Systema in India!
By Vincent Kurmaer, 27 March 2013
For one of the first times, if not the first time (?), Systema as taught by Michael Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev was brought to India.
Indeed, Vincent Kurmaer from Subrosa Systema in Geneva was invited in March 2013 to teach the basics of Systema to a group of four young (and less young) MMA instructors as part of an intensive 6 days seminar. During these six days, the most important aspects of Systema were covered including breathing, finding your own tension and relax it, seeing/feeling the tension in others in order to “help them to relax” when needed, constant movement, the emphasis on keeping one’s posture, etc. We had great fun and the team headed by Ashwin (second to right, see picture below) was learning very fast!
By Vincent Kurmaer, 27 March 2013
For one of the first times, if not the first time (?), Systema as taught by Michael Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev was brought to India.
Indeed, Vincent Kurmaer from Subrosa Systema in Geneva was invited in March 2013 to teach the basics of Systema to a group of four young (and less young) MMA instructors as part of an intensive 6 days seminar. During these six days, the most important aspects of Systema were covered including breathing, finding your own tension and relax it, seeing/feeling the tension in others in order to “help them to relax” when needed, constant movement, the emphasis on keeping one’s posture, etc. We had great fun and the team headed by Ashwin (second to right, see picture below) was learning very fast!
I personally thought that it was easier to teach Indians than most Europeans for several reasons…The first one is because, India having one of the highest population density of the world, there are somehow used to proximity and to a lesser degree contact. This can also be explained by the fact that they have a deep tradition of massage which also, on the other hand, can explain why there were less tensed than most Europeans. Of course, everyone discovered his own limitations when it came to the deep tissues Systema massage…
I also thought that they had some good knowledge about breathing and movement, mostly because it is also emphasized in Yoga and in a very old Indian martial art called kalaripayat although it is not exactly the same than in Systema. They also have a lot of respect for the teacher-students relationship and are very eager to learn. They don’t question every single thing like most Europeans do which allow them to progress a lot faster. In that way I thought they were closer to the Russian way of doing things.
I guess what they mostly like about the Russian Systema as taught by Michael Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev is its practicality. It means that they could see right away its value and benefits after the first hour of training. They could directly see how they could use it in every situation they could be facing, whether in a fight or simply in day to day activities. That makes Systema very different to everything they had studied before and they simply loved it.
This is probably the beginning of new adventures in this country and I personally really loved the way how teaching Systema could help you meet people from very different cultures.
I just felt like sharing this experience with everybody. So train well, think, feel, love and be safe!
God bless you,
Vincent Kurmaer
I also thought that they had some good knowledge about breathing and movement, mostly because it is also emphasized in Yoga and in a very old Indian martial art called kalaripayat although it is not exactly the same than in Systema. They also have a lot of respect for the teacher-students relationship and are very eager to learn. They don’t question every single thing like most Europeans do which allow them to progress a lot faster. In that way I thought they were closer to the Russian way of doing things.
I guess what they mostly like about the Russian Systema as taught by Michael Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev is its practicality. It means that they could see right away its value and benefits after the first hour of training. They could directly see how they could use it in every situation they could be facing, whether in a fight or simply in day to day activities. That makes Systema very different to everything they had studied before and they simply loved it.
This is probably the beginning of new adventures in this country and I personally really loved the way how teaching Systema could help you meet people from very different cultures.
I just felt like sharing this experience with everybody. So train well, think, feel, love and be safe!
God bless you,
Vincent Kurmaer
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