"I think the most important, what we have to be working on, is our relation to life. If our relation to life does not change, we will not grow a bigger pool of energy, a surplus energy, that will allow us to stay creative and be happy about what we are doing" - Jozef Frucek

We are so excited to share our Mindful Strength interview with Jozef Frucek of the Fighting Monkey Practice. Jozef's personal practice and education have seen an interesting trajectory taking him from a familial hunters philosophy and mountain lifestyle through sport, art, education, communication and back again, landing on an integrative, creative, explorative and varied approach to movement (and life) that informs his current ideology and form.

Communication, creativity, variability and the affects of human interaction/partner work dominate this conversation, in which Kathryn gets curious about Jozef's practice, teaching, and studies. Jozef reveals the context and concepts of the Fighting Monkey Practice - they "don't do exercises" - how he and his partner Linda came to the name and what inspires their instruction and shared knowledge. The Fighting Monkey Practice and Jozef's philosophies seek to further understand how we can age well, with energy and ease, and enjoy a better quality of life.

In this episode, Jozef discusses with Kathryn: embracing the unknown; the importance of creativity, playfulness, and receptivity to change; strength training in isolation (with comparisons to controlled lab testing); "Zero Forms," which serve to act as a a baseline or marker/informer of deficiencies and improvements; the Three FM Pillars: Earthquake Architecture, Anatomy of Injury, Anatomy of Events and their broad application; working with elderly or aging populations; proprioceptive variability; cross motion analysis; rhythm, coordination and kinetic potential vs dominant or rigid strength; energy, exploration, individuality and adaptability; tribal dance, and the importance of these seemingly meaningless things that aren't measurable, but provide incredible health benefit for our minds and for humanity. Jozef and Linda's work is beyond interesting and makes so much sense - we hope you enjoy the information being shared here that is a cumulation and continuation of lifelong work.

Show notes at KathrynBruniYoung.com