Systema Brisbane
For upto date class information see the
Systema Australia website
phone: 0423 267 841
Systema classes now operate independant of the aikido club and a casual fee of $7 is payable per session. Andrew Seyderhelm has recently returned from extended training in Canada and has been given formal permission to teach this exciting art from the founders.
Systema is a realistic combat style of fighting with real-life, rather than sport, application. It involves a unique, high speed, elliptical open-hand striking system, kicking, and defense on the ground. Unlike many Asian styles, Systema has no predetermined fighting stances, but teaches you to defend yourself against attackers from any position. The key principle of the Russian System is non-destruction. The goal is to make sure that your training and your attitudes do no damage to the body or the psyche of you or your partners. The System is designed to create, build and strengthen your body, your psyche, your family and your country.
The System has another name 'poznai sebia' or 'Know Yourself'. What does it really mean to Understand Yourself? It is not just to know what your strengths and weaknesses are, that is good but fairly superficial. Training in Russian Martial Art is one of the sure ways to see the full extent of our limitations - to see how proud and weak we really are. The System allows us to gain the true strength of spirit that comes from humility and clarity in seeing the purpose of our life. (adapted from http://www.russianmartialart.com)
Stanley Pranin , a well known aikido researcher comments on Systema and it relevance to Aikido
My first exposure to Systema, the Russian Martial Art popularized by Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev, came in April 2001. I was in attendance at the formal presentation of a Shindo Yoshin-ryu Menkyo Kaiden to Sensei Toby Threadgill in Dallas, Texas. At the party following the ceremony, a group gathered in the living room to watch martial arts videos. At least 20 of us--mostly seasoned martial artists with decades of training experience--watched parts of videotapes of several styles and eventually got to one on a Russian martial art that most were seeing for the first time....
...Out on the mat I found the training in Systema to be very rigorous. It includes lots of pushups, situps, varied breathing exercises, and body strengthening exercises. Since it is so demanding, anyone who seriously trains will become very fit quickly. The techniques themselves are applied with wave and spiral-type motions which can transform into a cascade of follow-up movements depending on the reaction of the attacker. An important part of training time is devoted to light, sparring exercises that are quite enjoyable and constantly challenge you to resist the temptation to use power. Systema techniques performed at the highest level use only the minimum amount of energy and operate largely on a mental/psychic plane......"
Read the full article on the Aikido Journal here
