It is said that life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage (Ana�s Nin). [I had a friend who was so afraid of driving on highways that she never went to Target in Providence. Every time she talked about it, I would say something helpful like: "Are you going to live your life SHACKLED BY FEAR?"]

For this reason, I have been working on my courage through Random Acts of Bravery (RAB?)

Today was a big one.

Paris is the birthplace of the amazing Art du D�placement, or "parkour". For the uninitiated:



As I have wanted to do this since I was able to walk on two feet, I was incredibly excited to find out about GravityStyle, a group that teaches the fundamentals of parkour in a not-so-jumping-off-high buildings kind of way. I was a little worried about going because:

1. The gym is located in a random place in the burbs.
2. It is run by the very gods of Parkour themselves.
3. Everyone speaks french. [This was actually the biggest fear.]
4. I haven't really been in shape since.... um... the fall of 2010? [The PhD thesis will do that to you.]
5. I'm old now. My bones don't heal as quickly. Don't laugh, in a few years all of you will be old, too. Lookin' at you, didi. Just kidding, I was looking at you, Middaymoon.
6. My friend said that she might come with me, but I couldn't get a hold of her.

Anyway, I thought of a half a dozen reasons that I shouldn't go today. But for the sake of bravery and for the sake of expanding my life here in Paris, I took the plunge.

And parkour, ladies and gentlemen, is AWESOME. Not only did the instructor look exactly like Shia Laboeuf, but he was very welcoming and great at teaching. There was only one other girl in the class, and almost everyone there was at least ten years younger than I was, but that meant that I was more coordinated than they were, and that I didn't have to worry about "fitting in", because I was essentially in a gym full of hyperactive adolescent boys. One of them even spoke English and took it upon himself to explain things he thought I wouldn't understand and to walk me from the first training session to the second even though he had a bike.

I think he was surprised when I let on that I was a Mars researcher....

There was also an "army" type guy with a buzz cut and army boots who also seemed new like me. He seemed about my age and he was clearly in great shape, but stumbled and tripped like everyone else who was new. I was aided by the fact that one of the fundamental moves of parkour is a front roll that you do to avoid breaking yourself when you fall, and I had already learned that move ten years ago in Tae Kwon Do. I have also spent my whole life practicing jumping over fences and balancing on railings, which gave me an agility +10.

The thing that sucks about going to the gym is how pointless it is. Sure, there have been plenty of times that I've gone to the gym regularly. I lifted lots of weights, I ran around the track a bunch, I did lunges and felt sore, but the big question always in my head was WHY? As soon as I stopped working out, my endurance would leave me and my body would go back to the way it was. I wasn't really learning anything. When I ran track, I lifted and ran because I wanted to WIN on Saturday. When I played sports, I wanted to run people down and steal the ball from them, and I wanted to play the whole game and never have to come out. When there was no more goal I had no more ambition. "Looking good" or "being healthy" are just not concrete or immediate enough to motivate me. {Being a badass like The-Muffin-Man was much more motivating.}

Parkour is all about gaining mastery over both your body and your environment. The better you become at parkour, the better you're able to judge distances, the better you know the limitations of your strength, the better you are able to move fluidly through your environment. Parkour removes boundaries. For example, our gym has stairs leading up to it....? We were just sitting there minding our own business, when a guy just leaped right over us and into the stairwell. No "going around to the stairs part" for him... he just jumped right down the stairwell, no problem.

"Pourquoi est-ce qu'il l'a fait??" "Why did he do that?" asked the incredulous preteen boys.

"Probablement pour draguer les filles." answered a sage 15 year old, looking at me and the other girl.

"Probably to pick up chicks."

More courage needed to make the necessary [french] doctor's appointment to be officially cleared to join the gym....

NO MORE LIVING OUR LIVES SHACKLED BY FEAR.

LET THE UNIVERSE EXPAND!

WHOA. PARKOUR. That stuff is no joke. GO YOU! Life is only as long as we make it--you can go feeling fulfilled, or you can go still wondering. :D
» Unicornasaurus on 2012-01-21 09:21:23

Picking up chicks: THE TRUE GOAL OF WORKING OUT.

In all seriousness though, parkour is scary and cool and I think chase scenes in movies would be greatly improved with lots of it in them.
» randomjunk on 2012-01-21 11:37:21

UGH I knew you'd tag me in the parkour post (don't ask how) but I didn't think you'd cut me so deep.

The terrible irony is that I just messed up my shoulder yesterday. Doing the backstroke.

My friend gave me a parkour and freerunning handbook and it is literally three feet away from me right now. Whoa.
» middaymoon on 2012-01-21 11:51:46

Why are you so cool?! I'm totally a shackled by fear kind of girl...
» lyndeep on 2012-01-22 10:06:13

parkour is awesome!! if only there's parkour gym in malaysia. if there is, i would surely join!

i'm tired of living my life in fear, and i'm trying my best to break this shackles around me step by step.
» renaye on 2012-01-23 09:52:17

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