A sustainable practice

Hey folks,

Recently I uploaded a video called “it’s not about the practice, it’s all about the practice”. If you missed it, you can find it here.

Here I am posting some of the reflections behind it and my current choices in my personal physical practice. There we go with a brief talk and some reflections about what sustainability means for me:

Transcript from the video:

What is sustainability? Well, it’s the capacity of a system to remain productive over a long period of time.

This is a huge theme that can apply to many different fields. It can be tied to economy, biology, psychology and so on. Of course the one I am interested in it’s in the form of taking forward a physical practice.

I can feel in most of the community I have looked into: parkour, martial arts, strength training, handbalancing and so on that this is somehow of an hidden topic. And even if we had long long long talks about this, nobody applies the outcomes of these conversations.
 It is as if conscious choices are overridden by ritualistic practices.

So a reason to do something over something else it is just because it’s right, it has always been done in this way, this is the way to do it. I believe we should challenge this approach.

It would be a little bit like, in my familiy they have always been eating 5 aliments, it’s an absolute taboo to try something new. This would lead you to many different illnesses but you wouldn’t care because you want to stick to your traditions.

Choosing a practice that is not diverse it would be the same. Hitting the crack on the wood over and over again until it breaks down – of course it will one day.

Overuse injuries will come, motivation to train will fade.

So when you see me going through all my researches and travels that is what is happening, I am sustaining and pushing forward my practice.

I have recently heard people call me the one of the flow on the bars or the one of the handstands or so on.. – you miss the point.

I am setting goals and getting there to make sure I am always fully committed in what I am doing, appreciating the practice itself over the content, I am choosing variety and diversity over monothemes.

I experiment in random and in the exploration of the new, I want to be able to throw myself in practices I don’t fully understand in order to come up with a deeper knowledge at the other side of the river. This is keeping my motivation alive and running all the time.

One thing I always remind to people is, do you get the call anymore? The call to get out, to try things new, to play, to experiment. That visceral need to do. If you don’t, look for it and travel. If you don’t get it anymore, well I believe that is the beginning of the end.

Questions and observations welcome,

Marcello.