself breaking the lock, so the "hostage" could escape, rather than disarming the other person. Although I usually don't recommend "stopping to think" during Systema practice, sometimes it's good to take the luxury of a closer look at a situation before practicing how to diffuse it. I did this exercise very slowly, walking around the three people to observe the static situation and figure out where to affect their balance, and whether I could simultaneously disarm while freeing the "hostage."

We practiced similar skills to learn about "breaking up a fight." Mikhail explained that at least one of the two people fighting might be your friend(s), but the situation still requires caution because either of the two might turn upon you instead. Several different sets of volunteers "fought" with each other, most of them simulating a bar fight or wrestling sort of conflict rather than sparring with Systema movement. Mikhail separated them in various ways, so that they stumbled apart and often one or both went down in slapstick fashion...it reminded me of silent comedy. I can't explain exactly how he affected their balance to break up the "fights," but it was nothing as simple as just standing between them. Even though I doubt I'll be breaking up fights anytime soon, this was a great exercise and also lots of fun. Like the previous exercise, I found it less similar to defense against multiple attackers and more like freeing from holds or other static situations.

Returning after lunch, Vlad led us through some breathing exercises. First, holding ourselves in pushup position while breathing, tensing, and relaxing different parts of the body; Vlad also had us inhaling/exhaling at different speeds in co-ordination with tensing and relaxing. We did the same thing lying on our backs with legs held straight at 90 degrees from the floor. Afterwards, Mikhail spoke to us about strikes, but I can't remember everything he said. I do recall that only the fist should be tense, and only as the strike is delivered. The rest of the arm should be relaxed to help us avoid "psychological rebound." He also explained not to be reflexive but to let the strike follow through. He demonstrated how to strike without moving the shoulder excessively, winding up, or otherwise telegraphing. Watching Mikhail strike, I saw how compactly he generates the wave-like movement. The wave is there, but you have to look very closely to see it, and perhaps even then, his movements were exaggerated to better allow us to see the more subtle details. I suppose I had always thought of this wave-like movement as something much more dramatic, and so this was a different perspective for me.

My classmate Hadas went to demonstrate with Mikhail (by the way, as a female student and quasi-feminist, I have to admit I enjoyed the rare spectacle of two advanced female practitioners, Hadas and Janice, in the center of the floor for demonstrations). We had heard that Mikhail was going to "bless her fists" so of course everyone was curious to watch this demonstration. Mikhail proceeded to teach her, and us, the proper way to deliver strikes, with the assistance of another volunteer to absorb them. Then both Hadas and Mikhail struck the volunteer and it was interesting to see the difference, with Hadas' strike much more visible yet far less painful than Mikhail's. He gave her a great deal of instruction, asked her to try with both left and right arms, and even moved her fist for her. After about five minutes, we could see and hear the improvement in her striking. As Mikhail explained, it makes a certain sort of sound when the strike is correctly delivered. We could also see the effectiveness of her strikes by the volunteer's reactions. Mikhail asked her to get into pushup position leaning on her fists, and remain that way for a short time, then stand up and strike the volunteer again. We could all see the difference. He explained this exercise is helpful for striking, and I think there was some mention of creating density or fullness.

Mikhail asked us all to try this exercise, then strike our partners. After we did so, he asked us if we felt a difference. I'm not sure if I did or not. It was hard for me to stay in that position, perhaps I didn't give it enough time. More likely, my ongoing hesitation to strike my mom was the reason I didn't notice any difference. It's a bit of a stumbling block for me, so much so that I'm probably better off with a different partner for strike absorption exercises, because I can't seem to get comfortable with hitting her. I suppose some men must feel this way about hitting women.

Luckily, Janice and Scott were nearby and offered to work with us. Mikhail wanted us to practice short, pulsing punches. He asked us not to move our shoulder, and to place the opposite hand on our shoulder to feel if it was moving or not. This was challenging , and I'm afraid my shoulder was moving quite a bit. Then he had us exchange strikes with our partners as we walked towards each other. I think Vlad demonstrated this for us, first, he and his partner exchanged one strike, then two, then three, as they approached each other. I think we all enjoyed this last exercise quite a bit. Honestly, I could have worked on exchanging one strike for several more hours, but with Janice's help, I managed to work up to two. With correct timing, your partner's forward motion does half the work for you. But I found it tricky to get deliver two strikes before Janice had walked past me, the second one always seemed to land on the back of her shoulder. Scott also gave me some instruction in striking, encouraging me to be a bit more vigorous in the application, as I was admittedly much too shy about striking these nice Canadians I had only just met. Janice showed me how to strike from above, by letting the arm drop, a little easier since gravity does some of the work, also a very sneaky sort of side-swiping strike, which she demonstrated on Scott.

The day ended with a few minutes of working with sticks under Vlad's guidance. First, we hit each other with the sticks across the muscular parts, carefully avoiding the spine and other delicate joints. Then, Vlad and I think it was Sonny and Yuri did that phenomenal stick demonstration I described in my first post to this thread. Wow, is all I can say! What an inspiration to us all! Then we all tried the same, much more slowly and with a lot less pain...the two "attackers" had sticks, not the defender. I watched my mom defend against two friendly gentlemen who approached us with their sticks. I don't often get a chance to watch her, and I was impressed with her capabilities. When it was my turn, I tried to play one weapon against the other, and found the safest place to be was generally behind one or the other of my attacking partners, so I could use their stick for defense. It's interesting how the longer range of the stick is both an asset and a detriment to the success of the attacks. It may have been easier for me to control my partners with the sticks than if they were attacking me without weapons.

Afterwards, we all circled up as closely as possible so Mikhail could answer some questions before he left for the airport. Mostly, these were heartfelt and gracious thank-yous rather than training questions. I was tempted to ask a question just so we could get a few more words of wisdom before his departure, but didn't want to speak for the sake of speaking. One person did ask about returning to normal mindset after a stressful day's work in a demanding military position. Mikhail replied that he couldn't say how to return to a relaxed state since he never left it! Joking aside, he said to do physical exercises such as pushups and squats, and to be psychologically relaxed. It's not an easy question to answer. Even with the best advice in the world, I guess the individual must ultimately find his own way to cope.

It was certainly the largest Kroog in which I've had the good fortune to join, a real spirit of friendship, and much gratitude expressed for those who made it possible for us to come together in NYC to learn and share. There were many rounds of applause for Mikhail and Vladimir, for Edgar and Peggy, for various roving instructors who had so freto my veteran classmates who had returned for the occasion, and to my new friends, feeling a sense of regret that everyone was leaving just as I was getting to know them.

Apologies for being redundant, but in case anyone did not read my first post, I want to express my sincerest gratitude once again. I hardly have the words to describe how just plain lucky I am to be training (and living) Systema. It's been such a positive influence in my life. Many thanks to Mikhail and Vlad, not only for sharing their knowledge with us last weekend, but also for bringing the gift of Systema to the Western hemisphere. Special thanks to our gracious hosts Peggy and Edgar for all their hard work, to the Fighthouse volunteers who helped out with registration and the banquet, to Yuri for translating Mikhail's words, to all the roving instructors who spontaneously offered their advice throughout the weekend, and of course to the attendees, many of whom also travelled great distances to be with us. I want to extend a special and personal thank-you to my classmates at Fighthouse, especially to my mom, who first saw my newfound passion for Systema and encouraged me to sign up for classes, to Rob, Scott, and Janice, who offered endless advice via private message, and to my favorite teachers, especially to Frankie, Denis, Martin, Jim, and most of all Edgar—my heartfelt thanks for all the encouragement.

I hope you will all return for next year's seminar, or that I will have a chance to visit some of the affiliate schools in the course of my travels. Meanwhile, if you find yourself back in NYC, please do drop by Fighthouse and train with us!