Don't let your physical practice be a dead-end. Take anything and everything you learn about yourself and apply it to anything and everything else. The "formal practice" informs the "informal practice" and vice versa.
How can the qualities you pick up from rehabbing an injury make you a better parent or co-worker?
How can a long precision jump teach you about confronting your fears?
What good is developing patience in attaining a handstand if you snap at the people around you?
How can you call yourself flexible if you freeze the moment plans are changed?
This is part of what we mean when we say "The thing is bigger than the thing." This carry-over effect should sit at the heart of the physical practice. This is what it means to avoid dead ends in your practice.
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READ, WATCH, LISTEN ⤵
READ: Closed Flow Systems
(Reading Time: ~2-3 minutes)
Since we’re talking about avoiding dead-ends, I wanted to share an old blog post of Ido Portal’s explaining his model of a ‘closed system flow’ (CSF.)
“The main problem with attempting to flow usualy is getting to a 'corner' or a bump in the flow, a place from where at that particular moment you cannot continue from.
The CSF's main concern is to create a rounded, circular system with no corners or bumps, that the practitioner will be able to continue flowing in, moving infinitly from movement to movement.”
Insta: “Zero Points” by Jason Round
‘ZERO-POINTS’ are forms offering high transition and movement potential. The more available and truly ‘embodied’, the better they can facilitate in connecting movement in space….They can also be thought of a movement ‘nodes’, ‘hubs’ to & from which there are many pathways, or dots in a ‘join the dot’ drawing. They can be transitioned through & linked to one another, drawing a picture of truly endless movement patterns.
WATCH: Mapping Physical and Emotional Courage
(Length: 3-minute snip of a 90 min convo)
This was a great conversation between Rafe Kelley and Jordan Peterson on rough-and-tumble play. Towards the end, Rafe sums up nicely this idea of not letting your practice be a dead-end.
“In any practice, I believe, we we need to recognize that the local game is always a distraction from what we're actually trying to accomplish which is general adaptation to the metagame…”
Aesthetically Pleasing 👀
I found this old commercial Ido Portal did for a beautifully designed chair, called the Montana GUEST Chair.
TINY INSIGHT 🧠
“Parkour Vision: A perspective on the world inspired by the art of movement, parkour. After training parkour for a time, traceurs begin to see the obstacles of the world as opportunities. Instead of seeing a railing and a wall, they see a vault and a wallpass. Eventually this “Parkour Vision” can effect other portions of a traceurs life, and they begin to see other obstacles as opportunities. It is being creative and truly adapting to the environment and the ability to see unique and efficient movement opportunities in the environment.”
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To Turning Obstacles Into Affordances,
Galo Alfredo Naranjo
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Nice issue, thanks!
Where is that Parkour vision quote from?