The following is footage from our Monday night Class in Surry Hill. The theme of the class is WEAPONISING NATURAL MOVEMENT, which we will explore over 6 video clips detailing our work.
I hope this is of use.
Part 1: Familiarising the Body with Different Attacks
Part 2: Accessing Natural Movement
Part 3: "Surfing" Your Body's Need to Survive
Part 4: Working from Physical Contact
Part 5: Feeling and Working from the Push Before it has Made Physical Contact
Part 6: Working Offensively
In Conclusion,
Before you can weaponise natural movement you first must be able to access natural movement. But REAL natural movement. This is what your body will do instinctively to keep itself intact, with minimal interference from your conscious mind. The opposite of this is contrived movement which stems from excess fear and tension. Natural movement is not so much something that you do, as much as it is something that you give permission to occur.
Once you have acquired natural movement as an ATTRIBUTE, progress to developing it as a SKILL, then APPLY it proactively.
Have a read of the list. Then Consider why we train the way we do in Systema. Think back to every Systema class, with every teacher, you have ever attended. Think back to every exercise you have ever done.
Veteran Australian Systema instructor David Quaile will be conducting a System seminar in Hamilton on 12 & 13 April 2013. This event will be hosted by Systema Waikato.
David Quaile (left) is Australia’s longest serving Systema Instructor under Vladimir Vasiliev and Mikhail Ryabko (Right). Having Studied with Vladimir Vasiliev since the mid 90′s, David has always acted as a pioneer of Systema in both Australia and New Zealand giving seminars to training groups and clubs interested in studying the System. David has also had the opportunity to travel to Moscow Russia, to train directly with Systema Master Mikhail Ryabko.
David is also a retired Operative from the Australian Military. With his extensive real life combat experience in some of the harshest circumstances and environments that a person would have to survive, he has a thorough and intimate knowledge of how understanding of Systema can help an individual maintain him or herself in such situations.
An amazing and genuinely good natured human being with a wealth of knowledge and experience, David Quaile is highly skilled practitioner and teacher of Systema, and for a long time has been one of the best kept secrets of this art that you will find on our shores.
For more information on this seminar or to book you place contact:
If you are interested in finding out what a seminar is about feel free to read the following review on one of Dave's seminars in Sydney in July of 2012.
With the arrival of 2014, I have been getting back into my running (and hopefully soon my swimming too). For most of my life this has never been one of my strong points. I remember as a child often getting out of breath at school carnivals and in the playground, while the other kids just zipped by at what seemed to me to be effortless ease.
With the help of 2 good friends of mine I decided to remedy this a few years ago and face what had turned into a bit of a fear of mine that had haunted me since childhood. That tightness in the chest and between the shoulder blades, the painful stitch in the belly, the gasping for air... Well at least that was how I remembered it... Fortunately with the help of Systema Principles and also my on again off again love affair with the Chi Running Method (Click Here for more information), I have made some great improvements and have actually started to enjoy running now.
This morning I was running on the beach with a mate of mine when my attention drifted towards the other runners on the beach. There were many different types of folks there today. Athletes, mums, teenagers, a few older folks taking a crack at it. Some were powering on, others were struggling. Sometimes I was overtaking slower runners other times I was being over taken by faster runners. It was then that something one of my teachers had told me some years ago came to mind.
"Establish and maintain a base of comfort. Then if you choose to increase your intensity, do so but remain as relaxed and as comfortable as best you can. Don't just become good at suffering."
It was tempting for me to focus on how fast I was going, how many people I could overtake or even trying to beat my friend to the other side of the beach. But instead I decided to heed that sage advice. So while I continued to run at a pace that I could sustain I began to ask myself:
How comfortable am I within myself?
How is my posture?
Where is the tension accumulating in my body and can I let it go?
Is my breath alleviating or creating more tension in my body?
Am I taking in just what I need or am I being greedy with my breath?
Am I moving at a pace where I can sustain this base of comfort?
Or is my pride and ego causing me to strain and throw out my base for the sake of an external result?
I have come to realise something when it comes to my running, my Systema training and life in general.
Make your goal to be comfortable within yourself. Don't judge your success based on how many people you can overtake or beat. Prioritise understanding and improving yourself over just an external result. Often those external results are just a by product of self understanding and what you choose to do with it anyway.
Run your own race. Or as we Systema folk like to say:
Do your own work.
Like this guy:
You can also study how to increase the intensity and stay relaxed!!!!!!!!! I wrote a bit about it some years ago in the post Use what Destroys You to Restore You.
We have uploaded some footage of Daniil Ryabko teaching during the recent seminar in Sydney. We have also posted some footage of some of the warm ups we have been doing in class for anyone interested.
Hope you enjoy :)
Feel free to check out our Youtube Channel by clicking the following link:
