Scree

noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.

Chris and Shirley Darlington-Rowat: Serendipity, family, and relationships

Published October 9, 2019 · All posts on Oct 9

Chris and Shirley Darlington-Rowat: Serendipity, family, and relationships

How do movement, coaching, and family intersect to shape personal growth and relationships over time?

Chris Rowat and Shirley Darlington-Rowat discuss serendipity, coaching, and Chris’s work with the fire brigade. They share their thoughts on raising kids, setting aside time for family, and training and moving together. Shirley and Chris share their current struggles, some stories about their past, and how parkour has affected their relationship.

You should both be able to enjoy your lives. So if we enjoy training and it’s a part of our lives, we shouldn’t suppress that. We should just find ways to bring it all together.

~ Chris Rowat (31:27)

The conversation covers the intersection of parkour, family, and coaching, exploring how movement shapes personal relationships and growth. Chris and Shirley discuss serendipity, recalling stories of chance encounters and how unexpected moments influence their lives. They reflect on how their shared passion for parkour has not only shaped their relationship but also influenced how they raise their children, focusing on movement as play rather than formal practice.

[My son Tyler] didn’t see it as parkour, it was just movement. So he’d be in the play park and he’d maybe cycle on his bike to the climbing wall, climb up the little climbing wall, jump across a little piece of railing. He just moved. Movement is movement, right? So whatever [our daughter Indy] wants to do, she can do, if she doesn’t want to do parkour. She’ll do it naturally anyway because it’s normal for that too.

~ Shirley Darlington-Rowat (12:27)

Chris speaks about balancing his career with the London Fire Brigade and his role as a father, highlighting the discipline and adaptability required in both spheres. Shirley emphasizes the importance of maintaining personal movement practices during motherhood and reflects on how physical training can coexist with family life. The conversation weaves between stories of parenting, training, and the philosophy of finding balance and joy in movement.

Takeaways

Serendipity — Reflecting on how unexpected moments and connections shape experiences in life and movement.

Balancing movement and family — Finding ways to integrate training with raising children without forcing them into the same practices.

Coaching philosophy — Emphasizing personal connections and individual growth within group coaching environments.

Parkour as a relationship foundation — Sharing movement practice fosters honesty, mutual understanding, and emotional openness.

Postpartum training — The importance of patience, recovery, and adapting movement to suit physical changes.

Time management — Juggling careers, training, and parenting by focusing on effective, intentional practice within available time.

Resources

Parkour & Art du déplacement: Lessons in practical wisdom – Leçons de sagesse pratique — Vincent Thibault’s book referenced by Craig early in the conversation.

Chris ‘Blane’ Rowat

Parkour Generations — The organization where Chris and Shirley have been involved as coaches and athletes.

Rendezvous — The event where Chris and Shirley first met in 2008.

Yamakasi — A reference to the original parkour group, mentioned during Chris’s story about encountering Williams Belle.

London Fire Brigade — Chris’s current workplace, referenced throughout the conversation regarding his career transition.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Dan Timms: Injury, strength, and Parkour UK

Published October 2, 2019 · All posts on Oct 2

Dan Timms: Injury, strength, and Parkour UK

How can experiences with injury and recovery inform sustainable parkour training and coaching practices?

Dan Timms describes his journey with injury and recovery, and how it helped to shape his thoughts about sustainability. He discusses training methods, the forces involved in parkour, and his approach to coaching. Dan unpacks Parkour UK, what it is, what it does, and his involvement with it, before sharing his insight on designing parkour parks.

You see where this is going already. This one didn’t have a mesh floor at the top, so I’ve just speed-vaulted over this wall into this turret, and I looked down and there’s nothing beneath me for about 40 feet.

~ Dan Timms (5:09)

The conversation explores the evolution of sustainable training practices in parkour, largely shaped by experiences with injury and recovery. Reflections on major injuries, such as a near-fatal fall and multiple surgeries, frame the discussion around balancing intense training with long-term health. Insights include the role of strength training, mobility work, and the importance of consistency over quick fixes.

The dialogue also touches on community involvement and governance, highlighting efforts within Parkour UK to standardize coaching certifications and establish Parkour Earth. Additionally, Dan shares real-life applications of parkour, recounting moments where training directly contributed to personal safety and community assistance, including intervening in a robbery.

Takeaways

Sustainability in parkour — Long-term success requires balancing intense training with injury prevention and recovery.

Consistency in training — Regular, sustained practice is more effective than chasing quick-fix solutions.

Role of Parkour UK — Parkour UK plays a key role in standardizing parkour coaching and representing the community at a governmental level.

Real-world application — Parkour skills can translate directly into real-life situations, from preventing injury to intervening in emergencies.

Physical data in parkour — Testing reveals significant forces involved in parkour drops, suggesting adaptations beyond muscular strength.

Resources

Parkour UK — National governing body for parkour in the UK, focusing on coaching standards and community representation.

Parkour Earth — International federation established to counter external governing threats like FIG.

The Monkey’s Back – Documentary — A documentary capturing the spirit of parkour practice featuring Stephane Vigroux.

Born to Run — Christopher McDougall’s book that influenced the guest’s barefoot training and travel to Mexico.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Andy Fisher: Teaching, journey, and efficacy

Published September 25, 2019 · All posts on Sep 25

Andy Fisher: Teaching, journey, and efficacy

How can personal passion projects and unconventional pursuits outside the classroom enhance teaching effectiveness and foster authentic connections with students?

Andy Fisher discusses being a teacher, why he loves it, and how his pursuit of his passions relates to the classroom. He shares his unique and unexpected movement journey before explaining how all of that relates to the passion projects he regularly pursues, such as the Thronin and Hero Forge projects. Andy discusses his thoughts on efficacy, his current struggles and how he manages and works towards overcoming them.

At the age of 11, I was sent to a boarding school in the UK […] Every morning at seven o’clock, an alarm bell was rung, and all of the kids got up, and we had to do a two and a half-mile run. I was the last to come through wheezing and coughing, and by the time I showed up, all the breakfast had gone. There was just a certain point where I just thought, ‘Enough, I’m not going to have this define my life.’ I made the decision that I wasn’t going to be defined by my condition, and that I could grow.

~ Andy Fisher (12:53)

The conversation explores how unconventional pursuits such as knife-throwing, wilderness survival, and circus performance inform and enhance teaching practice. By bringing these passion projects into the classroom, the importance of authentic connection and engaging with students beyond the curriculum emerges. Themes of resilience, personal growth, and fostering curiosity run throughout the dialogue.

Andy Fisher discusses his journey from asthmatic child to martial artist, teacher, and survival instructor, illustrating how personal challenge translates into valuable lessons for students. The balance between discipline and compassion plays a critical role in shaping both his personal life and professional teaching philosophy.

Takeaways

Bridging passion and teaching — Personal pursuits outside of work can deepen engagement with students.

Resilience through experience — Overcoming personal limitations can shape a stronger, more empathetic teaching style.

Authenticity in education — Teachers benefit from sharing personal struggles and successes with students.

Physical challenges and growth — Embracing physically demanding hobbies like survival training builds discipline.

Continuous learning — Remaining a learner outside the classroom informs and inspires teaching.

Resources

Hero Forge Project — Andy Fisher’s podcast and book exploring personal development and heroism.

Hero Roundtable — Conferences discussing heroism and leadership.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Slower than a bee

Published September 19, 2019 · All posts on Sep 19

This vignette, seen in a certain way—as though it is happening, but not happening to me—can be just what it is, without any entanglement with my own interests. None of my reflexive moral judgments are present. The angle of the sun doesn’t remind me of everything I still have to get done today. Seeing twenty-year-old students doesn’t make me wish I was younger. Because I’m not here. It’s just life unfolding, and on its own it’s beautiful.

~ David Cain, from How To See Things As They Are

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If you sit still, you can do what he’s describing anywhere. (You’ll have to go at least skim the article.) But if you sit still and do the visualization in nature, you will be immediately rewarded.

The world moves at its own pace. Somehow, it’s neither always faster nor slower than my normal pace. It’s a fundamentally different kind of pace that encompasses all the range of speeds. Regardless of speed, it’s unhurried. Meanwhile, it turns out that I’m completely capable of hurrying at various speeds. But sitting still and noticing the pace of the world always provides me with striking perspective.

There are so many varied speeds; Bees and birds, wind and trees, sun and moon, and there are slower speeds of course, but I can’t see those. If I pay extreme attention, in just the right situation, I can see a shadow cast by the sun moving. But that’s as slow as I can see—something that moves on the scale of one day.

Have you ever stopped to consider the speed of a bee? Do bees even notice we are moving? Are we just these large-ish pieces of their environment which are always in different places when they return “tomorrow” (aka, a minute later in our timeframe)? It seems obvious to me that the bees are going too fast and are missing EVERYTHING. (Well, sure, pollination and bee-production they’ve got.) But from my enlightened, lofty perch of slower-than-the-bee, I can see so much more.

Which makes me wonder: From my lowly perch of faster-than-a-lot-of-other-things, what am I missing?

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Kasturi Torchia: Mental wellbeing, Esprit Concrete, and sharing

Published September 18, 2019 · All posts on Sep 18

Kasturi Torchia: Mental wellbeing, Esprit Concrete, and sharing

How can the integration of psychology and movement practices contribute to mental wellbeing and personal growth?

Kasturi Torchia describes her role with Parkour UK, and how she came to be involved in mental wellbeing and psychology studies. She discusses her family and how they impacted her journey, before unpacking the Esprit Concrete method she has developed. Kasturi shares some of her goals and what she is working on with Esprit Concrete, and discusses the yearly Les Dames du Movement event.

Esprit Concrete is something that was so organic, that it’s really hard to pinpoint what exactly [started it.] But I think that the really strange encounter that I had with Parkour, came at a really important time in my life where I was reflecting on what was happening and trying to make a change. I just needed something, without knowing that I needed it, to jolt me into seeing things differently, changing perspectives on things.

~ Kasturi Torchia (6:30)

The conversation explores the intersection of psychology and movement, focusing on how Kasturi’s personal experiences led her to create the Esprit Concrete Method. Her work integrates psychological principles with Parkour and Art du Déplacement, addressing mental wellbeing through movement. Kasturi reflects on how childhood influences and a desire to understand human behavior guided her journey towards psychology.

Another key topic is the development of the Esprit Concrete Method as a tool for self-reflection and personal growth. The method helps participants confront vulnerabilities and use movement as a metaphor for psychological challenges. Kasturi also highlights the significance of community events, such as Les Dames Du Movement, which bring together diverse practitioners to foster learning and collaboration.

Takeaways

Integration of psychology and movement — Personal growth and mental health can be addressed through movement practices.

Esprit Concrete Method — A framework blending Parkour, Art du Déplacement, and psychological principles to foster development.

Duty of Care in Parkour UK — Emphasis on safeguarding mental wellbeing and establishing support networks.

Challenges in movement — Physical movements reflect deeper psychological patterns and areas for growth.

Les Dames Du Movement — Community-focused events promoting collaboration across disciplines.

Resources

Esprit Concrete — Kasturi’s platform integrating movement and therapy.

Parkour UK — National governing body for Parkour, focusing on mental health and wellbeing initiatives.

Les Dames Du Movement — Annual community event promoting movement and mental health.

Get Self Help — Website providing self-help resources and CBT worksheets.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Autumn

Published September 18, 2019 · All posts on Sep 18

I love autumn.

There’s something about chilly mornings and cold nights—good sleeping weather as we said when I was a kid.

Don’t get me wrong, summer is nice too. As a kid, of course summer was awesome. But the problem with summer was sleeping. Back in the day, we didn’t always have air conditioning. This wasn’t a deal-breaker but there would always be the occassional stretch of days where you’d simply lay stewing in your own juices rather than actually sleeping. Which leads to a particular thing about summer which I suspect I will always love: The late-night summer thunderstorm.

I’m not talking about your run of the mill evening summer thunderstorm. Those are a dime a dozen. They’re neat and all, but they can’t hold a candle to a late-night summer thunderstorm.

As I mentioned, I grew up mostly without air conditioning, and so I slept with the windows open. I had the “weather” corner of the house growing up. That means the normal wind, and so most storms, arrived at my corner of the house. It always started with a low rumbling in the distance. Soon I’d see some silent flashes of light. (I grew up in a house in the country, more in the woods than not. Night was dark.) Soon the rumbling would correspond to the flashes. Then, decreasing time between the flash and the boom. “14… 15… 16… rumble …four miles!” Then the rising wind in the trees, and then, finally, the wind from the downdraft of the stormfront. Scant seconds of cool wind, sometimes cold, occasionally frigid—in which case it was going to hail and storm like hell—would blow the stagnant air from the entire house. I’d stand by the window closing it inch by inch as the rain struck the screen. When the window sill was more wet than dry, it was time to close the window until the storm passed. We had a 3-foot exhaust fan in the ceiling in the hallway that could pull the air through the entire house. Someone would get up and run that fan after a thunderstorm, and it was the best air conditioning. After a while, we’d turn the fan off, and I’d lay in bed falling asleep to the raucous sound of crickets, the storm rumbling away bringing its rain and cool to the next community, and the smell of wet earth and trees.

Where was I? …oh yes, autumn.

Yes, please. :)

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Website obesity

Published September 17, 2019 · All posts on Sep 17

Let me start by saying that beautiful websites come in all sizes and page weights. I love big websites packed with images. I love high-resolution video. I love sprawling Javascript experiments or well-designed web apps.

This talk isn’t about any of those. It’s about mostly-text sites that, for unfathomable reasons, are growing bigger with every passing year.

~ Maciej Cegłowski from, The Website Obesity Crisis

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This is so true that it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. I weep. I weep for the Internet. The Internet we know today was made possible by advertising, because too many of us don’t understand how reality works. That’s a good thing—that the Internet happened and grew to be as pervasive as it is—but the current trajectory does not lead to the best possibilities.

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Georgia Munroe: Goals, Ninja Warrior, and coaching

Published September 11, 2019 · All posts on Sep 11

Georgia Munroe: Goals, Ninja Warrior, and coaching

How does the relationship between creative hobbies, personal challenges, and coaching shape the practice and development of movement disciplines?

Georgia Munroe explains her interest in music and how that relates to her parkour practice, as well as how she became interested in parkour. She discusses the challenges and goals she is working on, before sharing her experiences with motion capture and Ninja Warrior. Georgia unpacks her thoughts on coaching, her personal journey of improving as a coach, and how coaching has affected her own parkour practice.

We always struggle with so much […] like when you first start, everything is fresh, everything is new. The only goal is to just turn up, and you get on with it. […] And now, when you start to find your footing, you start to see your character in your movement, you also see your insecurities, you also see the things that are harder than other things to do. You also see what your fears are, and facing your fears or seeing your fears, you want to overcome them. It’s scary, and you don’t want to, but you want to at the same time.

~ Georgia Munroe (17:32)

The conversation explores the interplay between creative hobbies, such as music and movement disciplines like parkour. Music provides Georgia with a natural sense of rhythm and timing, directly influencing how she approaches physical training and performance. This relationship highlights how artistic practices can cross-pollinate with athletic endeavors, enriching each in unexpected ways.

Another central theme is the transformative power of coaching and personal growth. Georgia reflects on the emotional challenges she faced, particularly her fear of failure, and how coaching others mirrors her own internal struggles. As she develops her coaching skills, she learns to manage self-doubt and anxiety, which ultimately enhances her ability to guide others. Her experiences competing in Ninja Warrior reveal how even high-stress environments can evolve from terrifying to enjoyable through mindset shifts and practice.

Takeaways

The influence of music on movement — Music provides rhythm and timing that directly translates to improved flow and efficiency in physical practice.

Facing personal fears — Overcoming fear and insecurity plays a major role in progressing as an athlete and coach.

The role of coaching in self-development — Coaching requires significant self-reflection and growth, shaping the way instructors manage both their own fears and those of their students.

Mindset shifts during competition — Competing in challenging environments like Ninja Warrior transitions from overwhelming to rewarding by focusing on relaxation and enjoying the process.

Embracing hard work over talent — Relying solely on talent can be limiting, while sustained effort and perseverance lead to greater long-term achievements.

The emotional journey of learning — Success often requires facing discomfort, repeated failure, and developing resilience.

Resources

Esprit Concrete — Coaching organization where Georgia Munroe trains and coaches, focusing on movement and mental development.

Ninja Warrior UK — Competitive obstacle course show in which Georgia Munroe competed, testing athleticism and mental resilience.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Impermanence

Published September 11, 2019 · All posts on Sep 11

I don’t know why we long so for permanence, why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs. With futility, we cling to the old wallet long after it has fallen apart. We visit and revisit the old neighborhood where we grew up, searching for the remembered grove of trees and the little fence. We clutch our old photographs. In our churches and synagogues and mosques, we pray to the everlasting and eternal. Yet, in every nook and cranny, nature screams at the top of her lungs that nothing lasts, that it is all passing away. All that we see around us, including our own bodies, is shifting and evaporating and one day will be gone. Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?

~ Alan Lightman from, The Accidental Universe

It seems obvious to me that apprehending the impermanence of everything is necessary in order to remain sane. Obviously my entire existence is an immeasurably tiny fraction of an instant. Obviously there is no ultimate “point” to all of this. Obviously there is no one true meaning of life.

It removes a lot of baggage and struggle once you realize that reality is in fact the real situation you are in.

…and then you’re free. Free to create, conjure, combine, laugh, love, learn, run, ramble, perable, talk, commiserate, procreate, invent, integrate, mix, mingle and just generally ENJOY LIVING.

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Factory work, Round 2

Published September 10, 2019 · All posts on Sep 10

My fear—or maybe it’s better written, as “my lament”?—is that for every made-it-big tech person who represents the worst of avarice and greed, there is a sea of regular tech people who are being ground up by the works. Countless pasty faces staring at screens, drinking diet soda, trying to live in the bites of life they can grab after hours, (taking their phone so they can be summoned, of course!) stressed-out, burnt-out…

So when I hear people talk about “tech people” as if we’ve collectively done something wrong and messed up the world, I look around and all I see are people who’ve been broken and smashed. The grass is no greener on the inside-tech side of the fence. To everyone outside-tech, what gets done inside tech is magic—it’s not, it’s factory work, round two.

I don’t mean this as a repost to what people say when they lament what has happened to the world, but as a commiserating plea: “Yes! Yes! The problem is everywhere.”

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Get out of the way

Published September 8, 2019 · All posts on Sep 8

This is why “culture” in business matters. Because it allows people to see whether or not they’re allowed to cut the metaphorical knot.

~ Hugh MacCleod, from «https://www.gapingvoid.com/blog/2019/08/28/gordian-knot-culture/»

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I was recently asked, “What’s the hardest part, for you, about podcasting?”

Staying out of the way.

I’ve spent so much of my life diving in and fixing things, that it has become my first instinct. To rush in and grab the controls. To attach a sense of artificial urgency to everything. To become frustrated that others aren’t immediately taking action now that a solution or idea has been found.

Certainly, an important step is to first cultivate a team who can do great work. But once that’s done enough, the hard part for me is staying out of their way.

Many people would say that I value action over thought. This is absolutely not the case. I am driven to find evidence, to investigate, to look for previous examples of similar solutions and ideas, to gather data, to analyze, to sort, to organize, to imagine… and then I act— often frenetically.

It is right before that last step that I’m learning to self-intervene.

Ready!

Aim!

Get out of the way.

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Expressing gratitude, part 2

Published September 6, 2019 · All posts on Sep 6

Most of the people that I work with do great work most of the time. (No, this is not about to turn into a back-handed compliment.) That means they make a few mistakes, or do a few things where I feel feedback would be helpful. Abitrarily, let’s say 90% of their work is good, and there’s 10% that I think could be improved.

…and so I start providing feedback on that 10%.

What does the other person experience? 100% negative feedback from me!

It doesn’t matter how good I might get at delivering great feedback, and helping them improve. If the only feedback I give is on the 10% of their work that I feel could be improved… ouch!

Instead, I need to think about the entirety of that person’s work. My feedback should be roughly in the same proportions as their work. This enables me to convey both the direct pieces of feedback and my assessment of the ratio in the whole. Continuing with the 90%/10% example, I should be giving vastly more positive reinforcement. That other person should be hearing vast amounts of positive feedback. This is not limited to people who work “for” you. This can be applied to everyone you have regular contact with and is relatd to my earlier post about, “if you see something, say something.”

There is a benefit for myself as well: If I’m only giving negative feedback, (focusing on that 10% as it were,) then it’s going to feel as if everything I encounter all day is negative. If I instead focus on increasing my ability to first notice that 90% of everything is great stuff, and then communicate that outwardly to the others, then it’s going to feel as if everything I encounter all day is positive. Since focusing on the negative stuff is one of my biggest problems, this is fertile ground indeed.

What’s your perception of what you encounter and does the feedback you give reflect that?

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Naomi Honey: Dance, coaching, and self talk

Published September 4, 2019 · All posts on Sep 4

Naomi Honey: Dance, coaching, and self talk

How does engaging in movement practices like Forró and parkour contribute to personal growth, emotional development, and professional coaching?

Naomi Honey shares her experiences learning the Brazilian dance of Forró, and how it relates to her other movement practices. She unpacks her work as a life coach; what that means, how it works, and why she loves it so much. Naomi wraps up by discussing her thoughts on her current interests, the idea of success, and self talk.

[It’s] amazing. I’m the cheerleader while they’re doing it, and while it’s difficult. And I’m the cheerleader when there’s success. And then—one of my absolute favorite moments—coaching is designed to end at some point.

~ Naomi Honey (11:45)

Naomi Honey discusses how her experiences with Brazilian dance and parkour have shaped her personal and professional life. She highlights the contrast between the individual nature of parkour and the partner-based dynamics of Forró, a Brazilian dance she has been practicing for over a year. Naomi shares how these practices have enhanced her ability to listen to her body and respond intuitively, revealing unexpected emotional blocks and new ways of engaging with others.

Her work as a life coach focuses on helping people recognize and overcome personal obstacles, drawing from her movement experiences. Naomi explains how self-talk plays a critical role in both movement and life coaching, recounting workshops where participants verbalize negative inner dialogues to foster awareness and shift perspectives. She also emphasizes the importance of celebrating effort over results, demonstrating how encouragement and playful experimentation foster growth and confidence in movement and beyond.

Takeaways

Engaging in movement practices — reveals emotional and mental blocks that impact personal growth.

Life coaching integrates physical practices — combining parkour and dance helps address personal fears and limitations.

Self-talk awareness — recognizing and addressing negative internal dialogue improves movement and emotional resilience.

Parkour’s impact on personal growth — confronting physical obstacles mirrors the process of overcoming psychological challenges.

The value of celebration and encouragement — celebrating effort rather than success fosters persistence and emotional well-being.

Physical closeness in dance — offers unique opportunities to explore connection and interpersonal dynamics, filling gaps not addressed by parkour.

Coaching designed to end — successful coaching encourages clients to become independent while maintaining ongoing connections for support.

Resources

Flytality — Naomi Honey’s life coaching business where she helps people achieve personal and professional goals.

Parcon by Andrew Suseno — A fusion of parkour and contact improvisation that explores movement through physical interaction with others.

Gerlev Idrætshøjskole — A movement-focused school in Denmark specializing in parkour and physical education.

Women’s International Parkour Weekend — An event organized by Parkour Generations to advance parkour training and self-talk awareness for women.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Expressing gratitude

Published September 3, 2019 · All posts on Sep 3

What if you, whenever people did good stuff for you, you let them know they had a positive effect on you? You might have to come up with a unique way of saying it if you want to make explicit that you aren’t saying “I owe you”. We’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader.  

~ J. Hazard from, Magic is Dead, Give me Attention — LessWrong

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Somewhen around 2005 was the trough of my expression of gratitude. Having now spent increasing time with this radical new notion of “expressing gratitude” I can say for sure… that I really need to keep working on it.

I’ve been stingy with positive reinforcement for a loong time. As I’ve begun to explicitly practice the habit of expressing gratitude, externally to other people, the results have been obvious and beneficial. My current intention is work on lowering my resistence to expressing gratitude. The most recent way I’ve been reinforcing the habit is to hold in mind a common mantra which I’ve repurposed: If you see something, say something.

I’ve found three ways that I’ve been practicing expressing more gratitude. There are others, obviously, but these are the three I’m currently practicing.

The first way plays out in direct conversation. While discussing one topic, my mind produces a tangential thought about something positive this person did on some unrelated topic. Spurred on by, “if I see something, say something,” the practice is then to mention that positive, tangential thing at the next opportunity in the conversation. Loong ago, I’d have let those tangential thoughts go by, not wanting to interrupt our discussion.

In short: Simply express gratitude now.

The second way is more subtle. Since those random thoughts of gratitude-moments-past are coming up today, I didn’t notice them in the past, or I suppressed expressing them in the moment. This reminds me to be more vigilant looking for the opportunities to express gratitude.

In short: Get better at noticing opportunities to express gratitude in the current moment.

The third way is to make a conscious effort to go looking for missed opportunites to express gratitude. If I have a meeting planned with someone, when I’m preparing I can make the small effort to think of a few opportunities I’ve missed.

In short: Practice actively looking for opportunities to express gratitude.

tl;dr: Duh, Craig. Simply express gratitude.

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Are you part of the solution?

Published September 1, 2019 · All posts on Sep 1

If you’re not the customer, you’re the product.

~ Seth Godin, from What’s the next step for media (and for us)? | Seth’s Blog

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This rant from Seth is a couple years old, but it remains as important as ever.

I talk often about the problems with social networks. But what I’m particularly interested in is what, (if anything,) actually works to change people’s minds. I bet you can guess what works: Basically, nothing works.

I wasted a lot of time trying to explain the problems with social networks using facts and rational arguments. You know how far I got with that. One day, I stopped trying to educate and explain, and started trying to plant seeds. Little seeds of inquisition. Little seeds of self-awareness.

How do you feel when you are not on that social network?

And how do you feel after it ate your face for 2 hours?

Do you like the way you look, all hunched over with spine twisted and your face completely facing the ground?

Could you make progress on your dream if you could just find 10 hours of time a week? (As if you only spent 10 hours on social networks this week.)

Hold your phone facing you at arms length. Look just to one side and notice the actual amount of your immediate world which it occupies. How do you feel about only living within that small fraction of your world?

Visualize your death bed. (Go ahead. I’ll wait.) Now begin to list your imagined regrets as you lay dying. (Seriously. I’ll wait.) Which items on your list were related, in any way, to online social networks?

You have Seth’s thoughts. You now have my thoughts. Do you have any thoughts of your own?

Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?

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Waiting for the next one

Published August 30, 2019 · All posts on Aug 30

What, I can experience an entire trip to the mall without sighing, grimacing or silently cursing? I can sit through an entire red light without fidgeting? I can make (or miss) my connecting flight without losing my shit even once? Can I live my whole life this way?

We can, if we’re willing to give time, as a habit. Nothing else makes sense really—it’s just experimenting with a willingness to live in reality as though there’s nowhere else to be. (Not that there ever was.)

~ David Cain, from How to Be Patient

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Occassionally I get the urge to attend a week-long, silent meditation retreat. (For example, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassanā retreats.)

Why?

Because sometimes I experience small periods of blissful serenity. I’d particularly like to be able to go there on a more regular basis. It seems to me that spending about 10 days doing nothing but meditating in silence would be a delightfully mind-altering experience.

Rarely, but with increasing frequency, I find myself enjoying sitting pefectly still. Doing perfectly nothing. Paying attention to the moment instead of being completely obliterated by an endless torrent of thoughts. Eventually a thought which I deem worthy enough arises urging me to go do this, or check on that, and I rise from my glimpse of serenity.

I always wonder what would happen if I just kept thinking: That’s not quite worth getting up for just now, I’ll wait for the next thought.

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Charlotte Miles: Motivation, emotional recovery, and purpose

Published August 28, 2019 · All posts on Aug 28

Charlotte Miles: Motivation, emotional recovery, and purpose

What motivates someone to engage deeply in coaching, creativity, and physical training, and how do personal struggles and life experiences shape this engagement?

Charlotte Miles shares her motivations for coaching, why it’s important to her, and how it fits into her life. She digs into more difficult topics; energy and emotional recovery, personal struggles, and her experiences with mortality and grief. Charlotte discusses how parkour affects her life, her definition of success, and finishes with real life superpowers and finding purpose.

Being strong, there is no frame of reference for that. There’s no ‘I once was’ and so there’s no return. It’s a completely new thing. It’s a blank canvas. And that can be as scary as it is exciting.

~ Charlotte Miles (15:00)

Charlotte discusses her work as a coach, filmmaker, and movement enthusiast, reflecting on how physical training intersects with personal growth. She describes parkour as a therapeutic practice that forces her to confront fear and emotional barriers, emphasizing that her biggest obstacles are often mental rather than physical. Charlotte highlights the unique space women occupy in strength and conditioning and the importance of encouraging curiosity and strength in female athletes.

A significant part of the conversation explores mortality and how Charlotte’s personal experiences with loss shape her sense of urgency and purpose. She shares how storytelling and coaching allow her to uncover powerful messages within others and transform them into impactful narratives. Charlotte speaks candidly about balancing her intense work ethic with the need for rest, acknowledging the challenges of being emotionally open and the importance of staying present.

Takeaways

Training and curiosity — Emphasizing curiosity over performance allows for personal growth and encourages women to explore their physical potential.

Mortality and urgency — Experiencing loss reshapes priorities, fostering a mindset that values immediacy and essential tasks.

Storytelling as impact — Creating resonant, emotional stories can drive deeper personal and societal change than surface-level entertainment.

Fear in parkour — Mental barriers often limit physical capability, with parkour acting as a mirror to confront deeper personal fears.

Coaching intensity — Leading others into intense physical and emotional spaces requires equal responsibility to bring them back to stability.

Self-awareness and solitude — Balancing energy through solitude and movement helps manage the emotional demands of coaching and creative work.

Resources

Iron Heart Studios — Charlotte Miles’ media company focused on storytelling and film production.

Parkour Generations — Organization where Charlotte manages creative direction and media.

Barbell Shrugged — Podcast and strength and conditioning brand Charlotte collaborated with.

Going Right — Logan Gelbrich’s’ book on pursuing passion and purpose over conventional paths.

Women’s International Parkour Weekend (WIPW) — An event focusing on women in parkour and strength training.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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How do you create culture?

Published August 27, 2019 · All posts on Aug 27

I’ve become increasingly interested in how culture is created within teams. One part is clearly modeling the behavior one wants to see. But I’ve been spending time thinking about how I talk to others about goals, challenges and setbacks. The more I look, the more I see I’m faced with so many interwoven elements: Communication—synchronous, asynchronous, mixed?; Feedback—positive, negative, immediate, delayed, public, private; Goal setting—team, individual, conservative, challenging, insane; Growth; Trust; Shared vision; Shared mission; Morals …

I find myself focusing almost entirely on communication. I try to spend as much time as possible explaining what I’m thinking and what my goals and visions are. At the sametime, the better I get at asking questions, the better I get at understanding what’s going on. There’s a balance. Too little conveying of direct instruction and concrete goals leaves some people struggling to grow. The opposite is also true; Too much and some people are stiffled.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” said Alice.

So what’s a question you ask your teammates that has led to surprising insights?

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Change is not a commodity

Published August 26, 2019 · All posts on Aug 26

[C]hange does not take technology, it takes courage. And, this is why change is not a commodity. Change is not easy nor is it formulaic. But I can say this with the utmost conviction, change is inevitable and it is yours to define.

~ Brian Solis, from «https://www.gapingvoid.com/blog/2012/03/28/it-takes-courage/»

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If you want to affect change you must first understand which sorts of changes are difficult and why.

On the one hand, things change all the time. A great definition of “old age” is when you begin to lament the inevitable changes to the specific things you prefer in your supermarket. On the other hand, affecting a change that you desire feels extremely difficult. (Go try to bring back your favorite brand of mustard after the manufacturer has discontinued it.)

On the one hand, there’s a huge array of things I can change easily: My shirt, the book I’m reading, and the lane I’m driving in. On the other hand I quite honestly struggle changing my physical body, my bad habits, and my addictions.

On the one hand, changing thousands of minds at once is easy: Give me a few orange cones and I can make everyone change their mind about always driving on the correct side of the road. On the other hand, it seems impossible to get people to do the correct thing, when they are waiting to turn left at a two-way stop sign, and I arrive opposite them intending to go straight.

On the one hand, millions of people have been convinced to spend their time on social networks. On the other hand, try convincing just one of them to disconnect.

Sometimes a piece of technology is enough to change everything and everyone. Sometimes no piece of technology seems powerful enough to get it done. Sometimes a tiny idea spreads like wildfire, and sometimes the mindless mob wins. Sometimes people are swayed by emotion, and sometimes they make choices based on logic. Sometimes change is objectively good, sometimes it’s objectively bad, and sometimes it seems too complicated to decide.

The important question is: What sort of change do you want to attempt?

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