Review: Work in the Woods II
By Vincent Kurmaer, 8 May 2013
From Thursday 18th April until Sunday 21st April 2013, Subrosa Systema had again the pleasure to host a seminar with the world famous Konstantin Komarov.
By Vincent Kurmaer, 8 May 2013
From Thursday 18th April until Sunday 21st April 2013, Subrosa Systema had again the pleasure to host a seminar with the world famous Konstantin Komarov.

Due to extremely good weather conditions for the season, we all enjoy the mix of a survival camp with some extensive Systema training. Amongst many other things, thanks to Konstantin’s true dedication and willingness to share his great knowledge with us, we learned how to: build a base camp under these conditions in which we could be comfortable enough to get some rest, increase our awareness through sensitivity drills especially at night, defend and attack other base camps, maneuver in the snow unnoticed, work in a pair to neutralize a third person, work against the knife in nature and of course survive on the ground that we had the pleasure to learn in the comfort of a warm and dry gym nearby.
The seminar itself was less challenging physically than our first edition since we didn’t have to walk as much. What was much more challenging of course was the weather but, as requested, everybody came prepared this time; well at least psychologically because a few people spent the four days in wet running shoes…this definitely built up a strong spirit which is key in any difficult situation whether be to survive in the wild or in a violent confrontation.
The team exercises were really great to everyone and made a strong emphasis on the importance to communicate and assign tasks in order to complete any specific mission. I also thought that this Work in the Woods spent a greater amount of time on re-learning how to listen to what our body is telling us in different situations and trust this inner feeling to better orient our actions. The forest at night is a particularly suited environment to practice this type of skills and they can later be applied anywhere and in all aspects of our lives.
So again, thanks to all the brave participants of this camp for your good spirit and hard work. Each of you, in your own way, have contributed to its success!
Take care,
Vincent Kurmaer
The seminar itself was less challenging physically than our first edition since we didn’t have to walk as much. What was much more challenging of course was the weather but, as requested, everybody came prepared this time; well at least psychologically because a few people spent the four days in wet running shoes…this definitely built up a strong spirit which is key in any difficult situation whether be to survive in the wild or in a violent confrontation.
The team exercises were really great to everyone and made a strong emphasis on the importance to communicate and assign tasks in order to complete any specific mission. I also thought that this Work in the Woods spent a greater amount of time on re-learning how to listen to what our body is telling us in different situations and trust this inner feeling to better orient our actions. The forest at night is a particularly suited environment to practice this type of skills and they can later be applied anywhere and in all aspects of our lives.
So again, thanks to all the brave participants of this camp for your good spirit and hard work. Each of you, in your own way, have contributed to its success!
Take care,
Vincent Kurmaer