Joe's thoughts on parkour

What is parkour? Well, before I attempt to define it. I will say what it is not.

Parkour is not about
-Jumping from rooftop to rooftop
-Impressing others
-pumping adrenalin
-spins, kicks, or other inefficient movements (these are Freerunning)

I would say that parkour cannot be entirely defined. Once you know it, you know it. It cannot really be explained, only experienced. You can be told what parkour is in theory, but I don’t think you can really understand it until you have felt it. Too loosely define it, it is best to use examples.

Parkour is
-To be able to travel in a straight line, obstacles in your way simply becoming passed.
- To be able to find a target spot, and get there efficiently
-Efficiency
-Freedom

All of this sounds a bit heavy for you? Well back away because parkour will consume your life!
There is a phrase I often like to use when I think or explain parkour.
‘Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail’

I think this describes the thought process of a traceur quite well. After all, why should a rail be seen as something to restrict your movement? Why should you go around it? Why should you be contained?

Some people dislike parkour. They think that it is simply thugs trespassing on land and doing everything I mentioned in the ‘what is parkour not’ section of this. These peoples dislike is spawned from them not understanding the art.
Prejudice is often formed through ignorance

Another statement I remember is from a documentary on youtube. A traceur said that people often shun them for parkour. People say that they are behaving like animals. Ironically, this is the other way around. You think we behave like animals? Well take a look at yourself for a second. You move through this world taking paths, not going over there because that railing prevents you from doing so. You are restricted. Contained. Trapped like an animal. We, on the other hand are free to move as we please. Obstacles mean opportunity, not prevention.

There is one main thing you should be hoping to achieve as a traceur. You want to learn to become totally free from physical restrictions and to be able to move smoothly over all of the obstacles in your path. You want to move as water does, smoothly washing over everything in its way. This is a concept referred to my most traceurs as ‘the flow’.

People also seem to think that we carelessly damage our surroundings with parkour. Again, when you look at a wall, what do you see? Something which contains your movement. Just something which is in your way. We traceurs see the opportunity to do the opposite. To create movement. With all due respect, surely we appreciate the wall more than a normal citizen would. Surely we hold far more respect for that wall. We see it’s potential. Parkour opens your eyes.