How to Coexist with Your Environment

I have come to a astounding revelation about my life and parkour: I do not go through my life overcoming obstacles and finding new ways to do so... I go through my life learning how to coexist with my problems, and I find new ways to deal with stress.

Your problems are going to be there, just like how once you get over a 10 foot wall, Its still there.
When Bruce Lee talks about flow, He says to be like water. He says that when water is put into a cup it becomes the cup. The water doesnt destroy the cup, it adapts to its surrounding.

I think that alot of people, whether you practice parkour or your just another sidewalker, take life as an obstacle.
"I have to get through school to get a good job and make money. Once I'm 60 ill retire and not work ever again"

This is the Dream of many people, but is it too much to handle?

The old saying: "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life"

School, in the minds of every teen, (trust me I know) is an obstacle.

State Exams, Tests, Quizes, SATs, ACTs, NSQMTs, and Mid-Terms and Finals

They consider these obstacles they have to overcome to have a better life.

They whine and complain to there parents about everything, and there parents reply: " When you get into 'Real' life you'll use these skills"

I have learned that we are already in real life. The way our brains are wired these days is to overcome obstacles rather than accept there existence and exist along side them.

I think that this is due to the fact that alot of people dont know that Kanye West is right... You dont need to go to college, or even graduate from high school, to be successful in life.

You just need to know how to make money.





This affects more of the novices in parkour, but also veterans that have plateaued. They tend to look at there training as an obstacle.
" I wanna get side flips down today"
ok good, what next?

You reach that level but what next? work on something else?

This concept plays back to progression. Some people are moving to fast. They feel like there is just another obstacle to overcome and with all the sources to learn from, they tend to learn too much and thats when injuries happen. I see alot of videos of kids who have been training shorter than i have, younger than me, and they are jumping of huge gaps, and throwing dangerous tricks. Some kids dont even know how to roll properly.

Its nice that you know how to jump 15 feet to a cat and climb up...but how many times can you do it before getting exhausted? What can you do thats not just to show in a video?

Progression is key. Our brains are wired to think of everything as an obstacle rather than coexisting with them. So we tend to get restless and bored when doing repetitive movement.

But i'd rather have that muscle memory, than the muscle damage. I'd rather have the instincts rather than the body aches.

The first wall trick i ever wanted to do was wall spins. That was three years ago. I just got them a couple weeks ago and i can pull them off instinctively now. If you tell me wall spin, I got you before you finish your sentence.

But thats from me trains palm spins on the ground for three years. My muscles know just what to do when the situation arises. Same with every other move. I'm not perfect at them, I still have alot of work. But I'm satisfied with my progress ( granted my guilty pleasure is to learn how to flip, Im kinda going fast on that but i still haven't got them...three years guys...)

But i still see novices throwing sketchy wall spins that look like they are butchering the movement, or they are just throwing themselves into it. Sure, they got the move down, but life is a long term, not a Now. Will you remember how to do that move in a couple weeks or months of no parkour? Injury does happen, and will render you helpless.

My main point is: The philosophy of parkour has been tainted by todays society. We can't get over problems, Once you get over one problem there is just gonna be another one in your way. Knowing to deal with the fact that you are always going to be faced with problems and that there just is no end to it, will help greatly.

Life is about balance. Yin and Yang. Theres a reason the yin and yang are drawn so close together.

Good and bad

Coexist...

Train Safe every body.






*Sorry no pictures, I went to new york to train with UV and other tracuers (Max Henry is just a normal guy like you and me ok guys...) I didnt feel like taking pictures cause it was like my mini vaca. I went to the pillow fight which was fucking clutch.

But Hub is up to big things, especially with (B)east Coast coming up. We are trying to get that trip sponsored so if anyone can help please contact me via Email.

But I gotta leave something so ill give you guys some videos of my inspirations and Justin "Jet" Sheaffer (Spelled that right on my first try) Whom of which was the inspiration for me to talk about this topic.

Please spread this blog
I know it might be alot of work but just copy the link and post it to a parkour group on facebook or talk about it...or ANYTHING!!

I want to do this on a regular basis. and not just my views on parkour, but I wanna post things you say, and what the community as a whole thinks. I mean, I could be wrong...But you'll never have the satifaction of proving me wrong unless you give your opinion. And I take critisim very well...Im an artist lol.

So any recognition would be nice.

And also if your an art person, or just a Tracuer looking to put some parkour pics up to show your style, I make prints and am currently selling my own photography, Both Parkour and my Fine arts. So Email me if interested.

As Promised:
http://vimeo.com/20934654

http://youtu.be/O_sdSCkeCNA

http://youtu.be/GAHlGGG6c_0

http://youtu.be/bu2lK_X2-I0
  

The Rape Of Boston

Despite the vulgar title, i am speaking of the first of many awesome Jams by the name of Hubbable.

The Hubbable Jam 2011 was the largest jam Boston has seen. With over 300 in attendance, from many different states, this jam could be known as a national jam of awesomeness.

The jam started in Chinatown, where even though it started at 10am, Tracuers were eager to get there as early as 7am. (although Dylan Polin didn't get to his own jam untill an hour after formally starting)

After about 3 hours of jammage, the police came and broke it up. they were surprisingly chill about it. Respectfully saying that we cant do it here cause its private property. The also brought up a very interesting point that i think anyone trying to plan a jam or Parkour event, He said if we had permits to use the area then we could have stayed. And that makes sense, mostly cause it is private property owned by the state. Therefore if getting permits from the state is all we need to get the cops out of our best spots, i say go the extra effort. But i say only do this if you have a sponsored jam (hubbable was sponsored by monster energy) or if your looking to get some cash from the jam.

* as a side note i've been thinking of doing a jam for Japan, if anyone is interested contact me via email or facebook.

So after we move out of china town, we book it to the North end and Charlestown to this sweet little spot called Baby Pool. Very public place. when we got there, there were skaters there. 15 mins in, the skaters were gone. A very interesting point i might add to our experience in baby pool is, there were two cops there also. But strangely enough, they just stood there and watched us. They even kinda asked some questions as to how we were doing this.

The jam then went on to the New England Sports Academy in Westwood, Ma...or just NESA. Since Dylan Polin works there we got a sweet hook up with the humongous gym and all its facilities. These videos are a pretty good representation of what went down:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op0FErJEHvA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rmsFW8z1kY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fHI--JSbuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHmm5-ytkE4

And im sure you can find more videos as you browse youtube.

Something i learned from this experience is:
   no matter where your from, or what you look like, or how ever crazy you are...If your a tracuer, your family.
   Also, the police are on your side. so if someone of authority asks you to leave a spot...no matter how good it is, they are just doing there job. they know more laws than you do.

Thats it for this blog, sorry it wasn't alot of words of wisdom.

Since there wasn't alot of wisdom heres some: Life is like this picture. Big Man...Little Hub Shirt

Train safe and jam hard

Ask The Sun About The Future, She'll Say Its Bright. Ask The Rain, He'll Say The Sun Is An Asshole

Things that have been on my mind lately:
  I wanted to talk about the difference between parkour and freerunning, or how people are losing touch with the true nature of parkour...but i wont.
   Too many people talk about that, and I'm not one to do what everyone else does. Its the reason I started Parkour in the first place.
   At my school, in the rural/city of Brockton, we fall into the category of 'those kids'. Its like a high school you see in the movies. some things are different, for example: there's not alot of PUBLIC bullying. We have those cliques that have the usual suspects, but they all mesh together.
   Freshman year, I didnt fit in anywhere. My primary goal was to become one of the 'cool kids'. I had just spent 3 years of my life being that nerdy kid who though he was smarter than everyone (for my defense: i did not think i was smarter than everyone, I just knew more than them...random information.). I had a few friends that I guess they pitied me so much that they chose to give me a chance. Those kids are my best friends now.
   Now i didnt know about Parkour, WHATSOEVER. I never even thought of the movement i saw when i first started. I saw the world through the eyes of a prisoner...a prisoner of my own mind, a prisoner of my fear.
 

What I'm getting at is, We were all once that person, a prisoner. You cant deny it. Only what you've done since you hit your knees for the first time doing a kong vault and saying: 'Lets try again', have you been released from that prison.

  Life is the greatest teacher, You can chose to learn from it, or you can ignore it and get no where.
  Life teaches through pushing you, seeing when you'll crack under pressure and give up.
Give up and crawl back to your prison

  Once i started parkour, It was like the start of an intricate plan to escape this prison.
  I have done more things in my life these last 3 years than i have in my whole life.

  I found the greatest love of my life Deanna Marshall, only because I escaped the fear of any consequences I might face. (my father is was and still is the most ignorant person i have come in contact with...)
  I found 2 families I can call my own. One being my girlfriends family. The other being Team Hub Freerunning Of Boston, Massachusetts.
  I found my goal in life, Being a Photographer. Only cause I risked $609.37 on a camera i didnt know how to use. But i told myself that i would go for it.
   Most importantly, I've learned to look at myself. I say thats the most important because people go there whole lives trying to change other people into what they want them to be, When all they need to do is change themselves.
                       Its easier to change yourself than to change the world...

So this Blog was mainly for those people who are still curious about what parkour is.

well parkour is whatever you want it to be.

it can be your ticket out of a broken home when you get that sponsorship with some company

it can be that stress relief you need when your girlfriend/boyfriend breaks up with you because they are moving away and theres nothing you can do to stop it.

it can be the only thing that keeps you from joining a gang, or from drugs, or from murder.

I'm saying that parkour isn't just movement.Freerunning isn't just movement.

They are life. Hell, it could be a religion.

Everyone has there reasons for doing parkour.

Just cause they don't have the same reasons as you doesn't give you the right to tell them they aren't doing parkour, or that they should do this or that.

Excuse my French but : Shut The Fuck Up And Trace.

Cause the future of parkour and freerunning is like the weather. They are alway conflicting each other, but some people like to go out during a thunderstorm.

Im one of those people

Train safe...

Sticking To Yourself

90% of parkour is just doing. theres no thought, theres just: hell yea im going for it.
If you dont believe me then think for a second, anytime you hit any technique you basically didnt think about it, youve been doing it so long that it just comes to you. Also, when your starting new techniques most of the time your gonna tell yourself: just go for it.

Going for it is important. Spring is coming round and all the tracuers are coming out of hibernation from tricking. for those of you who live in warmer climates: screw you i didnt ask to be here :p

Over the winter we tend to stay in gyms and train since its safer. but when the warmer weather comes around, what will that gym time be worth?

I've recently been to a gym jam and granted, i did somethings i would never do outside. But thats what we as Practitioners need to do. We need to strive to be 'invincible' let no obstacle get in our way, no matter how cushiony or hard it is.

I mean Parkour is basically overcoming obstacles.

Just today, i was crossing the street. I know right? EPIC
Anyways, i was crossing the street and there was a truck that pulled in front of us as i was walking (i was with friends). Since i didnt want to walk all the way around the truck... i just went under. My friends went around. i saved at least 10 seconds on them , maybe more. Then i saw as the truck pulled away, how incredibly dangerous that stunt i just did. if i had tripped, got caught on an axle, or the truck just pulled away...i would not be writing this work of art of a blog.

But i went for it. granted i was being stupid. But Danny Illabaca jumped a 20 foot gap that was thirty feet down...and all just for a video. compare my experience to that and youll kinda get my point.

In parkour you have to take the risk, a couple of seconds could mean life and death.

And we all know that. We have seen...and in some cases experienced, near death experiences.
But do you see anyone making those mistakes again?

Parkour is young, its up to us to make the mistakes first.

And thats why we train. to learn.

So if your coming out of a gym now to start street training again, what are you going to do? what have you learned that you are going to incorporate in your movement.

More importantly, what are you going to Teach others so that they dont hurt themselves.


For the novices I have some advice:
Take training slow, steady.
Im not gonna say, At Your Own Pace, because you guys are cocky...and thats mostly by fault of the generation before you and how we learned from the guys who learned from the first guys.
Try to do simple but repetitive movement. be able to do the move without even thinking.

Once you get to the point where your like: how the hell did i get on this pole 5 feet in the air. you have become a natural.


And for my experienced people:
We gotta train the generation better.
there are so many Television distractions that get in the way of what true parkour is.
We need to educate them in the ways of true practitioners.
And we need to get them to hate Main Stream Media :p


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This is my second serious blog, tell me how im doin and what i should cover.

Give me constructive feedback...
Although i am adept in trolling so be prepared for a fight\\

train safe guys

Life As A Parkour Photographer

And for my first post:

So if you have read my description:my name is Jeremiah Washington, I am the Hub Freerunning Team Photographer and also a Practitioner of Parkour for 3 years. (so dont give me Bullshit like "I just a photographer" cause i can hold my own)

When i was first starting photography I can admit...I was trying everything. I just started high school and hair was growing everywhere on my body and i had no idea what i was becoming.
  At the time, Parkour was a small thing no one knew about (yea i know three years makes a difference)

Since this is a blog for information i shall give you some tips if your just starting out:

1. Use the internet to your advantage.
I cant tell you how many places i went to learn Videography/Photography. YouTube is your best friend. Also look up sports photographers and study there pictures.
Also study Parkour videos,and i mean the good ones.

I know that 'study' isn't something you wanna hear but seriously? its not that hard. just look at the shit that you like and incorporate it in your photos(Excuse my American)

2. Shoot as much as possible

I dont give a crap(see i caught myself) what you shoot as long as its in constant motion and it looks interesting. the more practice you get the better you'll be at it. (see, the philosophy of parkour can be applied to everything)

3. IMPORTANT!! Invest in a good camera(Preferably a Multitasker)
If you want good images you need the hardware to produce it. You dont see Metal artists banging on pots and pans to make music...never mind;
More importantly, pro cameras are pro for  a reason, they have a huge option of creativity when taking raw images and once you get the hang of it you'll be producing masterpieces...i hope

4. Photoshop,Adobe Lightroom, something to edit your pictures
80% of photos you see were not taken from the camera straight to the scene(i totally made up that percentage). Photo editors like Photoshop will make your pictures look snazzy(yes snazzy)
which brings to my next point

5. Shoot in RAW if you have a Camera that can.
This is mostly out to the people with DSLRs or something that shoots RAW. I can tell you from experience that I have taken some crappy photos. But since i shot in RAW, I play with the data a little to make it better. Photoshop has a program called Camera Raw that works Wonders!!

6. Lastly, for now at least, Light is your GOD from now on

A camera basically is an instrument that captures light. A photograph is art from a camera when light is in an appealing fashion to the human brain. yes, you have to think of it that basic. once you get an eye for good lighting, everything comes in place

 

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Train Safe

Expect another post randomly, im not doin a schedule :p

4

Sweet,Sweet Beautiful Release

In the beginning there was only an idea.

and a couple seconds ago it was a blogger account.

In all seriousness i dont really expect alot of  people to read this but Im doing it anyways. This blog came into existence  through the greatest beard ever, Paradise Gray. This iis only my pakour Blog but i will soon have others,(there there now probably, if not check later).

Basically Ill use this blog to voice my opinions on Parkour and upload Photos and such.

I will have another blog for the rest of the world about current events later...and that will also have an introduction(probably shorter than this)

Yay you made it to the end, if your still alive, have a cookie :)

Train Safe 8)