5 years?

When someone asks me how long I have been training, I rarely answer truthfully. My answer is usually about 3 years. In truth, I started 'training' parkour and freerunning in February 2004, over 5 (almost 6) years ago now. The reasoning for my deceitfulness is that while I was aware of parkour and freerunning, and while I went out and trained at least twice a week, I feel as though I was only doing it socially. When I trained, it was only with friends, and the goal was to see what sort of neat things we could do. There was very little conditioning done the first year or so. I look back and I am surprised that I did not immediately apply the lessons that I learned from training in the martial arts to my training in parkour. It was a revelation for me when U$F Volume 3 came out (I wish I could find a working link for this video) and Stephane Vigroux spoke about his training the way my master in the martial arts spoke about his training.

I feel as though this is the case for a lot of people starting out who don't have anyone to learn from directly and give them guidance on what they should be working on first. There is such a vast amount of good information on the internet now though because of sites like APK that I can't help but feel it's a little less common. It's good that almost every site that you visit now has some sort of disclaimer stating you need to condition, you need to be safe, you need to start with basics.

So I don't count my training up until 2006. It wasn't until then that I really buckled down, set some goals, and gave myself any direction as to what I wanted to do. That made a big difference. I can look back now, thanks to online videos, and see the difference in the way I moved, because early on the intent was just different.

At the beginning of the post, I mentioned starting in 2004. I thought of this because I was going through videos on Brian "Doc Ahk Horus" Belida's YouTube page and found the video he shot of us not too long after we started. The sound has been removed unfortunately but here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh0Vv2sT6bU
Viewer discretion advise.

I am glad that we had video of our early exploits. It allows me to put into perspective just how far we've come.

The Moment

One of my life philosophies is any amount of time spent truly in the present moment is worth the effort it takes to get there. Sometimes the effort is just a matter of remembering to notice the small things and the beauty in everything. Other times it is a result of purposeful training.
The Zen concept "Mushin" or "mind of no mind" is a state in which the mind is open and receptive to whatever enters and exits, never sticking or clinging to any one moment or idea.
One of my favorite aspects of training parkour is when the drill forces me to find this state. Last night Frosti and I went out for a training session in front of the National Art Gallery.


The pillars in front of the building form a large circle around some oddly-shaped windows and a fountain. At first, I didn't even pay attention to the pillars because jumping from one to the other was an easy feat. However, running on the rounded tops for more than a few steps turned out to be much less simple a task. I set a goal for myself to complete an entire lap around the circle in each direction. For the next hour and a half I made attempts at the full lap. Sometimes after only 5 or 6 steps I would lose the balance and have to step off, other times I would find a good rhythm and make it half way around only to take one false step and lose it. I soon realized it was simply a matter of focus. When I made a less-than-satisfactory step I would grimace and feel disappointment; I would let my thoughts linger on that step and continue down a negative path of disappointment and embarrassment and soon would lose my balance. Reminding myself to take each stride one at a time and not let my mind get caught behind me, I re-focused, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and affirmed to myself I could run 100 laps. Beginning my run around the circle, my awareness felt expanded and pinpoint at the same time. This run looked and felt completely different. My strides were easy and light. Sometimes my foot would miss its intended spot on the target, but instead of dwelling on it I allowed it to leave my consciousness along with the step itself. Each pillar appeared to me one at a time, the whole run looked significantly different in my vision. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would make it all the way around and I finished the circuit in perfect balance atop the last pillar.

Staying in the moment and keeping the mind on the task at hand in each instant, never getting snagged on a small slip-up or misstep or mistake is a skill that requires practice but ends up being beneficial to movement and mind. I walked away from that session with a feeling of calm well-being, no doubt as much a result of my time spent immersed in the moment as having accomplished a difficult goal.

The Mirror

Today I am looking at myself. I am staring at my legs. They are tired. They are weak. Well, weaker than they were before. Before when I ran, and jumped, flew, and fell, and made my way precisely and quickly through wood and concrete, step by step, strides and bounds, chasing an invisible finish line just in sight, just out of reach. Before my legs could carry my body, could propel it towards sky or earth, in any direction working as a team with my arms which could push or pull my frame over and through the ledges and rails that populate my path. But today they are weak as well. I look at my hands, they struggle to grip the utensils of life laid out before me, cup, phone, pen, spoon each present a new challenge to overcome with my tender digits and palms. They are torn and calloused, and the callouses are torn and calloused over. The nails are cracked. There are various pieces missing from various parts of various areas of my body. There is less of me today than there was before. Somewhere along my forgotten route there is my skin, and my blood, and my energy, and my fears, and my ideas, and my past, and I will not get them back. They will stay there and I will continue moving forward. Today I will grow new skin, I will heal and replenish my body, I will find new things to fear and to try and understand. Today is a new day, and I am tired and weak, but I can see that I am already starting to feel stronger. Today is only beginning and I will shake the slumber from my legs and arms and I will find a new finish line, because someday today will be before just as before was once today. Everyday a new finish line, everyday a new before, everyday a new today. Today I know myself a little better than I did before. I can only imagine what today will bring.

Where has Levi been?

I just figured I'd give you all a brief update on what I've been up to, since I've been rather low key lately. After the COPK jam I had a performance with Skipper, Adrian and Leon in Kansas City. It turned out really well, we just provided some entertainment during one of their corporate meetings. Craziest part was that we choreographed the whole thing in 40mins the night before the performance!

Also, I recently shot a commercial for Comcast, but I haven't seen it yet, so keep an eye out for it. And let me know when you see it because I dont watch TV!! Then there was a big Jam in LA, ironically put together by the SF Parkour guys. That was really cool and gave me some new ideas for movement. After that some friends, including some of Tempest and I did a shoot for the segment "This Morning Show" on the E! network. Hopefully that will air soon. The training/shoot session for that was just a blast! We hit up some new spots, and new challenges. There was a photo shoot I did in Long Beach for this photographer who took some sequence shots. Those are the awesome shots where its one scene but multiple images of the person, showing their different moments along the path. I love those kind of shots so Im looking forward to seeing those!

Other than that, have been training, and working on various projects, including creating a new version of the Tribe site: TribalMovement.com. It's interesting out here in LA, but definitely a lot of opportunity so I'm just kicking my own butt trying to pursue them all!

Not to mention the League Competition that APK is still working on. Thats why I havent showed up in the recent TV shows. They invited me to Barclaycard and WFPF, but I decided the one we've been working on is the best to associate myself with because we will have so much control over how the sports are represented, and how the contests are run so we can make sure that everything is done right!

So, lots of things still happenin. To get the latest about my various projects and appearances, join my facebook page here or twitter here.

Thanks for reading! Now get out and train!!

Rochester Parkour Girl's Jams

One full year after the launch of www.RochesterParkour.com we now offer girl jams! The female only jams are designed to introduce new or interested traceuses to parkour in a more welcoming environment. Jams are lead by RocPK's own Jessie K who has been in the discipline for almost a year now.

Currently, Rochester Parkour's normal Saturday jams pull out ~30 people fairly consistently. While this is exciting for me, it can be rather intimidating to beginners, especially the females. The Girl Jams were set up and scheduled to provide a more beginner friendly environment to foster learning, play, and fun!

Yesterday, even through the cold and the rain, three new traceuses came out to explore and learn! Here are some pictures of the fun had last weekend:

Doing a great job girls! Keep up the good work! For more pictures, please visit my Flickr.

Good job RocPK girls!

The Journey

Start. Middle. Finish. Three distinct phases recognized in all facets of life. Not a one can exist without the presence of the others, and yet all too often I see traceur after traceur fall into the trap of placing all the importance on one particular point: the finish.

As traceurs, we are all after the ability to execute a kong, or a wall climb, a kong to cat, or any of the other thousands of movements we drill day in and day out. Every beginner strives for the feeling of that first successful kong. But once it's attained, on you go to acquire the kong to precision! And on it goes. Make it smoother. Make it bigger. Make a video. Push, push, push.

To follow is a short excerpt from a talk given by a wonderful philosopher named Alan Watts. Here he outlines and illuminates the supreme irony of the modern concept of "success."



The irony of success is not absent in parkour and here is a reminder to everyone who may stumble on this article, never forget that growth is not a product of the finish. The end simply cannot be without having first journeyed.

As you are on your way to that first kong, first wall climb, first kong to cat or precision, whatever it may be, remember that all of these "accomplishments" are a part of the journey, and you should sing and dance along the way. Frustration and failure are inevitably a factor of the journey. Without them, "success" means nothing.

I've been thinking lately...

This post will be very short and and straight to the point. I have realized that I have spent to much time recently working on team business (not saying my friends aren't important), watching videos, filming videos, updating sites, and things of that nature. Even though they are important to me, I've realized that I have neglected my training a bit. I used to train 5 days a week and 8 hours a day; 4 hours parkour and 4 hours conditioning. Now, I'm somewhere between 2 - 6 hours a day of whatever training I can get. What I'm saying is put down the camera, do the business later, stop arguing, and the updating can come afterward. I'm not saying stop them period, all I'm saying is...JUST GO TRAIN!!!