Freedom of Movement is More than Physical Motion…

(Originally published July, 2010 – Re-posted now on new blog)

I have recently come to a conclusion about why I now study Systema exclusively, even though I have a broad background and advanced ranks in other martial arts. There are actually many reasons for this – but there is one particular incident that crystallizes this observation.

I found some old photos as I was cleaning out a closet – and I came across some photos from when I trained in JKD and MMA styles. And it brought to mind one particular incident that triggered a change in my mind about martial arts – and eventually led me to Systema (although not immediately).

Here’s the incident: we were doing some three-quarter speed sparring drills, and the particular drill we were working was to only use hands / arms for strikes. All good to go. Then – my partner threw a kick – and I froze. Got hit squarely on the left side of the head. If it was full speed it probably would have dropped me – at three-quarter speed it definitely rang some bells. I was really upset with myself. I saw the kick coming – I could have countered it in several ways. But – I was so conditioned to the parameters of the drill itself that all I could do was think “Hey, he’s not supposed to be throwing a kick!” – instead of just reacting to the current situation. This was a watershed moment for me. Up to that point in time, I was convinced the training I was doing was the best available and I was as prepared as I could be for whatever I might encounter in the “real world”. The idea that something as simple as a kick thrown during a routine drill could mentally handcuff me made me realize “something was wrong”. I told myself that if we were doing free-form sparring, I would have countered it. But this did not ease my concern – something still didn’t feel right. So I started asking myself: Was I training hard enough? Smart enough? Was I practicing the right style(s)? Many other similar questions came and went until I arrived at an important discovery.

The conclusion I reached was this: the methods of the styles I was training in were conditioning me in a way that I fundamentally disagreed with. It created a Pavlovian mind-set which is dangerous for a martial artist. I realized that Technique-based systems not only create conditioned responses to physical stimuli (which in itself is dangerous) – but they also create an atmosphere of compliance and rigidity which proved to be a major issue for me. It was at this point in time that I started looking for “something else”. It took me a while before I found Systema – but when I did, I knew I had found what I had always been looking for.

Systema encourages full Freedom of Movement – and not only from a physical perspective. Training in Systema allows me to fully develop an attitude of freedom – in action, in thought, in emotions, and in just being. In Systema, we also do drills which restrict movement to only arms, or only legs or whatever. But the primary objective of these drills is to develop skills to operate and survive in environments outside of your comfort zone. One could argue that the drills in MMA that I refer to above could also produce this result, but I doubt if this is the actual objective of these drills. Systema encourages creativity and flexibility to adapt to any given situation – at all times. In all my training in Systema (over four years) I cannot recall one moment where I felt the same as I did during the “lightbulb incident” that caused me so much angst. And because of the constant encouragement and reinforcement of freedom found in Systema, I believe I have grown more in these last four years – as a martial artist, and as a human being – than in all my other martial arts experience combined. And that is the real reason why I now only train in Systema.