Systema psychic

[Michael Babin]

Fascinating stuff. Though I know nothing about Systema, I have experienced similar ideas in other martial arts and taiji teachers -- good and bad -- over the years. The truth of why such methods sometimes work dramatically lies somewhere in the human mind and soul. If we call it autosuggestion or self-hypnosis, then both are often used in the martial arts and can produce scary results in some practitioners in terms of increasing ferocity and resistance to pain and for others just turn them into victims to be drained by unscrupulous teachers.

I think one of the most important things to remember is that the really impressive examples of this kind of training are usually found in teachers who have done a lot of fighting in their lives and/or who have had to control others in their daily occupations. What they can do martially is often the underpinning of their psychological ability to control students or the "susceptible" in their workshops. If they were pushed, they would have the experience of "eating bitter" to back-up the psychological skills whereas the average younger, student who buys the workshops, books and dvds just doesn't have the same experience or martial potential.

Still, interesting stuff and its too bad it so quickly gets wrapped in bullshit by so many teachers when they are seduced by the money to be made from exploiting the overly-gullible.

[dtactics]

Hehe...I did...that was actually the first time I trained with Vlad. Good fun...he said "you have good balance" before tipping me over

Yup, gotta love that Vlad humor. Saw him carve up an escrimador like Thanksgiving turkey after telling him he was a great knife-fighter

[Darthwing Teorist]

That explains something he told me during a seminar: he said that I am a tiger because he saw me wearing a Chinese "tiger" character" around my neck (my Chinese astrology sign). I never figured out what he meant until now.

[kreese]

I think if you distract someone's conscious attention by having them think of a recent memory, you can lead them. Like someone said, we do this sort of stuff all the time on the street. Try waiting at a red light and then start walking before the light turns green. In certain situations at least one person will start walking with you because they are used to subconsciously following the crowd. How this relates to fighting, well, I think you have to be a pro, at the level where you don't have to think about he physical stuff anymore.

[RobP2]

Yep, I certainly think for sparring-type work this is of limited value. However, pre-fight or in situations for doormen, LEOs, or married men there is a lot of use

[Darthwing Teorist]

Try waiting at a red light and then start walking before the light turns green. In certain situations at least one person will start walking with you because they are used to subconsciously following the crowd.

I do this sometimes with my car. Sometimes as I accelerate from a light, if I notice that the car beside me wants to keep pace and go faster, I just go just slightly over the speed limit and they keep going faster. So far, I did not get anyone into trouble with the police yet, but I am working on it.

[Darthwing Teorist]

Try waiting at a red light and then start walking before the light turns green. In certain situations at least one person will start walking with you because they are used to subconsciously following the crowd.

I do this sometimes with my car. Sometimes as I accelerate from a light, if I notice that the car beside me wants to keep pace and go faster, I just go just slightly over the speed limit and they keep going faster. So far, I did not get anyone into trouble with the police yet, but I am working on it.

About fighting, you have to be to pretty good to use it: either you are way better than your opponent or you can keep your wits about you to play this kind of tricks. IME, when I did TKD and I got used to the sparring, some friends and I were playing with tricks.