While neither is systema, one of them is not far off.
Which one?

Food brings people together.
In these times when your newsfeed is filled with ridiculousness and darkness, here’s something unquestionably positive.

A few years ago I posted a video of shooting on the move, the punchline there was: the bullet should leave the weapon while one leg is in the air. The way you grip the weapon in an also very important…
This is a nice video of shooting on the move. 👍

Here it is, ancient video of very experienced officer, callsign “Professor”
Excellent movement. Remarkably, this guy says he knows very little about shooting compared to his CO, who I also met 😳

The following is not a political statement, but rather a nice summary of the more common manipulation techniques used regularly by politicians and sales people :)

What I find fascinating is the quality of AI presenter, Nika, I was mesmerised by “her” hands twitching and voice modulation 👍 Very impressive.

Please take this as a tool to tune your bullshit filter, rather than my attempt to swing your opinion on any of the political issues.

Video generated by RT, and that news outfit is certainly owned by Russian government. And most certainly, many public speakers use these tools. Russians, Brits, Germans do too.

Hope you find this video useful.

This is just normal part of systema, you do it when you feel you need it.
There is no need to join a cult or buy special equipment.

Though I do understand that unless you TikTok it, it doesn’t count. :-)

There are many benefits to cold water exposure in the right doses. And a common sense pill must be taken prior to applying cold water treatment.


When you do cold water dousing, how do you do it? Bucket? Bath? Shower? How long is your exposure?
I

Merry Christmas, whenever and whatever you celebrate! 🙌

It’s all about perspective…

Wishing you a well functioning bullshit filter, increased cognitive function, excellent health, heart full of love, compassion and patience, and plenty of money to support all of the above.

2023 was the year when disgusted common sense quietly walked out of the room, replaced by vulgar clowns. Now more than ever the support of your inner circle is critical. Spare a moment to help a friend, or a stranger.

The three questions (to self), or perhaps the three circles around you, that will help you deal with the events of 2024 are:
-who am I
-what’s mine
-what’s around me.

Things and people will try to smash into the second circle without asking permission, and the clowns will try to change your view of yourself and what is normal for you.
Resist.

Magnitude of changes in 2024 will be even greater than in the passing year.

Good luck, peace to all, and my best wishes for the new year!


The rear view of the Karl Marx statue at a London cemetery should not offend anyone.

And here’s a demonstration about manipulation.

The subject knows he’s being deceived and still cannot resist.

Dear friends,

God talks to special people from a burning bush, or from a big cloud… but the rest of us usually get God’s message through other folks we meet.

We learn from these encounters and we often change for the better. With age and experience we no longer brush off the casual meetings as coincidences, and we look for deeper meaning, for a message, for some help in making a choice…

About two thousand years ago God decided to talk to us directly, though still through a person.

God did not deliver His message to a chosen prophet via a burning bush to pass on to the community.

He chose to talk to normal dirty people with their imperfections and sins.
To us.
Directly.
That was a big thing.
Still is.

That’s why so many people still celebrate Christmas.
We celebrate the Good News, and we notice that the spirit of the law is no less important than the letter of the law. The spirit is simple- love.

To the orthodox Christians that celebrate the birth of Christ tonight - merry Christmas! Christ is born! Glorify him!

To everyone else- have a wonderful weekend, and slow, dull but successful and happy 2024! We had enough excitement, I reckon.

Peace to all!

🕎☦️☪️ in chronological order:-)

Many years ago Michael Ryabko and I were drinking tea (or maybe whiskey, I don’t recall) and he said- everything you need to know about martial arts and movement you can learn from Indian films.

They definitely come a long way from Disco Dancer, their battle scenes are unsurpassed by anyone!

I am less impressed by the AI generated scenes, but by the script writers- what mind altering substances do they use to come up with this?

Enjoy a three minute time waster.

2024 is in full swing.

International women’s day is nice.
Girls don’t always know how much they mean to us.

—Love is pain," said the Emperor, —don't you know?
"I know,— the doctor replied. — But I also know soldiers who, without arms, without legs, with entrails trailing behind them, tore the enemy with their teeth, because their beloved women were waiting for them at home. I've been through seventeen big battles with them, and I know whose names they spit out with their blood when I cut off their gangrenous arms and legs. I know who they're calling when they're lying inside out on my blood-soaked operating table… They call their women. And that's the only reason they survive, because those in their pain—filled consciousness come to them and sing love songs, and put their hands on their heads - and they survive. Not because I'm a good doctor, but because they have something to hold on to in this hell.... (c)

Here’s a link to a Russian film called the Barber of Siberia. It has English titles, and a few English actors too.
The bit I propose you look at starts at exactly one hour into the film and lasts about 5 minutes.
It has everything:
Drunk generals and bears, wall on wall fighting, and pancakes with caviar.
It all happens on Forgiveness Sunday, the last day before the great lent starts for the orthodox Christians. So it’s kind of like a carnival in Brazil, but Russian style.

This is the day when everyone asks forgiveness from everyone else, and they start the period of strict fasting and restraint that lasts 47 days till Easter. Just so happens that today is the Forgiveness Sunday.

Important to understand philosophical foundation of the art that we study, imho.

I hope you like the film, I did!

https://youtu.be/sEy_uSpCRWA?si=fQhIeJwD5YJVFmgI

Photos:
How Russians view the victory.
T34 tank opened the parade in Moscow today.
Original Eurovision winners from 1945.

Whereas everything in Systema is purposely designed for both of the later environments, is not visual, and has been proven as effective in those arenas as MMA has in the cage. Systema’s structure is intentionally designed to appear structureless, and the speed of the action although registering as slow to the eye is actually a highly developed relational timing, deceptive due to the Systema practitioner remaining calm.

Recently I was invited to introduce the concept of Systema to an overseas Special Operations Unit. While there, I was shown a video of various instructors that had been invited to train their operators and show what they had to offer. Among them was a top MMA coach from Pride. I asked what they thought of his training. ‘Excellent’ the Colonel said ‘but for us, virtually useless.’

This is in no way disparaging to the Pride coach, he was obviously excellent. But the fact remains, what is good in one arena is not necessarily good for another. Systema is not designed primarily for a sport environment or a sport mentality anymore than MMA is primarily designed for a battlefield environment or a combat mentality.

One could train for twenty years in Jujitsu, for example, and be an amazing grappler. But if you were to introduce just one more opponent into the fight you would not be doing Jujitsu anymore. It is simply not designed for fighting two opponents efficiently at the same time, even on the ground. It is primarily structured to fight one opponent at a time.

I am not saying the Jujitsu fighter would not prevail, I am merely suggesting that if he had to fight two or more possibly armed opponents at the same time on a daily basis then his training might soon start to look, at least from the outside, like Systema. And then armed with that knowledge, the way he worked against a single opponent again would also dramatically change. After ten years or so it would look as alien to another Jujitsu practitioner observing it from the outside as Systema does now after centuries of refinement.

Systema, as a martial art, in the form it exists now is primarily designed for real life application, it works for unpredictable situations (such as multiple opponents, various weapons, uneven terrains, poor lighting, confined space, etc.) for professionals in the military, law enforcement and security, for someone who’s got to fight while injured or wounded or has to protect a woman or child, for someone who is older or in a poor physical condition. Training and fighting in Systema is designed to avoid injuries, and even heal your old ones. And that requires a very different bag of tricks, look and feel to a sport fighting art.

Although, as Vladimir once remarked with that casual profound quietness ‘Systema just happens to be a martial art’. And to have any understanding of that gem, one cannot merely observe it from the outside…

Article by Martin Wheeler of The Academy Beverly Hills