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!

Ninja Warrior Games Success!

The past few weeks I've been working with some new close friends to launch an organization called "Ninja Warrior Games" (soon to be changed to "Urban Ninja Challenge"). We worked a ridiculous number of hours throughout these weeks: on our computers creating logos, graphics and the website, driving around putting up flyers and posters and talking to local businesses, planning and designing courses and obstacles and, of course, putting in the plethora of physical labor required to build the nearly 20 different obstacles we came up with for our first event!!

Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep and things have been incredibly crazy. But, we all felt rewarded as the event came to fruition and we realized what all of our work was bringing to our participants. The smiles on all the faces reminded us why we wanted to do this in the first place - to give people a new way to have fun while staying healthy and fit. We wanted to get kids and adults excited about moving, excited to learn new ways to exercise and use their bodies, and excited to be part of a new community that revolves around those concepts.

Our first event brought together several types of disciplines and activities in 32 unique workshops in just 2 days! We had some incredible trainers and coaches in attendance:

• Kurt Gowan & Jeff Strening (Parkour Ways)
• Darek Hendrych, Remy Olson, Dominik Pieklo (Dog House Crossfit)
• Chad Zwadlo (Fight or Flight Academy)
• Don Hyun Kiolbassa (Martial Artist, author - www.donhyunkungfu.com/)
• Dan Houlihan (MovNat Certified Trainer, Emergence Wellness)
• Kendra Charts (www.YogaSlackers.com)
• Maddie (Rock Climbing Workshops)
• Lillia (Judo Throws/Takedowns)

The turnout for participants was great, totaling approximately 110 people over the weekend! We had a lot of help from some great volunteers while we ran the courses and workshops and for setup and take down of the obstacles - thanks to everyone who gave us a hand!

We can't wait to get our next event rolling! We've already been scoping out locations and having meetings about your feedback and how we can improve or streamline future events! Follow us on Facebook or check our website for updates about our next events!

Ninja Warrior Games Update

Here's the detailed schedule for the weekend:

And here's a teaser video!




More information at www.NinjaWarriorGames.org!

History of Parkour Ways

Parkour Ways is an organization created and run by me, Kurt Gowan, since September, 2011. My goal with Parkour Ways was to provide professional, reliable parkour instruction to Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.

When I started to get into parkour, I didn't have access to professional instruction - it just wasn't available. I was bored with my life. Working several years in electronics retail will do that (to myself and many others, I’m sure of it). I started my “training” by watching videos on YouTube, like many tend to do. I ended up with some pretty hefty knee injuries from improper training and trying to go "too big, too fast" (those injuries have long since subsided, thankfully). I quickly realized I needed to find a new way to go about my training.

In the beginning, most of my sessions were in Chicago though I did have the occasional solo session out here in Northwest Indiana. I live in Illinois, but just on the border of Indiana. Been here all my life. Traveling to Chicago for training was getting to be too expensive. I stumbled upon a group of practitioners in my area – right over the border in fact. One of these practitioners was John Conway – now my best friend and one of the greatest practitioners I’ve had the pleasure of meeting (referring more to his mindset and the way he views parkour, not a comparison between his movement and others’).

John helped me to discover a new way to look at parkour. Whether it was his intention or not, he helped me to see it as a way to better myself, not just something to do with my boredom (though it definitely does away with boredom as well). I soon learned that John had an instructor certification for parkour, the ADAPT certification (www.AdaptQualifications.com). He had traveled all the way to the United Kingdom to obtain this certification – and that certainly caught my attention.

Soon, I was attending John’s classes at a nearby gymnastics facility in Indiana where I often assisted him in showing the “noobs” the “ropes”. Helping others discover what they could do with their movement was a fantastic feeling – a feeling that grew on me very, very quickly. Ever since I had helped teach the kindergarteners when I was in 5th grade, I had some fondness in my heart for teaching others. Little did I know; that fondness would grow to be my life and my mission.

In June of 2010, my mom died after a heartbreaking struggle with cancer. I loved my mom; she was always there for us and always took care of us (single mom, 3 kids, 2 grandkids). Witnessing her struggle with cancer and even her struggles before that diagnosis was really tough. My mom was the first important person in my life to die… the first person to die who I had really known. I hid it pretty well, but it hit me extremely hard.

Her passing made me realize a few things. One of those things was that I did not want to die doing something for a living that I did not want to be doing. Surprisingly, electronics retail sales were NOT what I wanted to do (gasp!). Another one of those things was that I needed to take some risks sometimes and be unafraid of change if I ever wanted to move forward (two things I think my mom really had trouble with, to be honest). Yet another was that home ownership is expensive and rough, and yes even one more: how hard it is to deal with my brother when his decisions will have an effect on you, too!

Combine those two life lessons and you get this: I went through 3 jobs (fired from one, quit the second), dropped out of college and quit the last job I had without having another one lined up.

I dropped out of school because I realized that sitting at the computer all day every day was exactly what my mom did for over 30 years at Chase (it was “First National Bank of Chicago” when she started there, then "First Chicago Bank", then "Bank One", etc.) – and I thought that maybe that had something to do with her seemingly never-ending stress and anxiety. Don’t worry; that was not the only reason I dropped out. The further I got into school and my program (Computer Engineering Technology), the less I enjoyed it and the more I realized that online school is really just the incredibly expensive equivalent of Googling and YouTubing everything...

I had a dream one night that I was at work at Best Buy talking with a friend/co-worker and the manager approached us and said something. I cannot remember what the manager said (and it wasn’t any real-life manager, just the manager in the dream – honest), but it somehow dissatisfied me and I got up, told the manager I was quitting, and walked out of the building. Days later, I quit my job at Best Buy just three days before Black Friday… anyone in retail can tell you that this is a huge no-no. I wanted to burn that bridge and never look back. Check! Thank you, subconscious!

By this time, I had my own ADAPT parkour instructor certification and a desire to start teaching parkour in Chicago. Originally, John and I were working together to create an entity in which we would both run. Little known fact – he actually came up with the name “Parkour Ways” when we were brainstorming for our brand (don’t worry - I have a piece of paper with his signature now saying that it’s allllll mine! Muahaha!). Months went by and I went through a WHOLE lot of planning, designing, programming, talking, emailing… you get the idea. With the help and advice of a few other people, Parkour Ways eventually came to fruition - and here I am today!

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps everyone understand a bit where I've come from and how Parkour Ways got started. Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me in this endeavor!