Field Notes

Field notes are essay-length explorations that pick up threads from Movers Mindset podcast conversations—ideas that deserve more attention, questions that linger, insights worth developing. Each piece stands alone as a thoughtful reflection on movement, philosophy, and human excellence.

  • Something worth playing for

    Something worth playing for

    Sean Hannah can guide anyone through rebuilding an injured body—but he can’t manufacture the reason to bother. The exercises aren’t secret. The protocol isn’t the barrier. The barrier is that remodeling takes months of slow, painful work, and nobody endures that without a spark: something they love doing that’s disappearing. What happens to the people… more →

  • When crisis brings clarity

    When crisis brings clarity

    Rodrigo Pimentel woke up from a stroke with double vision, slurred speech, and no motor control. His response surprised even him: radical acceptance. “This is what’s happening” became his anchor—not resignation, but the starting point for everything next. Crisis stripped away the luxury of resistance, revealing who he was capable of becoming when fighting reality… more →

  • The myth of more willpower

    The myth of more willpower

    Chris Garay has watched people try to build movement practices for years. The ones who stick around aren’t the ones with superior willpower. They’re the ones who’ve eliminated most of the resistance entirely. We’ve been asking the wrong question. It was never about having more discipline. It was always about needing less. more →

  • Going Full Circle on Chairs

    Going Full Circle on Chairs

    Soisci Porchetta spent years ditching chairs for floor work, developing hip mobility and comfort on the ground. Then at a meditation retreat, sitting in a chair made every joint ache while elderly practitioners sat comfortably for hours. Going full circle means reintegrating what you initially rejected—being able to do both floor and chair comfortably. Real… more →

  • After You Reject the Meaning, Then What?

    After You Reject the Meaning, Then What?

    Amina Shareef Ali connects parkour and being trans through refusing assigned meanings—you’re told what a space or body is for, and you say no. But after rejection, who decides new meaning? When your training ground conflicts with others’ peaceful passage, whose assignment wins? Liberation isn’t swapping old meaning for new—it’s refusing to accept the conversation… more →

  • Practicing with an unknown expiration date

    Practicing with an unknown expiration date

    Vincent Thibault reminds us you won’t be coaching or moving this way forever, and you don’t know when it ends. This creates tension: care enough to keep improving while knowing it won’t last. You can’t plan for an unknown timeline. The practice requires holding both—this matters deeply right now, and it’s temporary. Practice in a… more →

  • The mastery of not mastering anything

    The mastery of not mastering anything

    Auraiya Madrid calls herself a “Hobby Hoarder,” switching between parkour, pole, straps, lifting, gymnastics, arts, music, acting, and dog training. She’s more productive the more she switches—physical and mental fatigue reset through variety. This challenges assumptions that mastery requires singular focus. Her strategic switching isn’t dilution but expansion, providing diverse vocabularies that combine in novel… more →

  • Can you bridge a gap that shouldn’t be bridged?

    Can you bridge a gap that shouldn’t be bridged?

    Jeremy Fein’s coaching work is fundamentally conversational but hard to share—recording changes sessions, making them performance-adjacent. He tried podcasting to bridge the gap between coaching and content creation, pausing after twenty-five episodes to amplify what worked. But the unanswered question remains: Is there actually a way to bridge this gap, or is some work valuable… more →

  • What injury teaches about softness

    What injury teaches about softness

    John Baker describes his practice as playful, softness, and collaborative. Softness comes from past injuries—trying to be softer with movements, more gentle in general. He doesn’t say injury made him more careful or cautious. Those are external adjustments. Softness is internal—a different quality of engagement, less gripping, less forcing. Injury can teach the difference between… more →

  • How does sharing a burden change it?

    How does sharing a burden change it?

    Andrew Suseno describes gotong-royong—collectively sharing burdens. In Moving Rasa affinity spaces, identity’s burden becomes collective rather than individual. Walking into challenging spaces, he carries his Southeast Asian collective with him. But does sharing a burden distribute weight or fundamentally transform what the burden is? When you discover others share your struggle, shame dissolves—the burden literally… more →

  • What gets lost when everyone’s experimenting

    What gets lost when everyone’s experimenting

    René Scavington describes early parkour as “a little meaner,” where trying something experimental would get hated on. Now experimentation gets celebrated, which seems clearly better. But what gets lost when experimentation carries no social cost? When everything playful gets love, experimentation becomes performance rather than genuine exploration. Real experimentation might actually be harder now. There’s… more →

  • When standing still is the hardest thing

    When standing still is the hardest thing

    Nima King trained as a bouncer and martial artist, but hours of standing practice in a Hong Kong living room proved hardest of all. Standing still with nowhere to hide brings up inner demons—no opponent, no technique, no external challenge to justify why it feels so difficult. We measure difficulty through intensity and complexity, but… more →