The Passive Hang

Episode #64: Rod Cooper of The Movement Collective - My Current Practice Exposed

@rodjcooper, owner of @the_movement_collective comes on the Passive Hang! The Movement Collective is a movement gym in Newcastle, Australia. I’ve known Rod for a couple of years now, and the best way to describe him is that whenever you speak with Rod, you feel lifted, elevated, inspired. 

Rod shares his practice - what does it actually look like, now? Having learnt from many different teachers, and having such a diverse practice, it was interesting to hear how he structures his training time, and what things have worked for him. Rod covers different approaches to strength, mobility and skill development. 

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing - Rod has had his fair share of significant injuries - including serious knee trauma. We touch on his physical recovery, and how he approaches the mental side. When your job is movement, what do you do when you can’t move?

Thanks to Rod for sharing so openly. Can’t wait to get back to TMC and train in the space!

For all those who can’t get to Newcastle, TMC have just launched their online app, and Rod also offers online coaching. Check it out.

Episode #63: Slava Goloubov: The Movement Flow System

Slava Goloubov (@slavagoloubov) on the Passive Hang! Slava is the founder of @movement.flow - a system which connects contemporary dance, acrobatics, capoeira and yoga into a combination of floor based movements and transitions. 

Slava was born in Russia, then immigrated to Canada, where he was in construction at a young age until he found a path to channeling his energy via movement. Initially it was yoga, before he moved into acroyoga, capoeira and other practises. It is with these influences that he constructed the system behind Movement Flow - which starts with 33 unique movements in 14 categories. 

We get to hear how Slava’s own practice has developed and what it looks like currently. He also shares various mental tools for the upcoming practitioner and concepts for those looking for ground based movement flow. 

They are currently delivering workshops both in person and online classes, and an App where you can trial there system. Check it out at https://movementflow.ca/ ! 

Thanks to Slava for sharing his perspective and time.

 

#movementflow #movement #locomotion #softacrobatics

Episode #62: Karin Avi of Motion Haifa - Reading between Black and White

@karin.avi, Karin Bensabat comes on for the latest episode of the Passive Hang!

Karin is the founder of @motion.haifa, a movement school based in Haifa, Israel. When you jump on the @motion.haifa page you will see a large and engaged community doing all sorts of wonderful and interesting training. So who is Karin and what’s her story? Karin shares how she grew up, became interested in Capoeira during high school and then joined the local group. The only thing was, the local group’s teacher was someone by the name of Ido. Karin is now a teacher, and we hear how Motion Haifa began humble beginnings to how Karin eventually built her own gym (with her own hands!). 

A longtime practitioner, Karin shares her views on practice, particularly on mindset, goal setting, and making your own decisions. “I’m not a big believer in black and white.” Karin continues to challenge herself in new areas, such as basketball and surfing, and we hear how she applies the developed practitioner sense into these fields. 

Very thankful for Karin’s time. She is developing an offer for online coaching via www.motion-haifa.com so anyone not in Israel, can also learn her approach. Otherwise you can catch her in class in Haifa!

Episode #61: Eduardo Orihuela - Minimalist Training Methods

Eduardo Orihuela (@eduardo_orihuela_) jumping on the Passive Hang! Eduardo is a coach based in Chicago, affiliated with the awesome GMB crew (@gmbfitness) and is an avid sharer of bodyweight training methods online. 

The thing about Eduardo is authenticity. In all his clips he invites you into his home; sharing his training journey and challenges with maintaining a practice whilst becoming a father. Eduardo isn’t the prototypical fitness influencer where everything is just about training. His training supports his life. 

This has led him developing an approach for minimalist training - minimalist in equipment and minimum effective dose for maximum results. Eduardo recently took 8 months completely off training - and shares how he got back to his previous strength levels in 3 months by only doing 1 rep, 1 set training. 

Eduardo didn’t always have his sights set on the physical realm - wanting to become a zoologist originally. He takes us through his journey from brutal Ukrainian gymnastics coaching to wrestling to rediscovering calisthenics. 

Thanks Eduardo! (@eduardo_orihuela_)

https://www.all-aroundfitness.com

Episode #60: Alex Sesto - Full Spectrum Health

Alex Sesto (@sestoflow) jumps on the Passive Hang! Alex is a teacher from London, UK. Alex is coaches individuals and also runs a number of projects including the @flowstate.collective and The Human Experience. 

 

When you go on Alex’s page you might think he is about movement, but quickly I find that he is about wellbeing and transformation; a model he calls Full Spectrum Health. He defines it as existing under 4 pillars - motion, restoration, introspection, education. His current work now aims to create immersive experiences to spread this idea to wider audiences.

 

We talk a lot about personal narrative and how that can define our actions. Alex used to be a football player on the pathway to making it professionally to then working at a marketing agency - before realising this wasn’t his calling. Losing himself in a void of partying and substances; he rediscovered his health and joy through the local workout park gym - and what he teaches is a simple result of the joy of his own experiences. Alex now continues to uncover deeper mental layers via his journalling practices. 

 

A wonderful conversation with a great human.

 

@sestoflow

@flowstate.collective

linktr.ee/Sestoflow

Episode #59: Vincent Vis - Deconstructing Floorwork

Vincent Vis @vincent_vis, Le Floorwork Deconstructor comes onto the Passive Hang! Vincent is a movement teacher based in Dublin, Ireland but is originally from France. Online, Vincent shares amazing resources on handbalancing and floorwork, on YouTube, Instagram and also via his course Floorwork Academy. I recently started one of his Floorwork Foundations courses and am loving the material, along with Vincent’s ability to breakdown and explain movements and concepts clearly. It was a pleasure to connect with Vincent to share his story and further insight into his approach. 

 

Vincent is one of us - trying to understand flow in movement on the floor. From going to circus school, to cutting up online video clips and slowing down clips to try and learn movements, he shares how his passion for movement developed, and the struggles of learning it. 

 

Most importantly, Vincent is a teacher. We do a deep dive into his approach to teaching floorwork - deconstructing transitions, “feeling” weight transfers, common mistakes (ie.. trying to learn every skill movement!). But the most interesting parts are as Vincent recognises students as individuals and acknowledging them for where they are at, for why they are in it - are they all movement culture enthusiasts? or are they doing it for their exercise, or as an emotional release of their day? Different people require different forms of communication. Who are you, and what is your end context?

 

I highly recommend anyone interested in exploring Floorwork at any level to reach out to Vincent or to check out one of his online programs. 

 

@vincent_vis

https://linktube.com/floorwork-academy/

Thanks Vincent for your time!

Episode #58: Marlo Fisken - Circles, Spirals and having fun with Failure

Marlo Fisken (@marlofisken) joins the Passive Hang podcast! Marlo is a movement teacher, an innovator in the field of pole and floorwork. She is currently in Virginia, USA. Marlo breaks beyond the stereotypical “seriousness” of movement practitioners. See any of her content and you’ll get a sense of what I mean - playful, sensual, provocative. It’s real, and there’s no way of describing other than… it’s Marlo.

What is it to really practice? An interesting point of our discussion revolved around - embodying a quality versus training the quality. For example, to be light and springy - versus training with a task to become light and springy, like skipping. Embodying the quality so that lightness and springy-ness is part of your character, part of your everyday movement, rather than just when doing the task. Are we trying to acquire lightness - or are we being light?

Marlo had to adapt during the pandemic rapidly - going from travelling the globe teaching workshops, to teaching only online. Marlo shares insight into how she structures classes both in person and online - and how she’s developed her pedagogical method. Other areas we cover is her perspective on fluidity in motion, momentum and weight transfer and her youthful movement plan. 

Oh yeah, one more thing - Marlo is the first guest to prompt us to actually get up and move, on the podcast. For a movement podcast approaching its 60th episode.. I think it was about time. 

Thanks Marlo for sharing her time and wonderful stories on the Passive Hang!

You can find her work via her website:

https://flowmovement.net

Episode #57: Soisci Porchetta - How to Teach Intuitively and Creatively

Soisci Porchetta on the Passive Hang ! (@soisci_human_patterns). Soisci is a movement teacher at @praksiscanberra, in a former life was a Muay Thai World Champion, and has studied closely with Ido Portal and Jozef Frucek. 

I met Soisci last year when I went up to @praksiscanberra. I took several classes she led - movement practice, handstand, longevity, and even had the pleasure of training alongside her during the Capoeira workshop. One of the moments that stood out from that trip was having a meal together with other students on a Friday night, after class. It was great to see that in this community, people were choosing on a Friday evening, to practise and hang out with each other. Most gyms down here in Melbourne don’t even have a Friday evening class, knowing that people prefer to go out to bars and restaurants. 

Soisci leads a class with gentle authority, where all types of tasks and movements are instructed. Each class I left feeling aware and energised, which is exactly what her movement practice class theme was at the time - “Energising, Imaginative, Presence”. Taking an intuitive approach, she leads the room with a sense of love, care and empowerment. In this episode I get to ask her about how she thinks about teaching, and how her own teaching style has developed. 

There’s a strong sense of “human first” approach - understanding that as students, the emotional and social contexts need to be considered, not just our biomechanical, physical capabilities. 

Soisci also shares her concept of “Lazy Man Training” and origins of her nickname, Puma. 

A great conversation. Thank you to @soisci_human_patterns for sharing her time with us!

https://www.humanpatterns.net

Episode #56: Aaron Martin - Soft Acrobatics

Aaron Martin (@aaronmartintin) on the podcast! Aaron is a Hong Kong based teacher and practitioner, a self proclaimed acrobatics nerd. “Soft” Acrobatics is a kind of new term I see describing this interesting mixture of contemporary dance, bboying, capoeira, tricking, circus, locomotion… It’s beautiful to watch, a movement style which mixes gentleness, superb control and grace into moves traditionally associated with power and punch. Aaron is a wonderful practitioner of the style, and runs the @softacrobatics page on Instagram. 

Aaron grew up in Frankfurt, Germany - becoming involved with the parkour community from a young age. From learning how to backflip on the side of a sand pit… to running his own movement studio in Hong Kong, he takes us on his journey. He shares the same curious, ever seeking spirit that I see a lot of the movement community to have. 

Aaron clearly thinks a lot about what he does, and how to explain that to the benefit for others. He takes us through some of the learning techniques he uses for new skills. The pyramid approach is a well explained and useful concept he introduces. 

For those looking to incorporate more soft acrobatic work into their practice - this one is a great listen!

Thanks to @aaronmartintin for sharing his knowledge with us on the Passive Hang.

@softacrobatics

#softacrobatics #acrobatics #locomotion #capoeira #bboy #parkour #movement #movementculture #bodyweightfitness

Episode #55: Dr. Damien Cooper - Spirit Plants and Peaceful Practices

Damien Cooper on the Passive Hang. @coopaloop_____ , founder of the Movement Improvement Clinic in Newcastle, Australia, and part of the team at The Movement Collective, all around legend. Damien is an osteopath and movement teacher and practitioner. 

Damien raises some powerful and interesting points in our conversation.

Are you at peace with your practice? Surrendering to the process, accepting where you are… and recognising when necessary to change. 

When you meet Damien in person, he sparks and spreads joy, and as we uncover his story, we can understand where this energy comes from. 

We also cover common movement nerd topics, such as the value of prehab, general preparedness, injury management, self efficacy and… spirit plants.

You can connect with him 

@coopaloop_____ 

https://www.micnewcastle.com

 

Thanks Damien!