Realize

There are a lot of things I wish I could do. There are movements and moves and abilities I wish I possessed. There are people who I watch and wish I could replicate their skill, their courage, their success. There is a whole world of creativity I cannot even conceive of yet that I will never achieve, movements to be discovered that not a single one of us has even dreamt of exploring. I look to the past and see the growth of my own movement and the the overall growth of people's ability that has exponentially increased over the past few years and I can only wonder where it will go. Will it level out as we come closer to the edge of human limitations, ever stepping halfway closer to the wall? Will it expand beyond what we hold certain as impossible today and become the standard of tomorrow? Will it combine with newer technology, newer architecture, newer vision to something completely revolutionized? I cannot say, I can only imagine. Imagine and keep training, working to achieve the things I wish I could do. I must continue to work towards possessing the skills I desire, to absorb the abilities of those I admire by integrating their movements into my own. I cannot stop seeing a brand new world, full of possibility and creativity, because without our training, without our progress those days in the future will never come, those movements we will never be able to achieve will never be conceived. It is up to us, it is our duty to create, so that someday down the road someone can take the step beyond the farthest we went and realize our dreams.

At-home training, Hébert style

I usually train in the gym in the evenings, or outside on the weekends, but lately I've been forced to cut back on my training time. I only manage to hit up the gym once or twice a week and I'm really feeling the change. I feel slow and stiff and I haven't been sleeping as well. Some of you out there may be experiencing similar issues, now that the summer training season is over, and you're going back to school, or back to work, or having your training time cut short by darkness.

Luckily, several members of the APK community, including Pilou of DCmPK and Gregg of HIPK and others have been working on translating some of Georges Hébert's Méthode Naturelle training, and many of Hébert's stretching and moving exercises are great for working out at home. I particularly like the QM variations as a way of stretching and conditioning my hips and back after a day spent sitting at the computer, and I can do the shoulder and arm exercises while sitting at my desk. These exercises can't replace a good workout, but they do help strengthen my joints, keep my muscles toned, and make my body happy on days when I can't train. They're also a great way of recovering after a hard training session. APK put an article with a link to Pilou's PDF here and you can also read Gregg's translation here. The pictures are invaluable for understanding the movements (and some of them are pretty amusing, too), so check out the original Google doc of Hébert's book here.

Checking in With Spruce Street

It's going well, but sometimes the "kids" get to me.
Most of them don't want to be there, have other places (and other things) they'd rather be doing. They act out, cry for attention, and I'm happy to be the one to give it to them. To praise them, and celebrate with them when they learn new things, when they try parkour and find that they actually have fun doing it. Every once and a while, there's a "kid" who's just so obviously grateful to have a roof, and food, and peace that you wonder what the normal every day is like for them. They're the quiet ones, the ones that don't cry for attention. They don't want you to look too close.


You were the only girl I've ever seen in that place with mascara on
You smiled when I walked in.
You tried some vaults, and you were good when no-one was looking.
But you never said a word. Just played with your hair, and blushed, refused to eat, and jumped when someone spoke to you.

I know what it's like for the thoughts in your head to be so loud
you honestly can't hear the rest of the world
I know what it's like to be quiet but have something to say
but everyone else gets in the way
What?
Are my lights not on?
IS MY MIC NOT ON?
'Cause I'm here
and not just here, but kicking and screaming

And I know what it's like to be thought dumb
Mutestupid
I know what it's like to be there.
so don't be sorry I have to repeat myself
The things that you did
and the things that you didn't
The excuses you made
and the things that you've hidden
Don't hide
the fact that you're Beautiful

They asked if you were my little sister
we looked so similar
I said "I should be so lucky"
Instead, you seemed like a younger me

I know what it's like to be you
Abused
Misused
Confused

I want you to know what it's like to be me
Free

So here,
here's my email (no really)
my phone number (yes really)
a link to APK
when you get out of this place
hit me up, and we'll go play

This is for you,
Jane Doe
Nobody will ever know who you are
How beautiful you are
Unless you let them

So, she waited silently by as I put my shoes and socks on to leave. Never saying a word. I passed her a note as I left.

It said.

(name omitted),
You have no need to be so shy.
You are kind, and beautiful, and strong.
-Janine
(my phone number)

Familiar Peaks

I hate it when you find truth in a cliché.

“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” “Youth is wasted on the young.” “Don’t grow up too fast.”

My life seems to have gone about 180 degrees in the last year. From October 2007 to October 2008 I was living. I was teaching martial arts, training in the martial arts, training parkour, and doing performances and traveling because of parkour. I got to go to some amazing places I had never been to before; Chicago, Las Vegas, Hawaii. I was in the best shape of my life. I got to meet and be trained by some amazing people; Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace, and the Parkour Generations instructors Kazuma, Forest, Dan, and the Vigroux brothers. I got married to a wonderful woman who supported all of this, even letting me train on our honeymoon in Europe.
Unfortunately, life has its ups and downs and leads us all down different paths. I ended up getting an 8-5 job for various reasons, moving and buying a house, and finally “growing up” as some of my relatives so nicely stated. Needless to say, the time I have for training has been drastically cut short.

Where at one point I felt as though I was progressing, charging forward, ever expanding and improving, now I feel as though I am merely working to maintain. Strangely enough, that is just as exciting to me at this point. Having to work so hard to constantly achieve the same thing, while frustrating at first, afterwards provides the same liberating feeling each time I climb those familiar peaks. I now treasure each true training session, as long and difficult training seems to now be a more rare occurrence; most of my regular ‘training’ has become merely maintaining physical conditioning which rarely involves overcoming the fear and skill barriers that I have yet to rise above. Each instance where I find time to revisit, I walk away thinking “You’re not too old yet. You’re not past the point of no return.” It is a shame however that I did not work harder when I had the time, because if I had, these familiar peaks that I am constantly re-visiting would be a little higher.

Instead of Making Art...

I found this a little while ago... take from it what you will.

"Most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated athletes playing in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we go to admire paintings that brought in the highest bids at the latest auction. We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action.

This vicarious participation is able to mask, at least temporarily, the underlying emptiness of wasted time. But it is a very pale substitute for attention invested in real challenges. The flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads nowhere. Collectively we are wasting each year the equivalent of millions of years of human consciousness. The energy that could be used to focus on complex goals, to provide enjoyable growth, is squandered on patterns of stimulation that only mimic reality."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience