RMA Systema Bonn e.V.

RMA Systema Bonn e.V. Der gemeinnützige Verein RMA - Systema Bonn e.V. existiert seit 1997 in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. Die ehr

05/09/2026

Training session 01.09.26

At a time when public attacks have become an everyday occurrence, it is important to address situations that happen frequently and to find potential solutions.

31/08/2026

Ask Norbert August

Back to school.
I guess everyone will be back in class with a refreshed mind and a body ready to train, as at Systema Bonn.

August at the Bonn club was a little unique. We had a whole month where we could bring our questions to class. The instructor isn't always the one who brings the topic of the day, while we simply wait for it. We turned it around: we brought our topics to the instructor.

It is not just, “Wow! How did you do that?” “Did you touch this muscle? Two fingers?” “Let me copy what you did!”

Some of us brought questions from materials they had seen from great masters' teaching.
Some came from their daily life experiences. Maybe from seminars in the past. We definitely explored a variety of topics.
Also we “squeezed” questions out, when we were asked “any more questions?” Not just looking each other.

Answers gave us many things. The new explore, more precise perspective, or more precise work itself, directions, and maybe comfort to keep working.
Some said the answer was totally different from what they would have expected. That may open a new door to more questions.

To me personally, coming up with the question itself was an interesting process. It required me to look at myself very honestly and fairly, without judging.
Also, hearing other students' questions was interesting. It might feel very vulnerable to ask; it may feel like revealing where I am stuck, and then someone else may be thinking the same thing! It could also be good feedback for the instructors, helping them see the direction for the coming days of class.

So, back to school.

I hope sharing our unique August inspired you, not simply by seeing some of the work and insights, but by bringing different perspectives into your own training too.
After all, we are not dancing in our heads, nor in the class, of course. It needs to be transformed into our physical bodies.
As Norbert concluded, “Do it very slow.” Let’s see what questions emerge from our bodies when we work very slowly.

We will interview some participants about their experience this month this week.
We'd also be very curious to hear your thoughts and feedback on our sharing!

28/08/2026

Ask Norbert August

This is the last week of our special month. Last week and this week, we have explored "grabbing". Here is the video from the class, and the insight from Norbert!

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Allowing oneself to be held means accepting the inevitable

Many martial arts focus on defending against grabs or preventing throws. It is often suggested that, with sufficient vigilance, one can prevent a potential attacker from even initiating a grab.
In the real world, however, this is a dangerous misconception. No one—not even the most skilled martial artist—can maintain a level of alertness that allows for the advance detection of every potential attacker or the pre-emptive defense against every sudden assault. On the contrary, attempting to maintain such constant vigilance and a state of high alert will almost certainly take a toll on one’s mental health.
In Systema, however, personal health and well-being are paramount; therefore, constant vigilance aimed at preventing a physical attack is not the solution.
The solution lies instead in becoming aware of one’s own flaws and limitations, accepting them, and using training to mitigate their consequences.
A classic example is dealing with grabs. One might argue that if one is sufficiently alert, an attacker would be unable to launch such an attack without being detected and stopped beforehand.
Consequently, some systems avoid allowing such attacks to occur at all, focusing instead on thwarting them in their very early stages.
Conversely, other systems only begin their defense after the grab or throw technique has already been applied.
In a real-world self-defense scenario, however, both approaches are undoubtedly necessary.
Since I generally cannot know how an attack will unfold, who is involved, or what my own mental and physical state will be as the victim, I have very little opportunity to influence the situation beforehand.
In other words, my training and preparation for such scenarios must address the full range of potential developments.
This involves, in particular, accepting that an attack—such as a grab, a chokehold, or an attempted throw—might occur without me being able to spot or prevent it beforehand. Consequently, my training must address the consequences of the opponent's actions; above all, I must accept the reality that such an attack can happen.
In this sense, working with holds is essentially a matter of working on one’s own mindset—preparing oneself for the possibility of such an event and learning how to handle it. One should also avoid underestimating these types of attacks. There are attackers—such as trained wrestlers or judoka—who specialize almost exclusively in this style of combat and are highly proficient at it.
Furthermore, there are individuals who have previously been victims of violence and consequently face significant psychological challenges in similar situations (for example, a woman with a history of abuse who must come to terms with the fact that a similar attack could happen again). Over the past two weeks, we have focused specifically on these issues during training and sought to find answers. The video offers a brief glimpse into our work…

This week, we explored about the grabs. Did you check our stories? We enjoy this special month with all the questions we...
20/08/2026

This week, we explored about the grabs.
Did you check our stories? We enjoy this special month with all the questions we could ask Norbert.
Let us know what you think! Or if you have questions…?

We’ll come back next week with more about this, with more videos and the article by Norbert.
Stay tuned!!

Besançon seminar, May 2026Before it becomes overdue, let me share some pictures from the seminar in Besançon, France. Du...
16/08/2026

Besançon seminar, May 2026

Before it becomes overdue, let me share some pictures from the seminar in Besançon, France.
During immersive three days, Norbert let us explore from the fundamentals to the real life confrontation scenarios. Literary from the ground to up, solo to the teamworks, or the multiple attackers. Freedom with our own bodies to the limited situations. It was full of the exploration of unknown, unlearned, unprepared or “unnatural” to start having the different perspectives on our daily life.

It is always amazing to be in such an enthusiastic community to learn together. We were not fighting each other, we were learning together, and helping each other to grow. This is always one of the special things about Systema that we have the community like this.
Grateful for the wonderful organisers and the participants for this three days together!

Next seminar by Norbert will in November, hosted by Breath and Body (Sneek, The Netherlands)
https://breathandbody.nl/norbert-tannert-tactical-awareness-and-control/

14/08/2026

The video from the class this week.
Ask Norbert, and here is the insight from him.

- Tunnel-vision -

Many people have encountered it—often without realizing it—when finding themselves in a situation they perceived as dangerous or chaotic. This phenomenon is known as "tunnel vision," a mechanism that likely served as a tool for early humans to detect threats during the dawn of our species.
In the face of imminent danger, tunnel vision compels a person to focus their sensory input almost entirely on the identified source of the threat; essentially, the body’s sensory organs—particularly the eyes and ears—lock onto what appears to be the most significant danger. While this ability was highly advantageous in the relatively straightforward environment of prehistoric times—where threats (such as wild animals) were clearly defined—it often acts as a hindrance rather than a help when it comes to identifying or dealing with dangers in our complex modern world.
Threats today are no longer limited to a single saber-toothed tiger; in our urban environments, which are saturated with sensory stimuli and complex threat scenarios, the danger our system prioritizes—and consequently focuses on via tunnel vision—is often not the greatest (or only) threat present during a conflict. For instance, one might spot and fixate on an active assailant wielding a club or a knife, yet fail to notice two other individuals standing slightly to the side—individuals who could well be accomplices to the attacker.
Therefore, it is crucial for professionals who deal with hazardous situations—such as military and police personnel, as well as firefighters and emergency responders—to break free from this "tunnel vision" when confronted with a potential threat. Naturally, the same applies to ordinary citizens who are about to become victims of an unlawful attack or who witness one involving others without being directly involved themselves.
This specific scenario was among the topics we addressed in our training this week.
The focus was on helping trainees "break the tunnel" of their perception.
To achieve this, we conducted short role-playing exercises featuring changing scenarios; participants had only a very brief window (approximately five seconds) to assess the situation and were required to report their observations once the scenario concluded.
Exercises like these compel participants to rapidly gain a comprehensive overview of the situation, as focusing solely on the primary action (tunnel vision) often causes them to overlook other critical details—such as the presence of a second, armed individual nearby.
With the help of such exercises, trainees can learn to gain a general overview of the situation at hand and avoid falling into the dangerous state of tunnel vision in the first place.
The videos provide a brief glimpse into the exercises we conducted.

Ask Norbert August, it is.Here is another training we asked Norbert from our own experiences in daily life. First, let m...
13/08/2026

Ask Norbert August, it is.

Here is another training we asked Norbert from our own experiences in daily life.
First, let me share brief story from our participants, and my personal experience which were shared at the beginning of the class, why we asked Norbert the topic.
What if we witnessed the confrontation as a bystander.

Here is the first story.
On the way home, the participant of the today’s class witnessed the neighbors being in the argument. One person was shouting at the others who were family with a baby in their arms, and seemed to be escalating. There were some neighbors seeing the situation as her. She decided to call the police, and they calmed the man down.
After the incident, she was wondering if she could do more to deescalating the aggressor/the situation. Was there anything more she could do than calling the police. So she decided to ask Norbert that question.

Here is the another. My personal story that I have shared to Norbert at the time, and in the class yesterday.

Last February, I walked out from the metro station to catch the bus in the evening. Bright station to the dark street, so you can imagine my sight was not well. I saw a young woman shouting to the street. “Shame on you! You should be ashamed”. I looked towards to the street where she was shouting towards, I didn’t see anyone. Immediately, I was drawn to her emotionally, so I thought I should go to her, and ask her if she was okay.
Right before I stepped to cross the road, in my head there was a voice. “You don’t know exactly what happened before.” It was the voice of Norbert from “emergency aid” and “knife in public” seminar. So I stopped. Right that moment, there were three men rushing towards to her, pushed her down to the ground (it was icy road, so she might just slipped), the second man pushed her friend standing behind of her whom I actually did not see standing there, third one had something in his hand holding up, then they turned around, and ran away. I did not see them there, coming. In my head, Norbert said again “get the information!” So I watched them running away. Young, probably around 18 years old, skinny, one tall, two average…. Then I realised they had a phone in their hand to film it. It could be a knife, I thought. I told this to Norbert, “I’m glad that was just a phone, not a knife…”

These are just two stories, but there were more of these stories in our daily life.

We discussed these cases, and practiced observations with some possible situation role play before we started “training for the actions”, which was very important in my opinion. It is not simple. Not just going in, and solve it as a martial art practitioner. There are more to consider, more before the action.

The picture is the emergency aid card made by Norbert.
This answers the question we brought up, also for you.

Thank you for reading!

06/08/2026

Since August is a bit quiet month at Systema Bonn, we have decided to have “Ask Norbert August”. We can bring our questions, themes we would like to cover, also the materials we see online, so on.
This week, we asked Norbert “searching for the tension, and destabilisation”

Here is insight from Norbert after the class.

Participant question: How do you influence the "form" of the person you are interacting with?

When watching videos of Mikhail — or having learned from him personally—one frequently observes that he could throw attacker off balance and bring them down seemingly without effort, using movements that were often imperceptible, almost as if by magic.

No one argued more vehemently against the idea that this was "magic" than Mikhail himself; he never ceased to emphasise that everything he did consisted of natural movements — albeit movements executed at a level of perfection.
It is therefore beneficial to study the concept of breaking an opponent's balance—or, more accurately, influencing their "form"—to gain control over the situation.
It is not without reason that "form" is one of the fundamental principles of Systema; mastering and understanding it is essential for surviving a real-world confrontation.

Influencing an attacker's balance—and thus their form—does not involve the use of brute force. Instead, it relies on a subtle interplay between analysing tension in the attacker’s body and executing an extremely precise change of direction—one that often goes unnoticed by the attacker. The key lies in the subtlety of this influence; the attacker does not perceive it as a threat.

Changes in direction are often initiated via the fingers, moving in multiple directions
simultaneously (for example, laterally combined with upward or downward motion). This makes it difficult for the attacker to pinpoint a specific direction or to offer resistance against the movement.
During training, it is important to start slowly, ideally with a partner who offers no initial resistance. One must learn which simultaneous directional movements are required to effectively disrupt the opponent's form. Later, this can be practiced against an opponent who is actively resisting; by bypassing the line of force created by their tension, one can actually turn that force to one's own advantage. The videos offer a few glimpses into our training, addressing a participant's question about influencing the other person's form and how to go about it.

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