Q&A For A Student

I was contacted by Elle, a student at Kingsborough Community College, the other day to do a short interview through email and I thought I'd share the questions and my responses.

1) How did you get involved in parkour?
I got involved in parkour mainly out of boredom. I had seen parkour in the earlier past, but had never considered trying it. My life got to a point where I was just going to work at a retail store 5 or more days a week, taking home a paycheck, and not really getting anything more out of my life. I needed something new, something exciting, something to help keep me in shape, and something fun. When I came across parkour again on the internet in 2008 I thought "maybe I should give it a try". It took some time to actually commit to even trying it out and starting any kind of real training, but I stuck with it, found others to train with, and kept at it ever since!

2) Do you have any quotes or philosophy that help motivate you as you train?
This is a tougher question to answer, as there is a plethora of philosophy behind the training and so many quotes are floating around out there now. As far as while I'm training goes, I have somewhat of an innate desire to improve things and to become a better person (in all ways, not just parkour movements or physical qualities). So I don't often need much external motivation aside from what already comes from within. However, quotes like "be strong to be useful" and "we start together, we finish together" certainly give me an extra push and help to remind me that I'm not just doing this for myself and I'm not doing it alone.

3) What does parkour mean to you?
These questions get tougher and tougher! Parkour has become my whole life really. That may sound silly to some, especially those who have only seen what is on YouTube or in other media, but it has really grown to engulf my entire life. There is hardly a moment that passes where I'm not thinking about how something would affect my training, or how I can better a part of my training, or how I can teach a particular movement or concept better, and so on. If you were to take parkour out of my life, or at least what parkour is to me, you would be left with an empty shell. You'd have my personality still, feelings and such, but there wouldn't be any reason to my being. You would wonder what my purpose was (even moreso, if you wondered this already).

4) What is your biggest accomplishment as an athlete and an individual?
I would have to say my biggest accomplishment is getting through what I've been through to come out creating the life I have now. I know that will sound very vague or general, but I'm not sure how else to put it. I am proud of the life I've made, proud of the person I've turned out to be, proud of the things I've been through and the things I continue to endure day in and day out. I've struggled, in fact I am still struggling even now, but I still wake up the next day ready to push through it all again, stronger and more ready than I was the day before. Perhaps some days I am weaker or less ready, some days I do have failures and mistakes, but I take even these as accomplishments because I am still here.

UNP Needs Your Help!

ATTENTION EVERYONE!! We need help making this event happen! We\'re helping kids and adults learn movement skills that will help them lead a healthier, happier life through workshops and obstacle courses that we\'re building ourselves.

We need to hit our goal by January 26th (just 9 days away) for the event to happen, so we need a LOT of help. Watch the video, read about the event, and register or just donate - click the image above to get to the Kickstarter page!

Please share this on your Facebook wall, tweet it, email it to everyone you know, post it on Tumblr and Google+ and Instagram and YouTube and talk about it!!! Help us spread the word!!!! Thank you!

Urban Ninja Project Needs Your Help!

Help make our 2nd community-built weekend of movement skills workshops and indoor obstacle course racing a reality!

Similar to the Ninja Warrior Games event we put on in November (www.UrbanNinjaProject.com), we are hoping to put on another weekend event for February in Schaumburg. The last event was a ton of fun and we all had a blast, but to be honest - the event blasted a hole in our wallets, too.

We loved the first event and look forward to doing the next one, but WE NEED YOUR HELP! In order to make sure we can afford to put on this event, we've set up a Kickstarter project to collect event registrations and donations for our cause. Please take a few moments to watch our video, read the page, register and/or donate, and then SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!! We really need your help to get this project out there!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1913755421/urban-ninja-challenge-workshops-and-obstacle-cours-0

Thank you all for your support and general awesomeness. We hope to see you there!

Important: No More Cards

In an effort to save on costs, I have closed my merchant account with MindBody and will no longer be accepting card payments through the MindBody site. This does not change anything else related to the MindBody site - your account is still there and any remaining services you had are still on your account. We are now only accepting payments by cash, Dwolla, and Square.

Thank you for understanding that this change is important in order for me to continue running the business. I urge you all to try Dwolla - it is very cool, and I'm not the only place using it! Click the logo below to read more about it.

Breaking Jumps

As a quick definition, "breaking a jump" simply means doing a new jump whether it's a precision, a cat leap, a crane, etc.

"For me, and for many others, this process of breaking the jump, this moment of truth when you lean into your fear and put your body and mind to the test, is the essence of the discipline – the very heart of parkour."

This quote is from the newest article posted by Dan Edwardes, director and founding member of Parkour Generations and co-founder of Parkour UK. Here's a link to his article on the topic of breaking jumps:

http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/breaking-jump-heart-parkour

Since we're on the topic - check out this new parkour-related podcast/radio show from London created by Brian Appiah Obeng of Parkour Generations as well:

http://brokenjumps.podomatic.com/entry/2012-11-28T22_30_30-08_00

And an older blog post from myself; a quick touch on the topic as well and my own thought process while breaking jumps (back then, at least):

http://blazeparkour.blogspot.com/2011/06/theres-no-what-if-theres-only-what-is.html

Before I was writing on the Parkour Ways blog I had a few entries on my own blog that are still relevant. The link above was obviously one of them, the rest can be found here:

http://blazeparkour.blogspot.com/

You can likely expect something to do with breaking jumps this weekend in the classes!

A Message

Inspired

There’s a certain “essence” that I'm going for when I instruct, and I'm very happy to hear that it's showing. Big thanks to my new student Beck Anstee for inspiring this post, through a message she sent to me via Facebook. Beck found my classes through our Ninja Warrior Games (http://www.UrbanNinjaProject.com) event that she attended with her daughters and has since attended 3 classes and brought her 2 daughters to a class as well.

In her message, Beck had inquired about the philosophy of parkour and was unsure if she was making "more of it than there is". In fact, I believe she has come to a better understanding of the discipline than most at their beginner stage in training. She went on to compliment my methods of instruction and the classes as a whole, and I was extremely satisfied by her message. Enough to write back a rather large response.

Confirming

Here was my response to Beck’s message:

“You are not making more of it than there is. On my website I mention that I don't just teach a catalog of movements. If that was all there was to parkour, I probably wouldn't still be doing it after these years. It is definitely part of the philosophy to tune in with your environment and other people. Parkour is about a few simple points, but those points branch deeper to so many levels it's almost impossible to understand without getting into the discipline yourself:

Knowing Your Self - No matter what we do, we are always doing it alone. I don't mean that in a negative way. Everything we do is a decision of our own; every choice we make is made by us. When you're training, even with 100 people by your side, your training is still up to you. Nobody can really know what you're feeling inside at any given moment, the challenges you're facing or the thoughts running through your mind while you're staring down a jump.

Becoming Stronger - I think many (if not all) of the people who stick to training parkour have at least one thing in common: we always want to do/be better. When I say becoming strong, I don't just mean being able to lift 100lbs instead of 80lbs, or being able to do 100 pushups versus 50. The strength you find and build in parkour is in the mind as well. We use the skills we've developed through movement and apply them to all sorts of situations: problem solving, fear management, teamwork, leadership, compassion, confidence, self-expression, imagination and creativity. Yes, the physical strength of course can be carried into other goals and objectives or situations in life. But every bit of parkour should include the mind. If you're not using your mind, you're simply not training parkour.

Use That Knowledge and Strength for Good - "Be strong to be useful." This is one of the phrases that have been carried down from the founders and others that have followed in their footsteps. The word "Yamakasi", the name the founders gave their group, is an African Lingala word that means "strong man, strong spirit." To them it meant "strong body, strong mind, strong spirit." It was all about strength when they developed the discipline and their name. "We start together, we finish together!" is another phrase you will hear around the Parkour Generations team and the Yamakasi at their events. We want to be strong for a reason. Not just to lift heavier things, not just to impress others or to be "cool" - but to show others what they, what WE as human beings, are capable of. Especially nowadays with technology taking over everyone's lives; we've lost the ability to use our bodies and the will or respect to take care of them. There is a spirit in parkour that is just too difficult to explain. That spirit is about taking care of others and our environments just as much as it is about taking care of your own self.

Make It Last - "To be and to last." This is another phrase common to the founders, Parkour Generations, and those who have followed them. Parkour is an ongoing discipline. It is not a fad, it is not meant to be a workout or diet that you commit to for 6 months only to fall back into your "regular" life. There are those who train to go the biggest and hardest that they can, trying to pull off the biggest, flashiest tricks or movements. Despite anything that television, movies, any other media or anybody ever tells you - it is NOT an extreme sport, it is NOT about competition... and it never will be.

There are a limitless number of other branches to the discipline. Parkour is a never-ending and always-changing lifestyle - a journey without a destination. It is unique to each individual, just as our bodies and minds are.

Thank you for that message. It was really great to get confirmation that my instruction carries those core values! I'm going to share this on the Parkour Ways blog.”

Wrap

I really like where Beck is headed, and I want to give her recognition for being incredibly involved in my classes in such a short amount of time. She continues to seek knowledge of the discipline on what seems to be a daily basis, sharing what she learns with others (including her nephew, Nick, whom she brought with her to a class last weekend!).

For the first time ever last weekend, I “assigned” some of my students a bit of homework. Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t paperwork or an essay! All I asked of the students in that class was that they go out and work on their balance somewhere, at some point during the week. That was all.

Just a few hours later, I saw that Beck had posted a few videos on Facebook showing that she not only did the balance assignment, but also tried a few other new things! Absolutely awesome.

Beck has discovered a love for parkour. “I love it. It's a very natural progression for me. It's almost permission to be myself”, she says. ""Parkour is for everyone and contagious. I am seeing a variety of age and skill levels come into Parkour Ways and couldn't be more pleased."

Your Homework

Now, I have homework for my readers. If you haven't already, watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYpHLHg6io

Additionally, I want you to poke around the Parkour Generations site (www.ParkourGenerations.com) and read some of the articles they have up. Not any one in particular. Just poke around at what catches your eye.

Lastly, I want you to read this recent blog on the topic of the way parkour is being spread and misconstrued, written by Parkour Generations coach Chris "Blane" Rowat:

http://blane-parkour.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-call-to-arms.html

Thanks for reading. Keep training everyone!

Facebook Updates

For those of you who don't get to read or see our Facebook updates because you don't use Facebook (weirdos!), you can now see our status updates and even the photos and videos that we share right here on the site! Did you know most of our Facebook posts get shared to Twitter also? Click the image above to go to the new News page and check it out!