What role does overcoming obstacles through movement play in personal growth and community building?

Marcus Lincoln shares his experiences both as a participant and an organizer of the Texas Winter Jam, and the importance the event holds for the national and local communities. He explains his ideas on challenge mindset, and his approach to both training and coaching. Marcus discusses his plans for traveling, the impact travel has had on him, and the adventure of learning new languages.

“Parkour is interesting. It’s not that you can do the cool moves or that you’ve learned them quickly. It’s more about that process of learning them.” ~ Marcus Lincoln (11:27)

The conversation explores Marcus Lincoln’s experiences as a participant and organizer of the Texas Winter Jam, an annual event that unites movement communities across Texas. Marcus shares how the jam transitioned from summer to winter and how it continues to foster collaboration among practitioners across different cities. His insights reveal how organizing the event has helped him develop problem-solving skills and build deeper connections within the community.

Marcus discusses how his move from Texas to Boston introduced him to the challenges of training in a colder climate, enhancing his resilience and adaptability. He reflects on how seasons influence training and how practicing in challenging environments fosters personal growth. The conversation also touches on Marcus’s passion for travel and his plans to visit France to experience the roots of Parkour, highlighting the importance of connecting with the origins of the practice and expanding personal horizons through new cultural experiences.

Takeaways

Texas Winter Jam — An annual gathering that connects Texas movement communities and fosters collaboration and growth.

Event organizing — Building leadership, adaptability, and communication skills by managing large-scale events.

Training across climates — Developing resilience by adapting movement practice to seasonal changes.

Parkour mindset — Viewing obstacles as opportunities for problem-solving, fostering mental and physical growth.

Community connections — Strengthening friendships and professional networks through shared movement experiences.

Travel and movement — Expanding skills and perspective by exploring international movement communities.

Challenges in coaching — Recognizing and addressing individual student challenges to foster growth and confidence.

Continuous improvement — Using personal weaknesses as starting points for creative training approaches.

Movement creativity — Designing routes and challenges that blend personal strengths and areas for improvement.

Resources

Parkour Generations Americas — Organization where Marcus Lincoln coaches and trains, providing Parkour events and coaching certifications.

Texas Winter Jam — Annual community-driven movement event organized by Marcus Lincoln and others.

ADD Academy — French academy for Art du Déplacement, where Marcus plans to visit for deeper training experiences.

Rendezvous London — International Parkour event Marcus attended and coached at.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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— Hello👋 I’m Craig Constantine.

In the Movers Mindset podcast, I talk with movement enthusiasts to learn who they are, what they do, and why they do it. I’m interested in the nature and philosophy of movement and in exploring themes like independence, self-direction, and human excellence. My interests color each conversation and provide some structure to Movers Mindset. But since I like to take the scenic route, every conversation ends up going somewhere unique.

The purpose of Movers Mindset is to create and share great conversations with movement enthusiasts. Each conversation feeds my insatiable curiosity, but I share them to turn on a light for someone else, to inspire them, or to give them their next question.

I appreciate your time and attention, and I don’t take it for granted.

— Thank you!

My personal mission is creating better conversations to spread understanding and compassion. And Movers Mindset is one of the things I do in service of my mission. Drop by https://craigconstantine.com/ for my weekly email, my other podcasts, writing and more.

The Movers Mindset project grew from conversations I started having as part of my personal journey rediscovering movement. The project started late in 2015, and it was initially simply a web site that shared others’ writing. The project grew, and in 2017 I started the podcast. I’ve worked extremely hard, but none of this would have been possible without so much help from so many people.

Thanks for listening!

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