Systema For Life Podcast - Episode 05: Gene Smithson (Part I)

"Systema is not a fighting system. It's a method for growing a better, more realized human being."

Interview with Texas-based Systema Instructor and author, Gene Smithson - a personal hero, and an exemplary human being.

Gene has been training martial arts - including Systema, Tai Chi, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - for most of his adult life, and is a certfied Systema Instructor under Vladimir Vasiliev. He teaches adult and youth groups at Austin Systema and Tai Chi Chuan, and is the author of Shot: Healing Hurt, and Simple, Not Easy: 30 Days to a More Deliberate Life.

Gene has a unique story, in that he used Systema to recover from the trauma - both physical and psychological - of a near-fatal shooting incident, and has come back stronger and happier than ever before. In this first part of the interview, Gene talks about his formative experiences in Systema training, the difference between Systema and other martial styles, and his very personal experience of growth through trauma.

For more information about classes and seminars with Gene, visit http://www.austinsystema.com/

 

You can purchase Shot: Healing Hurt, along with his other books, at Amazon.com.

Systema For Life Podcast - Episode 04: On Dexterity (Part II)

The second half of a two-part discussion on the nature and importance of dexterity. Inpsired by conversations with Konstantin Komarov, Emmanuel Manolakakis and others, and by the book On Dexterity and Its Development by Soviet era Neurophysiologist Nikolai Bernstein.

Here, we discuss how dexterity is built in the brains and bodies of humans and other animals, dexterity types and levels, and the implications for teaching and training Systema.

Systema For Life Podcast - Episode 03: On Dexterity (Part I)

The first half of a two-part discussion on the nature and importance of dexterity. Inspired by conversations with Konstantin Komarov, Emmanuel Manolakakis and others, and by the book On Dexterity and Its Development by Soviet era Neurophysiologist Nikolai Bernstein.

Here, we discuss what dexterity is, why its so important, and how it applies to life, health, and Systema training.

Part II to follow next week.