Moscow Training 20th - 25th

[Scott McQueen]

Hi All,

I would like to start a thread in appreciation and gratitude to Mikhail Ryabko and his team of instructors in Russia for putting on a superb training menu for myself and about 37 others for four days and nights of training in Moscow.

The Systema Japan Club was able to bring out 26 Japanese participants and several people from Europe, who were joined by some of Mikhail’s students and instructors.

Its actually quite difficult to put a lot of the experience into words, and I am not sure I am up to it as yet, I wanted to start this thread so others would be encouraged to put down any thoughts they had.

As many of you are aware, Mikhail is a very unique person, one of those rare individuals who are extremely talented but also humble, who leads by example and inspires faith in ones own abilities and knowledge of (or a path to) ones place in everything known and unknown.

Mikhail's students and instructors are all very talented persons too, most with a very interesting (albeit not often spoken about) story of meeting Mikhail.

On this trip there were three majorly significant events for me, two of which I will briefly describe below.

One was the so-named Knuckle Stick Method a singular therapy for the body/mind/spirit using a combination of therapeutic devices - natural wooden tools, bands inlaid with pins, a whip, possibly more - my eyes were closed most of the time in an effort to breath and pray to get me through this exquisite ordeal.

I was told that only the first few times are painful, but the word painful gives only a partial explanation of the "therapy" received.

The experience touches places within oneself that can rarely be seen, felt or touched unassisted or by other stimuli.

I cannot recommend it highly enough, you will be a better person for having submitted yourself to the careful administering of Andre and Stas.

Others will also probably give their account of the stick massage.

The second event was a traditional Russian Banya - Systema style of course!

Those fortunate to attend the banya experience were given lessons on how to breath to cope with extreme situations by Daniil Ryabko.

We were treated to the banya experience by the banya master Sasha, an amazing individual who seemed impervious to the heat or cold while beating all (with birch leaves, hands, and large rubber mallets!) with undiminishing vigor and glee (an arduous task given the conditions).

Daniil instructed us on how to breath to remain calm and functional in the extreme heat of the banya, when either being slapped vigorously on the legs, stomach, chest, back and face by birch leaves and branches, which had the most beautiful fragrance as they were used to heat the banya and beat the attendees.

Immediately exiting the banya (close the door quick!), an ice cold pool awaits for immediate submersion, if you do not breath correctly your diaphragm could stop cold, the ability to breath, move and function could be lost.

After several full submersions, focusing on your heartbeat and feeling the throb of life throughout your entire body and the breath becomes regulated you then repeat the whole process, not always with the birch leaves though.

Soon you will receive the slaps all over your body which is also very stimulating (thank you Sasha), back out of the banya, into the ice water.

Hours into it we drink kvass and later hot tea (inside the banya, whew that is an experience).

Later comes the secret Systema part of this practice, I may go missing after revealing this but I have to share, and I strongly advise that no one attempts this at home or anywhere.

Sasha grabs something that looks like the hammer of Thor only the battering ram part is made of hard rubber, all you have to do now is breath while Sasha pounds your spine with Thors hammer, I could hear the echo of every vertebrae within my body as it resounded over and over again from the base of the spine to the head until I think I was transported to somewhere other.

Gradually one enters a different world where all is surreal, a series of heat, cold, intense fragrances, temperatures, tactile stimuli, laughter, fear, discomfort, tension, relaxation blurs into a kaleidoscope of dreamy ecstasy.

The process took about 3.5 hours, Daniil told me he does it every week.

I am not sure if I could survive that but would be willing to give it a try if it was available.

Assuredly some of the best breath training I have had so far.

The insights, the training, the hospitality, the camaraderie, and much more made it one of the most meaningful experiences I have had the pleasure to have had.

I haven’t even described any of the physical training, I hope others can share some of those details with you all.

Thanks to Mikhail, Larissa and Mikhail’s team.

Scott

[Scott McQueen]

This is from Oyvind Brekke (his account isnt activated here yet), who participated in the Moscow training as well.


Well. I had very high expectations for this trip. This is due to all the experiences and amazing stories I had heard from people who had tried Systema. Which I had not. So high I did not really expect them really to be met. I was wrong. Every single day in Russia exceeded my highest expectations. There were so many impressions that one day felt as though it were several. Confusing at times that. So many stories, and so many laughs.

The training was great, and of course Mikhail did a lot of amazing things. In one way it was beyond scary, because I saw up close what he was able to do. But because of his person and that he never seemed to go beyond the limit of any each person, made it feel safe and evened things out. This goes for all the people I trained with as well.

The atmosphere at the seminar was great. People, very much including Mikhail and the instructors, were humble, including, patient, very helpfull and I could not sense any big egos. As I went on this trip on my own, and had never trained in Systema before, I am very thankfull to all of these people, how they treated me, helped me and included me. This is what maybe made the biggest impression on me.

Another thing that made a big impression on me, and which I really would like to recommend, and do again(unless I chicken out), is the stick, knuckle massage. Or stick, knuckle, whip, things with pins and pointed pencil massage. I think that covers it. It was quite an experience to go through, but afterwards it felt as I was a bit born a new. I was told I might experience some effects of the massage the day after, in this way or that way. The day after, in addition to physical sensations, I had the experience of being relieved of some emotions, or something like that. At any rate it left me feeling quite good.

All of this made me feel very alive, and the greatest experience I think I ever have had.

Oyvind

[Andy Cefai]

Firstly a huge huge thank you to Mikhail and Larisa, Mikhail’s office, Olyseya and Stas, for all their help with the many hours of organization and for their hospitality and care once we were in Russia. Also thanks to Scott, to Scott’s wife and to Sambongi from the Japan group, who really took on the majority of the organization from the Japan side.



Our interpreters, Vadim and Nicolai, were also both fantastic and certainly made every effort to get us as close as possible to what Mikhail and his instructors were saying; for several hours a day. No small task. Also a huge dept of gratitude to Mikhail’s instructors, Vladimir, Viktor, Daniil Ryabko, Sasha, Andre and several others who worked with us with such patience, regardless of language issues, to help us understand what was being taught.

After a week of absorbing, or trying to absorb, so much information there is literally masses and masses to write – but sadly not so much time. Where to start after such an experience?

Firstly I’ll continue with the banya from Scott’s thread. Scott has already written a nice description for us, so I’ll just focus on a couple of details that really stood out for me personally.

Aside from the surreal sight of Scott get pounded with the hammer from my strategic vantage point in the raised cold pool which stands around 5ft tall, that was fun till I realised I would be on the receiving end too , it was the most intensive breath training experience I had ever had – there was no two ways about it – you were either going to breath properly or you were going to be in trouble (to say the least).

One reflection was that the reasons for fully submerging the body including the head in the cold pool for 20 – 30 – 40 seconds or more, is obvious in hindsight, but less obvious when your body is cooping with extremes of heat, cold, being whacked with the strongly scented birch branches that are arranged like large bunches of leafy flowers (not pain full), slaps from Sasha (mildly painful) or the hammer (out of body experience awaits for most ) that are already described above.

Indeed it was explained that submersion including the head was essential to protect the head (brain I suppose) from overheating! Fully submerging after coming out of the banya/sauna and going into the cold plunge pool, was explained as essential to create equal temperature throughout the body. Also interesting was the gauge we were given so we would know how long to stay in for - you stay in the cold pool until your breath becomes cool meaning the cold water has then penetrated your core (and your head!) sufficiently that you can go back into the heat – which went up to and possibly slightly over at some points 90C.

One other interesting experience within the banya outing was the volume of ones pulse in the cold pool. After you’ve found a way to become relaxed under the icy water (looks something akin to being unconscious face down in a swimming pool), the volume of the beating pulse from different parts of the body (neck, knee, heart, wrist, groin etc. etc.) is L O U D! Also very useful for finding/re-connecting to those pulse points again when doing regular breathing drills outside of banya.

The number of different cycles one goes through in the hot and cold pools is ultimately up to each individual, as is how long you spend in either environment. Daniil advised us not to fight our egos and not to stay in the heat longer than we actually felt we could take. Sometimes you will stay longer than other people, and sometimes you will leave quicker…not letting ego dictate what we do - very good advice that should of course apply to so many things we do! End result of the banya was an incredible feeling of relaxation and oneness, an incredibly good nights sleep and feeling totally refreshed for more training the next day – despite not getting back to our accommodation until around 3am. Now how to convince someone to build a banya in Tokyo!?

Another highlight was the stick knuckle massage – recommended, but as someone aptly put it, buyer-beware, it takes you close to the edge; but then I suspect that is partly point. Apparently it gets easier each time, but since I only had one session I can’t really comment from that perspective.

One interesting thing after the stick knuckle massage happened as we sat down in the lecture room to listen to a talk byone of Mikhail’s instructors, Viktor Petrov. I noticed my back didn’t want to be in any other position than upright. Generally I have to consciously focus to keep form when sitting on a chair, but after the stick knuckle massage it was the opposite. My back simply wanted to be upright. I started looking around and caught the eye of Ryo Onishi, who had also had the massage at roughly the same time. I noticed he too was similarly sitting in unusually good form – we then looked over to check Scott out, who has also been there the same time as us – same thing - we both laughed. It was almost as if our muscles had been retrained and redirected to do what they were supposed to be doing.

Other highlights in brief included the concept of changing your perception with regards to core exercises (and everything else by extension) – for example with regards to a push up (or a squat), pushing the floor away from you instead of pushing the body up (think about standing opposite a partner and push them away from you vs. pushing yourself away from them and the application to striking).

Another big one for me was the advice from Vladimir Zaikovsky (thank you again Vladimir!), relevant to working with the opponent, not just in terms of the direction of the force they are generating and the direction of their joints, but also working with the opponents’ muscles in the direction they are attached to their bones and the direction they are being used in. This is something we can see Mikhail and others doing consistently, but it was the first time someone broke it down for me and the first time I was able to “see it”. Like someone had opened me up to a whole new level of training and the tools to reevaluate most everything I have been doing.

One thing that was almost within the grasp of physical understanding was within the wrestling drills. Viktor Petrov (thank you again Viktor!) aptly showed the concept of giving direction and force with one part of the body whilst actually the intention was something completely different. Words don’t do this subtle work justice, double triple feints in flowing succession is the best I can do to explain the feeling of wresting with someone who can do this. Certainly something to work on!

One incredibly fun drill that was fantastic for loosening the body up was given to us by Daniil on the last morning – make two lines facing each other, effectively creating a human corridor. One person, let’s call them A, then goes from one end to the other. Those who make up the two lines from the outside looking in, should push or touch A, as he/she comes up the corridor, at the points of tension they can see in A.

There were multiple variations including rolling up the corridor, walking up the corridor, crawling forwards, crawling backwards, walking in a push-up position etc. etc. The intensity can be turned up by striking rather than pushing. We did both pushing and striking with hands only, feet only, hands and feet. Other things that made the drill - those making up the corridor should not move from where they are (don’t step into the middle), should be patient and not greedy with their pushing or striking and should not be trying to “stop” the person coming up the corridor, only push/strike enough to show them where their tension is. You can then repeat it all, but with A striking/pushing too.

Finally on the last day with Mikhail when we did our circle up, our Russian to Japanese interpreter (a kind and patient Russian man named Vadim who I whole heartedly recommend for R>J or E interpretation) apparently said to Mikhail in Russian (Mikhail told us non-Russian speakers later), that he did not think this idea of asking a group of mainly Japanese people to say something in front of each other was a good idea, as Japanese people are typically reserved about speaking out…everyone then proceeded to shock our interpreter with heartfelt reflections on the seminar and their experiences. The interpreter later told Mikhail he was having to hold back the tears as he had never seen a group of Japanese people talk like this… I suppose the circle up is one of the things that makes Systema special in Japan for our Japanese training friends.

Finally thanks again to Mikhail, his team and everyone who put some much time and energy in to helping us all have such a fantastic training experience.

Respectfully,
Andy Cefai

[Ryoichi Onishi]

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude, both to Mikhail and to his Moscow team, not only for their hospitality but also for the fantastic time that we all had in Moscow. I must say, even though we all went in with high expectations, the reality completely blew these expectations out of the water!

The mindblowing experiences we encountered are too numerous to explain in a way that does them credit, and I'm indebted to Andy, Scott and Oyvind for their explanations, especially regarding the Banya (thank you Daniil and Sasha!) and the Stick Knuckle massage, (thank you Andre and Stas!), these were totally unique & very memorable experiences.

The latter, the Stick Knuckle (or is it Knuckle stick?) massage was, for me personally, a literally eye-opening experience. My vision was immediately affected by it, as was my posture, just as Andy mentioned. I remember I kept repeating this to Andy, I was ranting like a loon, such was the irrefutable impact the massage had created. The changes were totally undeniable, my height felt altered, (my posture must have been greatly improved, maybe more so than ever before!) and I seemed more focused as well. It felt like my eyes were now operating from a completely new dimension, their location, position and ability felt transformed, things seemed to have more depth when I looked at them. It was so impressive that it makes it more of a shame to say that they've since reverted back to their previous state...

Something else I'd like to share, regarding the massage, involves a guy from our group, someone who used to smile in a kinda lopsided way, with an expression that was a bit tense on one side of his face. Anyway, while he was undergoing the massage an emotion suddenly erupted from out of his body, and he started gushing tears and was totally unable to stop, it was so intense that we had to finish the session earlier than planned. When I saw him in the canteen, right after this, I could see that both his eyes were really bloodshot, so I went up to talk to him, to see how he was. As soon as I touched his shoulder to get his attention, he started to well up again and couldn't stop crying. He told me that Andre (I hope the spelling is correct...), had explained that the problem was routed in his psyche, and that he seemed to have suppressed and bottled up too much emotion, (which in turn had expressed itself through bodily tension), and as a result the massage had uncorked it all, like a shaken Champagne bottle. And It was still spewing itself out while we talked, but, it was only afterwards that I realised the lopsided grin was gone and that he was now beaming a smile from ear to ear!

As Andy and Scott mentioned, the Banya was also quite an experience. When you get hit by a rubber hammer on your pelvis, tail bone and spine, it shakes the whole dynamics and interconnectedness of your body. It was not that it was painful, more that every strike removed you a little bit more from reality or something, like waking up from the Matrix :p And then, when you get slapped on your forehead at the end, you come back to earth with a sickening bump! hahaha!

Also, one piece of advice Mikhail gave me almost made me burst into crazy laughter, (in a good way that is, I'm not prone to mental illness or anything, in case I'm giving that impression!), he told me to just simply strike where I need to strike before getting hit. It was so simple but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I was just thinking too much and, without realising, I was trying to link what I was doing with the ideas and principles I had learned previously in other martial arts. Like me many of the Japanese participants used to do, or still do, either Japanese or Chinese traditional martial arts. And in some cases, knowing some stuff from the past or expressing an indoctrinated habit from another style prevents us from fully grasping, or being able to do what we are shown in Systema. In some aspects, Systema and Systema concepts are quite similar to some of those found in Asian traditional martial arts and even though it seems or feels like these concepts can help you understand systema better, they can actually impede you. Sooner or later you have to realise Systema is a very unique and very different martial art.

Another piece of advice I got during this trip that particularly opened my mind was that of moving the center of gravity from where it is usually focused. Instead, move it to the attacking part, (i.e wherever you need to be). Usually when we don't feel like we have enough power, we tend to lower ourselves to get more power, & although this might seem to generate a feeling of strength & anchoring, it inevitably breaks the flow and destroys momentum. Making us a sitting duck to other people who are attacking. But, if instead, you let the movement itself be the key to the power then the center of gravity becomes something fluid that we can move throughout our body wherever we need it. It is not fixed, but can be relocated, and can grant us even more power than when we simply lower ourselves (as people tend to in other Asian martial arts).

As for the exercises we performed, it goes without saying that you are bound to experience them elsewhere, especially If you have been doing Systema for a while, however the excercises we were shown in Moscow, had a greater level of detail & quality, more than you can easily absorb without undergoing a whole host of inspirational breakthroughs!

For example the simple flick of the knife exercise, this gave me chills up down my spine. Ditto the knife turning movements, they were so difficult to evade. Meanwhile the pushing exercises, well these seemed to draw on a power source that is beyond the scope of what we usually employ.

Also I feel that the body exercises Daniil and Vladimir showed us, in order to help us realise how we should move our body, gave us better understanding of our body and how we can be more efficient. Not only that but also they helped reveal some of the power sources behind our body's movements, etc. On top of that Viktor's advice and movements inspired us a lot too! (he even went out of his way to help us outside of training, looking after us all the time we were there!).

Of course some of the stuff Mikhail demonstrated was simply beyond my understanding, a humbling and yet inspiring experience. A typical example was the technique with stick. Mikhail let the guy grab the stick with two hands and it looked like he just shook the hands or the stick. But as a consequence the guy's arms became too tense, such that he could not let go of the stick nor untwist his own body or arms. When we twist each other's body so much, we can almost manage to do something similar, but Mikhail took it to a whole other level, often doing it with not so much of twist on their arms... I need more Moscow trips, I reckon.

One of the great things about having Mikhail's teaching team around us was that when we were stuck they gave us very helpful advice, (sometime in English, sometimes only in Russian and sometimes purely through body language! But it worked so well, I felt almost as if I understood Russian, well.... for a few moments at any rate!). When one of them walked off it wasn't long before someone else came and helped us, giving us a fresh perspective and further insight. At first it confused me a lot but with time it gave me a much deeper understanding,instead of thinking about something one dimensionally I got a breadth of views that helped me find a broader overview. In other words, it was only when I was doing something right that the seemingly conflicting information actually complementary. Which, on the whole, made it easier to work out what to do.

Lastly but not least, once again I'd like to thank Mikhail Ryabko and his Moscow team for the magnificent time that we spent there, and also Andy and Scott and Systema Japan staff members for organising such a great training tour.

Kindest regards,

Ryo Onishi