Teaching Systema

Interview with Vladimir Vasiliev

We can see that Systema keeps rapidly growing. Many people enjoy practicing Systema and eagerly
share it. It would be helpful if you gave some guidelines and directions to those who teach Systema
as certified instructors and those who share Systema training informally with friends, colleagues and
family members.
VV: With the growth of Systema, we are moving to a deeper level of understanding, this makes our
discussions and training more interesting. First I would like to say that if we present or explain
anything to another person we have to know what we are doing. We are responsible for anything we
give to another individual.
“First - do no harm” is our fundamental rule. We have to understand what we are teaching and ensure
that it does not damage the individual physically or psychologically in any way. It is fairly easy, in
Systema everything that destroys is wrong and everything that strengthens and builds is correct. For
example, if we do exercises with proper breathing we enhance our heart, circulatory system, nervous
system, enhance our psyche to become calm and efficient. In any sport if training is done without
breath work - it will strain, damage and destroy every parameter of our physical health and will make
us unstable, fragile and weak psychologically.
The same goes for straight and natural body positioning, smooth and continuous movements and
correct state of mind while training and fighting in Systema. These are general principles that interact
and influence one another. Keep in mind that Systema is not mechanical but alive, therefore we
cannot just make a list of categories and memorize techniques. The learning process is not technical
but intuitive and dynamic.
Could you give an example of things to do for a good training class.
VV: First of all, the instructor has to be aware of the condition the practitioners are in. During exercise
the heart rate, blood pressure and temperature go up. May be someone came to class tired from lack
of sleep or was drinking the night before. If we put that person though rigorous physical exercise, we
might needlessly strain him or even cause injury.
The ideal rhythm of heart work is 60 bpm. If we can maintain that beat and after each exercise make
sure the pulse rate comes back to 60, then the onset of fatigue is much delayed. Whenever we raise
the parameters we have to reduce them back to normal. Of course, the key to control of all the
parameters is proper breathing. Breathing and movement have to go hand in hand with each other.
As you know, the blood pressure is not always the same in the right and left sides of the body and in
various areas, top to bottom. Breath work evens the blood pressure in both sides and throughout the
body and periphery.
We can tell if the training session was not done correctly. The participants would then be somewhat
stirred emotionally. If they have a feeling of being ready to fight after class, we know the training
process and breath work were not done properly.
Slow exercises done with breath work are extremely good for working with tendons and developing
strong and elastic body. They allow to get rid of lactic acid. They also provide unique work for the
fascia tissues and therefore, give us endurance and explosive potential. In addition to that, the
nervous system gets stronger and balanced, because there is no stress. Breath work removes the
stress as soon as it arises.
I will say it again, we should understand the implications of everything that we do. I see so many
people coming to my class from other martial arts or sports that have injured themselves not in a fight,
not during an accident... but just from training in a gym. I see so many that are strained
psychologically, not from being in a battle... just from everyday stresses... including training in a gym.
This is because we do not notice or analyze what we are doing and why. For now, please be more
attentive to and wise about what you are doing. If you are taking instruction, take a look at your
teacher. A lot of times the teacher is no better than his students, he is just as tense and inefficient in
his movements. If that is the case, what can he pass on to his students?
So what can student do if he finds his teacher has certain problems?
VV: We should realize that we do not come to train to a particular person, we come to study Systema.
No one is perfect and we should be independent too. Also known as ‘understand yourself’, Systema is
so deep, rich and diverse, there are ample opportunities to learn it just by working on ourselves. We
do need training partners, it is good to have teachers and instructional materials, but eventually the
onus is on us. People we train with and DVDs we watch are ultimately ways to understand ourselves
too. Knowledge obtained though serious work with ourselves is real and rewarding, it cannot be taken
away.
Vladimir, I know in the past you have said that often times when people teach they rush to get results,
they have a wrong approach to such basic things as striking and walking. Can you address these and
other common errors?
VV: When we train, we have to build the foundation first and guess what it has to include... normal
walking. It hurts for me to see that so many people regardless of their experience simply cannot walk,
90 percent are not able to walk backwards. Tension creates excessive load to all leg and back joints
and is detrimental to any fighting on the move. Moving back is essential in reacting to strikes, to knife
attacks, moving in a crowd and many other situations. Please pay attention to your walking forward
and back. Combine various walking with different breathwork patterns. There are some ideal
breathing-walking progressions.
Another common mistake happens when we study strikes. Most instructors spend a lot of time talking
about and practicing delivery of strikes, but neglect the study of taking strikes, as if they never get hit.
It is next to impossible to be in a real fight and not take a single hit. Also, how can a student practice
strikes if his partners are not trained to receive those strikes? Taking strikes has to be studied first and
approached in a way to gradually increase impact. It also must involve the skill of seeing tension in
your partner and especially in yourself.
Another point about rushing to get results, remember that the goal of training is not acquiring many
quick and fancy moves, but learning to control your own irritation, fear, anger and self-pity.
Could you discuss the place for emotions in training.
VV: Emotions generally take away power by making us tense and do not allow us to realistically look
at the situation by distorting our perception.
We must watch our feelings, if we feel proud of ourselves when we are praised and we feel some
resentment when we are criticized, it tells us that we are week and can be easily manipulated. And it
is OK to see that we are weak because then we can work on it.
The beauty of Systema is that training includes all the essential components to get rid of these
unwanted emotions. Breathwork, slow exercises, and the right state we are in during training ensure
that we will be able to sense our own tension, see our own pride, egotism, fear, impatience,
aggression. Once we see those we proceed to the skill of eliminating them from our training and our
lives.
Self-discovery and self-control is hard work but it is truly rewarding. When we do things right, we get a
tremendous feeling of joy both consciously and unconsciously. All the people I know that are doing
Systema seriously have become happier and healthier.