Interview with Viktor Petrenko

All interviews should begin with some idea of the person. I quote Andrey Vladimirovich Sidersky about you:

“You must admit that a person who has mastered the technique so much that he pulled himself out of a situation that is hopeless from the point of view of doctors and in a few years from a sickly disabled person with a helically twisted curved spine and a completely sick gut turned into an athletic impeccable practitioner with excellent health, besides - Yoga Gymnastics and Recreational Swimming Coaches Course Teacher, can teach you a lot.”

What else can be added here?

- Nothing. Is it possible to describe in more detail what exactly happened and how the rehabilitation took place. But this is not interesting, because the story is by no means unique. There are many such cases. Mine took place in a soft and gentle form. Take, for example, the stories of other leading coaches of the system: Oleg Linikh, Sergei Plyashechko or Andrei Vladimirovich himself ... Everything was much tougher there. I worked for 5 years at a factory in a blacksmith shop, processing hot metal. The constant lifting of weights against the backdrop of high temperatures and asymmetric loading quickly took their toll. The result - severe violations in posture. All the joints began to crumble, then the organs, and then it came to violations in motor skills. Here, I found my old photo .. I'm trying to stand straight on it))).

- Although, there is something to add ... There is a person's intention to change the quality of life, there is a strong-willed application for implementation, and there are tools that he uses for this. In my case, the tool played a decisive role: rehabilitation and general developmental training programs based on the Y23 methodology, compiled for me by the leading coaches of the system, Lena Siderskaya and Andrey Vladimirovich, swimming programs compiled by Sergey Eremin. Before I got acquainted with the methodology and before working on these programs, I only managed to stay afloat and there were no special changes for the better.

It turns out that the situation drove you into yoga, like many others.

- Did the situation drive you, or did you drive yourself?))) My acquaintance with the practice happened earlier, long before the body began to hurt and crumble. A Korean came to our city. Traded in leather jackets at the clothing market))). It turned out that his grandfather is a very famous master in their homeland, who has a family old school with its own traditions, transmission line and all that in the same spirit. And he passed on all his skills to his grandson. I don’t even know what made this Korean come to a seedy, dusty town ... He rented a gym at the school where I studied to teach kung fu (so it was stated). At that time it was very fashionable to get involved in all sorts of martial arts and my parents enrolled me in his classes. However, instead of the expected sparring with beautiful pirouettes and other outward show, the classes were held in a slightly different vein. It was necessary to master 4 sets of exercises. It took about a year to study and develop each. The complexes consisted of 40 (plus or minus) static exercises and peculiar transitions between them, which were combined with different specific types of breathing, similar to those used in hard versions of qigong. The training took place as follows. At first, the forms themselves were mastered, and only then the transitions between them and movement. Separately, as a warm-up, there were various variants of dynamic breathing exercises and various classical asanas. Each form was worked out in statics for 10-15 minutes. Basically, these were various options for low and high racks. Unfortunately, the Korean hardly spoke Russian, and what he was trying to say was, to put it mildly, incomprehensible. Therefore, there was no explanation about the detuning. Rather, it was)), but there are only two options for the correct execution: “kashiwa” and “nekashiva” (beautiful and ugly). In those places where "nekasiva" we used to get a biting blow with a soft gymnastic stick, which our Master found in the office of the physical education teacher. At the same time, he proudly immediately said that "my grandfather beat me with a wooden stick, strong, strong." Can't say it hurt. Rather, it was very annoying, but on the other hand, the body instantly understood what they wanted from it and what needed to be picked up where, or relaxed, so that it was “kasiva”. Many could not stand it and left, but for some reason I stayed. After six months of such training, I noticed global changes in myself and many pleasant bonuses. A feeling of concentration, density and at the same time lightness appeared in the body. Excess weight is gone (15 kilograms for sure). I became more attentive in class and so on. A year later, I could easily perform any variants of asanas for opening the hips, without warming up and without any lever retractions. For example, if I had to do a vertical split while standing, I just lifted my leg up without the help of my hands and could hold it for five minutes if necessary. Having mastered 4 complexes, I nevertheless got to the level when I received a pass to choose a style and master applied things, but a month later, slipping on a wet staircase, I tore a ligament under the buttock. I had to leave class. Back then, I didn’t understand much about what was going on in training. I just did it and knew that I liked it. But at a later age, when I began to be interested in various topics of self-development, I realized that it was exactly yoga, just in an unconventional Indian, but in a more applied version. I tried to find the Master, but it turned out that he had already gone somewhere to Germany, and those to whom he allegedly gave something did not give it all at all. Now I understand that in the future the choice of the direction of yoga was largely due to just those ideas about the practice that were laid down at that time. I intuitively searched for an approach in which working with exercises would give a feeling of inner density and an experience of wholeness. And most importantly, everything should be fair! To be “kasiva”!))) All this, and much more, I found for myself in the Y23 method. Before her, I was engaged in other styles. There were already various pieces of paper for the right to teach, and I conducted yoga classes in a fitness club. In our city there lived a guy who regularly attended the events of Andrei Vladimirovich. We got to know each other and started sharing experiences. It was then that, having performed the asana, having rebuilt in it properly and trying to breathe it, I realized that everything I did was, to put it mildly, not right! Of course, this is not entirely true, because there was a lot of all sorts of useful information and practical keys that I still successfully use in my practice. But along with this, there was a lot of self-deception and there was no systematization, there was no holistic understanding of the construction of the training process. More development at the expense of their strengths to the detriment of the weak and inflated conceit that they have achieved something and are doing something advanced and serious. It was very hard to admit to yourself that you are engaged in self-deception and, in addition, you are deceiving people who come to you for training. I quit my job in a fitness club and started traveling to Kyiv to attend classes of the leading specialists of the system. Soon, my first personal training program was drawn up for me. The director of the club where I used to work still did not leave me alone and insisted that I return. I decided to try to work with groups in a new way and went to Kyiv to take an exam. Received my first trainee qualification.

When the body began to change - this process is quite clear, but about something more - consciousness, did this happen or not, how does this affect your life as a whole? How do perceptions, canons and rules of life, reactions to the very process of life in the broadest sense change?

For me, the mind is nothing more than the body. I believe that the body and consciousness are parts of one structure in which everything is interconnected. I would even say that the experience of physicality, (the somatic field) is also part of consciousness, in a sense. I do not separate them into separate patterns and do not believe that they can be changed separately. Otherwise, what then is the principle of all body-oriented practices?

Interview with Viktor Petrenko

You give seminars quite often. A large number of people, each in his own personal cocoon, he also comes to the seminar with him, listens from him, experiences some things, not to mention the different levels of physical abilities ... how do you manage to convey information, you understand what is happening with people online, can you move the entire audience in the right direction?

I don't do seminars quite often. Or rather, I almost never held events in the “seminar” format. There was something similar, but I would call it a "practical workshop". This will be more accurate. Basically, these are events of the “intensive workshop” format. There are several cities where I spend them only a few years, regularly every six months. I would not dare to call it often))). The seminar, as I understand it, is an event in the majority of a theoretical plan, at which a lot of thematic information is given. And yoga, as we all know, is more of a practical thing. I think it's pointless to talk about techniques without doing them regularly. Our brains are already heavily clogged with information of various kinds. Practicing, we get a certain result at the output in the form of certain changes. Here you can talk about them, if necessary, or conditionally designate them. All theoretical calculations at my events refer to the description of the execution of techniques and their key points. At first, he often broke into long, hour-long stories about what and how to do, while noticing that after a while, many simply don’t hear you anymore, and you yourself lose the thread of what you are talking about. And as a result, people remember and learn little. Something remains in the head, and even then it dissipates with time. I realized for myself that there is little benefit from such an approach in the yogic topic. At the same time, I didn’t want to turn the event into regular training either. Firstly, there are many interesting developments that I would like to share. And secondly, people do not come for that. You can just train in regular classes 3-4 times a week and it’s not at all necessary to come to the intensive for this. Well, this is provided that they are lucky, and they have a qualified specialist in the city. Over time, I determined for myself that there is a certain proportion of the “theory-practice” ratio, more precisely, “description-performance”. Approximately 1:3, that is, three parts of the time to perform the technique, and then 1 part of the debriefing, or 1 part of the time to describe what and how to do, and then 3 parts of the time to perform. After a while, I realized that the description does not need to be built before the lesson and given in a strictly fixed form, at a predetermined time. It is much better if this happens as if spontaneously, at the right moment when it should sound and people will be ready to accept it. For myself, I just form different developments, and when they will be announced and in what form, I determine already during the event. This is precisely the advantage of this type of event over seminars, that people starting to perform the techniques lose their personality shields. Attention is directed not to the retention of some personal description, but to what is being done and what happens to them in doing so. After that, the output is a result in the form of a specific experience. That's when you can already talk, if of course someone else needs it))). Usually, if everything goes as it should, there are no questions and no desire to talk. And what remains are really interesting topics that are worth sorting out and discussing. So the coach does not have to waste his resources and time trying to “break through” someone or prove something to someone. You just need to correctly explain the technique and perform it together with everyone, setting the rhythm and direction. Plus, you also need to take into account that a group field is being formed that enhances everything that is being done. So, in the end, the audience itself moves where it needs to))). For myself, I decided a long time ago that I would not try to convey something to someone. Those who are interested in the topic in such a presentation and my approach will come again if possible. Those who don't will look for another practice option, or another coach.

What do these events give you personally, because these are quite exhausting things in physical and energy terms?

- That's right. It's really exhausting. It takes some time to recover. Fortunately, Andrey Vladimirovich has now developed a new version of the methodology, the so-called fit version. When it was created, the opportunity was laid for the coach to work together with the group and not receive strong kickbacks. It has become much easier not only to hold field events, but also regular group training. As a trainer, intensives give me the opportunity to share the best practices that you don’t have time to give in regular classes, since time is limited there and the main task is to ensure that people get the right state at the end. Plus, the composition of the group in regular training is quite diverse. People come to classes for different reasons and the level of preparation is also different for everyone (unless, of course, you work in a specialized studio where classes are divided by levels). Not everyone needs yoga in its entirety. For many, the athletic, therapeutic and psychophysical aspects are sufficient. We have to cut the arsenal of equipment and arrange them so that what people do not need does not happen. At intensives, the picture is slightly different. If a person comes to it, then he is interested in the practice in full and he is ready to perceive something new. This is where my interest lies. The form of presentation of the material, description and wording is being worked out. It happens that you look at many familiar things in a completely new way. And the density of the group field is also different. Intensives for me are a good opportunity to develop my coaching potential.

Why Yoga23?

- It happened))). At some point, I just realized that this option of practice suits me completely. There is a huge reserve for development, everything is systematized and honest. And most importantly, relatively quickly felt a positive result. The jambs and clumsies that tormented me in life, with which I could not fully figure it out, seemed to have dissolved and no longer reminded me of myself. I decided for myself that it is better to completely immerse myself in the methodology and work in this vein than to grab a little bit everywhere. And, of course, availability. Kyiv is not so far, plus there are many more high-class coaches in other cities. In general, in my case, the choice is obvious.

 

Since you have been in this topic for a long time, you can voice the difference between the starting methods of the system and what you are working with today - for you personally, official information can be read anyway ...

— Yes, you can. But I won’t tell anything new from the top of the official information. What I work with and what is written on the official website and in other sources is one and the same material. The system does not stand still. The arsenal of techniques is constantly being supplemented and expanded. There are new approaches to the construction of the training process, allowing to solve a wider range of problems. For example, I was very pleased with the fact that in the new fit-version of the methodology there were stages consisting of simplified techniques. This allows you to remove age restrictions and many contraindications. Previously, each coach had to build such programs himself, for specific cases. Now there are unified training programs of a simplified level that allow solving therapeutic and rehabilitation tasks more effectively. I personally think that the changes and expansion of the methodology is a very positive development. The option that is now is the most consistent with the current moment and the needs of those involved. Those options that were - also work, no less effective, but sharpened for a different range of tasks. On the Internet, you can often read the opinions of conservatives that they say that Sid invented another yoga. You can’t cut the dough on this already! And so on... I think that these people are simply not aware of what is really happening and almost none of them have immersed themselves in the practice of the method. Basically, many conclusions of this kind are made on the basis of scraps of conflicting information, and not on the basis of personal experience.

For a coach who has been working with groups for a long time and a lot, the issue of a creative approach to each training session becomes quite relevant - do you manage to keep your perception fresh and not to let go - fatigue and monotony, the inability sometimes to convey what you would like?

- It works. I have an ironclad position on this. People come to your hall, waste their time and their money, not to see your dull face, broadcasting in an insipid voice. When you work with people - be kind, correspond to the declared status. I went out to the people in the hall - give all the best, despite the state before and all sorts of personal troubles. And, of course, is it not interesting when you use the same standard blanks in your work, which eventually become automatic templates? Then the training turns into a simple retreat. Like if you are sitting somewhere in the office, wiping the chair with your fifth point, and you get paid by the hour, and your specialty is complete boredom and dregs. I can’t do it, it doesn’t work out ... And people are not stupid either, and they always feel everything. They simply stop going to such trainings.

Many eventually just go to well-paid prostitutes ... Do you still have a desire to do such a thankless job as regular group training?

- Eat. Moreover, I believe that it is simply necessary for me. Highly paid individuals - it's very good))). Money makes it possible not to bother with many social alignments and the opportunity to easily reach the things that interest you. But for myself I decided that it was impossible to give up group training. This is the kind of work where you constantly hone your coaching potential and develop in this vein. If you stop doing this, over time only show-offs will remain, and many necessary skills will simply be lost. Another thing is that I decided to reduce the number of classes, so that there would be no destructive effect and in order to have time to recover. Now there is such an opportunity. Another front of work emerges: shooting a video, developing methodological material. But I still won't give up group training.

How can you comment on the benefits of group training in terms of injury prevention? People often come not quite healthy, with a lot of their own nuances and problems, with low sensitivity to their own body - when and where to stop in time. Here, of course, you can say a banal phrase about personal responsibility and the choice of everyone, but yoga 23 is a serious thing, not like sweats in a women's club, and many people do not have an elementary idea of u200bu200btheir physical condition ...

- If people are not at all healthy, I usually refuse them to attend training, offering work options individually, or according to a program specially designed for their case. If not quite, but there are no serious violations, then I tell them about the limitations and how to work with technicians in their particular case. It happens, of course, that they do not admit that something is wrong, and even very often. But this is their responsibility. Plus, the method of building training programs for a given specific group, or ready-made unified programs almost always allow you to choose the level of technique so that no one has too little or too much. And, of course, during the training you can see what is happening in the gym with people. I often read everywhere about the fact that do not go to Y23, they break and cripple there. To be honest, I almost never heard of such cases. A normal coach will always be able to choose a program so that this does not happen. Fortunately, the amount of methodological material allows you to do this quickly. It is clear that the likelihood that someone is injured, even though everything will be very correct, still remains. But there's nothing to write about here.

Do you consider Yoga23 of today's format a self-sufficient system, or are there still things that can logically complement it?

— It all depends on the goals and objectives. In general - yes, it is really self-sufficient. But this does not mean that it cannot be supplemented or supplemented. For example, breathing exercises in water, built on the basis of modern styles of swimming and diving. Swimming and yoga complement each other very harmoniously. The same goes for sports and martial arts. Using the technique as a general physical training, fighters and athletes get excellent results, spending much less time and effort on training, while maintaining their health and compensating for the negative aspects.

I also want to ask about practice schemes ... at the initial stages it is logical, we develop a muscle corset, move on to complex asanas, we begin to understand how it works ... then a departure from any schemes is inevitable and logical, or does 23 online workouts not fit into the system? Is there a concept and is it clearly fixed?

- Fit in. It's just that if you take an ordinary average person in a normal state, then, of course, it is quite logical that there can be no talk of any online training. In order to restore the structure, there are precisely fixed schemes, although an experienced coach can always correct them for a specific task. Working on them, a person, in addition to recovery and development, studies various techniques and training regimens. Then at one moment he realizes that he is able to build a training process for himself and that the experience, information and resources of his body are quite enough for this. After all, body-oriented practices just exist in order to bring one to oneself, and not to get hooked on some exclusive version of work, in which a step to the left and right from a given direction is tantamount to the collapse of the world.

Where there is yoga there is meditation). Now, in general, the time of great meditators has come). general trend). How are things with meditation for you - have you developed a relationship?

- Honestly? There was the following attitude: I really do not understand what is meant by this word. Different traditions describe this process in different ways. What I do for myself and give in the classroom relates rather to the sphere of work on controlling attention and observing the subsequent result, contemplation. Maybe that's what it is, maybe it isn't. Now, in the new fit version, Andrey Vladimirovich tried to completely remove all incomprehensible esoteric troubles. There are only specific physical manipulations that lead to certain results. I think that's exactly how it should be. You need to work with what is, what you experience, and with what you are able to manage. Often the opposite is true. A person, instead of working with processes directly, works with his own idea of these processes, without ever approaching them. The result is disappointment, strong emotional breakdowns and depression. Went through this myself. It's hard to live with the fact that everything that you did for several years and that you considered so significant is nothing more than imagination. Recently I read in a book on Taoist yoga: "If you do not know how to sit correctly, then there can be no question of any meditation." The unnatural position of the body causes an uneven tone of the tension-tension balance of the muscular-fascial structures. The flow of liquids and fine components through the channels is disturbed. As a result, compressed attention, fragmented perception of the body. Sitting down to meditate, a person relies on these distorted sensations. Everything is logical. So about meditation, ask the great meditators))) If you try to describe what I put into this concept for myself, I will roughly learn the following: to perceive what is happening here and now, without reacting to it in any way and without describing it in any way. Although, it also looks like some kind of nonsense)) No, nevertheless - this is not a question for me.

How do you feel in the world around you - does it help or through thorns to the stars? What form does your interaction take?

- Helps. And “through thorns to the stars” also helps))).. Anyway… I often feel myself in the world around me. That is, what I am after all, not identified with automatic personality patterns, which I often considered myself before. Sometimes a feeling emerges that I and the world are one. But these are only short-term outbreaks of these experiences. There are many more things, and the further, the more often and more))). What can be the specifics here? As soon as you try to determine what form your interaction has degenerated into, you immediately understand that what you are trying to describe is no longer there. I can only say what the practice was for me at some stage. Let me give you an analogy for this. I have one good friend. Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematical Modeling, at our local university. He has an interesting hobby in life. He invents and makes various models that reflect the processes taking place inside us and in the world around us. Here is one of them ... (I can’t vouch for the accuracy of how and on what principles it is built, it was a long time ago and yes, I’m not very good in physics ... So if I described something wrong, please don’t throw stones). There is a container with a solution (like salt). There is a ball, hollow inside, with thin walls, made of some kind of light material. The density of the solution is not uniform. The lower, the tighter. A solution of a certain density is introduced inside the ball, and the ball is lowered into the vessel. At the same time, it is immersed on that layer of liquid in which the density of the solution corresponds to the density inside the ball. That's all ... Everything is very banal and simple))). Many years ago, when I saw this model, I understood it only with my mind, believing that in principle there were no revelations in it, that everything was clear and logical. But then, when I began to rake in my jambs, and by that time there were more than enough of them (and now I continue to rake), I clearly saw her reflection in my life. So practice for me is one of the tools that allows you to adjust the density of the solution inside the ball. A tool that allows you to change the quantitative and qualitative relationships in the system in order to reach the desired level of interaction with the world.

Your move to the Crimea was announced. To be honest, Sevastopol was lucky - practitioners of this level need to be groomed and cherished).

- As for the level - it's not entirely clear. What is this?? If it’s very high, then it’s definitely not about me))). Standard level, relative to official status in the system. And not very high, to be honest. It is enough to look at other guys who have high qualifications. It's just that Andrei Vladimirovich keeps everyone in good shape all the time, periodically, at the right moments, raising the bar of requirements for specialists. Here, you want - you don’t want, but you have to comply. And as for “grooming and cherishing” - so this is definitely not necessary! Not used to something like this. It's rather intimidating. Moreover, in contrast to the former habitat in the Crimea, it is so easy to lose working condition, and then there are such things!)))

Tell me, was it hard to leave the accumulated space?

- Yes and no. On the one hand, there are groups that have formed over several years. The progress of people in the practice allows you to give more advanced things in training, significantly changing the state of the output. Plus, over the past year and a half, a purely male group has formed. All the guys in the present or past are professional athletes. They had some very interesting lessons. A few years ago, I only dreamed of giving techniques and training regimens in the classroom without simplifications and indulgences. But on the other hand, the ecological situation of the city. There, the concept of "industrial zone" as such does not exist. The whole city is one continuous industrial zone. For example, the building in which I conducted classes is located literally five hundred meters from the territory of the metallurgical plant. From the window you can see the pipes of the converter shop and most of the plant in all its glory. When you open the windows, ventilating the hall, after 10-15 minutes the floor is covered with graphite, gray, brown dust. When the wind blows from the side of the sinter plant, the smell is also okay. Breathing becomes, to put it mildly, difficult))). All this rubbish is constantly packed into the lungs and into the body. I'm not talking about the fact that there is a ring of radioactive burial grounds around the city. Yes, and according to unofficial data, they also exist in the city. Practicing in such an environment is not a tool for development, but rather for survival. This side has outweighed. What can you say?? I did not leave the acquired space, but simply ran away))). In general, it is a good incentive. Start building everything anew, without clinging to what already works, leaving the comfort zone (in a sense). Repetition of the past, rethinking your experience and so on. Plus, the fact that the Y23 system in the Crimea is currently not represented by anyone. This, by the way, was one of the goals of the move, such as strategic))).

What would you like from this change? Well, except for purely yogic answers about the challenge and following the path). Like a simple person?

- As a simple person, I always wanted to live in a city where there are sea and mountains nearby. I wanted to find a place that nourishes and where you can live, not survive. Having lived in Sevastopol for a month and a half, I understand that all this is being carried out. There are many free internal resources that can be directed to work and development. Lots of conversations with interesting people. Amazing, powerful and mysterious places. Crimea is beautiful, and Sevastopol in it, as a social heart, is a very good platform for my new life.

 

Interviewed by: Irina Berseneva