guess who's back...

Yesterday I went out and trained for the first time in months.

It was beautiful.

I honestly thought it would be horrible to go after all this time, being so out of shape and out of practice. But it was far from that. I decided to begin by getting back to the basics. I just went and found a four foot high wall and began vaulting. I spent almost an hour on that little wall, practicing kongs, dashes and lazy vaults mainly.

I was completely alone on top of a parking garage. There was no pressure to perform, no expectations to live up to. just me and the wall. I knew my physical limitations and stayed well within them, and thus survived the day injury free...for once.

I then went on to work on my balance with some rails, and then moved on to some more complicated things such as cats and cranes.

It was simple... and flawless.

My moves where by no means flawless obviously, but my mindset was. I felt that feeling of oneness that I have not felt in such a long time. I was so perfectly focused and attuned to my surroundings. Everything felt right.

The more I consider the philosophy of parkour, the more I come to view it as nothing less than a martial art. Unlike other disciplines or "sports", parkour is a mindset, a philosophy that can be most accurately compared to eastern martial arts systems.

For a while, I disagreed with David Belle on his view that it is better to train by yourself. I only saw that training with others increases one's will to succeed. But I now completely agree with him. Training in groups has its advantages, but it eliminates the personal reflection aspect, and to a certain extent, it eliminates the very freedom that defines parkour.

I can't express how good it felt to train again.

For a while I feared my parkour days had come to an inglorious ending, what with my nonhealing injuries (or ninja-ries as i prefer to think of them) I had completely squelched my desire to train, to the point that I could walk down a sidewalk with naught but a wistful glance into the past. I lost the vision entirely. I stopped seeing the paths.

That was somewhat terrifying.

So nice to know I've still got it=)