The Battle of Borodino (A Painting to Remember)

During my first trip to Moscow in May of 2009 , David Quaile (Australian Systema Instructor) and I visited the Napoleonic war museum. We were fortunate enough to be in the company of Victor Petrov, a student of Mikhail Ryabko and one of the Instructors at the Moscow school. There were many interesting things to be seen in that museum. But the thing that stuck out in my mind was a large mural, painting on the wall, depicting the battle of Borodino during the French Invasion of Russia.

The Battle of Borodino was fought on 7 September 1812 and was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. The French Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I attacked the Imperial Russian Army of General Mikhail Kutuzov near the village of Borodino, west of the town of Mozhaysk, and eventually captured the main positions on the battlefield, but failed to destroy the Russian army. About a third of Napoleon's soldiers were killed or wounded; Russian losses, while heavier, could be replaced, since large forces of militia were already with the Russian Army and replacement depots which were close by had already been gathering and training troops.  Although the battle itself ended with the Russian Army out of position, by withdrawing the Russian army preserved its combat strength, eventually allowing it to force Napoleon out of the country.

                                                     (Only part of the mural)

It was an amazing painting, with details of the battle painstakingly captured with the precision of the artist. You could see everything. Hundreds of men on horseback charging each other with sabres drawn, while their comrades on both sides loaded their muskets and fired at each other. Cannons aimed at the opposing armies with smoke covering the battlefield. In addition to the mural which was very large, small huts had been constructed on dirt surrounding the artwork in order to replicate the scene of the battle. There was even a recording which would play in the background; the sound of the trumpet signalling a cavalry charge, followed by the sound of galloping horses, cannon and gunfire. The effect was incredibly impressive.

Then at one point Victor said "Look over there," pointing at a smaller barely noticeable part of the enormous painting. "Look at that small cottage there." We then noticed amongst all the carnage, the artist had taken the time to paint a small domicile near the edge of the battlefield. It was a simple building, made from chopped down tree's with a straw thatch for a roof. Just outside of the cottage was a little vegetable garden with a few cabbages growing in the dirt. "Back then someone would have had to work hard in order to build that little house," said Victor. "They would have had to chop down the wood by hand. They would have had to find the straw for the roof. And then they would have had to put a lot of effort into putting it all together to make their home." We took another look at whoever's home the little cottage amongst the carnage was. "Now look at that, the roof is now on fire, and there are soldiers jumping over that fence and running through that vegetable garden stepping on the cabbages. That was somebody's home." We continued to look at that small part of the painting, surrounded by the images of war and death. "Isn't it interesting how people are always interested in violence and learning how to destroy, yet rarely ever take any interest in learning how to build and create?", asked Victor rhetorically.


When studying Systema remember that learning about fighting is only a part of the training. Remember to learn how to heal yourself and your training partners, and not just how to rip people apart. 

Justin Ho

Principal Instructor

Systema Sydney Russian Martial Art

www.systemasydney.com

An Inanimate object vs the Human Body (Notice the Feeling)

A real amazing piece of advice from Victor Petrov (Виктор Петров) one of my teachers in Moscow, came to me a while ago via e-mail. Victor advised me of the following;

"You can do easily what you want with many things which are inanimate objects (for example -any ball, stick). You can touch it, observe and explore to start with, and then if you want toss it to the ground or
place it very carefully like very fragile glass, this is also not a problem. When doing this all our movements are all real, calm and just occur naturally. HOWEVER when instead it is human body which we go to place our hands on, we become tense/shy.... and try to invent some sort of sophisticated movements to perform this task."

It's funny. When I think about all the activities I do throughout my day; opening doors, brushing my teeth, picking up and carrying my bag. All of these things are done without thinking and with just the right amount of force, the right pressure in the right place in the right time. I also don't get angry or apologetic when picking up my bag (i.e. F#%K YOU BAG!!!!!!! Or OMG I'm so sorry bag), I just pick up my bag or perform the required activity.

The great thing is that this just occurs naturally and unconsciously, and without the need for contrivance. Now the trick is to be able to replicate this but not by TRYING TO MANUFACTURE this when working with a person. A better way would be to REMEMBER THE FEELING, then keep it when you begin to work with a person. In this way you ALLOW IT TO OCCUR.

The Work
Grab yourself a partner. Walk up to your partner, place your hands on him comfortably and take the person to the ground exploring the biomechanics of the human body. NOTICE THE FEELING.

After doing the above several times to get a good feel, go find yourself an inanimate object of some sort. Preferably something not too small. Something like a chair, box, bag, etc.

Now this is important. Don't get all weird when you go to move this inanimate object. Don't TRY to feel something strange and remarkable. What you want to NOTICE instead is just completely ORDINAIRY. Something just NORMAL and UNREMARKABLE. Just move your object around as if you are just doing it in your day to day life... Because this is exactly what you are doing. While you are doing this don't try to force a feeling. Just NOTICE THE FEELING.

Now go back to your partner. REMEMBER THE FEELING from when you were moving the inanimate object. All you need to do. Now work with your partner as previously described, but now move him as if he were an inanimate object.

See what happens...

Both people should feel all what happens with their bodies (inside and outside). In the future be able to do what you want with your body and partner's body too. The key is to NOTICE and REMEMBER THE FEELING.

.... I can't think of a relevant picture. Here's a far side cartoon I found funny.

Justin Ho

Principal Instructor

Systema Sydney Russian Martial Art

www.systemasydney.com

Some memories of Moscow May of 2009

      Ahhhhhh Moscow. What a town. The trip in 2009 was life changing (and I mean that very literaly).

               What occurred in the following clip was a very interesting experience indeed.

                                                   


         With regards to our time there, David and myself had the chance to express the following:

                                                   

Thanks a million to those who looked after us. Victor Petrov, thankyou for your guidance during this trip and also in September 2010. Your advice "Be Alive" still gives me much to reflect on even today. Andrei, thanks for the stick massage. Both occasions taught me new things about myself, and helped heal me just a little bit more...and yes the second time round is much better. Daniel Ryabko, thanks for an awesome day during our first trip, and thankyou for introducing me to Banya (Russian Bath House). And of course thankyou to Mikhail Ryabko...pretty much for everything.             

                                                   

  

One last thing. When you make trips like this, remember to listen to your body. Remember there is only so much information your nervous system can integrate at one time. So pay close attention to yourself and know when to take a rest. Otherwise by the end of your trip you will look like this:

Until next time.

-Justin