Let every breath praise the Lord. Psalms CXXXV., CXXXVI

Systema Headquarters also offers:

Vladimir Vasiliev's Award-Winning Instructional Film Collection,

Training at International Seminars,

Training at Russian Martial Art School in Toronto

and with world-wide Affiliates.

For more information or to receive your

Complimentary Newsletter visit:

www.LetEveryBreath.com

© 2006 V. Vasiliev ® Toronto, Canada

All Rights Reserved.

Dear Friends,

I would like to start by expressing my deepest gratitude to my

outstanding teacher, colleague and friend - Mikhail Ryabko -

an inexhaustible source of knowledge and mastery, as well as

wisdom, kindness and love.

I also wish to state my vast appreciation to our writer - Scott

Meredith - for his exceptional work. Having become by far one

of the most knowledgeable Systema instructors, Scott amazed us

with his analytical and literary gift, his insight, his persistence as

well as his unprecedented patience and modesty. It is due to

Scott's talent and selfless work that what Mikhail and I teach

our students is now uncovered on the pages of this book.

I sincerely hope that you find the information useful, that you

apply it to your life and that you learn to Let Every Breath...

enhance your body and your soul.

Vladimir Vasiliev

About the writer:

Scott Meredith is a certified instructor of SYSTEMA under

Vladimir Vasiliev. He is intimately familiar with the languages

and cultures of Japan and China and is a lifelong student of

martial arts. Scott is a professional technologist who holds a Ph.D.

from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has worked

for 20 years as a senior researcher in human-machine interface

technologies for IBM, Apple Computer, and Microsoft.

The exercises, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for

professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or health care professional

before beginning any new exercise technique or exercise program particularly if you

are pregnant or nursing, or if you are elderly, or if you have any chronic or recurring

medical or psychological conditions. Any application of the exercises, ideas, and

suggestions in this book is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

The author and publisher of this book and their employers and employees make no

warranty of any kind in regard to the content of this book including, but not limited to,

any implied warranties of merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The

author and publisher of this book and their employers and employees are not liable

or responsible to any person or entity for any errors contained in this document, or

for any special, incidental, or consequential damage caused or alleged to be caused

directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

A Search in Secret Russia 17

Chapter Two

The Teachers Appear 27

Chapter Three

The Seven Principles 39

Chapter Four

The Fundamental Practice of Relaxed Breathing 51

Chapter Five

The Core Work: Part 1 59

Chapter Six

The Core Work: Part 2 77

Chapter Seven

Hit the Road! 85

Chapter Eight

Relaxation and Tension Methods 93

Chapter Nine

Conclusion 103

Interviews

Kwan Lee 107

Vladimir Vasiliev 115

Mikhail Ryabko 121

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my great teachers and wonderful

friends, Vladimir and Valerie Vasiliev. They have made a

contribution of truly historical magnitude to humanity's

physical, martial, and spiritual culture and progress by boldly

pioneering their astonishing ancient art in the New World.

Acknowledgements

My Systema teachers Vladimir Vasiliev and Mikhail Ryabko are

the two great masters and custodians of the Russian Systema

methods of health, conditioning, confidence and combat. I owe

them a debt beyond measure for giving me the chance to catch

a few flames of their beautiful fire.

This book is a joint and group production. Vladimir Vasiliev

taught me the methods presented here, and gave unstintingly of

his time and effort to explain and refine such understanding as I

may have achieved. Valerie Vasiliev was absolutely

indispensable, functioning as a helpful translator and uncredited

co-author of this book. I often felt abashed that her modestly

proffered "suggestions" were invariably more succinctly,

accurately and engagingly phrased than anything I was able to

produce on my own. She has her own profound literary gift,

which may one day shine out openly for all of us to bask in.

Mikhail Ryabko is Godfather and master teacher of the entire

worldwide Systema community. In preserving and transmitting

the Systema methods, he has set in place a teaching and

training revolution that is already starting to rock the world. He

also took large increments of his very precious time to consult

heavily on every aspect of the core teachings contained here.

His spiritual humility and personal gentleness combine with his

absolute personal mastery of his arts of health and combat to

create an inspirational beacon for the whole Systema

community.

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This book was greatly enhanced by the tireless and dedicated

efforts of Kwan Lee and Kevin Secours, as well as the helpful

illustrations by Stelios Dokianakis and Alexei Proger.

While everyone in the Systema community has helped me every

step of the way, there are a handful of professional or certified

teachers and masters of Systema who have crucially shaped

whatever bits of understanding I may have attained of this art. I

have been a student of the following extraordinary professional

instructors of Systema in some authorized venue, for an

extended or significant period along my road. Every one of

them is an awesome martial artist and teacher (listed

alphabetically): Scott Connor, Terry Cruickshank, Demetry

Furman, Sergey Makarenko, Jim King, Konstantin Komarov,

Alex Kostic, Kwan Lee, Emmanuel Manolakakis, David Merrell,

Daniel Ryabko, Valentin Vasiliev, and James Williams.

Systema is based on a spiritual community of friendship and

mutual encouragement. Without the following great friends on

the path, my way would have been a lot colder and stonier. The

following great people and great friends, and everybody else I

ever worked with on the mat or floor in any Systema venue,

have all been my advisors, consultants, teachers or just pals at

crucial moments. They are the trunk of the Systema tree:

Listed alphabetically - Jesse Barnick, Ed Barton, Janice Bishop,

Andrew Cefai, Aran Dharmeratnam, John Elliott, Jacob

Goldblatt, Ken J. Good, Anastasia Grouza, Eric Hansen,

Alexander Hropak, Mark Jakabcsin, Jerome Kadian, Khosrow

Helly, Brian King, David Kirillov, Victor LoConti, Vali Majd,

Scott McQueen, Brad Scornavacco, Bradley Scheel, Jason

Scroggins, Arkadiy Stepankovskiy, Kaizen Taki, Martin Wheeler,

and Sabrina Williams.

Finally, I want to thank the huge number of wonderful Systema

teachers and practitioners who it has been my misfortune never

to meet in person, but who have inspired me from afar by their

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