Play is Powerful! Bridging Loneliness Through Active Intergenerational Communities→
Why is #play powerful? Because it can connect people through time and across generations. A kid and a senior can share a memory over a streetgame played in youth and for a moment connect as humans, glimpse into a possible future and the forgotten past.
Intergenerational community is rare but incredibly powerful when it comes to creating possibilities, vision, health, hope, and joy.
Parkour is one of those unique spaces that can truly support intergen community. I look forward to the next 10, 20, 50+ years of movement and play in my life, and to be able to both watch and be apart of helping guide culture as our diverse leaders age up and new ones emerge. I am so inspired by Julie Angel s messaging around positive aging, the parkour over 40 fb group, the growth of PKMove / playful aging / Forever Young programs (including one we are doing with PKV in 2019) and the numerous practitioners (some who became best friends, my mentors, My students) I’ve met over the years through events and practice.
And mostly I am so so grateful to be apart of a sport / discipline / community that I can be apart of no matter how old I get, no matter how my body changes, no matter the place I am, no matter the money I make, no matter obstacles I face. There are so very few legitimate, meaningful communities and outlets like that in life–spaces without limitations or rules around participation.
It truly inspires me to ask more of my self, my body, my practice, my city, and my life, because I see others, older and younger, doing the same. And as a person, I more deeply understand my value as a human in this larger ecosystem–as a student/teacher, as a learner/leader–evolving, maturing, transforming.
We are neither young or old, we are human! Let’s play together.
The Overprotected Kid and Barriers to Play
Recently the Atlantic there was an article released on
“One very thorough study of “children’s independent mobility,” conducted in urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods in the U.K., shows that in 1971, 80 percent of third-graders walked to school alone. By 1990, that measure had dropped to 9 percent, and now it’s even lower.
When you ask parents why they are more protective than their parents were, they might answer that the world is more dangerous than it was when they were growing up. But this isn’t true, or at least not in the way that we think. For example, parents now routinely tell their children never to talk to strangers, even though all available evidence suggests that children have about the same (very slim) chance of being abducted by a stranger as they did a generation ago.”
⭐Maybe the real question is, how did these fears come to have such a hold over us? And what have our children lost—and gained—as we’ve succumbed to them?⭐
Designing For Play
A few weeks ago I had a chance to jump on to the The Human Animal Podcast with Matt. This is part 1, where we talk a ton about design and play, including:
Developing Play Vision
The Interplay of Play and Design
What many gyms miss out on when designed
How to Craft a Play Session
The Importance of Inviting Others to Play
Pay to Play: Do you want to only be changing the lives of those who can afford it?
The largest barriers to life-long participation in a physical activity are:
- Lack of access
- Lack of affordability
- Lack of knowledge and
- Lack of an integrated and supportive community.
It is undeniable that movement essential to our physical, mental, and social health. It is shown to effectively treat depression, improve your ability to learn, protect your memory, grow your brain, normalize blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and stimulate cell growth. (1)
If we are to ensure whole community health, it is critical to create universal access to nourishing, sustainable, and FUN forms of recreation—because the ‘play’ factor keeps people engaged over the years.
Yet traditional sports and gym-going exercise—the most common forms of physical activity—have many of these barriers and more depending on age, gender, race, etc.
We need an option that effectively provides a path over, under, and through all those major barriers. And we have one: Parkour.
Parkour Breaks Barriers To Lifelong Physical Health
Parkour practice provides a path over those four major barriers mentioned:
- Access – do it any time, anywhere
- Affordability – no equipment needed, no coaches
- Knowledge – free online learning
- Community – diverse, inter-generational
Anyone who has tried parkour knows that you don’t need any special equipment or designated spaces. You can go out your front door–heck, you can stay in your living room if you really wanted–and have right there the means and methods of participating. There are so many styles, interpretations, and training approaches that you can find your fit.
Even more so, we have an incredible and supportive community that shares knowledge, tips, and tricks. There is a wealth of free online information, and groups dedicated to growing it. We couch surf, we work-swap, we bootstrap. We grow and come to know together.
❌❌ But wait. ❌❌
My question at the start wasn’t to talk about how parkour is a cure to traditional options, but actually a question to the Parkour community growing today. It is a question directed at leaders, business owners, coaches, and practitioners. It is a question to ensure we remain conscious.
Do you really want to only be changing the lives of those who can afford it?
Yes, Parkour is the path over many barriers, and people will continue to take advantage of it. But today more and more people are learning and engaging with parkour through classes and gyms and paid services. Less and less we don’t need to take parkour to people, because people come to us.
But the people coming to us are those who can afford to do so. And we can’t forget that.
As a community, we commodify and put up paywalls. We share our highest quality content less frequently and worry about protecting our ‘IP’ and ideas. As business and demand grows, there is less time to give to developing and running free events, free classes, free services. Less time to do outreach, figure out cultural dissonance. I get it. There are bills to pay, a gym to run, people to support.
I’m not writing this to make anyone feel bad. I too believe in charging what you’re worth, and making a living doing the thing you love. But we need to realize that access is declining, and the culture around practice is shifting, and we need to take active steps to ensure Parkour continues to reach the populations who need it most.
That also is not to minimize anyones experience with parkour.
I have no doubt of the positive and deep impact of parkour on the lives of those who can afford classes and their bus fare and the bottle of water. Who have the privileged and means to participate. But I worry about the populations we are not so readily serving anymore… those that CANT afford or access a gym or a community, who might not have internet at home, or a support network to help. Even those don’t know parkour is an option.
I often think about how in some ways it is almost MORE important than ever to give parkour to those populations (and find paths that are viable and sustainable.). I see it sort of as a responsibility, honoring the roots of where parkour came from, and its potential for impact.
Vision for the community
For me: I have a vision of society where people are able to live powerfully in the life they are given. I also believe in a society of humans who look after one another. Where we help others build the foundations they need so that they can grow and do the same.
💪We are stronger when those around us are strong too.
🔥We are more powerful when those around us are powerful too.
Parkour has a way of giving people a sense of personal power, a foundation to build upon, skills critical to being physically, emotionally, and socially fit. (Youve all probably seen my article on that subject.)
And while people of any walk of life and step of society feeling more powerful in their lives is important, I believe it is our responsibility as leaders and caretakers of the discipline to take the extra step to ensure we are giving power to the powerless, strength to the weak, mentorship to the lost, knowledge to the hungry, community to the unsupported.
Parkour… play. Our community, this movement. It has the power to rock the world, change peoples lives.
This is a call to be more conscious.
Mindful of the ways we grow
Aware of the roles we take on
Responsible with the businesses we build.
Do we want to only be changing the lives of those who pay for it?
Not sure where to start?
There are a few small things you can do today in your community to keep the spirit of access, affordability, and open education alive. Off the top of my head…
✴ Run a free monthly meetup (or even better, get volunteers to do it!). Did you know Parkour Visions offers grants to communities seeking to run free classes?
✴ Share your ideas –the beautiful thing is that when you give someone an idea, you don’t lose it. You now both share it and can find a way to make it more impactful!
✴ Share your expertise. Write a little. Write a lot. Ask questions, answer questions. Make yourself available. Do this freely.
✴ Support groups, events, projects that are engaging their communities with the resources you have –time, money, energy, love.
I try to take a stand every year, from sharing games to supporting experiences . I try to do probono design work whenever possible, direct the Art of Retreat to support the growth of healthy leadership. I support groups like Parkour Research and STURDYmade and Movement Games, and events like Winter Jam.
I run Parkour Visions, and as an organization we have taken a stand. As a non-profit, we are uniquely positioned to meaningfully catalyze donors, access grants, and work with local government around the country to see the development and growth of programs targeting underserved populations. We are seeking meaningful partnerships / projects with individuals and groups across the country to bring Parkour and play to people across all dimensions of diversity, but especially those who need parkour most.
Build alliances with others.
Share challenge because we’re stronger together 🙂
🤟
Change-making
“The biggest challenge is getting people to accept there is value in risk-taking. I think people today are afraid of risk (in its many forms) due to fear of the unknowns, lack of self-trust… but inherent, if not fundamental, to meaningful physical play is risk-taking.
So I argue: It’s actually more dangerous to NOT have spaces where you can take risks (safely) because then you’re never really going to be able to learn how to deftly navigate those complex emotions (fear, doubt, anxiety, etc) that you experience when facing something that really challenges you.”
I was invited to participate in Change Makers, an initiative lead by the director of Lean In NYC, and speak on parkour, play, design, and the importance of risk. I hope it inspires at least a few people to take the leap, try parkour, and find a way to add play into their everyday lives.
Parkour and Your Personal Power
Most people go through life feeling powerless.
We feel marginalized, unimportant, defeated by our circumstances. There is a constant sense of being ‘less than’ and not good enough, and an even stronger story that suggests we have no power in this world to meaningfully create the change we want to see. Our personal success is measured only against the success of others, and there is always someone more powerful than them, exerting, controlling.
We are victims or failures, always falling short.
We can see this mindset manifested in our lives every day as we cautiously navigate harsh office politics, struggle quietly through school, work, & test anxiety, burn out in unforgiving sporting competitions, and ruthlessly pick apart our imperfect social lives & families.
It’s a mindset that is unforgiving, and leads to a sense of depression, insecurity, and powerlessness.
We need a way to break free.
Cue: Parkour
This is why parkour has resonated deeply with so many people, especially those who regularly face stress and externally-driven competition in their lives. When you confront and overcome a particularly difficult mental or physical challenge in parkour, when you lift something very heavy, when you send a problem you’ve been working towards for hours: you feel powerful. You have a deep, direct, embodied experience of that shows you to yourself that yes, you can.
Can you recall that exuberance, that exhilaration of achievement that expands in your chest when you overcome a physical or mental challenge encountered in your practice—your jumps, climbs, and lifts? And how you are not only ready but eager for the next?
You feel strong, capable, and satisfied. You feel a sense of fulfillment and hunger. Joy.
And through parkour you can go out and feel that any time you want.
You Have The Tools
Through the practice of parkour, you begin to deeply understand that YOU have the tools and the power to overcome your obstacles & challenges by
- The consistent training of your body and mind,
- Embracing failure as a healthy part of the process of growth (and subsequent patience in those failures)
- Seeking reconciliation with yourself & others in those shortcomings, and
- Creatively and openly seeking new paths to old problems.
…And that power you feel? It is gold. It is clean and honest. It is not the power you find through the domination and control of others, but rather the mastery and control of yourself. This personal power is more than an attitude or state of mind; it is a sense of vision, of personal generosity, creativity, and self-assertion.
These critical skills, this positive mindset: This is where the magic of parkour really happens.
Through the emergence and nurturing of your personal power and your practice of parkour, you will eventually also start to realize you have the power and ability to face any of the obstacles in your life with a similar mindset. The skills and sense of power developed originally by jumping on things can spill over into other areas of your life: work, love, family, finances, etc. If you can learn to channel that power and repurpose those lessons from parkour, you will be unstoppable.
…Ok ok. So let’s just be real here for a second.
No, the world will not change because you are doing parkour, climbing, or lifting, or whatever it is you do to get to this place. The obstacles you will face will still be real, painful, ugly, brutal, and sometimes unjust. Your boss might fire you, your work might be unfulfilling, a coworker might take advantage of you. .Your exams may overwhelm, your student debt might feel crushing, your peers will still compete against and compare you. Your family may fall apart, your lover may cheat, and your health may end up failing. The people in your life, including those that you love and trust, may end up judging you, belittling and marginalizing you, betraying and abandoning you.
So don’t get carried away. Parkour cannot change the world.
But it can change your world.
Parkour can give you a new mindset, a deep, personal sense of power to overcome obstacles in your world—where you will be able to approach those obstacles not as fearsome walls blocking your way but rather opportunities for growth and learning. You will be prepared to face a challenge from a place of patience, calculation, self-honesty, and love: and a knowing that you willsucceed—even if it is not how you expected.
Because you are powerful. You are strong, capable, focused, in control of your emotions, and creative. Powerful is not a state of being but a way of living and thinking.
So there it is. Finally, I understand. This is why I want to share parkour with others. This is why I took up the helm at Parkour Visions, and continue to run the Women’s Gathering and The Art of Retreat, why I helped found The Movement Creative, the Movement Game Library, and the Movement Snacks initiative. Why I run around like a crazy person, working 80, 90, 100+ hour weeks trying to increase access to opportunities for parkour and play.
I’m not here competing with anyone. I’m here living my vision for a better world, trying to give to others a taste of their own personal power.
Because everyone should have a way of living that empowers them.I want to help them find their power.
This is my calling.
This article was updated December 2018, and originally published in 2017.
M: Reflection on Movement & Self-Discovery (Joy, Power, Purpose, Privilege, and more)
Why Move?
On Movement & The Discovery of Authentic Self
Movement & Play is an antidote to most of the personal suffering that human beings experience. On some deep level almost everyone feels insecure, afraid, separated, isolated, and unsure of his or her own authenticity and value.
Unstructured play or movement for the sake of movement is a highly authentic form of self expression. By setting our own challenges and seeking our own solutions we engage in a very deep and personal form of self-empowerment and honest communication. It may take a long time to move without fear of judgement, unknowing preconception, or need for external feedback, but ultimately this process of discovering your movement and creating and exploring your body is one that leads to an truly honest understanding and expression of self.
Through long term movement and in overcoming our challenges we release ourselves from our insecurities. The universal nature of movement as a fundamental human activity helps break down barriers of isolation, for all need and participate in movement on some level.
Movement reaffirms our sense of individuality while welcoming us into a larger global community.
Miscellaneous Thoughts
Physical & Psychological Health
It goes without saying that there are serious psychological benefits to integrating movement into your everyday life. Movement releases chemicals and hormones that positively impact your mental state. It also of course positively impacts your body.
Physical Intelligence.
Movement is a path to physical intelligence: being able to use your body in any scenario effectively. You fine tune the various senses and abilities, from balance to explosive power generation. Your body is like an intelligent machine, and the more frequently you use it, the better you get at handling it.
Upkeep of the Vessel.
Take care of your body; You only receive one body in this life. Your body is kind of like a car. The longer you have it, the more miles you put on it, the more worn out it will become. It is of the utmost importance that you take care of it to the best of your ability, by putting in good fuel, winterizing it correctly, repairing parts as needed.
You only get one body in this life. It is your responsibility to take care of it. Your body is the vessel of your soul; the more healthy the vessel, the better off the soul. We move to keep the vessel healthy, and in turn the soul happy.
Privilege
If you have the use of your body, you have the responsibility to use it. Do not be so frivolous to take advantage of a privilege you have been given. Not everyone has the use of their limbs.
Social Development
Movement, especially in the form of play with others, is an amazing medium through which to explore and develop a social identity. Movement with others will begin to reveal to you your own insecurities and fears, as well as your personal strengths and confidence. Social movement allows you to explore different fantasies, as well as test out various versions of potential interactions. You are allowed, within the safe space of play, to explore who you are.
Joy
I move because it brings me joy. Movement is one of the greatest pleasures, the use of our human bodies. It can be as satisfying as physical intimacy, as pleasurable as difficult mental puzzle, as gratifying as any great pleasure in the world.
Movement is joyous because movement is primal. It is essential to our human nature. To move is to return to that primal nature, to tap into some larger, historical energy that spans time & space. Everyone moves, before and after. Movement is apart of culture, society, our history as human beings.
Movement is joyous because it is mine. No one can take movement away from me. Even if I had to sit still, I move. My spirit moves.
Power
I move because it makes me feel powerful. The task of facing an obstacle, creating a strategy, testing that strategy over a course of time, refining, retesting, and ultimately overcoming (in one way or another)… this kind of mental and physical endurance to achieve a physical goal. I love it. It makes me feel like I can accomplish anything I set my body and mind to.
Movement is one of the most all consuming and providing sources of power. Through movement, I am capable of anything. In Movement I am as capable as the next human being; nothing can hold me back. I don’t need a degree, I don’t need past experience. Everyone comes to the table with everything they need to excel and achieve human greatness: their bodies and their minds.
And you don’t need to necessarily have full or healthful function of either of those things in order to derive the power that comes through play. Again, the truest form of power in movement is the setting and achieving of personal goals, the realization that you are capable!
POWER.
Purpose
One of my favorite quotes from Marcus Aurelius goes as follows:
“In the morning, when you rise unwillingly, remember this thought: I am rising to perform the work of a human being. Why am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the very thing for which I exist? Or have I been made for this; to lie in my bed-clothes and to keep myself warm?”
The Inaugural Art of Retreat
When I first devised the Art of Retreat, I hoped not only to provide a much needed platform for educational exchange in the parkour community but also to help heal and forge bonds of friendship between leaders across the country. The push to get it going came out of a conversation with Adam McClellan and Andy Keller during American Rendezvous, who both expressed excitement at the idea of a space where coaches could come together to share best practices, and the initial support came from the Movement Creative and my two partners Nikkie and Jesse.
A lot was working against us that first year. As a brand new event, it was hard to get buy in– I remember telling people if they could get themselves out to New Jersey, I would take care of everything else–food, housing, local transportation. We didn’t have any dedicated funding so I personally boot-strapped the event, renting out four airbnbs within a few minutes walk of my familys shore house in a sleepy little town. I researched and invited people I thought were engage in interesting research or ‘doing it best’ when it came to business. I purchased food and snacks and prepped large meal plans (and planned to play chef). Above all, I spent weeks crafting the programme, spaces, and experience.
When the weekend finally arrived almost 60 people from all over the continent flew into Newark just as Hurricane Joaquin descended upon the Jersey shore. I feared for the worst, having planned so many of the activities to be outdoors but, being forced inside, that major storm actually helped create an intimate, cozy, and community-growing experience.
The talks were hosted around kitchen tables, in living rooms and bedrooms. Hammocks were hung from rafters as people piled into the main house, pop-up playgrounds were built and rebuilt in the yard, fires were made in the garage. The step vault pledge was declared, there were lively debates around kitchen and coffee tables, people were thrown from the deck, strummed guitars, and danced in the rain.
The weekend was chaotic– and it was alive.
I look back to this first year as one of my absolute favorite versions of this event. Maybe it was the moody weather forcing us all to confront one another and connect, maybe it was the co-creative attitude people brought to the spaces they held, or maybe it was simply realizing that so many incredible things can be created when we find ways to come together and play.
M: On Measuring Athletic Success
Success is not measured in terms of team, or wins. Success is measured by how much the individual enjoys the experience.
- In the football model the individual trains diligently and receives instructions from the coaches, and the reward is in the teams victory, if it should have one, and in the discipline the individual receives.
- In parkour, skateboarding, or rollerblading the focus is not on competition, so the goal is not to win, and the concept of training becomes obsolete. The reward is in the enjoyment the individual derives from the act of skating and in the camaraderie of the lifestyle.