Trainings

I just wanted so write some quick thoughts and achievements from the last couple of days.

This Monday I was feeling bored at home so I decided to go out and train a bit by myself, so I went to the University. I ran a bit and warmed up, I decided to practice some precisions, I found some walls (about 1.5 meters tall) and I started jumping from one to another I started on a pair that are completely parallel and the precisions were quite easy so I moved to another pair of walls that are not completelly parallel so you can make some precision jumps from different distances, I was trying to make soft and noiseless landings and they were quite well, but then I found myself feeling a bit anxious at a certain distance... somehow I started losing some confidence and found some nice things frome this, I just tried to silence that strange voice in my head that started doubting... every time I had that feeling of fear I just remembered myself that my whole body knows how to jump, how to land... so I just trusted my body and every time I felt kind of reluctant I closed my eyes and "imagined" myself jumping, feeling the air, feeling the wall under my feet when landing... and that really worked. So in some minutes my brain was well aware of distances and my legs just knew by themselves how much I needed to jump... so at the end I got down of the walls and just kind of measured the final distance I was jumping, and I was surprised to notice that I've earned some distance from my apparent distance limit.

I was feeling full of energy so I started making some series of conditioning exercises.

Then as I had not much time I decided vaulting, but soon I found a stone and decided making some vaults landing on the target, so I placed it on the ground (I was not really aware of the distance.. this was kind of arbitrary) and started trying, the first attemps seem to be weak and I even though the distance was too long, but then I just decided not moving the target and to feel the movement instead of thinking, then the attempts became better, longer and more controlled, so then I felt quiet comfortable, landing softly and accurately on the target, I tried some other distances after that.

That was all... but I felt really calmed, and refueled =) It's quite amazing how our body works. I don't want that strange voice to keep on bothering, but sometimes it just appears, and I'm sure that everyone knows what I'm talking about... what I really mean is that sometimes we just need to stop paying attention to it and pay attention to our body and its abilities.

Today I had girls training and practised this too... the results?? more confidence when trying new movements or jumping to new targets... I went to a new place so I had no idea of what I would find there, but I felt a voice inside me... not that voice bothering and being afraid... but a voice telling me "Go for it, averything you need to do it is in you"

Female scene

As I promised.. here I am... this time I've been thinking about the female scene... mainly here in Mexico, when I started (2 years ago) there seem to be one serious female practising...now as time has passed by there are lots of girls coming... I remeber when I had few time training with UR and some girls attended 1 or 2 classes and then they quitted now there are lots of girls that have more than a year or year and a half and lots of newcomers!

This is a big deal... I think this because of the hard work that all of us have done here... and well the merit goes to them too.... they all are doing a great job.

So I want to add something posted at the website Girl parkour... I wrote it myself and well want you to give it a look...hope you enjoy:

First of all I need to say that I was feeling a bit anxious… I had finally decided to organize the official second Traceuses gathering here in Mexico. I knew that the number of female practitioners had increased a lot during the last year, but I had no idea of how many girls would be attending the event. So there I was, going to the meeting place and when I arrived there were about 4 girls waiting, but suddenly the thing started growing and in a couple of minutes we had around 20 girls. I must say that I knew lots of them but I was very happy to see new faces.

We then decided to walk to the place where the event was taking part and when we arrived, I could see a girl with a broken leg. She already had a plaster on it and somebody told me she was going to train and this really put me into shock… This was the first of many surprises I received that day, this girl proved to have a determined and really strong spirit. Personally, the image of seeing her trying to move gave me extra energy to lead the event. When we started, I really had no idea of how they were going to respond to the activities but anyway we had a nice sunny day and we had something in common… we all were there to learn and share.

We ran for a while and then warmed up in a circle. Then the nice part came! We divided into two groups in order to make some conditioning and strength exercises, Saga was in charge of one group of girls and I had another group.

Afterwards we did some conditioning (abs, pull ups, climb ups, pistols, quadrupedie, etc) we all got together and started with some techniques. The first thing we did were some passé murailles and well, here all the ladies were all willing to train, they were pushing hard and got really nice results. That was when I realized the event was completely worthy…not only with regard to training and techniques but what they were all gaining in self confidence.

So then the real test came, I planned this exercise to encourage them because this was mainly an exercise of confidence and balance. The point was to stand up on a rail (the rail was not completely stable so this gave an extra level of difficulty) and then the girls had to attempt to do an arm jump and go over the obstacle. In the beginning few girls felt confident enough, but they gave it a go. The balance was a little complicated and it seemed to scare them. Suddenly they started encouraging other girls, they were clapping when one of us achieved this goal and this encouraged the rest to go up, to jump and to keep moving.

We then moved to another place and started vaulting. The girls made rows and started passing, they practiced their vaults, and the guys that were watching and the rest of girls were giving comments and suggestions to improve their vaults. I got a nice rock and placed it so that we could practice our vaults ending with a precision. The girls started trying and after a couple of attempts they got nice and clean precisions.

We decided to do some barefoot training, most of the girls had never tried it and they felt a lack of confidence but they soon started feeling better and tried vaults and precisions and many girls said that they were considering to include this in their own training. Many girls had to go by this time; the rest of us had a brief session of conditioning and some stretching.

After all the girls went, exhausted but really happy, I was there thinking and I felt so much excitement and could find that many girls are taking this very seriously. Definitely this gave me extra strength to keep on, to organise this event every year, to share and to grow. Now I feel that all of these girls are my sisters, my teachers and part of my motivation. They taught me a lot and I'm very pleased to have these opportunities. We all have a long way ahead but we are all strong women and I am serious when I say that all those girls who showed so much commitment will achieve all their goals, it's just a matter of determination, and they all have it.

We are now holding winter trainings for girls and many girls are coming. Most of them attended the gathering and I know I'll have the chance to see them grow and share experiences for a very long time. This is what parkour gives us, the chance to learn, grow, evolve and share as if we all were part of a big family. We must think of ourselves as equals, such as brothers and sisters, not to compete but to grow with respect and love for all of us and for all of our abilities. This will provide us with self confidence, self understanding and an enormous opportunity to make this a better world.

So finally I add two videos, the first one was the gathering of 2007, the second this gathering (2008)