Understandings, Revelations And Philosophies Of Le Parkour
Using No Way As Way; Using No Form As Form
Recently I've had a lot of time to think - about life, Parkour, martial arts, philosophy . . . Everything that makes up a part of me.
I wrote down some of these things I've come to understand, so that I could better get my head around them, and I figure I might as well post them up here - hopefully it'll spark some good discussion or debate. Oh, and before we get too far down the line? This is long. Very long. And very varied †there will not always be a connecting thread between sections, except that these are my thoughts. And I’ll be updating it over the next few days if it emerges that I’ve missed anything.
The gist? If you simply learn, repeat and adapt the movements you see in videos online, without developing any deeper thought or understanding, or grasping what Parkour is, you’ll only ever be playing at “Traceurs”; don’t let this be the case †constantly think, evaluate and re-evaluate. “Adopt, Adapt, Improve” as Conan Doyle wrote.
Obviously there will be people out there to whom these thoughts are basic and familiar. However, on the other hand, there are those to whom this might incite some meditation on their own thoughts.
Also, at every mention of “Traceur”, “Traceuse” may be substituted in.
On Parkour And Its Component Aspects:
The base level description of Parkour generally runs along the lines of: “A physical and mental discipline, the ultimate goal of which is to overcome all and any obstacles placed before the traceur in the most fluid and efficient way possible. This goal is implemented to cater to two main ideals †Escape and Reach, and the traceur should be entirely versatile to these ends.”
However, as the traceur blossoms, Parkour becomes more than just a discipline in which they participate †it becomes their life, bleeding into everything they think and everything they do; it affects every decision, every action, even every relationship. As such, to my mind each traceur should...
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