Freedom and discipline

I really started to move when I learned about this thing called parkour. Even in the beginning I didn't really adhere to any sort of ideology about overcoming obstacles as quickly and efficiently as possible. Instead, I did what was fun and what I saw in the videos on youtube that inspired me. I'm still inspired by the evolution of movement that people are displaying. For me, it's been more about fluidly overcoming obstacles in the environment, having that kind of finesse regardless of whether or not it was the fastest, most effective way to go about things.

Familiarity with my body is what I learned when I chose to really delve into the ideology of fast, efficient, and striving for a sort of perfection in my movements. I still couldn't let the really fun part go though. There was still a creative outlet there where I could take my movement to the next level in gymnastics and other acrobatic art forms.

I've balked at the idea of calling myself a "freerunner" simply because what I saw in others who called themselves that was not what I saw in myself. To me, walking up to a ledge, busting a flip off of it, walking to another, spinning off of that one, then walking to another, etc. is missing something really important. I'm glad that when I started, my movements were based solidly in the basic parkour techniques so that I had a working physical knowledge for how to get around my environment safely. Though I jumped into the acrobatic stuff a little too quickly in the beginning, not having a reckless, throw myself off of stuff mentality made me a better, more mindful practitioner. For the sake of communication, although I view all of the movements I do as parkour, I'll talk about other disciplines using the names they've been given.


I guess I don't like the idea of being limited with my movement so that I do things in only the most "get my ass outta there" manner. Is my version of parkour (call it freerunning to avoid confusion) a discipline like that whole go from point A to point B thing? I think it should be. I'm all for freedom of movement but without the correct, disciplined training, people will end up being really free to go to the hospital