Emotional Content

I always find it humbling when people choose to share genuine emotion in class - it is also heartening to see the support of the group in such a situation. This happened at a recent training session, which prompted me to consider the role of emotion in training. Is there a place for emotion in training? To some extent it depends on what you are training for and on your views on what training is about. If you are training for a specific event or situation then the scope of your training is determined by the boundaries and requirements of that event. So in terms of a sports match the emotional focus is on winning the match - or perhaps, post-match, dealing with defeat.

If we turn to general self defence training the boundaries are wider. If you view fighting as a purely technical exercise, there would seem to be little room for "emotional content" - a lever is a lever is a lever. But we have to consider the environment in which any conflict takes place. I can't think of a single personal incident where emotion was not involved - mine or another person's. In this context it becomes important to address emotional issues in training - particularly fear, anger, rage, desire to dominate, pride or despair, pretty much the negative side of the coin! Also, even in Newtonian terms , you can get as much, if not more, done with an emotional lever as with a mechanical one....

How we address these negative emotions is important. One approach is to magnify the received emotion and turn it back on the aggressor - if he is mad, I'm gonna be wild... if he's a dog I'll be a ravening wolf! It's an approach that I think has the same appeal as that scene in action movies where the righteous hero finally snaps and kills 50 bad guys in a rage. In real life it may have it's place in some situations and is certainly worth exploring - but as a standard procedure for "everyday" work I find it limiting and perhaps even damaging

Another approach is to understand exactly where fear and anger come from and how they affect us psychologically and physically and act to control the effects rather than succumb to them. Systema gives us very simple but powerful tools in order to control the effects of fear and aggression on ourselves - and by extension others too. Simple in approach that is, but of course any tool must be forged in the fire and testing can be a challenging experience.

People sometimes question the viability of using such simple methods to control one's mental state under pressure. If they are viewed as "techniques" it probably is difficult. If they are simply part of what you do or who you are, it becomes a lot easier. I can think of numerous personal examples, including a recent road rage incident, where I didn't notice until after the event that I had gone into specific breathing patterns and remained in a controlled state throughout, able to deal with the situation in an appropriate and effective way.
Does this mean we should be emotionless in training and in life? Well yes - and no! I don't believe that repressing emotion is healthy. It may be necessary for a short amount of time, but it will always come back at some point. After a dangerous incident anyone who is mentally healthy will get a rush of emotions. In extreme cases this will manifest as post traumatic stress and can have long lasting and far reaching effects.

On the the internet it is not uncommon to find people who adopt the persona of the emotionless "warrior", concerned only with combat and destroying the enemy. Of course it's a construct, no-one lives their normal life like that, least of all the actual been-there-done-that professionals . It's usually a selling technique designed to appeal to that "action hero" part of our brain again.

Having said that - there may be certain circumstances in which we have to act without thought or emotion. In some occupations there are procedures to be followed and orders to be obeyed. It is interesting to speculate how far orders can be obeyed before emotion kicks in, but that is perhaps another debate. In general day-to-day life we may sometimes have to act out of survival, in which case feelings of fear and anger must be overcome or utilised in some way to enhance our actions (not control them!) If someone is intent on sticking you with a knife it is not the time to try and establish rapport and talk about his childhood. Five minutes before may have been.

So should we walk into class stony-faced and remain impassive "warriors" throughout a session. I don't believe so. For regular class training we should act as we do in regular life. So we crack a joke, get irritated when something doesn't go right, enjoy it when something works well, share a life experience, laugh at ourselves and occasionally others. The important thing is that everyone feels they can express themselves openly and honestly - something I've always felt in all the Systema sessions I've attended. I've no time for people who mumble in corners then go away and a week later say "oh yeah but...". Express it when you feel it - it's not good to lock things away. Emotions that are turned inwards often end up being expressed outwards in quite interesting ways, in much the same way that people sometimes project their inadequacies, desires or fears onto others.

I was recently reading The Mountain of Silence by Kyriacos C. Markides. In part of the book he questions the lifestyle of monks and hermits and how it must be unhealthy for them to repress their desires and emotions. The answer given  is that far from being repressed, one of the aims of the isolation is to allow the monks to air these emotions, examine them in a rational way and understand how they work on the psyche. This then allows a person to control rather than be controlled and also to channel both negative and positive emotions into more productive endeavours. Now I'm sure that is no easy task and  has to be carried out under close supervision as it is fraught with dangers. However it is a model that we can take for our own training. By studying and understanding our emotional response we develop emotional intelligence. We don't become slaves to our emotions, like a small child, but a fully developed adult capable of understanding, assessment and taking action. We may also come to view every incident as an opportunity to learn. Lessons can be extremely painful, they can be full of joy. That's life - and deep emotion is arguably a defining factor of being human. I would be wary of anyone who attempts to repress emotion in others, tries to turn people into machines or denies basic human feelings. Questioning is a natural expression of emotion and again a natural part of being human. To deny the opportunity to ask questions is to deny the opportunity to learn - and questioning is an important part in the development of true (rather than blind) faith.

The challenge in training is to gauge the level of pressure that each person needs to bring them to that emotional point. If you don't experience fear, anger or enjoyment in your training you will never truly understand them. Having someone explain the affects of adrenaline on the body is interesting and informative but until you feel your hands and knees shake you will not truly understand. If you never attain the feeling of "flow" and the joy of being in the moment, you will never understand it, however many books you read.

It's a challenge because we have to keep training safe - and the trick is to fool the brain / body into thinking "this is real!". Short, sharp shocks work well. Once you are beyond the instant of shock then we know we are "just training" and it's back to normal. That instant, however, can give us some valuable insight. An instructor has to tread a fine line between preparing people for real life and just brutalising them - I believe that doing the latter will cause students far more harm over the long term than getting into the odd scrap. Given that, it's vital not to overlolok the Systema methods for balancing out the body and easing the effects of tension and stress. This forms another aspect of emotional training, in that we learn to empathise and help people with their problems, an important counterpoint to being just a "good fighter".

Something else to consider is that it is important to stop classes from being "routine". Running the same training routine week in week out deadens us emotionally. Of course there is a part of us that thrives on routine and procedure, we all like a bit of shape and structure. But we have to remember that in the scheme of things these are constructs we make in order to give an illusion of control and order to our lives. Denial is a powerful state of mind, it is also a very damaging and dangerous one. Introducing even a small element of uncertainty into training proves a good antidote. A couple of simple ideas - have everyone start grappling in pairs then after a few minutes throw some knives on the floor. Suddenly the exercise changes. Run a paired sparring drill then suddenly introduce a third person.

These are basic ideas . The deeper the work gets the more interesting ideas you will come up with. This is important too as it means training becomes creative as well as emotional and mechanical. These are the three major components of being human - spirit, mind, body, - and it is important to involve all three in our training.