noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
The parents’ duty to their children is not to cram as many social advantages as possible into their first eighteen years. The parents’ duty is to make sure that when it comes time for the child to pull himself up by his bootstraps, he actually has the bootstraps to pull up.
~ Hugh MacLeod
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What experiences and practices shape the transition from structured movement disciplines to embodied, intuitive forms of movement and healing?
Weena Pauly-Tarr shares her history of dance, her brief encounter with parkour, and how those experiences have led to where she is now. She unpacks her work with somatic therapy, and the profound changes motherhood has brought to her life and practice. Weena reflects on her current interests in embodiment and impulse, and discusses her search for what is next.
The only thing I’ve ever wanted in my life—clearly and said out loud—was to be a mom. not to be a dancer, or not to move to New York… none of that was the thing. It was to be a mom. […] And so when I became pregnant, it was like the biggest gift I’ve ever been given. It was like getting the one thing you’ve always wanted, your whole life. It’s terrifying. Because what if it gets taken away, all that starts to come up. So I think what happened is, I had to grapple with receiving the thing I’ve always wanted.
~ Weena Pauly-Tarr (30:31)
The conversation covers how personal experiences with dance, Parkour, and somatic therapy intersect in a lifelong exploration of movement and healing. Weena’s dance background, including work with impactful movement styles like Streb’s Pop Action, shaped her understanding of strength, fear, and embodiment. Parkour later emerged as a natural extension of this interest, allowing for further exploration of dynamic movement in unconventional settings.
Motherhood significantly shifted her perspective, introducing new layers of vulnerability and embodiment. This experience influenced her shift from performance-based movement to therapeutic and somatic practices. She discusses her evolving approach to working with clients, focusing on impulse, somatic healing, and authentic movement. Her exploration of trauma through somatic experiencing highlighted the connections between past injuries and subconscious movement patterns.
(more…)I myself have been building a list of things that I want out of my practice. I want it to open options for me, to keep myself curious, deepen my understanding and push my boundaries. I want it to allow me to live more authentic experiences and ultimately fill me with gratitude for being on this Earth.
~ Marcello Palozzo from, No reasons to practice
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I find myself at a strange place. “Wants” and “goals” seem to be less interesting for me. Sometimes, I can simply sit for an hour. There’s no sense of accomplishment, and no sense of, “I should be doing …”
Sometimes.
Often though, I’m still driven to line up a tremendous amounts of work, to crush myself trying, to feel I’ve failed when I only manage to accomplish a large portion of the insane goal.
For several years I’ve been writing up a key thought to focus on through the year. 2019’s is, “no.” Coming up on halfway through the year, and I’m beginning to make some progress on shifting my default behavior to listening, sharing, and waiting. Less doing. Less trying. Fewer goals. No reasons.
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What role does competition play in shaping the growth and community of Parkour?
Michael ‘Frosti Fresh’ Zernow discusses his career, passion for community building, and his experiences with the Red Bull Art of Motion competition. He shares his views on competition in general, his unique perspective on how parkour has grown, and the potential it has as it continues to grow. Frosti explains his involvement in the United States Parkour association, his love of collaboration, and how he’s found and followed his passions throughout his journey.
I think competitions can help create an understandable way for the outside world to connect with this amazing community that we’re building and if we can be involved in it in a way where our voices are heard and where our presence is known then we can build something really beautiful.
~ Michael Zernow (38:23)
The conversation explores the evolving relationship between Parkour and competition, focusing on how competitions, such as Red Bull’s Art of Motion, have shaped the sport. The discussion reveals how Frosti navigates being an athlete, host, and entrepreneur, balancing personal growth with the desire to grow the Parkour community. His experiences shed light on the importance of community building and outreach, as well as the role of organizations like the United States Parkour Association (USPK).
Frosti reflects on his career trajectory, highlighting how competitions and collaborations have allowed him to stay involved in the Parkour scene beyond just being a performer. The conversation touches on the philosophical divide within Parkour about whether competition enhances or detracts from the sport’s core values. Frosti’s perspective emphasizes the need for competition to inspire and provide opportunities for young athletes, while maintaining respect for those who choose to pursue non-competitive avenues.
(more…)I sometimes call this the “M’urgency” kit as it covers both emergency and urgency situations. After the small convenience bag, this is my most-used, ready-to-go item.
First off, you have to decide wether you need a full, commercial, medical kit. If, like me, your primary concern is the common items you need, then I recommend going the route described here. There’s an unavoidable trade-off between size/weight and preparedness which you have to evaluate for yourself.
Deciding what to include was difficult. I began by searching the internet for emergency kits, but all of them had way too much stuff. On the other hand, I could create two separate kits: A micro-sized kit of a few ounces, and a larger one for more serious traveling. In the end, I settled on the kit described here as the best of both worlds. It is worth its weight in gold. Any time I have a bag, this kit is inside.
I’m a huge believer in having things pre-packed. “Containerizing” everything does use some additional space and weight, but it’s worth it if you can find the perfect size containers. For this kit, you want a sturdy container that will resist crushing, since this kit is going to take tons of abuse; It will be thrown around, leaned on, jostled and stuffed in/out of bags countless times before that one day when you need it.
My kit began with a clear-plastic “art box” — unfortunately, I’m not sure where this box came from. In my first iterations, I used this box, held closed with some rubber bands. One day I realized that this box would fit inside a zippered-bag I had laying around. The bag was an ’80s cassette-tape case, which I literally had from the ’80s for storing cassettes. I tossed the cassettes and the internal hard plastic organizer, and the art box fits easily but cannot open once zipped inside.
Eventually, the already tired case came apart and I had to buy a new one off eBay. You might have trouble finding these now because I bought most of them off eBay when I realized they were becoming rare. Since they are different colors, they are easy to find when rummaging in a backpack. (Another one of these bags will appear in a subsequent post.)
Clearly, this also requires some maintenance. What I usually do is any time I use something (say, I give someone some Advil) instead of refilling the pills, I toss ALL the pills and replace the stockpile to keep them fresh. Anything you keep in here can go out of date or dry up etc. and keeping this kit “fresh” is as important as creating it in the first place.
As I said at the top, I don’t expect you to build this exact kit. :) But I do hope that it has given you a few ideas for what you might want to keep on hand.
What impact does practicing Parkour have on personal transformation and navigating the challenges of motherhood?
Teresa Vazquez-Dodero describes the changes and sacrifices of motherhood, both in body and mind. She explains her initial experiences with parkour, how the community drew her in, and her views on defying stereotypes in parkour. Teresa discusses her unique perspective of risk, her studies in multiculturalism, and finishes by sharing the benefits of parkour for all ages.
I would describe this relationship as the most liberating body— or relationship with my body and relationship with my environment that I’ve ever had in any sports situation.
~ Teresa Vazquez-Dodero (1:14)
The conversation explores the transformative effect Parkour has on physical and mental well-being, particularly through the lens of motherhood. It highlights the dramatic changes and sacrifices involved in raising twins and the physical challenges that accompany it. Through Parkour, Teresa discovers a liberating relationship with her body, which contrasts starkly with her previous struggles after pregnancy. She emphasizes how Parkour reconnects her with movement, allowing her to reclaim aspects of herself that were sidelined during motherhood.
Another focus is on breaking societal norms and defying stereotypes, particularly those surrounding age, gender, and motherhood. Teresa reflects on her initial fears of not fitting into the Parkour community but ultimately finds acceptance and encouragement. Her insights extend to broader topics such as risk perception, personal responsibility in maintaining physical health, and the importance of continuous movement. She draws parallels between movement, personal growth, and larger societal observations derived from her academic background in multiculturalism and race studies.
(more…)As a manager, this state of flow is less common, if not non-existent. You aren’t diving deep on a task during an uninterrupted block of time, as required in flow – you’re the one helping others dive deep on a task. You’re also not receiving immediate feedback about your progress in the same way you would as an individual contributor, which is another critical element of flow. As a manager, you might not find out until months later if a decision you made or a conversation you had positively or adversely affected your team.
~ Claire Lew from, Do I truly want to become a manager?
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I think there’s a continuous pull to increase the total amount of work-output that we accomplish. Year by year, we improve our skills, learn new areas of interest, and even change careers entirely. We’re optimizing. The hard question is: Optimizing for what? Why?
I know I’ve been lured by the trap of thinking that if I just had help, then I’d be able to optimize. If I had more help, I’d be able to make more money, make more time, make more happiness for my myself, or make more happiness for the world. It’s taken me a long time to realize that, managing work and doing work are two different things.
I understand some people are drawn to—derive inherent pleasure from—managing others well and leading productive teams. But to date, I am not one of those people. This has left me in the unstable position of being pulled in opposing directions by two ideas: I would like to do fulfilling work. But to do more fulfilling work than I am currently, I need help from others. The key for me is to work with others in a spirit of collaboration; To not slip into my default mode of optimization, (specification, control, and micro-management.)
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Serendipity.
I’ve been working on writing these thoughts for over three years. Without actually checking, I think it was the Fall of 2015 when I sat in Le Jardin Joan d’Arc and read my copy of Thibault’s book in one, all-day sitting. Almost 4 years ago?
I created this particular blank note for Chapter 16 in May of 2016. “16”?
As I’m writing, it is May of 2019. Another, “May”?
About three years ago I started the project which eventually became Movers Mindset. Two years ago the project grew to include a podcast.
This morning, I feel compelled to “finally” get around to writing something for Chapter 16. I open my digital copy, flip to Chapter 16, and I read, “Chris ‘Blane’ Rowat once wrote…”
Care to guess who I am interviewing for the podcast today? Yes, really.
This is sublime.
All those threads woven together lead to this moment of realization at 8:00 in a rented London flat, 6,000km from my home.
Critically, while I’ve known for months the exact date and time of Chris’ interview, I’ve not read Chapter 16 recently enough to have remembered that it starts with his sentiments. If I had, I’d certainly have made some complicated plan to co-publish this writing and the podcast, or something—but this serendipity would not have materialized. Energized by the jolt of adrenaline when I read Chapter 16 this morning, I now feel a renewed belief in the entire Movers Mindset project! (Which is good, because most days there’s more strenuous labor than love in the labor of love.)
But, serendipity and coincidence are bullshit.
It’s just my brain, (yours may be the same,) working its tremendous powers of pattern matching. This morning my mind found a slightly-more-interesting-than-usual pattern and screamed, (ala the old adrenal gland,) that it had found something that demanded much closer attention. I’ve been spurred to carefully read Chapter 16 about five times this morning, to mull over my thoughts, to spend an hour or so writing, and to think of all the people I want to share this story with. I was inspired to create a vision of how the interview will go, new questions have popped into my head, and I’ve thought of a specific person who I now realize I’d forgot for about two years!
I wonder: What would life be like if I simply paid closer attention?
What if—instead of needing a kick in the adrenals to be this motivated—I could begin to intentionally notice things a bit smaller than this morning’s coincidence?
What if!
…and of course, “don’t be that guy.”
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What role does overcoming obstacles through movement play in personal growth and community building?
Marcus Lincoln shares his experiences both as a participant and an organizer of the Texas Winter Jam, and the importance the event holds for the national and local communities. He explains his ideas on challenge mindset, and his approach to both training and coaching. Marcus discusses his plans for traveling, the impact travel has had on him, and the adventure of learning new languages.
Parkour is interesting. It’s not that you can do the cool moves or that you’ve learned them quickly. It’s more about that process of learning them.
~ Marcus Lincoln (11:27)
The conversation explores Marcus Lincoln’s experiences as a participant and organizer of the Texas Winter Jam, an annual event that unites movement communities across Texas. Marcus shares how the jam transitioned from summer to winter and how it continues to foster collaboration among practitioners across different cities. His insights reveal how organizing the event has helped him develop problem-solving skills and build deeper connections within the community.
Marcus discusses how his move from Texas to Boston introduced him to the challenges of training in a colder climate, enhancing his resilience and adaptability. He reflects on how seasons influence training and how practicing in challenging environments fosters personal growth. The conversation also touches on Marcus’s passion for travel and his plans to visit France to experience the roots of Parkour, highlighting the importance of connecting with the origins of the practice and expanding personal horizons through new cultural experiences.
(more…)This post is entirely rules, tips, and ideas about how to be an insanely great guest in someone’s home. It’s organized into three sections. The first two sections are meant to get you thinking about how your host, and other guests, perceive you. The third section is focused on the day-to-day details of living in an unusual space. It’s meant to get you thinking about solutions to problems, and ways to make travel more enjoyable.
tl;dr: Empathy.
For my purposes here, empathy is the psychological identification with the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another person. I’m not suggesting that you must continuously empathize with everyone. I’m suggesting that empathy is a tool that can be used to inform your plans and behavior. Simply put, artfully using the soft skill of empathy will transform you into a great guest.
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