Humans are very good at doing things which harm themselves or others. Animals find a harmony with each other one way or another. Humans don’t, it’s one of the many things which separate us from the animals. We eat more than we need, we drink more than we should. Did we evolve to go down the pisser every Saturday night drinking our troubles away. Wanting to forget about the mortgage and job and bills etc. Do animals need the same kind of outlet? And they have to deal with life and death situations daily. Do you ever see a dolphin down the pisser moaning about his boss at work? Animals accept their situation because they don’t have a choice and also because they are driven by core needs. To eat, to breed, to be safe.
Why then do humans turn to drugs and drink and gambling and every vice. Why did we create vices in the first place? Because we all have a need for distraction. We can’t turn off the thoughts in our head, there is no off switch. They go round and round and round, and all we do is analyse the problems from every angle, hoping for a way for us to stop thinking about the damn thoughts which won’t stop. Trying to defeat thoughts with more thoughts is a failed endeavour from the start. We have lost the animal drives and have replaced them with egos and aspirations and ambitions. Most of us crave material possessions, things again which animals have no need for. A transaction between prey and predator, male and female in the wild is purely need based. More intelligent animals like Elephants have higher needs such as emotional bonding but it’s still a need. Humans have replaced their need to survive with a need to thrive. Or at least to appear successful to others. Are our needs really more evolved and more intelligent than the Elephant?
What is the need for a million bucks, a fast car, the latest phone and gadget. These things distract us, they are a type of vice. Systema reminds me of something simple, that we are organisms with basic requirements to survive. When I’m wrestling with someone in a non competitive way, with no points to be won, and nothing to be won at all. Just exploring movement. Something clicks in my mind, yes this is natural. I am an animal discovering ways to move which I don’t normally use. I’m not distracted by the next new movie, I’m present and it’s enjoyable. Meditation is the same thing. It gives you back yourself. Yourself before you had to worry about ‘Grown up’ things. Like a child, you are discovering your potential, developing skills which carry over into daily life. And a perspective that we are more than just our jobs and national insurance numbers. This presence and self awareness is what people need when their thoughts are overwhelming. They need to look at themselves from outside themselves. It is one of our abilities as humans to be able to see ourselves, imagine ourselves through the eyes of others. Well it’s also important to see yourself through your own eyes, unclouded by troublesome thoughts.
Systema practice is primarily based on self monitoring and self awareness, you pay attention to your breathing, posture, balance, tension, position in relation to others. Constantly scanning and constantly correcting until the body autocorrects itself as it finds more comfortable positions. Animals do this automatically, when has a Giraffe walked with a droopy neck, they are always straight and strong. But we in our office environments, or labour intensive jobs, repeat the same motions and positions. We sit at desks and hunch, our breathing becomes difficult and less efficient. Stress and tension sets in the neck and shoulders, and we gradually lose the ability to move as God intended. We need to practice being healthy, it needs to be a choice, to be in the here and now and put troubles in a little box to deal with later.
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