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For a long
time Sebastien has spoken about wanting to write a book expressing his ideas
and philosophies. Available now is his first creation; Freerunning - Find Your Way
Don’t be fooled by the title, the
book isn’t really about freerunning. You won’t learn how to do a climb-up, nor
will you learn any good conditioning drills. Instead, Seb conveys the life
lessons he has learned from his journey and from his discipline, freerunning.
Read more for the full review.
At first
glance the book’s bright, explosive cover captures the energy of its author.
The unconventional landscape layout works well with the highly visual style of
the book. Every page has a beautiful full color photograph from Seb’s travels
and training (Many of them recognizable). About half of the pages contain a
short line of advice in big bold text. The others have the bold text plus a paragraph
going into detail about this lesson and how Sebastien learned it in his life.
At 128 pages that makes the book a very quick, but enjoyable read.
The book is
broken into 4 parts. Part 1 is titled ‘First Steps’ and focuses on taking
advantage of the moment and initiating things in your life. One page heading
is, “Don’t wait for the right time.” I found this to be a vital point because I
sometimes fall victim to the mentality of always waiting for just the right
moment before acting. Seb explains that this ‘right moment’ doesn’t exist and
we have to take advantage of the many opportunities that open to us each day. Also
in this part Seb talks about not competing and having a positive mindset.
In Part 2, called
‘Try, Try Again,’ Seb speaks about persistence and gradually reaching goals. He
also stresses the importance of always having an open mind and learning from
everyone and every discipline, and creating your own path to follow instead of
following others.
Part 3, ‘Obstacles’ recounts how freerunning can teach us
that obstacles are a part of our path, and how to apply the mentality of
overcoming them to our everyday life. He also mentions risk, and knowing your
limits. One particular lesson that resonated with me was ‘When you’re doing
something different, you are alone most of the time.’ You shouldn’t change your
path, and who you are just to have company.
In the final
part, titled ‘Freedom’ Seb talks about how to live in freedom by being
inspired, trying new perspectives, and finding and following your own way. He
explains that perfection doesn’t exist and we should instead strive to find
harmony with ourselves and our environment.
Many traceurs
and freerunners are sure to relate directly to the ideas in this book from
their own personal experience. Some of the lessons he explains are one’s we
have learned for ourselves in our training, or from other practitioners. But
there is still much to learn about Sebastien’s life and thoughts that can be
applied to our own lives. Just keep in mind; don’t follow in anyone else’s
footsteps. Take what lessons everyone may have to offer, discard the bad, and
create something new in their synthesis; your own way.
-Levi
Meeuwenberg
[edit - So I (Zachary Cohn) decided to buy it after this review, and Amazon.com still lists it as pre-order. I ended up ordering it from amazon.co.uk (the British version of Amazon) for a total of $23 after shipping. Click here for the link to the amazon.co.uk version of the site.]
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