I leaned about Parkour later in life. It wasn’t till somebody showed me a video on youtube a few years back that I understood it was a thing.
There was also that opening scene from one of the new James Bond movies where he chases a guy up a construction site using Parkour. It was developed in the late 80’s by Raymond Belle, David Belle and Sebastien Foucan. It really came out of obstacle courses from the army. The procedure is simple: get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible. Using your body in the most efficient way.
There’s a few things about it that I really like. It teaches you to read an environment and figure out the best way to get from one place to the other. It also has the philosophical element to it. You’re using only your body and the environment and every move that you do has to conform to the space that you’re in. It really teaches you to maximize the tools you have and use them to your advantage.
There’s a certain deep understanding that comes from learning how to read a landscape. Also from learning what you body can do in that environment. When elevated to its highest form it can really be considered an art form.
Here’s a video I came across on Facebook that communicates the philosophy much better than I can.
