Mikhail then went up a notch and started making contact with us. At first the strikes where straight forward - they went in at a certain angle, and travelled in a straight line. As long as I was travelling in the same direction, everything was fine. Then Mikhail put strikes into us which had a more complex direction to them - for example a spiralling tension effect. The best way to cope seemed to start moving and then allow the fall/roll/escape to take on more than one direction in line with what one perceived was happening inside. Then something started happening that I don't yet understand fully. Mikhail would touch me, not necessarily with a strike or even hard, and I'd feel a surge, a huge energy or 'lightness' pass though my body which temporarily was not mine to direct. Limbs would fly out or I'd get stuck in weird positions and the roll out once I'd worked out how to escape and roll out. On occasion it felt like an exceptionally strong person was pulling a limb as hard as they could. Sometimes I'd have to roll or move two, three or four times before I felt this force dissipate, usually though my arms or legs. Also I would feel a huge tension start to develop and I'd have to work hard to go the direction is seemed to take me. I have to say, despite my perhaps confusing description it was in no way an unpleasant experience - in fact I felt great afterwards. Hmmmmmm. I also found I lost all fear of falling - I really threw myself around without a second thought. I hope it lasts!
Mikhail asked me how I felt and I also saw his work with Alexander in the regular Moscow class which was similar in nature but much more intense. Alexander explained after the experience that he felt his heart some for Mikhail asked me afterwards 'what did you see?' I replied 'tension - huge tension and interruption of breathing' - a standard answer really. 'Anything else?' - I didn't know although I felt something more - definitely I'd felt it a little bit myself. Mikhail looked at me and smiled in that certain way of his - I guess I'll get it eventually. This seems to me to be a really jump of understanding about Systema at the higher levels. Yes - Mikhail's timing, form, movement and prediction of events is perfect, but I think I can see something more. I'm just not sure what it is.
Other training at the two of the regular Moscow classes (of which one exceeded three hours) seemed to be getting friendly, almost caring beatings from Mikhail's regular students. The standard there is really high - someone remarked on some online forum that while Mikhail was good, no one else has any ability - I can tell you that I have never seen such ability in one room before - and I've been in martial arts for a decade and spent quite some time training in Japan.
I also got in some more escapology practise when working with Alexander the next day. The drill was to try to apply a lock on Alexander and then get thrown at speed. This type of work was also quite frightening as I found that there was always more than one direction to my fall and I had to work out my orientation mid-flight. I really tried to crank it on with the locks, but I was thrown effortlessly each time. It is quite worrying to feel so totally helpless against another individual; I guess this is where faith in something other than yourself can help. I tried to work from locks as well: - sometimes I was successful, sometimes not. I could see that the best method seemed to be to know by intuition which way your partner wanted to take the lock and go that way too, but further than they intended so that you 'steal' the movement and then alter the direction in such a way that their form is lost. Then you can draw the movement out or apply a second point of contact/direction.
Maybe because I was struggling we tried a more basic drill; disrupt a person's form or balance as the walk slowly towards you. This was something that came after a lot of work. As the person walked forward it would seem logical to wait until the last moment to apply something - the element of surprise right? In practise this caused me to be overwhelmed by their momentum. The best result came from applying a hand early but allowing my arm to bend so I could feel the rise and fall of each step, then exaggerating their up or downward movement together with a second direction one the body was light or stuck with the motion jammed. This movement seemed also to be in tune with the persons breathing.
Throughout the visit I always had the opportunity to ask Mikhail questions. I'm short sighted and knowing that Systema seems to be a 'cure all' practise, I asked if I could sort my vision out. Mikhail talked about the deep breathing drills where you concentrate on the pulse and eventually can feel your blood pressure. He suggested I try to feel the pulse in my eyes as the probability is that not enough blood is reaching them. When I tried this after the trip I found that my worst eye definitely had a weaker/harder to find pulse in it than the good one. It will be very nice if I can get to 20/20 as even normal Systema training has improved my vision a little bit. I mentioned to Mikhail that my eyesight had considerable worsened in Japan four years ago when I was doing Aikido 9-5. He said big breakfalling causes accumulation of micro-shocks to the eye - I my own thoughts, this must be something like the problems boxers face but on a much smaller scale.
Back at the Moscow class I was lucky enough to work with Valentin. He demonstrated some work where someone (i.e. me because I've had some experience in it) attempts a judo type throw and one continues and exaggerates whilst at the same time escapes the technique. The consequences are that I had to fall over Valentin and then landed very heavily indeed. As I tried to go up a notch he also went up one, starting his movement early - so that as I was just about to get my grip and turn in - too late to change my mind. The result was that I threw myself at the floor like a madman for seemingly no reason. I tried again and again thinking it was my fault for being suggestible or keen to please but it seemed I couldn't stop myself even if I started the move with that in mind. We also did lots of other work, but I think I'd run out of memory at about this point. In order to help me with my informational overload a large quantity of vodka was then consumed 3 times a day for the next three days.
Many thanks to Mikhail and his family for being so welcoming and sharing. Thank you Valeri Riazanov for looking after me and Neil Franklin for the company.
Sam Benson 26/07/2004