Globalkick Systema Training

 

 

David is one of the practitioners training with us. Well versed in Russian literature, he appreciates the spirit of Dostoevsky’s Russia, the romanticism of Pushkin’s while aware of the hardness of Solzhenitsyn’s. With his deep fascination and excellent knowledge of Russian culture, he has kindly shared something of his journey into the Russian martial arts...

 

Self-defence, Systema, and the soul:fragments of a beginning.

 

Reading the new James Bond novel Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver, I was interested to find a reference to Systema, a little-known close quarter system drawn from the centuries-old fighting traditions of Russia. In the novel it’s mentioned that Bond has been trained in this Russian art. He even uses Systema in certain fight scenes. Deaver references this art’s Cossack roots and open-hand tactics. This interested me because I have been exploring Systema for one and a half years; to my mind, this depiction of Systema in English-language popular culture is a sign that this art is becoming more accessible to English-speaking civilians.

I believe that I myself did not start doing Systema; instead, Systema came to me in its own way. I have a background in different martial arts, including years of competitive western fencing, a period of kickboxing and then intensive training in another Russian martial art, a police/military hand-to-hand system, at a facility in the Russian provinces. So how did this journey begin? One fresh London morning a stranger walking his dog saw me practising some Russian movements in a park; movements he recognised. He came up to me and we talked about what I was doing. As it turns outs he knew an interesting teacher of the Russian martial art Systema, here in London. A man who had lived in Russia, been trained by Russian masters, who had experience of many arts. This teacher was Aran Dharmeratnam.

At that point I had heard of Systema, I had seen clips, and even read the occasional article about it. I knew that it was a genuinely effective style. I also knew that more often that not, Russian systems have either directly or subconsciously absorbed from the experiences of Russian soldiers in the brutal hand-to-hand and close-range combat of Stalingrad and on the experience of special operatives, the elite Spetsnaz, in operations in dozens of conflict zones. I was already aware that Systema’s main instructor was Mikhail Ryabko, a decorated Colonel of the Russian military and highly regarded as one of the foremost experts in his field. Later I was to learn that Ryabko had played an interesting role in Dharmeratnam’s training but it was this encounter in the park that led to my first training session.

The first session surprised me. It consisted of breath work and an exploration of relaxation and movement, but my experience in Russia had taught me not to be afraid, to go with the flow and look at these areas with fresh eyes. I had spent a year living and working in one of Russia’s most dangerous provincial cities, and that taught me that in real situations what is useful is not a long list of techniques practised over and over again. I’m a civilian in his early twenties from a family of middle-class professionals. But I immediately felt an attraction to this art’s core principles: the need to come out of any dangerous situation in one piece, able to defend yourself again five minutes later, or five years later, or whenever another conflict will find you; the importance of faith, relaxation within oneself, and awareness of the role of the soul in everything we do.

So how did Aran manage to convey all this through his teaching? It seems to me that Aran has an innate understanding of what individual people are searching for and introduces them to many different paths towards the same goal. Under his tuition I’ve succeeded in finding close quarter skills which suit my height and build, but which also work in a variety of situations. From the first session I was amazed by Aran’s ability to move smoothly and effortlessly, responding to any different attack I could present, and seamlessly transitioning from avoiding blows to delivering strikes to working with the opponent’s psyche and many other things besides. Over my time training, the sessions have helped me grasp something of that smoothness and grace. I’ve also found that the large patches of muscle tension and half-forgotten fear which had been holding me back have passed away.

I haven’t yet had to use my new skills in Systema for self-defence. At least I haven’t had to use them against humans: I did use this art to come out of a situation in a Siberian city where I was attacked by a pack of angry street dogs. But I very often find myself able to avoid conflict using Systema’s principles and methods of relaxation: I’ve learnt how to move naturally, quickly and confidently through the streets, in such a way that potential threats often don’t even notice I’m there. After all, the only way to truly successfully handle a dangerous situation is to ensure that it doesn’t take place in the first place.

Aran is a very formidable specialist in hand-to-hand tactics, but he has taught me that there are far more human aspects to Systema than this. With pinpoint accuracy he has equipped me not just for conflict, but also for life. The relaxation and self-understanding aspects of Systema have – even in my comparatively short experience as a practitioner of this art – been of great use for purposes other than self-defence.

I’ve just completed one of the most demanding courses available at one of the world’s most intensive universities, the ancient and famous University of Oxford. Less than a month ago I completed around 24 hours of written exams. Around me I could see many students adversely affected by this experience. I understood the character of the fear of some of my fellow students, a fear which drives some into a deeply unhappy state. The training I received from Aran consisted not just of the tactical work most associated with Systema, but also included energetic, health-related, and fear-reducing aspects; the exercises he has taught me very much simplified my passage through the difficult process of finishing Oxford.

It’s difficult for me to convey in words, and in a short article, all that I have learned and understood from Aran’s training methods. I still don’t know where this road is going, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. As a systemnik I understand that I am on a long road, passing by ancient heroes like Il’ya Muromets through theologians such as St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and writers such as Fyodr Dostoevsky to what we study today.

So Systema is, in its own way, not just a martial art but a way of living. In Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche Bond was right to use Systema. I hope that by writing about something of my own experience I’ve shown that in the real world Systema is not just a tool for special forces types. It is so much more, it is a rare and precious gift: an art which not only develops the body, but also resonates with my soul.

 

David, London, June 2011

 

Carte Blanche is written by Jeffery Deaver and published by Hodder & Stoughton

 

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