“You can find the way by yourself naturally… to not do this to impress people, just follow your instincts.” -Sebastien Foucan
I wrote a guest post about how you can improve your life by following your own way on Jonathan Mead’s excellent and unconventional Illuminated Mind. The idea is to take a cue from freerunning and break free of the “sidewalks” in life to find the most fulfilling path for yourself.
From the article:
“What’s freerunning? The short categorical answer: an urban running pseudo-sport. The real answer: it’s about finding your own way.
Freerunning is taking your own (most effective) path through obstacles and structures in a city, or whatever setting. Vaulting over a fence instead of walking around it. Jumping over stairs instead of taking them down. You find and take the creative short way instead of the intended long way.
Now, why would you do this? Well, first of all, it’s fun. Freerunning is an urban sport in a way. You use your creativity to find and maneuver through obstacles – like skateboarding. But freerunning can also be a discipline for personal development: following your own way. And that’s what it became for me.”
Find out the 3 life lessons I got from freerunning and how you can improve your life by following your own way by continuing reading:
Break Free of the Sidewalks in Life
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(Image: Naruto)
4 Comments
I was unaware of the word called free running. But when I read to your post, believe me i realized that I have been doing this activity since childhood.
From my school days to my workdays I have always used free-running as a tool to reach faster and to be present on to the scenario on time.
So I always jump over the stairs, acceleration my self, quick and fast turning, moving fast in between the crowds without colliding and performing various other stunts.
So your article, directly appreciated by style and stunts. I liked it.
Thanks for reading the guest post and your comment Chris. Glad the freerunning (style and stunts) aspect of the article appealed to you.
In the video I linked to, freerunning founder Sebastien Foucan actually mentions the same for himself. He says how as kids in Paris him and his friends would run around, jump over obstacles, and maneuver sharply in a creative fashion. “Look! An alligator pit!” And then they’d jump over that. And as most people grow up they stop doing things like that, but he never stopped.
So cool that it’s the same for you. Always a pleasure to meet a fellow kid-at-heart who enjoys creative and style/stunt-like movement
Keep running, jumping, and moving fast,
Oleg
I first heard about this back in 1999. I thought it looked cool and it was a bunch of guys from Europe. They called it Kamekazie. It did inspire me to do some challenging and over the top things. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for your comment Ralph. Wow, you discovered freerunning much earlier than me, back when it was just forming in Paris. Very cool. I believe I’ve heard that term used as well when watching a documentary on the birth of parkour and freerunning.
Oleg