Nameless Movements

The best kind of movement is nameless.

Named movements can become traps. They make you forget there’s a whole universe of movement out there to explore.

See all named movements not as an end but as a starting point, as a staging ground for playful exploration.

The ultimate goal of movement practice is to transcend the box of named movements.

Moving Meditation 2

Meditation in activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness. (Hakuin Ekaku)

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Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“Why is meditation in activity superior to meditation in stillness?”

“I call them moving meditation and still meditation.

Both are beautiful, and both have the same end: practicing concentration, achieving and maintaining inner stillness.

The difference is, still meditation requires preparation, whereas moving meditation does not. 

You can practice moving meditation anywhere, at any time. 

Wherever you are, you can choose to turn the next 5 minutes into meditation. (Time Focus)

Whatever you’re doing, you can choose to engage in it as meditation. (Activity Focus)”

The Parkour Walk 2

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“The tube (underground train) in Bucharest is beautiful.”

“What do you like about it?”

“It forms a continuous moving path littered with human-obstacles. It’s a beautiful movement challenge.

Whenever I go by tube, I walk back and forth from one end to the other for the entire duration of the journey.

Fun!”

“You must be getting quite a few stares.”

“This is an integral part of the practice. It’s also a beautiful emotional challenge.”

The Movement Game 4

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How can I move more?”

“Play with building little challenges into everyday activities.

Take putting on your socks for instance. The default is doing it by sitting. You can do better.

Put on your socks while standing.
Put on your socks while standing on a balancing board.

You thus turn an everyday activity into a little movement snack [<link; medium read]. 

When people think of movement, they usually think of infrequent relatively large sessions.

I’ve inverted the paradigm: frequent short sessions throughout the day.

Taken individually, they may not look like much. But over the course of a day, all these little snacks compound [<link; medium read].”

One Rep

Learn the macro from the micro. (Josh Waitzkin)

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Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How can I internalize quality?”

“Always focus on one quality rep.

Internalize that every rep is the most important rep.

If you think ‘I’m doing 5 reps’, you’re focusing on the outcome.
Shift focus to the process.

‘I’m doing one quality rep.’

If you’re not successful, try again,
and again, and again,
until you get one.

If you’re successful, do another quality rep.
Then another. Then another.

You may reach 5, or not.
It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you’re prioritizing quality over quantity.

You’re learning the macro – the Quality principle – from the micro – every little rep.”

Quality Reps

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How many rep(etition)s are you doing?”

“10 reps.”

“Think not in reps but in quality reps (q-reps).

A q-rep is a perfect rep.
A q-rep is a mindful rep.
A q-rep is a learning cycle [<link; medium read].

Better to do 5 q-reps than 10 mindless reps.”

“So the process is, I do as many reps as it takes until I do a q-rep. That’s one. Then I repeat this process four more times.”

“Precisely.

There’s also a hardcore level:

Doing 5 q-reps in a row. Whenever you fail to do a q-rep, you start back from one.

This is a staple of Parkour training.”

Identity Priming

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“What is identity priming?”

“Activating one or more relevant identity-blocks when engaging in a practice.

For instance, before you initiate the Movement practice, you could say to yourself:

I am a Mover.
I am an Athlete.
I am a Traceur.
“

“An identity mantra?”

“You could say that.”

Move beautiful 2

Any action can be practiced as an art, as a craft, or as drudgery. (Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art)

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Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How much did you move today?”

“That’s just one variable.

How well did you move?
How present were you in your movement?
How varied did you move?
How fun/joyful was your movement?”

Movement Snacks

4 guidelines for creating a Movement Snack:

Be an opportunist. Seize the moment.

Make stuff up. Start with some reaches, some pushes, pulls and steps. The right way is the way that feels good.

Bend your knees. Do some squats, take the stairs. Bending your knees helps to integrate the entire system.

Reverse gravity. Stretch, reach and move toward the sky. Extend your back and adopt a posture of exuberance and vitality.

(Frank Forenchich, Beautiful Practice)

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Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How can I maximize movement throughout the day?”

“In the words of Frank Forenchich,

Weave movement into the fabric of your daily life.

Seize and create as many movement opportunities as possible throughout the day. 

Brain Johnson calls them OTMs, Opportunities To Move.
Frank Forenchich calls them movement snacks.

I love the concept of movement snacks. 
Because of its metaphoric implication – movement is food, it’s an essential nutrient.
Because of its practical application. I turned movement snacks into the practical unit of my movement practice. I like to think of them as macro-reps.”

“So micro-reps are the specific movement patterns you perform, and the macro-reps are the movement sessions.”

“Precisely.”

“What are the advantages of having a unit of practice?”

“Having a unit of practice makes the practice quantifiable. This makes the movement habit easier to install. 

You can set a minimum daily movement target – for instance at least 10 consistent movement snacks. When you do more, that becomes your new personal best. In the long run, the goal is to constantly beat your personal best.

In being non-specific, it unifies your movement practice. The specific movement patterns are not important. What is important is that you move, while constantly keeping in mind the three principles of movement [<link; medium read]:

Quality: Move as well as possible.
Quantity: Move as much as possible.
Variety: Move as varied as possible.

“

On Burpees and Meaning

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How can I get to 100 burpees every day like Brian Johnson does?”

“Understand that it’s as much mental as it is physical. You have to make it meaningful.

Deeply internalize that Energy is your most important resource. It’s an enabler for everything you do. Movement is one essential aspect of Energy – and your overall well-being –, next to Rest/Recovery and Nutrition.

The most important systems of personal meaning are your Identity and your Values. You have to integrate Movement into both of these systems.

Embrace your identity of Mover / Athlete.
Embrace Movement as one of your primary Values.

In strategic terms, do them in small sets, and spread them out throughout the day. To ensure consistency, have a system for it.”

“What does your system look like?

“I use the following terminology:

Micro-Unit = 1 burpee (the floor)
Unit = 5 burpees
Macro-Unit = 2 x Unit = 10 burpees (the ceiling)

I like multiples of 5 because they’re easier to count. 

The key to consistency, I found, is connecting the burpee habit with other activities.

More specifically, with my work time. I do 3 units (3 x 5) during every work hour: one at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. If for any reason I skip one, I do a macro-unit (10) next time.

The beauty of this system is that, once it becomes a habit, you don’t need to track your overall daily progress. You know that if you’ve worked 6 hours, you’ve done 90 burpees.”

“What if I can barely do 5 burpees? How can I build up to it?”

“To build up to it, adjust the unit. 

Start with the micro-unit – 1 burpee. This is the habit-seed [<medium; short read]. 
Stay at 1 burpee until it feels easy, then add another one. This becomes your new unit.

Whenever the unit feels easy, add another rep.

Whenever you feel tired during the day and feel you can no longer sustain the volume, gradually scale down the unit for the day, all the way to the micro-unit if need be. It’s more important to maintain the habit – three units per hour, however small the unit – than to reach 100.

Focus on Quality. (Perfect/Quality Reps) 

Think of every burpee session as a micro meditation. Start every single one by taking a deep breath and connecting with yourself (Centering). 

In terms of feedback, use sound and markings on the floor to assess quality. The less sound you make – this is called Stealth in Parkour –, and the more precise your hand and foot placement, the better the quality of the rep.

You can also add Variety from time to time and experiment with various types of burpees.”