Motivation with Oliver Thorpe
What motivates and shapes the personal experiences and practices of someone who navigates both the parkour and climbing communities?
Exploring mindfulness in movement reveals deeper insights into personal and communal growth.
“It’s interesting how it somehow reveals our own thought process. So the exact sequence of my feet in some stride up to something— or the exact way that I place my hands, reveals how I think about movement.” ~ Oliver Thorpe (15:07)
The conversation touches on the intersection of culture, movement, and personal growth. Reflections on moving between Denmark and Australia explore themes of adaptation and community, with emphasis on how cultural differences shape human connections. Denmark, with its initially reserved people, becomes a home through its parkour community, providing both camaraderie and a sense of belonging.
The discussion also delves into the relationship between mindfulness, training, and motivation. Experiences in parkour and climbing illustrate how challenges provide motivation and how iterative attempts help in overcoming fear. There is also a reflection on how personal habits, like coffee preparation, tie into broader practices of mindfulness and intentionality.
Takeaways
The role of community in creating a sense of belonging — The parkour community in Denmark plays a key role in fostering personal connections.
The contrast between Danish and Australian cultures — These cultural differences highlight variations in social behavior and interpersonal connections.
The interplay of mindfulness and movement — Training in parkour and climbing reveals how mindfulness shapes approach and execution.
The motivational power of challenges — Facing and overcoming physical and psychological barriers provides a sense of growth.
The iterative nature of overcoming fear — Experiences in climbing show how repeated exposure transforms fear into confidence.
Resources
Gerlev International Gathering — A notable parkour and movement event in Denmark.
Gravity Sucks Jam — A parkour jam mentioned in the context of challenging physical endurance.
Gall Folk High School — A Danish institution with programs, including a focus on parkour.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
— 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!
ɕ
