I've been incredibly fortunate to be living in London when learning Parkour as its a city that suits the discipline well. Over the last decade particularly it has seen Parkour explode and been at the centre of the global scene.

It's 2013 and I'm increasingly thinking about what we pass on in our training.

Thinking back to how I was introduced to Parkour- there were only a few videos online and all learning was a painstaking process of trial and error with one's self. This was many years before the birth of Youtube. Importantly, I never felt discouraged when watching these videos... quite the opposite actually. So where exactly am I going with this you may ask!

So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  -Mark Twain

If you ever find yourself being interviewed by a reporter from a mainstream media outlet they will often start their interview with the following question: ‘What is Parkour?’  I have answered this question a couple of times and I always say something like ‘it is a way of using movement to overcome or play with obstacles’ but I have also realised that different people give different answers. Wikipedia is often used as the benchmark for these kind of things so this is the entry for Parkour:

A week in Parkour Paradise: 10 Reasons to make sure that you are at next year’s European Gathering  

Over the past 8-weeks, I have been teaching a course at UCLA. There are two sessions per week, 1.5hr each. The course is the first of its kind in America (as far as I am aware). It mainly takes place in doors at UCLA’s large gymnastic gym; however, we have had the opportunity to head outside for three of the classes. The students have excelled and shown surprising steps in the 8-week period.

Most of us take the ability to practice parkour against a relatively stable political background for granted. Though space is often contested in dense urban areas, and training perceived to be damaging to the built environment can be discouraged by authorities, we can freely train with the aim of crossing boundaries. Those boundaries can be as much mental, challenges in the mind, as they are physical, the literal boundaries of walls and obstacles.