You may have recognise the above image as Mirror’s Edge but that’s just all fun and games when compared to the moves behind it.

Note: the following content has no relation to anime or anything pertaining to Japanese culture. So please expect something that you may or may not enjoy reading.

Parkour is the actual term that is to be used if you want to describe the mentioned game and I’ve actually picked up parkour with a pal of mine and it made me rethink about what parkour really is about after seeing videos, articles and documentaries as well as the philosophy behind this discipline.

Yes, for those who were wondering, parkour is a discipline and not a sport. This is really something I want to stress after seeing the way some people view parkour. I am utterly disgusted by their thinking. In any way parkour does not promote eliteness, competitiveness, teamwork and it has no set of rules, as David Belle, the founder of parkour says.

David Belle at work.

David Belle founded parkour through his training as a fireman. His brother was one, his father was one, and even his grandfather as well. His father had imparted skills of what a life saver should be to David – to be strong and useful. With that in mind, David had created a set of basic movements 20 years ago which is now know as parkour.

Having said all that, the definition to parkour varies since it is subjective to individuals but this would be a more generic one. However, though traceurs (parkour practitioners)have their own perspective towards parkour, the philosophy behind the so called ‘acrobatics’ should be uniform.

Now, parkour or l’art du déplacement (or English for the ‘art of movement’) is relatively complex to define. To me, there are a few key aspects of parkour.Firstly, it is the use of only body movements to get from point A to point B as efficient and effective as possible and to get back from B to A but different movements can be used. The movements are kept simple and traucers  use movements in which they trust and are confident in. Anything fanciful falls under the category of free running,  an extension of parkour where it is more freestyle. Kinda like skateboarding.

Flips of any sort are not parkour.

Having trust in a one’s own moves leads to the 2nd aspect – having the mental strength. I’d say that parkour is having 30% physical and 70% mental capability. Now why do I say so? Through my experience doing parkour, it is in actual fact that most of the time that I am not able to overcome an obstacle becase of fear, a mental blockage that would restrict my movements. Afterall, it is our minds that tell our body what to do and hence, psychological factors play a part in parkour too. Most of the time, I know I have the power to do it but the thought of negative consequences got he better side of me. It is not always about having the brawns. In martial arts, martial artists face obstacles know as their opponent and overcome them by beating the crap out of them. A similar concept applies to parkour. Now the obstacle is just an inanimate object. It can be either a rail or a wall.

Jumps like these require precision and focus.

You may say that people practising parkour are nuts and that it is dangerous to practice parkour. This is false. Well, maybe there are exceptions to people who try to jump off a 14 storey building but those are clearly people with psychological disorders. Parkour will only be safe if one wants it to be. Having mentioned about my past encounter with obstacles, a person’s fear over an obstacle can act in 2 ways. One, it tells you that overcoming the obstacle is impossible. Two, it can be a safety gadget to inform you that it is indeed impossible. Hence, these 2 things are actually going through a traceurs mind before they perform any jumps of some sort. Jumps from heights and similar acts are not done on instinct.

In parkour, the world is viewed in a more positive manner.

Parkour teaches one to be more aware of his environment, and teaches one to be careful. By learning parkour, I have indeed viewed the world in a different way than others. Ordinary people see walls as an obstacle and think “I need to walk around it” whereas traceurs see this challenge as an opportunity to overcome the obstacle. Instead of having negative thoughts, it is now turned into positive ones and can pretty much be applied to real life.  Resiliency is promoted in parkour.

That, would be my own definition for parkour and how i feel about it but this would be a more generic one. However, though traceurs have their own perspective towards parkour, the philosophy behind the so called ‘acrobatics’ should be uniform. David Belle found parkour through his training as a fireman. His brother was one, his father was one, and even his grandfather as well. His father had imparted skills of what a life saver should be – to be strong and useful. With that in mind, David created a set of basic movements which is now know as parkour.

Parkour welcomes anyone who wants to practice it. And the real goal of parkour and what really matter is “what can you do with it?” Here’s a short video of an interview with David Belle himself about parkour:

All I can say now is that parkour is not something that can be taught just by having it read up. Not that I mean that all of you readers need to practice some hops to understand parkour though. Having read articles and watching videos, I think I have done a great deal of reflection about parkour.

More articles about what’s behind the philosophy of parkour here.

P.S. Do not practice parkour under any circumstance without professional help. You don’t get respawned if you die jumping off a building like in Mirror’s Edge.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 1:13 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.