Approaching contemporary physicality: the curse of choice

It was 2.4 million years ago. The first Homo Habilis, with his 600 cm3 brain was fighting hard to stay alive. Cracking shells, running through forests, fighting fierce beasts and trying to build necessary tools for survival. Life was tough, and every piece of food was a synonym of survival and development. Finding a small good root meant to be able to breathe a few more hours. A bush full of berries was a gold mine. In that world “more” was better.

Evolution did its course.

It’s 2018. The modern Homo Sapiens (aka “wise man”, following Linnaeus Taxonomy), with a brain twice the size of its ancestors, is rarely fighting to stay alive at all. Going to the supermarket with the car, sitting on a desk, sitting in the tube to go to work, winning arguments through communication and building complex tools through mathematical models.
Life got easier, and food became a synonym of sociality and self-love, rather than a strict necessity.

Obviously, this new-found comfort came with a new-found need: moderation.

However, being the essence of humans similar to the one of fire, a problem appeared. Try to give to a spark a piece of paper, it will reduce it to ashes in no time.

Offer it a book: it will take it, no questions asked about what was written on it.

Give to the flames a table, it will eat the house.

Give to the flames a tree, it will eat the forest.

The “more is better” slogan (very dear to our Homo Habilis) simply stopped working. Because “more” changed meaning. Where before it meant “enough to keep the tribe alive”; it is now used as “until no more food fits the stomach”.

Calories changed form, and from being something humans had to look for, they became something that humans wanted to burn off due to consistent abuse. The power of choice became a curse for life.

When Moderation, the daughter of Discipline, gets murdered by Gluttony, the son of Comfort, Calories become a bitter enemy.

Food was a friend, it became an enemy.

But what a funny thing to have as an opponent. Right? It’s almost …a paradox. However, people decided it’s like this, and started the war.

The Reset

This strife took the form of the fitness and the wellness industry. Calories needed to be burned, and those muscles had to be hammered. People flew into gyms to make sure they could join in the “ultimate annihilation routine” or try the “glute killa machine” (I didn’t try, but I am sure that if you try to Google a combination of any of these words you get at least 300k results of stuff someone posted online).

The body became something to wear, in the same way as we do with the latest piece of clothing from
Dorgia&Babbana, not something that is in all is in quintessence, us.

It is an element that is present in our lives sometimes, and that is more of an issue than a blessing. Think about it:

– It can break, like a car and we need to take it to the mechanic to blindly fix it (traditional physiotherapy).

– It needs to be given to a coach 2 times per week so that some muscles can be packed on it (traditional fitness training).

– If you don’t take enough care, it can wear off, and it’s not nice to show it at the beach.

– It is a weight to transport around. It is so annoying to carry it to work, make it eat, drink, go to the toilet.

…This body is a prison, and you can’t get rid of it!

Seriously, what is going on?

This separation between our thoughts, emotions, and physicality is leading to a lack of interaction and to solitude. It is a regression from all point of views.

Humans are complex beings, made up of a wide array of phenomena, that should be considered as a whole. Categorising, even if interesting, doesn’t reflect reality, but just a useful mean to orient ourselves into everyday activities. Just to make an example:

Meredith on the 5th of November needs to wake up early and go to work, come back to her husband, daughter and two sons to have lunch and chat together. After that she goes training, she keeps up the preparation for a theatrical performance, before going out for dinner with her family. Finally, she goes to take care of her old parents before putting the younger daughter to bed.

In theory, all these things are separated because they have different names, they respond to different needs, they even take place in different spaces.

“For every activity, I have my specific willpower, she thinks. I am a mother first, then I am a good employee, then I am a focused trainee, then I am a skillful actress. I am able to keep everything under control, no problem”.

Still, one day she is hit with a nervous breakdown.

How do you think the problem will be addressed? Will, the psychologist, look at the single activity, or the issue will be treated as a whole?

Thinking in labels and in separation doesn’t do justice to where evolution brought us.

A body is us at all times. And we are in deep need of reconnection with it.

As a species we need to press that small button that was so dear to all old devices: RESET.

We require a deep returning for understanding. What is food for? What is money for? What does it mean to be a person? What do I want to dedicate my life to? How do I interact with the place I live in? Why is work something I can’t wait to stop doing?

And similarly, the focus should be placed on how to approach our physicality.

Jane Fonda was the queen of fitness. Eugen Sandow was the king of muscles. Both useful in the process of moving forward in humans’ development. Yet, staying stuck in those paradigms in 2018 is like driving an old broken and polluting FIAT 500 thinking it is the last model of car produced on earth.

We need a more significant scope like the one Ido Portal is promoting, a crusade that I fully support, share and am part of. A movement approach that can integrate people’s interaction, health, body knowledge, artistic research, scientific knowledge.

Stop thinking about burning calories and hammering the muscles, go back into thinking about how to invest energies and use a body.

Until next week,
Marcello.

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Antidotes to contemporary venoms. 

Following on from last week article: “a boxed life“

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Venoms: Detachment and laziness.
Antidotes: Awareness and enthusiasm.

Have you have tried to take a laser pointer and make a cat follow it? Pay attention here.

The awareness of the cat arises. All muscles create a disciplined tension. The fur slightly raises as a physical response to a flush of catecholamines poured into the system.
The claws come out slightly to allow a better anchoring to the ground. The beast lowers the stance, the back legs get ready to fire. The head and the tail create a tensed line that points directly to the red dot. The eyes fixate the objective while the pupils get wider to attract more light. Absolute discipline, control, attention appear under the form of deep, complete immobility.

Right before the creature jumps into action, turn the laser pointer off (yes, the cat will be confused, and a bit pissed, but don’t worry about that, it’s for the sake of science).

Now. Take out eight laser pointers and repeat the same experiment as before. Observe the feline. What happens?

The awareness of the cat arises. All muscles create a disciplined tension. The eyes will follow an objective for few seconds and then …it will start licking its fur. It will let all red lights go, too many targets, it will lose interest. This will happen 99 times out of 100 tries.

You think humans work differently?

Try it out. Turn on the news on TV (if you still have one in 2018), try to engage in a conversation while you check a new article as you decide on a new pair of shoes and listen to a new single from your favourite artist. Good luck with that.

It’s impossible, or worst we can make it possible, but what happens to that person’s engagement?

The conversation won’t be meaningful.
The reflections on the piece of writing will be weak.
The judgment on the new pair of shoes will be shallow.
The song will become background noise.

You will end up being superficially entertained rather than actively involved, ending up losing enthusiastic interest towards all the beautiful details of life.
This will fast enough bring you to disengagement in presence. And this disengagement and scattered attention will bring you to laziness in the acts, tiredness to live life.

Stay full on when you do things, value every moment. Be the cat following a single prey.

When going to practice, do not close yourself into a gym watching a TV while talking gossip with the Tuesday’s stranger and about the bad day you had at work. That’s the fastest way to disconnect with your physicality forever.

Instead, find a community and a teacher you trust, get out there, do the work, engage in one project at a time, know what you are focusing on, value every activity you do, take risks, beware the “scattered attention state”, act before the long crouched and slimy fingers of procrastination wrap around your arms.

Do this and trust me, laziness, depression, disengagement will never be an issue ever again – you just won’t have time for those.

Venoms: Conformism and local life.
Antidotes: Courage and travels.

– “Ah, I wish I was young enough to do it…” – 37 years old man, coming out of the supermarket, without stopping.
– “Ohh interesting, is it some form of Circus the one you do?” – a couple in their twenties, walking with an umbrella under the snow.
– “What is it that you are doing?” – 25 years old girl, stopping by
– “Can you please do it again?” – a smiling old man, raising his eyes from a morning newspaper reading session.
– “Wow, I was also doing it when I was a kid” – a mass of random people passing by while shopping.
– “You must be some kind of superhero? / Are you some sort of thief? / Are you Spiderman?” – young kids.

I have engaged in millions of conversations when training everywhere, at any time per night and per day, with any weather condition. And I can tell you one thing: curiosity is powerful.

Everybody has it. You might be here reading these lines for the exact same reasons.

So, why in the name of Zeus and his lightings most people do not engage in diverse, new and exciting activities? Let me tell you what happens.

Well, the answer is that a certain amount of energy is needed to step in the unknown. I realise it is a big leap for many. You need to get out of your shell. You need to shake your beliefs, open up to failure, to change, to invest time that doesn’t come back, confront your stability. It’s easier to fall into conformism.

However, if you manage to break through, you will suddenly find yourself fluctuating in an unknown matrix.

The unknown will bring fear. Fear will bring a challenge. Challenge will bring change. The change will bring development and growth, two attributes that directly define what means to live a life.

By opposite, not engaging in the unknown it means to slowly die. The slowest and most miserable death; you know why? Because on your last breath you will realise the cage you have lived into. And I say this with full knowledge of the facts, having been in a situation where this happened. I see young people get old, and old people stay young until they exhale their last breath. “I wish I lived my life differently”. You do not want this to happen to you.

Stay hungry and fascinated, repel what everyone tells you to do, follow your inner voice, dive into new worlds, smile at those confused looks from people, at their angry words – their eyes and their words always hide the question: “can I join in?”. Well, good news, you can.

A great way to start is to travel. Go look for what is interesting. Go where the gold is. Do not be satisfied with your neighborhood, follow signs and directions. Do everything you need to do, save and invest. Go to the source of your interest. Never, trust someone who doesn’t travel; it’s one of the 6 markers I look when making up my mind about someone.

Venom: De-responsibility and poor visualisation
Antidotes: Accountability and creativity.

A pigeon takes a big crap on your shirt. Whose fault is it? The pigeon or yours?

“The pigeon!” most people would say without a doubt.

“No, it was your fault. You were walking without paying enough attention”. I would argue.

Exaggeration? Maybe. But which one of the two argumentative standpoints is more productive? I would say, the second one.
Because it entails taking responsibility for any action. Even those who are not directly dependent on ourselves. It will just create a good habit: the act of taking responsibility.

Take responsibility for all that you do – you will cherish your successes and suffer your mistakes. And overall, you’ll live more truly.

Drop all excuses as simple as that. Be accountable for all you do. Even religion itself is a form of de-responsibility in many cases.

Something incredible occurs: humans land on the moon. What a grand thing, so unbelievable. It must be a miracle; a god must have done it.

Something terrible happens: the earth becomes inhabitable due to climate change. What a terrible day, so sad. It must be a punishment; a god must be behind it.

No. It’s on us. It’s on me. It’s on you. Like a drop in the sea, everyone does its part in the big scheme of things.

And as a direct corollary taking responsibility for our actions will make us realise, we must reduce our impact to stay sustainable.

Drop the use of plastic, recycle when you can, do not pollute, do not over-consume, do not produce the useless. But how do we do it? Creativity and discipline folks. It’s again there.

And in a movement practice?

It’s the same. Stay sustainable, use what is there already (1), do not build for the sake of building, use space as it is, it is enough. It’s hard, but we are smart creatures.

See you next week,
Marcello.

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(1). Small digression: In the process of using public spaces you will encounter many problems. Some of those solvable, others profoundly rooted in the society you are immersed in.

When using them, take into consideration the damage you might do to the elements you are using, who is around you and how they perceive you, the possibility of you getting hurt there, the responsibility of city councils, the effect of your movement practice on the people around you.

You will have a chance to make people more aware of what you are doing or to contribute to a detachment between practitioners and bystanders. Every time you step outside you gain much power, and from great power, comes great …well you all know how this end.

From those operating from the top (architects, politicians etc.) it is needed to build robust elements that can sustain impacts and usage, schedule renovation taking into consideration that the material will be allotted to diverse use, an architecture that will call for involvement and an educational system that explains and promotes movement creativity and active physicality.

Won’t it be too costly? Well, considering the enormous amount of money that would be saved from the health care system if people moved more and took care of themselves, not really.

Isn’t it utopic? Maybe; but I love utopias. Many times, they become a reality, especially when deadlines are set.

Anyway, let’s look at the other side.

From those operating from the bottom (the practitioners) here are some rules to practice using any space:

– take care of everything (you break? You fix).
– talk and create a dialogue with those who are scared or angry because of your behaviour (engage with understanding and calmness).
– know the rules and regulations of the country you are in and if you break them take responsibility for your actions.
– Be respectful at all times and everyone will respect you.

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A boxed life

Andrea’s routine: it’s 07.00. Puts off the alarm with a sloppy arm. Time to wake up. She carries herself to the toilet with half-closed eyes before looking at her phone: 30 minutes of passive staring at things she doesn’t really care about before the mechanism of choice triggers in her.

It’s 07.30 when she stands up from the toilet placing her free arm on her legs, dead, out of the long immobility. She drinks a coffee and brushes her teeth before getting out of the apartment.

After having boringly walked her heavy body towards the elevator, she repeated the same number of grey steps to reach her car. She drove to work, hoping that the hands of her clock will move faster than yesterday.
For lunch: same place every day, eating something that she knows it’s unhealthy, but she’ll fix it next week. Then, back to work until 5 pm.

Finally free? …mmmh…No.

It’s Tuesday, one of the two days in which she has the opportunity to go to the gym. Damn. Well, it is what it is, let’s do this other fatigue, she thinks, anyway my life is fatigue and suffering.

She briefly touches the soil of her house to take everything she needs to go to the gym. Once Andrea gets there she changes into the newest Naiky sporting wear and proceeds into the main hall just saying a brief hello to the bored guy at the reception. She picks her schedule and jumps on top of the treadmill. Damn, 20 minutes of running, and she is not even seeing too much progress, well, she’ll think about this next week, now she is definitely too stressed to take care of it. Fortunately, on the big screens, there’s the newest episode of Fell Chicken. Thanks Gordolo RamSemen for that, now this will make a big difference.

She gets off the roulading apparatus, she pulls and pushes a couple of machines, feels a bit of pump in the glutes and she is off. After a quick shower she is wondering what to do, so she remembers of Alina’s invitation to drink something in the center of the city. Why not, she goes and drinks a couple of Mojitos to then smoke a cigarette with friends. I mean she doesn’t really like it, but what else can she do, everyone around her does it – poor girl.

Done so, she goes back home, has a quick takeaway dinner to then watch a movie. It’s 01.30 when she enters her bed. Damn it’s late. It’s not before the clock touches the 02.00 than her eyes shut.

Well, what was the point of this?

Andrea has a really bad disease; she has what I call a “boxed life”. In pills, a life that became completely detached from development and discovery; a life in which you know exactly what tomorrow will bring. The routine that she has built up during the years is so strong that she can easily act like a robot and let her shallow-self live it for her.
She doesn’t need to solve many problems as they are already being solved by the strategy she laid out for herself:

– Her job? Her boss will take care of it, she only needs to keep her head down and do exactly what is commanded.
– Her interests? The TV will take care of it.
– Her scope? Her parents said she must become a secretary and that is what happened.
– Her friends? They keep changing, they are the ones that come and go from place to place.

The same goes with her body development. Her trainer will take care of it. Right?

I deeply disagree with this behavior, and I believe this is the root of a profound long-term depression.

It could be worst for sure, she could also have a boyfriend/girlfriend she doesn’t want to stay with. Fortunately, she did not get to that stage, YET.

Responsibility is out of the door, she doesn’t live her own life. Successes and failures are on someone else’s head. The level of risks she takes is critically low, and the chaos and unknown she faces are non-existent.

She is a spectator, not a participant for her OWN life.

Her capacity to then act, when needed, disappears like a bubble of soap. She becomes a serial procrastinator that will only wake up when dead or other serious events will eventually wake her up from the life-coma.

Where is the adventure? Where is the exploration? Where is play? It is lost, into childhood memories and slowly fading at an increasingly fast rate.

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Your body: a shell to abuse or a creature to use? The obstacles to engaging in a mature physical practice.

Imagine a world where people go out buildering the city, balance on rails on the way back from work, living an active life. A world where people would stay curious and ready to face authentic experiences. What an incredible place to be. Everyone would act with purpose, engaging in all sort of physical activities, rather than living a grey polluted life, both for the environment and for the body.

When taking care of a physical practice, there is a difference when using the body as a passive instrument or as a tool that can reshape us.

But what are the obstacles to engagement than? Let’s see some.

– Conformism: doing what others do, without critical thinking, questions or doubts. Why the car rather than the bike? Why a teacher rather than another? Why a supermarket rather than the farmer? Why a fitness approach rather than a movement perspective? Why the local gym rather than one that is 50 km away?
The most informed and better choices never come easy, but the effect that they can have on anyone’s life is just huge.

– Laziness: as lack of decision making, the perception of not being able to do things. The procrastination. The fluctuation into a comfortable state of existence. Why are you doing nothing? Do you have a solid justification for your everyday otium?

– Local life: as lack of travels and exploration of new places, stimuli, macro-organisms, and communities. Why are you staying in the same place all your life? Do you know what is out there?

– De-responsibilization: The act of giving justification for what we do to someone else. Who is responsible for what you do? Why do you act as you act? Do you feel like you chose to be where you are or someone else (or something else) made the choice for you?

– Detachment: Living a plain existence, completely far from the physicality. The development of a body of any kind. A life that is lacking voluntary risks taking and personal development. How many times do you expose yourself to your weaknesses and fears?

– Poor Visualization: In terms of perceived options. how do we use what we have? How many things are available already?

And so on; the list is still partial.

Certainly, being aware of them it is already a starting point, but it is not enough. How can we move from there into creating actual solutions to these problems that can filter inside us and be understood? Next week I’ll post some antidotes to these venoms.

Stay on board and hold on tight – we are getting into the storm,
Marcello.

Balancing: Corollaries of the manifesto

Ascent:

If you know me, you know I have a thing towards nice gadgets. I totally love them, and I do not plan to hide it. I do not cover myself up like a late baroque fetishist, but I use some.

They help me keep in my daily life in order, they save some time and they make my hours lighter.

I use a small chalk bag to carry everything I might need with me, I have a basic pair of shoes that can serve me in any situation, I wear comfortable clothes that often can be used both to train and to casually exist into different situations. When traveling I have a satellite bag that can come out of my backpack in case I need to drop the bigger luggage somewhere. When training I do not look for water, I have a big bag of many liters in capacity to become a camel myself.

Now the core of the matter. All these elements came out of the necessities I have encountered along the way, not the other way around. Therefore, this is a bottom-up approach, the practical theorists’ one.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have people like the preppers. They prepare for things that they have not lived. They think they are going to need certain things and they build from there. They do not actually know the specific needs that every situation will ask for, because they have no actual experience of them. The second approach is the top-down approach, that starts from an idea and from there it creates a practice.

Between the two ways of living my life, I prefer the first one, especially for the most relevant things that I do. I am a believer in field testing and from there investigation and development.
And I have had many confirmations of this in my life by many high level (in commitment, experience, and understanding) practitioners.

Now transfer this concept into a practice of balance. One can either go out and start to look around into space and from there create something out of practice or start thinking: what can I create in order to balance on it? And from there the Bosu and all the dark companies.

Ascending from an element up, descending from a concept down. Very different processes.

Availability:

On those busy evenings, one hilarious thing happens in many cities around the world. The treadmill runners are released. As if they were possessed by the Adédjé spirit or bitten by la Tarantula Siciliana, people of all ages suddenly fill the gyms. Usually, this comes with the realization that they need to take care of their bodies. Hence, they start a race against their lipids. You can see them all from the crystal-clear façade of big buildings running in a line and in a frustrating loop leading them nowhere. The valorous alleys are the unmissable perfect ultimate model cushioned shoes, the fancy gloves, the perfect matching outfit and last but not least the headbands against sweating.

What happens if all the elements are not in place? I.e. the treadmills are full, the gym is closed, the clothes are yet to be washed, the shoes are broken etc. – The only solution is “I’ll do it tomorrow”. Let me tell you, this sentence is already the root of the very end of your physical development.

“Cuttlefish bones” was writing E. Montale in regard to his poetry. It was a hymn to minimalism, an invitation to strip it down to the bone.

Did you want to go for a run? Go run. Nothing more, nothing less. Before thinking about it, get out, so it with what you have, it will be more than enough.

From here my view of using what is there, to never have the problem of not having something. A million of excuses are out of the windows and it all comes down to personal accountability.
You do not want to go out practicing on a floor? It’s on you. The soil will always be there, waiting for your soft body to interact with it.

On the other hand, a slackliner that is traveling and doesn’t have a slackline will sit on the sofa forgetting to be a practitioner. A skater without a skate becomes a hero without the costume. A juggler without …well you know where this is going.

Wherever I have been in the world, I scouted a bit and I found bars, I found walls, I found floors.

Applicability:

So, let’s start from this question. What is the purpose of your practice?

Let’s create a fictional character for this: Johanna.

Now imagine J. wants to train her balance. However, she’s a thoughtful creature so she doesn’t rush onto the Bosu without any research. She wants to get some evidence-based perspectives, so she goes through the literature.

After some hours of research and many disappointing findings later, Hoppa: a beautiful systematic review pops out. Damn, she rushes into it “…A total of 2395 articles were evaluated, yet only 50 studies met the inclusion criteria” wow, that’s kinda bad but still a lot of articles to draw conclusion from, she continues excited “The main aim of this review was to identify a training protocol based on most commonly used interventions that led to improvements in balance”.

Good she goes through the methods for inclusion into the study, she reads the influences of different balance practices for different sports, she goes through the exercises used.
The findings suggest that “8 weeks, with a frequency of two training sessions per week, and a single training session of 45 min” appears to be the minimum requirement of time to produce substantial changes in a body in terms of both static and dynamic balance acquisition.

Everything is absolutely rocking.

Until the very bitter moment in the end: “…it may be very difficult to establish one model of training that would be appropriate for each sports discipline, including its characteristics and demands […] No gold standard is apparent in this field”.

And suddenly she realizes, balance, likewise many other abilities, is specific. Also, she figured out by looking at the studies that almost exercise if applied correctly will produce a positive outcome in the exercise itself and with some near transfer to similar activities both in the scenario and in the skill.

But the question is yet to be answered: What is the purpose of your practice?

She is a bit confused now. A lot of methods work, which one should she use?

Please, Johanna, step aside, I’ll take it with my two cents.

Personally, I want to be able to apply my learnings to open as many possibilities as possible in future practices.

Training like this you will be able to do something that you couldn’t do before and then apply it in an open scenario. You will suddenly have developed some skills to take out of your deck of cards at any moment when exploring an area everywhere in the world.

Put it like this: the mean of practice becomes the tool, and the tool supports the mean.

(If not clear, re-read the last paragraph a couple of times).

Now some last words from a practitioner to the real practitioners out there.

I am going deeper and deeper down this road, but not because I did not experiment with others.

My philosophy comes from reflections that have started on the field, not the other way around. And slowly I have refined them to arrive at these conclusions. I have experimented with many but stayed with this one because I found it convenient, empowering, liberating.

This is my view, your honor,
Marcello.

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A balancing manifesto

Why would people choose to use a Bosu ball to work on balance?

It’s a real question, not a rhetorical one.

The answer (when is a good one) that I often get is:

“To develop leg stability and work the intrinsic musculature of my foot”

Well, to me this answer is wrong. Not because it is a bad answer in general, it might even be correct from a very pragmatic point of view but because it doesn’t address the core of the matter.

More specifically this question is asking the reason to pick an exercise (over another). Therefore, it is primarily a philosophical one.

One could then reformulate the answer and say:

A. “Because I like the portability of the object, in my view the capacity to bring the gear with me at all times it is more relevant the gear itself. Minimalism is my way of life. ”

To which I answer: A million other things are portable. Why specifically this one and not another basic proprioceptive board or another object?

B. “Because it’s versatile, I can use it with different populations, for different reasons”

To which I answer: Versatility is a state of mind, you can be versatile by balancing on a bumper plate, or on a line. An object in itself doesn’t possess connotations of any sort.

C. “Because it’s cheap” – ah, no wait, nobody says this because it’s NOT.

D. “Because the experts told me…”

To which I answer: who is this expert’s opinion? Does that person have a philosophy you comprehend and share? Does that person have any economic advantage in proposing that methodology? Did that person offer other options for you to choose from?

E. “Because they are highly available”

To which I shortly answer: Well, I do not like that answer, because it is false. It is definitely not the most available thing out there.

…but this availability is an interesting factor, isn’t it? Well, we’ll get back to it in a second.

Look let me tell you, no answer that has ever been given to me regarding this blue ball convinced me completely. Not even at 40%. Bosu is an instrument invented to make money, from people who do not practice balance for people who do not practice balance, in any form. It is a twisted conjecture of modern fitness. Period.

Similarly to the Bosu, an infinite number of gym ornaments are being produced with no specific purpose but that of making money by selling them. Cool, now that we are orbiting around the same planet, let’s move on.

Back with the availability view; I asked myself, what do people have available at most times, everywhere, with minimal effort to look for and that:

– can be found everywhere, in any city in the world, with minimal scouting.
– can be built with basic and simple material if needed.
– can be durable yet cheap.
– can produce a real scenario for development.
– can be versatile to produce as many options as possible.

And from here the view: bars, railings, poles, rails, lines, edges, gates, spikes.
These are the elements I train my balance on. When it comes to the root of a practice, awareness, and clarity is needed.

All the material in terms of progressions, regressions, set/reps and methodologies to increase balance via this philosophy will be delivered in details to my live and online students. However, if you follow my socials you’ll pick up a thing or two.

Bottom line: forget about the newest fitness tool you’re seeing on TV and use the ever-present ones. Stop thinking about making your body stronger and make it more intelligent instead. Throw away those Bosu balls people, stand on bars.
Not to mention, I just saved you over 150 €.

You’re welcome,
M.

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I see people every day boringly walking the roads or navigating into traffic, totally ignoring all the scenarios surrounding them. Leaving to die infinite possibilities for one’s development.

Environmental Practices: What is this about?

“We open our eyes, see the beauty of the day, marvel at the insignificant, rejoice in the mundane, and allow every moment to be full of meaning. When we are scared we know we exist. Life, previously taken for granted, becomes the most cherished treasure”.

The Bodivoodoo, on a crusade against a modern overprotectist society. (1)

With “Environmental Practices” I refer to all movement practices developed in a relationship with space, whether that’s in a city or in a natural setting. We live in a space, whether we want it or not. We can choose to ignore it, or we can use it to grow. 

Buildering walls, traversing pipes, walking pavements, rolling on floors, flowing on concrete blocks, brachiating on trees, standing on high poles, biking through traffic, balancing on rails and chains, squeezing through fences and so on are all scenarios of the interaction.

In order to do that it is essential to extrapolate a new meaning to the surroundings, removing labels and social conditioning. Things are just as they are: we can deconstruct their reason to be and then, we can add a new meaning to their existence.

“You must walk around rails rather than on them”.

Fixed descriptors of reality are used to build stability in society, however, stability kills challenge and if you kill challenge, good luck with that, it will be like killing the ultimate essence of being human. Get back to tabula rasa.

The reality, if faceless, becomes plastic, allowing creation and dynamicity rather than passivity and dogma.

The façade of a supermarket becomes a climbing gym, the cramped roads full of traffic become the pulsating veins of a macro-organism.
Pipes carrying gas and water on the side of hotels are a web to sit to watch the life silently passing by; the manholes to the sewers are portals to another dimension full of mysteries underneath the cities.

In my research, I have extrapolated elements coming from different fields to then connect them together, with the aim of maintaining the same alchemy of old disciplines, projected into their contemporary shape.

Motives to dive into the environment:

Many people (in extremely recent and documented history) realized the power of interacting with the city.

The main drivers that started these actions have been many through time. Since I have no intention to bore you, oh modern reader, I’ll go through some, just to get my point across.

In Parkour/ADD the Yamakasi at the end of the 80’ were using suburban complexes as a place for discovery, self-expression and search for personal identity (2). They realized that games, challenges, and problems to solve within a given space, could lead to their inner development. Thus, helping to build antifragile bodies and unbreakable minds. In pills, it gave them the motive to wake up every day to face the reality, creating a system of values to help them face life.

In the same period, Don Jean Habrey, founder of Combat Vital was looking for an un-domestication of modernity (3). He was convinced that an open mind towards experiments with the surroundings, refusing comfort and routines will lead to a deeper and more meaningful and aware existence. Adventuring in an “alive” city is a starting point and it constitutes an infinite source of energy.

Bradley Garret in his book’s “Explore Everything” (mixing words from the Situationist International leader Guy Debord and Peter, an explorer), gave one of the best definitions I have heard regarding Urban Exploration (4).

“It is at the same time a subversive response to the late capitalism that encourages spectatorship over participation and just a bit of fucking with people’s heads to help them understand how much they are missing every day”. 

This silent revolution has started many years ago and it’s not going to stop. Digging to find more information, I realized it was everywhere: from the Cave Clan in Australia (1986) to the Diggers of the Underground Planet in Russia (1990). In the USA, from the LTV squad in Brooklyn, NYC (1989) to the San Francisco Suicide Club (1977). In Europe, from the Berlin Underground Association in Germany to the Urban Experiment in Paris. And the list goes on and on, but I will touch upon it in a future article.

Why were they doing it? Well, reading through their manifesto one thing appears clear: because the environment is THERE. And the option to go figure out that space, simply exists. And yes, that is enough to make people take the chance to explore.

What to expect

I am going to release every week a piece both of a story and a practical session that can be added to all these practices in order to understand them and open the eyes towards a more creative use of the environment. We will explore risk and responsibility, tools for experimentation and an introduction to many practical methods for development.

Urban Adventure, Urban Exploration, Elevator surfing, Drifting, Urban Bike riding, Infiltration, Buildering, are just some among the long list.

Facing the deepest fears, exploring the darkest alleys, climbing without a way down, balancing in a world of almosts, ultimately becomes a venture into our own selves.

Get ready and see you next week,
Marcello.

References:

1. It’s a secret.

2. Angels, J. (2016). Breaking the Jump (1st ed.). London: Aurum Press.

3. Habrey, D. (1986). Combat Vital (1st ed.). Paris: Robert Laffont.

4. Garrett, B. (2014). Explore everything (1st ed.). London: Verso.

*Pic By Andy Day in a photoshoot for ParkourWave

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