Systema Breathing Workshop

This is an outline from a workshop given over Zoom in September 2020.

Caveat:  I am not a medical professional, and this is not to replace guidance from your physician. If at any time you feel light-headed, dizzy, or uncomfortable, take a break, and gently ease back into the exercises.

Opening:  Breathe to live

  • We can go without food for weeks, water for days, but only minutes without breath. 

  • As children we breathe correctly but the vast majority of us forget over the years.

  • Before I introduce Systema breathing, it’s background and philosophy, and connection to prayer, let’s take 5 minutes to breath and relax.

    • Everyone lays down or sits comfortably, breathes into the belly via the nose (light, comfortable breathing), and gently out through the mouth.

Introduction to Systema

  • Systema traces its roots to 10th Century Russia.

  • Marketed as a martial art today but is mostly a health program.

  • The motto of the school I follow is “poznai sebia,” or “know thyself.”

  • Systema understands the person the same way as the Orthodox Church:  that we are body and soul, or, as some Fathers have said, body, soul, and Spirit (i.e. St. Theophan the Recluse). We can use the term “psycho-somatic.”

    • Why is this important?  We are Westerners, and most of our medical approaches separate the body and mind. We are a very “discursive” people, who mostly live in our heads. We’ve forgotten about our bodies, to our own detriment.

    • The “psycho-somatic” approach to the person understands that we store our psyche (i.e. our emotional state, both current and historic) in our bodies. This manifests in tension in the muscles and other tissue. Unhealthy tension can lead to disease, immobility, and chronic conditions in the long term. Release of this tension restores mobility, and can also help the psyche, leading to the release of trauma and a more positive mental disposition over time. Breathing is one of the most important ways to release built up tension, along with movement, massage, and other helpful tools like fasting.

    • The goal in Systema breathing is to develop awareness, first of the breath itself, then of bodily tension, then emotional/psychological tension, and finally of the environment around us. Calm, collected awareness helps us be more attentive to our true needs, and those of others. The more you learn to control your breath, the more you can control yourself, and this can provide benefits for all facets and situations in daily life, from high stress situations to better exercise, better sleep, lowered anxiety, etc.

    • 4 Pillars of Systema:  breathing, movement, relaxation, proper body structure. They are interconnected and should always be with us.

    • Opportunity to ask questions to complete the time.

Introduction to Systema “relaxed breathing”

  • There are seven principles of Systema breathing that we’ll work through for the next 40 minutes. The key is to really FEEL what correct breathing is like.

  • This is going to be some challenging work:  people don’t typically like to be “with” themselves and can get easily distracted. I ask that you struggle with yourself to hang in there with the drills, and if you find your mind wandering, gently bring it back to the task at hand. Don’t get frustrated with yourself, don’t worry about it, and please don’t give up. The benefits of sustained effort to build awareness are enormous.

  • We’ll do the work laying down for the next 40 or so minutes, but if you get comfortable, feel free to try sitting or standing as well. Of note, one of the pillars of Systema is proper body structure, so always make sure you have a straight spine when doing the breath work.

  • First breath principle:

    • Nose/mouth. Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth when doing breathwork.

      • Inhale:  Through the nose allows control, relaxes the mind, and allows you to breathe with your God-given filtration system that cleans and warms the air before it gets to the lungs. Try a few breaths gently through the nose and compare with how inefficient and “unclean” it feels through the mouth.

      • Exhale:  Through the mouth allows a gentle, steady release that relaxes the body. Exhaling through the nose is fine when fully relaxed, but when doing the breath work, exhaling through the nose is often too strained and can cause extra tension.

    • Continuity. Don’t ever stop your breath flow, unless you are consciously practicing breath holds. You’ll find that this is extremely difficult when going through your day. We catch our breaths all the time, whether it is during a stressful moment, or even doing mundane tasks. The more you pay attention to your breath, the more you’ll catch yourself doing this, and it has negative effects on the body over time.

    • Sufficiency. Over-breathing or under-breathing create too much tension. Try taking a few breaths to full capacity and see how it tenses the body. Then take a few very shallow breaths and see how that makes you feel. Sufficiency is different for different situations, so the goal is to vary your environment and level of stress to understand what amount of breath you need.

    • No tension. Your breathing should not exacerbate any tension you already have but should be a tool to help you relax. Light breathing is a key tool to assist this process. Take a few light breaths now, imagining that you are sipping the air through your nose into your whole body, and gently releasing out through the mouth, relaxing even more. (*This should be done laying down.)

    • Pendulum. Relaxed breathing should have a rhythm similar to a pendulum, with a gentle inhale and a very slight pause, followed by the exhale with a very slight pause. Imagine a pendulum swinging and visualize the subtle stop before it changes direction. Practice a few transitions with your breath as I talk you through it.

    • Leading. Breath should lead any movement. At advanced levels, breath should even precede any thought. We’ll walk through some basic movements where you can gently learn to lead with the breath. This is fantastic for walking, and extremely helpful for sitting down/standing up, lying down/standing up more efficiently. Over time, the body should feel lighter and movements become easier.

    • Independence. This is an advanced principle---ultimately you should be able to do any action on any stage of the breath. I will not devote any further time to this principle in this class but can answer any questions you may have.

Breathing and fear

  • Systema burst breathing or recovery breathing

    • Burst breathing is used to reduce pain during a trauma and recover from a sudden shock or extreme exertion

      • Short, sharp inhales through the nose and exhales through the mouth

      • It takes some getting used to so practice a few rounds, but ease into it in terms to speed.

      • The goal is to have each breath be full (i.e. don’t hyperventilate) 

    • Breath holds are a key Systema exercise to help work on tension and find/work through fear

      • Breath holds challenge the psyche because after a point, the body believes it’s dying

      • The first areas that start to twitch are areas where you hold much of your tension

      • The more you can prolong a breath hold, the more relaxed you are

      • Drill:  breath holds after a partial exhale (lying down), don’t push too far, use the burst breath to recover (*for those who want, you can practice while standing or walking)

      • For regular practitioners, we do breath holds while doing the core exercises like pushups, or in combative situations to add to stress and learn to control our relaxation

      • The masters of Systema when practicing breath holds start to pray “Lord, have mercy” when the fear starts

Systema and Orthodoxy

  • Systema breathing comes from the Orthodox tradition of hesychasm (Greek hesychia:  silence or stillness). Systema is a mix of Russian warrior traditions with Orthodox spirituality.

  • The goal of hesychasm is to still the “discursive” mind (i.e. the part of our mind that reasons, assesses, judges, plans, etc.---basically the whole mode of thinking in the West) to allow for the noetic experience (nous:  part of the soul that can experience communion with God). In order to do this, we need nepsis (Greek:  watchfulness/sobriety) and kenosis (Greek:  self-emptying, i.e. of the ego).

  • The practice of prayer connected with breathing is part of the contemplative tradition, which seeks to pursue noetic prayer. For a great book on this, see Into the Silent Land, by Martin Laird.

  • For Orthodox, our prayer is the Jesus Prayer, and connecting it with the breath is beneficial for greater focus and connection with the name of our Lord.

    • A caveat:  practices of the breathing and prayer DO NOT guarantee anything. Many Fathers in advanced guidance to their monks may talk about exalted states, etc. Coming into the practice of the prayer with any expectations, or any desire besides humbling one’s self before the Lord and desiring His presence, comfort, and mercy can be dangerous. We don’t chant mantras with the belief that they always create a specific result like some religions do. We believe in a living God who acts as He wills, who reminds us that “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:  8). Therefore, our goal is a surrender of ourselves. Father Seraphim Aldea (Through a Monk’s Eyes Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio) calls this “killer prayer,” where our practice over time dismantles or “kills” the ego.

  • Safe guidance on the prayer (from Athonite monks; also, the guidance in Into the Silent Land):

    • Inhale gently during the first half of the Jesus prayer.

    • Exhale gently during the second half.

    • Maintain good, upright posture.

    • Get a good, gentle breath rhythm before starting the prayer.

    • Once praying, keep the attention on the words of the prayer. In particular, focus lovingly on the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    • If you find your mind wanders or you get distracted, gently bring your attention back to the prayer.

    • If you lose your breath, stop, restore a normal breathing rhythm, and go back to the prayer.

    • The breath is meant to be an aid and should be secondary once you are praying. As St. John Climacus stated in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, “Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with your every breath. Then indeed you will appreciate the value of stillness.”

    • Drill:  guided prayer (Fr. Andrew saying the prayer for 5 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of silent prayer)

Book recommendations for further learning:

Let Every Breath by Vladimir Vasiliev (Systema breathing manual)

Systema Health:  25 Practices for a Lifetime of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing by Matt Hill

Living Systema by Matt Hill

Becoming a Healing Presence by Dr. Albert Rossi

Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird

The Jesus Prayer by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

The Power of the Name by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware