Life today is riddled with fear. We`re being scared by everyone. Turn on the TV and you are surrounded by horrors. Go online and get a load of new nightmares. Visit your local bank or store and you hear the same topics on everyone’s lips: the financial crisis, rising crime, inflation, taxes, social instability, skyrocketing prices, high unemployment, etc. Even the most optimistic person would have difficulty remaining untouched by these seeds of unrest and worries which can’t help but taint our mood and create negative thoughts.

Yet, it wasn’t always like this! Just a century ago, it was not uncommon for a man to stake a claim on the frontier and begin to build a new life for himself without the benefit of pre-plumbed water or electricity, without having a cell phone or computer and without the services of police or rescue workers. Why wasn’t he more fearful? What has fundamentally changed?

We have become people paralyzed with fear. We no longer believe in ourselves and our own self-reliance. Promoting fear has become a big (and lucrative) business. You can “buy” a fix for just about any fear. Fear death, disease or losing property? Buy insurance! Fear losing status? Buy a fancy car! Fear cavities? Buy this toothpaste! The list is endless.

We can choose to accept a fearful life or we can pause, take a look around and consciously decide to find a different path. We can learn to not only give the appearance of being confident and unafraid but to actually find and retain a true state of calmness even in the face of a multitude of pressures.

Fear makes a man unstable, tense and brittle. Fear is suppressive. We need to learn not to fear. The core principle of SYSTEMA is the gradual liberation from human fears – big fears as well as small ones. SYSTEMA provides the foundation for this freedom… a path to live fearlessly, to breathe fully without apprehension over anything or anyone, to be a man!

If we don’t work purposefully to confront our fears, if we don`t pull them out into the light from the depth of our being and work with them, then we limit our advancement in training and in life.