Everything is a Gift

October 27, 2009 by Sharon Friedman

It was hard to even shout over the din of the heavy machine guns firing at us. I think there were
at least fifteen of them and the bullets flying bright red in the night like swarms of angry hornets
were mesmerizing like a force of nature. The granite boulders served as a giant labyrinth to climb
up in and sharp shards were flying everywhere. I do not know if the thought was really mine but
out of nowhere I shouted to my friends "Hay, at least it is not raining" and we all started to laugh
as we tumbled and rolled from boulder to boulder.
Moments like these although numerous and forgettable in a soldier's life can still teach us
valuable lessons if we follow the advice of our teachers and pay attention.
The night gave way to the rising sun eventually and we stood on the flat at the end of the
mountain looking at each others' tired and happy faces. I felt such an immense sense of joy from
simply being alive that it was hard to contain it within my chest.
A different significant moment from the other end of the spectrum took place on the hills of
Nazareth. We were walking silently, each man in his own thoughts on patrol, spaced wide
enough to be visible to each other only from time to time when the sun came over the horizon.
The hills were covered with ancient olive trees and at night the dew froze on the edges of the
leaves so when the sun rose, the rays broke and shone the light back into the clouds and created a
rare view very few could ever see. At one point during the patrol, we all froze without uttering a
word and gazed at the sun rising like a ball of fire from the mist of clouds and lacing its rays over
the icy hills as if they were made of precious fire stones. For a few minutes we stood motionless
and silent. Aware of everything and again simply happy just being alive...
Mastery is the practice of letting everything in your life work for you in some way.
My name is Sharon Friedman and I am a Systema Instructor in Israel. I have been a student of
Systema for a few years now. Looking for the difference in the essence of Mikhail and Vladimir
from other teachers, I found with their gracious help many hidden treasures. My goal was and is
to make things as simple and as easy for myself as possible. If you take for example even the
four pillars of Systema as written in the veteran and excellent guidebook were too much for me
to work on all at the same time. Diligent reading of the scriptures gave me a more concise and
easy way out for myself with Vigilance and Tranquility. There, in the writing of St. Hesychios
the Priest I found the simplest path to getting the job done.
For me the Filokalia serves as a field manual for breath work and for the process of awareness
which are closely bound together. You can of course shorten the road even further by simply
asking the right questions and Mikhail is always generous in sharing this path to mastery.
Perhaps the best way to teach Systema is through the Jesus Prayer. I am not a Religious person

and it is not my place to preach in any way but as a soldier I can appreciate simplicity and
function and try to put it to good use. The prayer in my words is "Lord have mercy on me a
sinner" and I will break it into bits of practical thought so that any person can do with it as he or
she prefers.
The first idea to put to practice is to keep breathing all the time. Spread your awareness through
your body and avoid resisting tension or pain. This way you avoid feeding the resistance and it
becomes loose and drops from you, instead of trying to move it yourself and creating even more
tension within you. For example, if you have a blade pressed to your flesh and you try to escape
using the same flesh which is under pressure, you will be much more easily cut. If you spread
yourself and are aware to your entire body, possibilities will open to you without having to
prearrange them or practice them and you will always know what to do.
Continue with the acceptance there is more than we know or are aware of and that we do have
superiors to us. This releases us from the need to be victorious and aggressive which is very
tiring and allows us to advance and to receive lessons and guidance from everything in our lives.
The second idea is to learn to accept the blessing of each moment and movement. AS we are
praying for mercy we open ourselves in thought and heart to see all things as blessings and
although this is a hard to swallow idea, the reward far exceeds the investment. Take for example
a fist or a foot moving into your space. When you fear it you tense up and freeze and maybe
block with your limbs creating a crash for all participants. Taking everything as an opportunity
allows you to be free of fear and excess tension so you can choose rather than react. You may
correlate it to a drum and a drummer. A drum can only work when hit and a drummer chooses his
own tune.
This acceptance grants us clarity which may seem magical on the outside but is quite simple
when you open the door within to what is already inside you.
The third idea is to simply do the work. The Filokalia is a FM (Field Manual) for work which
you must do constantly and the benefits are multiple. You get exact instructions on how to clean
yourself and work constantly without excessive efforts, how to reach self-mastery. You do not
even have to be a Christian as I can confirm to have it at your side.
So far, I flourished and here are a few one line suggestions which you can take as you please:
Pay attention to your breath and avoid trying to control it when that is not the drill.
Pay attention to your body and do not exert yourself. If you are not enjoying the ten minutes in
heaven doing the drill of static push up, it means you are doing something wrong so notice it
without trying to force it out. Paying attention is the Alpha and Omega of this process and the
tension will come out on its own.
Enjoy your mistakes as they are your chances to progress provided to you by others. The moment
you acknowledge them - they become your allies. For example, I burned my legs while at work
so there was hardly any skin on the inner sides and it was very painful to walk or even sit. Those

weeks taught me a lot about walking and humility and I now have a lot more appreciation for
walking. Take ten minutes and without any stoppage walk ten steps in a very slow pace. After a
few reps of this drill you will have much more awareness and grace in your movement. This is
another reason why I love Systema. You can learn the state of mind in a few days and
continue to learn for your entire life. You are never without a lesson and the drills allow you to
live better and survive without adding tension and effort to your life.
Take a walk in nature. Pay attention to your breath and your body and remember it is not at your
fingertips but deep inside; and your breath lets the Grace and Mastery rise from within you.