Interview with Master Andrey Karimov: Part One- Resuscitating Systema.

I finally decided to interview Systema Master, Andrey Karimov. There are too many questions to fit into one segment, therefore, I decided to make this a series of articles(with no real form to it). Keep in mind, everything is loosely translated(by Google translate)..Also, for the record, Mr. Karimov, did not know any of the questions beforehand.
I will also preface this by saying, I speak to Mr. Karimov, almost daily, and have for about four months now. There hasn't been one single conversation where I wasn't pleasantly surprised by a video, a song, or a response. He is both a mentor and a muse, and I am finding, slowly on this journey, that I am not the only person he has inspired.Mr. Karimov is a Clinical Psychologist and Ethnologist  and has been practicing martial arts for almost 30 years. He currently lives in Russia with his lovely wife and three children. He tours the world hosting seminars and events , and will be coming to the United States, for the first time in November, 2015.
He has been extremely patient and helpful with me and all of my questions and comments, that alone, is a testament to this man's demeanor..enjoy!(yes, my initials are "O.O.")

O.O.:There are many clubs and groups that have tried to define the word "Systema", can you clear up some of those misconceptions?

A.K: Systema is a way of becoming a mature person, with creativity, adaptability,the ability to take a punch, all while remaining  true to yourself.This paradox, this dynamic, is Systema.

O.O. : Can you be more specific about that last phrase?

A.K.:The ability to be adaptable, without losing yourself in the process.

O.O.:Most men have trouble being creative and carefree and have the capacity to take a punch. How can they find that balance?

A.K.:There are many ways. Immersing ourselves in culture is a great way. Finding your way into a circle, becoming open, not being afraid to make mistakes or to be judged by others, like with dancing, wrestling and craftwork.

O.O:Would you say being a good Systema practitioner is almost like performing?

A.K.: Exactly!

O.O.: Many people struggle with public speaking, let alone performing. For those just starting out with Systema, what do you recommend?

A.K.:For those who are just starting, I propose alot of footwork, literally and physically. Your "legs save". Meaning, your legs are what carry you and save you. Because of this, we study the steps and dance of the Russian Cossacks. This style of dance also provides a vast experience and knowledge of motor skills, both on the ground and upright. It is effective, if you are moving continuously.Public performance is comparable to fearing death, to some. Does it define who you are?Does this fear make you who you are? That is a question many people will have to ask themselves and it is a real question of personal identity and fortitude. A circle of like minded, positive individuals will overcome those barriers. That is why , we sit in a circle of support of one another, we are all equal in the circle.

O.O.:So if anyone has issues with insecurity, it will be best overcome by finding a group of supportive , like minded people, who can encourage each other and help each other grow in a positive direction?

A.K.: Yes. Grow together as a group. Meet with other groups, share power and positive energy. Closed groups lack communal strength and support. The energy is reduced.

O.O.:I have discussed the complexity, or lack thereof,  of Systema in the United States versus what I have seen and read and heard about in other countries. In the U.S., it seems to be more of a conceptualized idea and less of a "community " feel. Much of what you are describing , may seem irrelevant to a large number of practitioners here. How can you explain why it has become more rigid and less about "art"?

A.K.:I do not know about the U.S. at all and cannot really say anything at the moment. Maybe it's the fear of losing status, position in society, or fear of trying new concepts. But, the more you fear it, the more it happens to you.

O.O.: Personally I was thrilled when I first discovered your videos from a friend (who is a long time practitioner), and became an instant fan.I was also shocked that I had not heard of you before , and was not the only one. It seems, the majority of us were only aware of one "method" of Systema in the United States. Do you think that people may be stuck in only learning that style and not open to others?

A.K.: Making the choice is laid upon the person themselves.God gave us all the ability to see, hear and understand. Making the personal and conscious choice, manifests in the person, himself. Personal choices can mature and strengthen. If people have no choices, they become addicted to the wrong ones.

O.O.:That being said, to train with you, may take alot of men out of their comfort zone, in many ways.Since you use several layers of Cossack dance style and movement, how can you explain to the people who are not aware of your method, and how it connects to richer, deeper part of Systema?

A.K.: It is all very simply interconnected. It's continuity , deep and personal. An experience.

O.O.:So , in reality, Systema cannot be defined by one person or group. Systema is just a word the classifies  "methods" and has evolved over a long period of time, like karate.There is no specific "inventor"or "creator" of Systema, is that correct?

A.K.: If someone claims they invented Systema, they are not being truthful with themselves or others. God invented Systema, it is a method of the divine laws of nature. Tones, sounds, rythym of the heart, breathing. It is the prinicple of  continuity, integrity, viscosity,consistency, balance, commonality and many other ideals.Populations of Russian Cossacks were kept and made to be held in hostile environments, and out of this, a method was comprehended and proverbs were formed.The social model of success and maturity was passed down in fairy tales, song and dance. Anyone who claims they own or created "Systema" creates a barrier to it's further development and ruins it's original copy, which creates a huge restriction.If Systema is sanctioned off to one group, you cannot expand as a whole and causes inner group fighting and corruption.Tradition is time honored, proven and works. The "system" with the same name, is an attempt to manipulate and appropriate gullible and naive students who do not have honest information. It has become a business project and is not the path intended.The fraudsters are beside you , and if you run out of money, they will toss you aside.You can become used to this, and either you run from it or stay and pick at the crumbs left at the table. You cannot pretend to be something you haven't learned ( and commercializing it, is not teaching it).

O.O.:Can you detail that last statement a little more?

A.K.:If the level of requirements are lowered to teach and to practice, then that is bad and deceitful.Then , Systema becomes dependent on these same groups of people. If you are robbed, you will settle for handouts. A commercialized training program cannot teach you these things.

O.O.:It is very clear, that you encourage your students to grow and learn as much as possible. If anyone watches your videos , you sometimes seem superhuman, or indestructible, yet if we pay attention to your videos, we can see that you play guitar like instrument called a  "balalaika" and have just as many videos of training with children as your others. Can you explain your methodology behind this?

A.K.: I encourage my students to learn and grow as much as possible and to learn from other groups as part of enrichment of ourselves and others.Training with children is exciting and helps us let go! The Balalaika organizes the process, creates a space, accelerates understanding, destroys fear and normalizes the function of internal organs. Children exude strength and energy and this is what people need. We need this strength and excitement to strengthen our confidence and it is an important part of societal function. It is important for young people to have our support and see us as a source of confidence, with will and purposefulness.

O.O.:Here , in the U.S., often in training or seminars of Systema, to "break the psyche" students are made to do countless push-ups, rolls, squats, and sit ups. In your videos, this isn't a common place, yet the men look relaxed and exhausted after training with children. Is this perhaps a better way to "warm up" ?

A.K.: It is easier to achieve this level when training with children. It is very important for their growth , both physical and emotional, and gives them agility and consistency with their bodies and their minds. Push-ups are for teenagers. We are not teenagers. We do not have teenage psyches. We need to move past this.

O.O.:On the subject of working with children, is seems like it is a huge part of your training style. Is this mandatory for your students?

A.K.: This is not mandatory, but encouraged.

O.O.:In the U.S. , it is not common to see a large training session including women or children. Often times, women and children are excluded (or not engaged in) alot of the methodology.In fact, alot of "Women's Systema" is called "Women's Self Defense" and children's classes primarily focus on "drills" and "warm up"exercises. This is not the case with your style. Can you explain why it is important to openly include women and children in training Systema?

A.K.: Working with women raises social and psychological human adaptability. As for children, their energy is what we all want, in reality. If we give them a platform to perform, they will find their place in life.Training with women and children help all of us remove social and psychological blocks.

O.O.:The psychological and social aspects of Systema are mostly lost here. In several of your videos , you have a whiteboard or chalkboard in the background.I have never seen Systema broken down in a intellectual,holistic  and functional format like this. Is this an important part of teaching your students, the actual discussion of these topics?

A.K.:Yes, I break down the components of Systema as part of a model of living. It is a lifestyle. A total environment. A "system".

(...to be continued..)


For more information about Master Andrey Karimov click here.
To check out some of Master Karimov's videos go to his Youtube page here.
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Fear Mongering: How You Can Learn About Fear, For Free!!

Ever since I began my training in Systema, probably the one thing I heard over and over was the word "fear".
Now, just hearing that word, may make people start to slightly panic.That's right, if you tell people, "today, we are going to work on FEAR control", then you may get some reaction.
When someone says that to me, I immediately think of clowns.Clowns scare me. They are a legitimate fear.

Just found out this is Tim Curry, so that makes it ok.

But, in training, fear control is taught in different ways. Everyone is kinda more or less told that to control fear , they have to evolve and work through their own thresholds. Now this, as someone who has had several close calls with death, sounded completely foreign to me. How can anyone teach people how to control fear, if we all have different fear levels? How is this possible? How do you even know what my fear is, if you have just met me?
Well the answer is, it isn't fear control. It's panic control.But because that's more or less a subjective word, it is replaced with "fear". Why? Because the word "fear"sells. Quickly.If I tell you, "here, I will give you all the tools you need to defend yourself from getting attacked and to stop being scared", you may believe it. You will really believe it if you go to a seminar and watch others believe it.
But, if you've been in a close call, or near death incident, you may check your psyche.For me , personally, my fearful moments were not getting mugged, or jumped, or assaulted. My moments were: being in a burning house, hearing my son was in a horrible car accident, having a nurse tell me that I had a miscarriage.
That, is fear. Those precise moments. Also, alot of panic. But mostly, fear.There is no way, on earth, you can teach me to prepare for those moments. Why ? Because for the most part, I had no idea any of these things would happen to me . Those incidents happen so quickly, that your mind sometimes doesn't react right away(this is perhaps why PTSD sets in).
In training, in a classroom type environment(indoor or outdoor), it was impossible for me to experience even the same level of fear as any of my real life experiences. Class had a start and stop time and I felt completely comfortable getting thrown around, hit , kicked, stepped on. I did not ever experience fear. Nor would I want to.
However, across the board, the basic training for this fear control(fear of what, I'm not sure) , was breath holds. Breath holds, if you read about it in any Systema blog,book or see in a class, consist of burst breathing, breath holding, breath releasing etcetc, until you almost or in fact, do pass out. If you've ever played the "pass out game"(which many children every year die from), it is the same feeling. I've done this breath work and the results were horrible, not scary. I threw up in my own mouth once, I blacked out another time, and the last and final time I did it, I had the worst migraine I've ever had in my life. Was I scared? No.
Mad? Yes.Very. Why was I doing this? I knew what my fears were and there was no way this breaking psyche point of breath holding was going to get me there. Apparently, you are supposed to feel a sense of panic and be able to control yourself when you get to that point. The point when you should be gasping for air, you're supposed to hold out a little longer.
Um.Newsflash. I, like many people...suffer from asthma. Telling me "you know..stop breathing so you start panicking" is like telling King James how to write the Bible.
I KNOW how this feels. Again..even suffocating during an asthma attack, not the same fear as being mugged , in a fire, or hearing really bad news. Not even close.

actual picture from that day

Why? Because I have had asthma almost my whole life. I am a pro at asthma. I have the kind that no one wants. The kind that can be dormant for a year then provide me with another year of complete confusion and an array of medications.In fact, I am so calm, cool and collected during my almost choke-to-death asthma sessions, that even my own Doctor was concerned during a visit once when I arrived in her office and I was gasping for air. I was there for something completely unrelated to asthma and a certain airborne scent triggered me. By the time her nurse was checking my lungs, I was in full blown attack. My son sat and read his book and I calmly looked for my inhaler, while the doctor and nurse ran from room to room searching for a nebulizer. This is now what I feel is a result of lifelong exposure to the chaos that surrounds this disease. My calm demeanor during the attack is a result of years long panic and frantic not knowing what to do. Immersion therapy at it's finest. Because I was in a total environment with this disorder, I knew how to calmly and confidently handle the situation.
So how or what makes anyone who starts out in Systema think they can confidently handle a surprise attack? How can you train for fear, if you are not in a total "fear" environment? How do you even define your own fear levels , if you have not ever been in the situation of being attacked, randomly, unprovoked, and without warning.You know how you can do this?
Enlist.
That's right..sign up for any one of the armed forces and train. Train like you mean it. Train like you are fighting for something or someone . There are no Systema competitions, (other than the "my ego is better than your ego" ones, or "my gym has more participants than yours"), so why do any of us think we are training for a total fear environment? Because we bought into the marketing.
As I began writing this a few days ago, something really disturbing hit the news wire. A woman was beheaded in Oklahoma, by a coworker. While the level of " I told you so's" hit the internet, I sat and waited to see which martial artist was ready to capitalize on this. How did I know this would happen? Patterned behavior.
Within 24 hours a notable school here mentioned how their women's class switched to "anti-beheading measures"
Ummmmmm, what? How do you even begin to teach a class on that? Do they teach this class in countries that have frequent beheadings?  I don't know what was actually discussed in class, but a first thought would be teaching situational awareness, BUT , if you are already training in any martial arts , you should already have been taught that....I would think.
Unless, you need to be SOLD that you NEED to be taught how to protect yourself from a beheading. Other than donating all the class proceeds to the victim's family, I cannot imagine how this is possible. Unless class consisted of praying for the victim and witnesses, then I am completely , once again, face planting into my keyboard. Then, openly discussing that , this was your class topic...wha??
While I wish Systema here would stop targeting vulnerable individuals,and fear mongering groups of people,  I see the financial gain from it. Once I stepped back from the US Systema methods  and looked at international options, I realized..this is an American problem. The marketing for most classes usually consists of " protect yourself" or " know yourself" or " learn combat style", or even better, "advanced weapons training". And you know what I found? Some of the best, finest, most well rounded Systema groups and instructors, don't even advertise or have classes, AND..they will talk to you..for freeeeeeeee!
 I wish we would all question "what are we really training for?"
Are we all weekend warriors ? Are any of us really prepared for real live fear?
Everyone knows, being in battle, of any kind..is REAL fear training. A mom who's son just got diagnosed with leukemia...fear.
A mom, who sees her child's teacher on TV arrested for molestation. Fear.
A mom, who can't find her kid in a grocery store.Fear.
A dad, who's daughter goes missing after he tells her to break up with a certain male. Fear.
Seeing no movement on an ultrasound , after being pregnant for five months....fear.
Signing up for war......
These are all examples of real fear. Telling me that holding my breath until I vomit, or holding me down while six people are rolling over me..not fear. Not even close. Maybe , panic at best..but even then, class is only a few hours..so I know, it will be done.
If you have trained for Systema for more than three years, you could have easily joined the military. Not only would you receive FREE combat training, FREE uniforms and FREE travel, you would receive real live FEAR training. For free...in fact, this country will pay YOU(at some point, if you make it out alive).I dare any of us to approach any vet that just came back from a war and brag to them about how many Systema seminars we've been to, or who's school we just got back training from , or which instructor punched us while we sheepishly waited in line. Please..do tell a vet about your highly paid for combatives training, show them the shirt you paid for.See what happens.

As for myself, I will continue to face my daily fears of not knowing if I will ever recover from a spinal injection, or if I will ever heal from a tragic loss, or if I can financially maintain my household long enough for my body to get back into working order.This is fear.

Study the definitions alone, challenge yourself, your instructor, your life.

Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn't feel it, we couldn't protect ourselves from legitimate threats. But often we fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for no good reason. Traumas or bad experiences can trigger a fear response within us that is hard to quell. 

Panic  suddenly destroying the self-control and impelling to some frantic action.

Bamboozled to deceive or get the better of (someone) by trickery, flattery, or the like; hoodwinked (often followed by into)

Learn about :
Psychological marketing .

Giving you what you need.: Out of the Mouths of Babes :How a Seven Year Old B...

Giving you what you need.: Out of the Mouths of Babes :How a Seven Year Old B...: Recently, our family was eating lunch at one of our favorite establishments . My fiancee and I were openly talking about the events that ha...

The path to....many paths

First of all, let me start off by saying... I am not a martial arts expert. Hold all your "how long you been training?" questions for someone who cares. I am just a bold female, with a bold perception and a permeating taste for the truth. The words "tradition" , " warrior" , "honor" , "integrity" all ring feverishly in my ears.
If you are into store bought gimmicks, following the median lines of typical consumeristic bullshit, please move on.If you are afraid to ask yourself "what am I REALLY doing?"
This blog is not for you.
If you are moderately interested in learning a little more about  culture , traditions, sensational people and experiences, please stay tuned. If you are searching for a way to reconnect with life, people,yourself....I hope you can be inspired.

Secondly ,
I was wholeheartedly inspired by one person. Period. The shear fact that I met this person, was in truest form, kismet. I had no intentions of forcing myself into his life, yet..here I am..all up in it.
This man is Andrey Karimov.

Never heard of him? Me either.
Wanna find out more?
Me too.
And we will, together, I promise.
Life is too short NOT to seek out what really matters. For me right now, what matters most, is that I TRY and live my life to the best , fullest, most enriched I can. I spent the last 6 months battling for my own life, my health, my psyche...so this...is no small task at all. I will be the very first to admit, I am a complete hot mess. But being a hot mess, lead me to do some serious soul searching, and hot damn, if I didn't find some part of my lost self.
The journey I've been on to get to this point, is mind boggling. There has not been a day that has gone by since I've met Mr. Karimov, that I haven't asked myself "how the f*ck did I get here?"
Not one day.
Mr.Karimov has all but allowed me into glimpses of a Traditional Cossack past, that I had absolutely ZERO knowledge of more than a month ago. He has allowed me to randomly pick his brain, ask the weirdest of questions and Google Translate ourselves into the world of foreign culture. And through this savant-like human being I have learned more than enough to die absolutely happy.And, I know there is more.
He is an effervescent reminder that...we all came from somewhere ; we all need to belong.

I'm only writing from my personal experiences. I am not much of a writer, more of a story teller. I will try not to rant, rage, or otherwise. Along this journey, I have encountered some of the nicest, meanest, douchiest, sweetest people ever. I've witnessed tragedy, triumph, love, loss, defeat and resurrection. I've lost friends, made enemies and made better friends....and bigger enemies.
As much as I think this blog may be about working and learning from Mr. Karimov, I have a feeling it will be much , much more.







"When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day."

Chinua Achebe