Evolve Move Play Podcast

What does movement mean to you? Is it just a fun pastime? Maybe you use it as a tool to reach certain health markers or become more attractive? Is it a grueling obligation or some form of punishment you put yourself through to make up for unhealthy life choices? Whatever it may be, chances are you’ve been conditioned to view movement in some light that doesn’t capture the ways it can truly serve you, your community and your environment as a whole.

At Evolve Move Play we’ve taken on the sizeable task of reawakening people to the power and purpose of a dedicated human movement practice. We’ve found that movement is not only a source of physical nourishment, but mental, social, and emotional nourishment as well. Through trial and error, extensive studies, experimenting and testing our theories, we’ve been able to build a sound framework around what we practice, how we practice, and most importantly, WHY we practice.

In this piece, and the accompanying video, we’re going to give you a look at those three elements and the way we conceptualize the key components of our practice.

Greetings everybody and welcome back to the Evolve Move Play Podcast! We’ve taken a bit of time off to focus on running retreats and releasing our Natural Parkour Online Course. It will be a few weeks before we are ready to get the podcast running again full steam but we decided to offer this special episode the celebrate the release of our friend Mark Walsh's book Embodiment.

Find that book here https://www.amazon.com/Embodiment-Moving-mindfulness-Mark-Walsh/dp/1916249221

For our 31st episode we have the one and only Mark Walsh of Embodied Yoga Principles joining us to talk about his new book “Embodiment: Moving Beyond Mindfulness”. This is his third time visiting us on the podcast, and if you didn’t catch his last two appearances, I highly recommend that you go listen to those first to get a real solid idea of just what embodiment is and why it is so important for those of us working towards our most heroic selves.

This episode we will talk at length about how to conceptualize our practices and how to layer in elements of EYP to take our self development to the next level. We also talk about the dark side of peak experiences and address the problem of habitual state seeking in ourselves and our students.

So give it a listen and let us know what you think in the comments below!

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - Intro

00:58 - Recap & Marks Book

06:58 - Fitting the Pieces Together

13:08 - Optimizing Your Practice

18:53 - Putting EYP to Work

32:50 - Sacrifice

39:34 - The Shadow Side of Peak Experience

47:43 - Getting Free From State Seeking

53:06 - Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Ukranian Wife Deathmatches

LEARN MORE

www.theembodimentbook.com

www.embodiedyogaprinciples.com

SUPPORT US

www.evolvemoveplay.com

www.patreon.com/rafekelley

Thanks everyone, and happy moving!

-The EMP Team

We recently held our 2019 Return to the Source seminar and by all accounts it was the best event we’ve put on to date. What started years ago as a three day parkour seminar in nature has blossomed and evolved into an event that time and time again brings people together and reconnects them to core components that make life feel more meaningful.

This year we were joined by Aaron Cantor, an incredible coach and friend who’s been on the podcast before. He was both a participant and a facilitator at Return to the Source, and it was an absolute joy to have him present to share his stories, movement, humor and support. Not to mention also leading the group in a wonderful dance party on the final night.

After the event we sat down to film an interview for the podcast, but decided to make this one a little special and let Aaron ask all the questions.

Where did Evolve Move Play start, how did it get to where it is now, and where do we intend to go? What’s the aim of EMP and how do we go about achieving it? How do we determine what’s valuable and who do we look to for inspiration in this vast and chaotic world of beliefs, dogma, misinformation, and mystery? Aaron does a great job as guest interviewer; we share some laughs along the way and it was a valuable means of processing and articulating the deeper insights from the event.

SHOW NOTES

00:00 — Intro

04:29 — Return to the Source Recap

12:19 — Moving in Nature

16:05 — Rafe’s Why

21:06 — Chaos, Order, and Connecting to Nature

28:00 — The Ecology of Evolve Move Play

47:16 — Sources of Influence

51:27 — Algorithms and Heuristics

1:01:12 — What Happens After You Die?

1:06:05 — Culture and Value

1:13:17 — The Future

TRAIN WITH US

EMP Autumn Retreat (Oct 3-6)

https://www.evolvemoveplay.com/ev_event/autumn-retreat-2019/

EMP San Francisco Experience (Sept 14-15)

https://www.evolvemoveplay.com/ev_event/evolve-move-play-san-francisco/

EMP Los Angeles Experience (Sept 21-22)

https://www.evolvemoveplay.com/ev_event/evolve-move-play-los-angeles/

BECOME A PATRON

https://www.patreon.com/rafekelley

RETURN TO THE SOURCE AUTUMN RETREAT!

Oct 3-6th

https://www.evolvemoveplay.com/ev_event/autumn-retreat-2019/

TODAY'S EPISODE

Motivation seems to be a big problem.

The cost of being a member at your average gym is about $60 a month yet every year about 5.1 million Americans end up wasting a total of around $1.8 billion in unused gym memberships. 

It’s a strange statistic if you think about it.

We all know that movement is vital in maintaining a healthy body and brain. We know that positive lifestyle improvements are good for mitigating stress and anxiety, increasing brain function, reducing the risk of diseases, and can make us less susceptible to injuries. 

Meanwhile, we are bombarded by marketing that idolizes those who are fit and healthy.

Our movies, our television shows, the people we follow on social media... all make it clear that having a strong, fit-looking body brings great social reward and probably loads of self respect and confidence.

To add to it, we even have state of the art facilities staffed with professional exercisers ready to measure us, build dietary plans and workout routines, taking all the thinking and studying out of the equation for us. With all of this help, being our most heroic and sexy selves should be pretty easy.

Yet… we still don’t go to the gym.

As it turns out, the human mind and body is an incomprehensibly complex thing. There’s a lot more going on than what can be adequately addressed through the reductionist method. Movement is much more than just an obligatory chore to meet society's expectations or to punish oneself for past poor decisions.

Movement, in its truest sense, is a means of expression and connection that can actively imbue our lives with meaning and profound experiences.

The motivations and methods described above generally ignore this fact, opting instead to create an environment that, shuns playing, stifles creative problem solving, poo poos self expression, and asserts that no pain equals no gain.

While this is enough to get people to shell out money for a membership, it seems to be insufficient in keeping people engaged and motivated for very long.

In today’s episode of the Evolve Move Play Podcast, our good friend Todd Hargrove is back to talk about his new book “Playing with Movement: How to Explore the Many Dimensions of Physical Health and Performance”.

It turns out that if we really want to get the most out of our movement and become the best versions of ourselves, we would do well to step away from our habit of viewing the body as a machine, perceiving play as pointless, and seeing movement solely as a form of work. 

When we begin playing more, we tap into inherent motivations and are far more likely to engage in the activities that nurture us. So buckle up and join us on this conversation.

Along the way we’ll also talk with Todd about intention and attention, dynamic systems, and what differentiates work from play.

So take a look and let us know what you think!

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - intro

02:37 - The Importance of Play

06:49 - Complex and Complicated Problems

16:37 - Layers of Movement Interlude

20:42 - Direction of Attention

27:09 - Top Down, Bottom Up

30:13 - Attention and Intention

24:07 - What is Dynamical Systems?

39:39 - Work and Play

49:52 - Community

53:33 - Make Your Movement Meaningful

LEARN MORE

https://www.bettermovement.org

SUPPORT US

https://www.evolvemoveplay.com

https://www.patreon.com/rafekelley

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle asserts that we are always operating in a state of limited understanding. No matter how many variables we take into consideration, no matter how long we worry and fret, we can never have all the data since the amount of data in any given situation is infinite.

At the same time, however, humans have minds that are incredibly good at finding patterns, understanding cause and effect, and creating storylines that lead to places of deeper understanding and profound meaning. We tend to love solving puzzles and tracing our fingers along the lines of maps. We thirst for knowledge and understanding and truth.

Every human finds themselves in an ancient dance between order and chaos and while many of us may have natural inclinations towards one end or the other, there is an undeniable power in being able to harness the strengths of both. Can we establish enough order and discipline to prepare ourselves for the rigors of survival while never losing the sense of awe and mystery that imbues our existence with moments of wonder and magic? Can we find room in our minds and hearts for science and spirit, freedom and fealty, machination and mystery?

In today’s episode of the Evolve Move Play Podcast, we are talking with Jozef Frucek and much of our conversation will cover how this dance emerges not just in our movement practices, but also in our lives at large. Throughout the course of our unfolding stories, can we stand deliberately in the face of chaos, even if it means we might fall, make mistakes, or be proven wrong? Can we be steadfast in our discipline so that our efforts may benefit ourselves, our families, and our communities from now into the future? Is there a way to practice both sides of the coin in your daily life?

Join us in our conversation and feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section.

Thanks everyone, and happy moving!

-The EMP Team

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - Intro

02:04 - Meditations on Meditation

09:26 - A Sustainable Approach

21:54 - Borders: Maps vs Territory

28:00 - Selecting the Challenge

33:13 - Articulation and Mystery

38:43 - The Body is Poetry

46:40 - Thinking Critically

51:16 - Being and Becoming, Knowledge of an Egg

59:42 - Complex vs Complicated Problems

01:06:48 - Reciprocal Realization

01:11:35 - Finding Your Own Way

LEARN MORE

fightingmonkey.net

SUPPORT US

www.patreon.com/rafekelley

www.evolvemoveplay.com

“To me, ultimately martial arts means honestly expressing yourself… Now it’s very difficult to do. It is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky... I can make all kinds of phony things and be blinded by it. Or I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that my friend is very hard to do. “

-Bruce Lee

In this podcast we’ve talked a lot about the process of building an ecology of practices around becoming our most heroic selves. As I said in the last episode’s description: the things we choose to do require that we invest our time, money, and energy in order to absorb the lessons that are given. Often times the huge investment that we put into our practice of choice can bias us towards believing that there’s no need for other practices, that our one discipline has it all and is superior to all the rest. We can tie our egos into the practice to the point where we see ourselves as products of the school in which we train, we are “climbers” we are “karate-ka” we are “bodybuilders”, etc… This is a sneaky and often devastating trap that can not only cut us off from the myriad benefits of other disciplines, but can actually stifle and smother our individuality and our ability to honestly assess, express and obtain that which we need.

In today’s episode of the Evolve Move Play Podcast, we have the wonderful Soisci Porchetta joining us to talk about her process of self discovery and transformation and how she’s taking lessons she has learned from her many disciplines and putting them together to help herself and her students find their path of continual growth.

Along the way we’re going to discuss how to determine what students need for improvement, how to find intrinsic sources of motivation and reward, and the role that the ego plays in self transformation. So enjoy the show and as always, leave us a comment, share, like, and subscribe. You can also give us a rating and a review on iTunes. If you would like to personally support the show, head on over to www.patreon.com/rafekelley to become a patron, or hit up www.evolvemoveplay.com and see if we’re coming to your neck of the woods.

Thanks everyone, and happy moving!

-The EMP Team

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - Intro

02:07 - Isolate, Integrate, Improvise

18:18 - Practice Prescription

28:39 - Soisci’s Class Structure

36:55 - Balance

50:18 - Digging Deeper

59:06 - Connectivity, Intrinsic v. Extrinsic Reward

01:09:46 - Movement and the Body Brain Connection

01:19:50 - Meaning and Relevance

01:31:17 - Tempering the Ego

LEARN MORE

www.humanpatterns.net

In this complex and chaotic world, there are an endless array of hobbies, past times, disciplines and studies that can be woven into the tapestry of our lives and choosing the ones that are capable of enriching our existence in the most broadly applicable ways can be an incredibly daunting task. The fact of the matter is that whatever we choose to do carries with it the weight of our time and commitment. Because we devote considerable portions of our lives to these practices it’s worth considering how they develop our character - which requires that we honestly consider how we want or need our character to be developed.

Mark Walsh is an embodiment teacher who has made the structure of self transcendence a core focus of his work and he’s joining us today to provide some deep insight into how we can live more embodied lives and truly get the most out of the practices we pursue. In this episode we will detail the paths and pitfalls of both generalist and specialist training, how to determine the efficiency or redundancy of our efforts, how to analyze our strengths and weaknesses and fall in love with the process of self cultivation.

Each person has their own story, rich with passions, fears, wins, losses, loves and lamentations. There will never be a one size fits all algorithm to becoming the best and truest versions of ourselves, but there are guidelines that one can apply to better direct themselves toward an ecology of practices that best fits their incredible journey. When we live and move with the passion that comes from intentionally creating a better story for ourselves, our families and our communities, we plant seeds that sprout a deeper sense of meaning and connection, and that will bear the fruit of a life well lived.

Enjoy the discussion, and please remember to like, share, subscribe and leave us a comment below. You are a part of this amazing community and we love to hear your stories, so tell us how you like the episode and let us know how you are utilizing your practices to enrich your lives.

Thanks everyone and happy moving!

-The EMP Team

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - Intro

01:53 - Sports and Character

05:47 - Practice vs. Applications

18:25 - The Two Traps

24:32 - A Guide to Choosing Your Journey

31:48 - Balancing the Methods

43:50 - Falling in Love

49:51 - Stacking Practices and Priorities

57:04 - The Elements of Character

01:00:08 - Analyzing Rafe

01:06:06 - Summing it Up

LEARN MORE

Making Yoga Meaningful E-Book - www.embodiedyogaprinciples.com/yoga-ebook

The Embodiment Podcast - embodiedfacilitator.com/the-embodiment-podcast

Mark’s YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/IntegrationTraining

SUPPORT US

evolvemoveplay.com

patreon.com/rafekelley

***Listen to our first conversation with John Vervaeke

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meaning-crisis-role-movement-practice-john-vervaeke/id1349557801?i=1000434529380 ***

As living, thinking creatures, we are constantly faced with problems that must be solved in order to survive and thrive, but have you stopped to think about how do we do it?

In the infinite set of variations on how we can act and interact with the world, how do we decode what information is relevant and zero in on actions that yield the results we desire?

In our second episode with John Vervaeke we are going to spend a good amount of time unpacking the incredible intricacies of decision making and give you a basic framework for understanding how to differentiate between the types of problems you face and the strategies that will lead you towards effectively solving them.

As we’ve covered in many of our podcasts, one of the core issues that we face in movement and in life is the ability to orient to chaos and act, then weigh the results of our actions and apply that which we learned to future efforts.

Once we begin to understand the nature of the problems we face and how we can improve our ability to face them, it’s important to structure an ecology of practices around developing our tools of perception and action. Through this process we begin to take an active and empowered role in building ourselves and connecting to the world around us.

We cover this and a lot more ground in this episode, so grab a pen and paper and be sure to join in on the conversation in the comments section below. We want to hear your insights and questions and please remember to like, share, and subscribe! We will surely be having John back on the podcast sometime in the near future as well as tons of other insightful thinkers and movers, so hit that notification button to stay in the loop!

Also we currently have two spots open for our Return to the Source retreat. They are going to go quick, so if you’d like to know more about how to reserve your spot, message us at [email protected]

Thanks everyone, and happy moving!

-The EMP Team

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - Intro

04:10 - Grounding the Meaning Crisis

17:48 - Relevance Realization

34:45 - The Problem with Problems

46:37 - Rationality Vs Intelligence and Logic

01:00:32 - Integration to Cultivate Wisdom

01:08:34 - Redefining Revolution

01:23:51 - Ecology of Practice

01:39:05 - Generalization v Specialization

01:48:22 - A Method of Moving Forward

LEARN MORE

johnvervaeke.com

youtube.com/johnvervaeke

SUPPORT US

evolvemoveplay.com

patreon.com/rafekelley

One of the biggest difficulties in progressing as an athlete is deciding on how to structure a training program to best meet the goals that they have set out for themselves. It requires an honest assessment of many different factors such as physical, mental, and emotional capabilities and a firm understanding of how the body and mind work to enhance and sustain performance. Many athletes deal with a lot of frustration around hitting plateaus while many of them struggle to incorporate training routines that are often too complicated or poorly designed to offer any real benefit.

Today we are stepping away from the philosophical content and diving into the nuts and bolts of technical development for parkour and movement practitioners. If you’re interested in learning how to take your skill, strength, speed, and subsequent training practices to the next level, our guest Ryan Ford is one of the foremost thinkers on the subject.

In our conversation we’re going to talk about practices that beginners should orient themselves towards and ways that they can scale more advanced movements down to their level to streamline their development. We will also dive into what sets athletes apart at the highest levels of skill and how to zero in on and strengthen the attributes that are lagging behind. In addition we will talk about how to figure out which movements will give you the most bang for your buck depending on your individual limitations.

So you might want to grab a pad and a pen and jot down notes for this one. Like always, if you have any questions drop them in the comments section below and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. We also would love to have you rate and review the show on iTunes!

Also, as mentioned in the intro, we have a few open spots available for this year’s Return to the Source seminar. If you want to know more about that, follow this link here ---> https://www.evolvemoveplay.com/ev_event/return-to-the-source-2019/

00:00 - Intro

02:12 - Ryan’s History & Practice

08:47 - Classes, Coaching, and Programming

13:11 - Scaling Movements and Progress Carryover

22:00 - Strength Training and Track & Field

27:52 - Load, Explode, & Drive

39:30 - Injury Resilience

45:41 - Prescribing Strength

54:47 - Examining Speed

01:01:25 - Flow

Learn More

https://parkouredu.org/

https://apexmovement.com/

IG: @ryanmford

Support Us

www.evolvemoveplay.com

www.patreon.com/rafekelley

“...the sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head...”

-an excerpt from 'Bear Meat' by Primo Levi.

The sport of parkour has spent the last decade spreading like wildfire across the globe. We see it in television, movies, and video games. Training facilities are cropping up in nearly every major city and parkour's top athletes and teams usually have tens of thousands (or up to millions) of followers and subscribers on social media.

Like anything else that experiences an explosive rise in popularity and public access, parkour has gone through some drastic changes since the days of it's humble conception. While the physicality and technical skill of the athletes have been improving exponentially, many of the most beneficial and crucial components of parkour have been largely neglected.

Today we talk with Thomas Couetdic who began his parkour practice in the very early days alongside Stephane Vigroux and David Belle. Back then, the goal was total self cultivation, a dedicated pursuit of antifragility across all domains. Whether it was working on extreme endurance, cold tolerance, combative situations, or jumping from rooftop to rooftop, the chief aim was to become comfortable with facing the uncomfortable, and in doing so, create a deeper sense of self trust, meaning and purpose in their lives. This is the soul of parkour that is accessible to all people, you may never kong vault or hit a roof gap, but whether you're a world class athlete or dealing with a lifelong disability, the process of facing adversity and transcending limitations can be owned and practiced at every level.

So enjoy the conversation and don't forget to like, subscribe, share, and shoot us a comment down below. Also please leave us a rating and a review!

SHOW NOTES

00:00 - Intro

02:53 - The Strength in Honesty

09:33 - Be Strong to be Useful

15:31 - Philosophy of Challenge

21:56 - The Early Days

28:06 - Defining Strength

34:10 - Jutsu and Do

44:22 - Our Summary

59:20 - Applying the Lessons Outside of Parkour

SUPPORT US

www.patreon.com/rafekelley

www.evolvemoveplay.com

Thanks everyone and happy moving!

-The EMP Team