Vladimir Vasiliev Seminar - Saturday, March 11th, 2006

The night before this seminar, I was up very late, there was a crisis at the animal shelter where I volunteer. So I had a stressful evening, very little sleep, and was a little late meeting my classmates, we were all driving to Delaware together in a car rented by my classmate and his wife. I was still kind of sad about the previous night. On the Jersey Turnpike, I said bitterly to my classmate sharing the backseat, "I wish I didn't care about anyone but myself, then I wouldn't be hurt by the suffering of others." This thought had occurred to me before, that compassion is a burden. But he said to me, "Yes, but then you couldn't share in the happiness of others, either," which made me realize that compassion is not a burden, it's a gift. So that kind of set the tone for a rather philosophical day of training for me, and also my first "away" seminar as I have not been traveling much since I first started Systema.

After a nap in the backseat and many cups of Starbucks coffee, I felt a bit brighter when we got to Delaware, and was glad to see some familiar faces from summer camp. Vlad greeted me when I walked in, complimented me on my writing which always makes me feel good, but particularly coming from Vlad. I told him how much I enjoyed the recent seminar with Emmanuel and how all of his instructors are such great teachers.

The American Karate Studio is a very large facility, and quite impressive, with two big training rooms, an observation lounge, and a supply store. Pat Caputo told me it used to be a movie theater. Since we had a few minutes before the seminar began, the students were walking on each other's backs. My right shoulder and upper arm were very tight and painful, I think from the stress of the previous evening. I had my classmate step on my back, and it was horribly painful, a sharp, needling pain that was way beyond the discomfort of a vigorous Russian massage. I knew that something was stuck, for it to hurt so bad that I couldn't even talk. But the heavy weight of being stepped on gradually eased my muscles back into the proper position. When I sat up, I felt a million times better. As the training progressed, I felt more and more relaxed and pain-free, despite my lack of sleep and my rather upset stomach and general malaise I had felt when we left NYC.

Vlad started us off with the standard conditioning exercises, the sit-ups, pushups, leg lifts, and squats. I was in the room closer to the rear entrance and it was a bit hard to hear Vlad; later on I moved to the larger room to be closer to him. I think we did the warm-ups with inhale/exhale for one movement; inhale/exhale on the downward press of the pushup, inhale/exhale as you go upward. I don't know if there's a name for this slight variation (is it "split" breathing?); usually in class we do one inhale for down, one exhale for up.

Vlad kept asking us what we wanted to do, holds or knife work, elbows or strikes, etc, and it was hard to decide. Of course, we wanted to do everything. I think the general consensus was strikes. It wound up being sort of an "intro to Systema" seminar covering some foundational topics. Vlad explained everything beautifully, with a natural progression. Just the right amount of knowledge, not too much, not too little. I think Vlad's teaching has gotten better and better, from watching his early videotapes, to training with him nowadays. Of course his English has also improved so that does help to communicate some of the ideas.

After that, we started with what Vlad described as a "warrior" drill, which I have come to interpret as accepting a lot of hits which may be psychologically uncomfortable. This was a slapping drill; you simply slap your partner energetically as he moves around to absorb the slaps. I tried this with a fairly substantial guy whom I felt comfortable slapping pretty hard; and then we switched partners and I was paired with a petite woman who I did not feel as comfortable slapping as hard. I guess that I am a bit of a sexist despite my own views on the equality of men and women, because it is harder for me to hit a petite woman than a big sturdy guy.

Vlad talked a lot about timing. He said that when you attack your partner, you expect him to "do" something in return, and sometimes it's good to change the timing, wait another half-second to break out of this pattern of expected response. I saw him do this a lot at the seminar; he'd hesitate for just a split second, long enough for the other guy to think that he wasn't go to do anything after all, then he'd respond with a hit or a takedown that was unexpected. He also told us not to rush to "do" something to our partners. "Be patient, get comfortable," he said several times throughout the day.

We did a grab and escape exercise, still getting warmed up. Some people new to Systema misinterpret these kinds of drills, which I consider to be more like a yielding exercise than sparring. Of course, it can be done that way, too, but I think the idea was just to get us moving well and it's better to do slowly. My partner approached me slowly, then sort of speeded up to ensure he'd get the grab. A sort of mental trick that would be useful in other circumstances, but not necessarily for a warm-up. I could see how this would be useful because I was fooled into thinking he was going slowly so I'd escape slowly, then he'd suddenly grab me quickly. Of course, I should be able to match his speed no matter how much it varies so it wasn't necessarily "wrong" as not entirely in the spirit of the exercise. Because if your partner's task is just to escape, and not respond, and yours is to grab, then you shouldn't put too much stock in the fact that you can get a hold of your partner. It does not mean your partner can't escape from a simple grab, only that it's easy to grab someone when you know they aren't going to respond in kind, neither hit nor kick nor touch you in any way – well, of course the grabbing person has a bit of an advantage but it's just a movement drill so not really necessary to prove anything with this one.

So, when I failed to escape and my partner got the grab (which happens sometimes even when my partner is moving at a slow consistent speed, as I don't always evade properly) I wasn't sure if I should try to escape from the grab or hold, or just start the exercise again. I was confident that I could escape or at least make a very good effort to do so, however, I felt that I didn't have "permission" to take things any further than evasion, for example, later in the seminar, one of the senior students from Fighthouse showed me how with grabs, using the wave-like movement to affect your partner's balance and take him down and off of you, works better than fighting. But I wanted to keep things in the spirit of the exercise, if it was grab and escape, and I failed to escape, then I should start over, not free myself. But I think this led to a sort of unproductive feeling between both of us that I was failing over and over again to complete this basic Systema drill. But we soon switched partners, Vlad switches us frequently. I found most of the karate students (about half the participants), very good to work with, they were for the most part, very open-minded and accepting of Vlad's teachings.

I was working with one guy and he was having trouble getting out of my grab around his neck. I advised him to move one leg back to sort of ease himself out of the grab with a step backwards. Edgar compares this movement to a cat backing out of a paper bag, if you've ever seen such a sight, it's quite comical. Or if you pick up a cat that doesn't want to be held, they kind of "scooch" their bodies backwards. I could see my partner was dubious about this, he was trying to duck his head out of my grab, but because his legs were immobile, it wasn't working. But I encouraged him to just try and when he did, he saw right away that it was an effective means of escape. I felt pretty good about that, not just showing him a Systema move, but because he was unfamiliar with Systema, I could tell he was a little bit surprised that I was telling him out to escape, rather than competing with him or taking any satisfaction in his inability to get out of my hold.

We did some work on the floor, one partner laying down, and the other crawling over him, but without using the hands, Vlad showed this by grasping his pants with his hands. We did this on our backs and stomachs. And then UNDER your partner who wasn't supposed to help in any way. This is of course a lot harder than going over, but we could use our hands for this one. I asked Vlad if I should lift up my partner's torso using my hands, he said, of course, how else are you going to do it? You have to find a little space, like the gap where the curve of the lower back is slightly off the floor, and worm you way into it.

Of course I'm leaving out a bunch of stuff as this seminar happened almost a year before I got the chance to sit down and write about it! But about halfway through the day, we took a forty-minute break for lunch. I had brought my lunch as I wasn't sure about the food situation in Delaware. It was a hot and humid day, more like June than March. I went outside to the back parking lot, where, behind the pavement, there was a little slope of grass bordering some low shrubs. I sat down and had a little snack and some water. This grassy bank was at the perfect slope to just stretch out and lay there, and I was thinking about taking a little nap, when my classmate joined me. Somehow we ended up talking about goals for training, and the reasons any of us might cite for our training. I said that I train because I love to, and that I feel Systema is a part of living, like eating or drinking, but that wasn't a good example, because I meant that it's not something I'll forget, like I've forgotten how to speak Spanish or write in iambic pentameter. I cannot be separated from Systema while I'm of sound mind. My classmate said, Yes, but you won't die if you stop doing Systema as you would with eating food. I was inclined to disagree; maybe someday I will find myself in a situation where my practice of Systema will save my life. But I didn't say this, because of course I hope to live my whole life peacefully, without needing Systema to ensure my survival. So I said, Well, maybe it's more like taking vitamins like calcium. I won't die if I stop taking calcium, but I'll have a better quality of life with the calcium supplement than without it.

Frank Fileti joined us; he's our Fighthouse Long Island Systema teacher. We chatted a bit, and I looked into the small training room and said, "Oh, look, there's another little yard on the other side." The two of them laughed at me. "Yes, and there's a guy who looks just like him," said Frankie, pointing at my classmate. It was of course the mirrored wall of the room that I was looking at.

We resumed our training, refreshed after the lunch break. Vlad told us that we "inhale the fear through the mouth, so breath in through nose," which makes a lot of sense, because when you are fearful and surprised, as Vlad imitated, you might take a sharp breath, which tenses the throat. We practiced some simple takedowns, like grabbing the person around the neck, then "meeting" them as they escaped to sort of drape the arm heavily across the upper body. After two or three unsuccessful tries, I gave my karate student partner some tips; mainly it's a matter of taking a step as you lay the arm across the person, that's the only way to affect their balance. I also found it helpful to place the arm across the throat instead of across the upper chest, although it should be possible to achieve the takedown with arm draped across the chest, but if your timing is a bit off, it's easier to maneuver someone with pressure on the throat.

We did some static exercises: one partner stood still, the other practiced finding the tension and manipulating the person downward. We also had one person strike a "fighting" pose, and the other practice the taking down from this rigid position. I didn't really know what a "fighting" pose is, Systema doesn't actually have such a stance, so I just modeled my position on the fights in movies.

We did a striking exercise in groups. One person is in the middle, several people circling around striking him, and then another ring of people surrounding and striking the middle ring. Of course, the farther on the outside you are, the faster you have to move around to land your strikes. Vlad didn't think I was hitting too convincingly, "hit him or I'll hit you," he said, and that was enough to get me to put more effort into it.

We also did takedowns from striking – one partner attacks, the other uses well-placed strikes to take him down. I had a really great partner for this one, a Systema guy from Virginia. I thought he was quite skilled but to my surprise, he told me that he learned Systema mostly from DVDs and the occasional seminar and training session. I have trained with people who have been coming to class for years who don't have half the skill of this mostly self-taught guy. I guess it's all about what you put into it. We were working quite well together. I also made a point of working with a few other people, a guy I met in summer camp, and a former student of Rob Green's who always attends the NYC seminars. Unfortunately he had some sort of wrist injury and though he warned me to be careful, I somehow ended up crunching his injured wrist and causing him to cry out in agony. I felt quite terrible about it but training with an injury can be a little perilous.

Vlad demonstrated how to absorb punches, he picked a guy at random and punched him in the stomach. At each punch, the guy exhaled with a loud "Tsa!" Vlad told him to exhale silently, that the Tsas weren't necessary and might make it harder. But I guess that was the way he was trained to take punches because he didn't stop. Or maybe he didn't understand what Vlad was saying, I don't know. When it was time for us to hit each other, I purposely grabbed Frank Fileti. "Some guys don't like to hit women, but I know you don't have that problem!" I said jokingly. He punched me a bunch of times in the stomach and said I was taking it well. At times I had to stop and recover a little before accepting the next punch. It didn't feel too painful, however, the next morning, I had this gigantic purple bruise about the size of a grapefruit across my stomach. I wondered how I could take such a punch and not be too perturbed by it, because anyone looking at my bruise would have guessed that the strikes that caused it hurt like the dickens.

I think the strike absorption was towards the end of the seminar. Afterwards, I did a bunch of pushups and sit-ups and some guys thoughtfully started kicking me. After accepting strikes is the only time I voluntarily do pushups, as I always remember Mikhail explaining to us about moving the blood throughout the body in case of any blockages caused by the striking.

At one point, Vlad said jokingly that we talk about love, but when someone attacks you, you don't have much love for him! After the training, Vlad took questions from the audience. Someone asked if training in another style would hinder training in Systema. Vlad said that Systema is just movement and could be the foundation for many other martial arts....I guess that studying Systema has helped the student. He said that technique could be learned in many other martial arts and that a bunch of different MAs could teach you how to do throws and takedowns. But the relaxation makes Systema different. I think I asked a question but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. I wish I could remember because I think Vlad's answer was very helpful, but it's been lost to time.

It was hard for Vlad to leave us; people were crowding around him, wanting to talk more and more about Systema. Vlad struck one of my classmates in the stomach and I noticed that each time he hit him, he flinched slightly before the strike landed. I asked Frankie if that was incorrect and he said it wasn't a good way to take a strike. Finally Vlad said he had to catch his plane and we must let him go. I heard some guys saying on their way out, "How many times did we hit the floor today?" I didn't have the same experience, most of the more vigorous applications were after lunch, before lunch we did a lot of evasion, touching, placement and working on improving precision. But if you're unused to Systema, hitting the floor over and over again can be pretty exhausting. I felt great, much revived from when I first arrived in the morning, sleepy and stiff from the car and my tense shoulder. I didn't even want to stop training, but it had been a long day and so we all made our way out of the American Karate Studio. I stopped to thank Pat Caputo and the staff for putting on such a great event.

Since my classmate and his wife were driving into Pennsylvania for a weekend getaway, I caught a ride with Frankie and another of my classmates, since they said they'd drop me off in Brighton Beach and I could take the subway home. While we were driving, Frankie said that I had made a big improvement recently, moving better than he'd ever seen me. He said I was plauteauing for a while, and I said, I know, I had felt like I was getting worse. It was interesting because I think I had asked him about it during the plateau, and he said, no, you're doing fine, and it was only after I emerged from the plateau in the car ride that he revealed that I had been stalled. I guess it culminated right around the time of Scott Connor's visit, even though summer camp did a lot for me, for some reason, that's when I felt the tail end of the plauteau...kind of a mental barrier. Barrier is really the best word for it, feel like I was imprisoning myself somehow, all this freedom just a step away but I couldn't take that step. Jim King told me that I'd always have to struggle with this; I think in some ways it's the most apparent psychological problem that I have to deal with. It's evident by my restrained emotions, occasionally I show anger but I won't allow myself to be comforted when I'm upset, I prefer to be alone, and likewise, when my friends are upset, I can be shockingly cold-hearted. I know that the things you are supposed to say are along the lines of "poor you," or "there, there" but I always wind up saying things like "just buck up and take it like a man," or "we're in for some hard times, you're going to have to be strong," and only making them more upset. Afterwards, I curse myself for being so cold. People tell me I'm kind-hearted, but I can be cold sometimes. Sometimes I have this uneasy feeling that I appear to be a good person, by my actions, yet inside, I'm really callous and full of vengeance.

So I had been feeling sort of glum about my training, even though I was doing a lot better, but I kind of had this "what was wrong with me" feeling, dwelling in the past, and Frankie said that it was called The Master's Curve and that anyone who practices any sort of skill on a regular basis experiences this....a plateau, then a brief period of getting a little worse, then a sudden increase in skill. I always thought I'd learn Systema and keep getting better and better, but in truth, it's not so consistent. There is no algorithm or formula by which one can calculate the rate of improvement of a Systema student. I've seen students become highly proficient in just a few months, others train for years and can't seem to progress.

But after Scott left Fighthouse, I sort of emerged from this plateau. I think Scott's seminars had a great deal to do with it. I realized that I was choosing to fail, which I do sometimes because it allows me to control the outcome. If I give it my best shot, I will succeed most of the time, but sometimes not, whereas if I sabotage myself, I know the outcome; I'm in control of my fate. Or at least, I think so, but in fact, none of us really are. I don't mean this theologically, everyone has a different point of view about that. I only mean that there is a certain unpredictability to life; we are surprised by good fortune and bad, and the bad incidents make us curse fate and wonder how the universe could be so cruel, even leading some people to believe that life is a series of meaningless random incidents, and yet, good surprises are among life's greatest pleasures.

Many thanks to Vlad and to the American Karate Studio for hosting such an excellent seminar. It was truly a pleasure working with the Kenpo students and I hope that I'll have the chance to do so again.