The Passive Hang

Episode #54: Aaron Griffiths, Rd 2 - Loco about Loco

@agrifforama, Aaron Griffiths, back on the podcast for Round 2- Loco about Loco!

Aaron and I share a mutual love, being the art of “locomotion” - basically - a practice exploring how one can move along the ground and in space. Its roots are from Capoeira, but it’s an open container where anything goes - rolling, inverting, flipping, crawling, dancing - using whatever body part as support. We talk about our approaches to learning this topic.

Aaron has recently released an awesome new course - which breaks down how you can get started with Locomotion. There aren’t many formal resources on this topic so it’s great to have this available. 

We also catch up on the recent changes in Aaron’s life, making an online course, the challenges associated with movement practice, overcoming a Jiujitsu injury and… building a swamp jungle gym (literally). 

Thanks to @agrifforama for rejoining us on the Passive Hang.

For all listeners interested, use code AARON20 for a discount on the Locomotion course - available at https://www.aarongriffiths.com.au

Episode #53: Jacob "Krazy Kujo" Lyons - Footless Footwork

Jacob “Krazy Kujo” Lyons (@krazykujo) comes onto the Passive Hang! Jacob, better known as Krazy Kujo, has been a stalwart in the breakdancing scene since the 90s. Jacob initially caught my eye due to his unique mix of practices - on his Instagram page you can see him pulling 280kg on a sumo deadlift, and then busting out all sorts of crazy footwork with a breakdance in between sets. Doing my research, I find that he has run his own dance theatre company, performed in the circus, showing tremendous generalist physical ability. I then find him on the Run DMC “it’s like that” video and I decide… I gotta talk to this guy. 

Despite having reduced hearing ability, Jacob overcame this with his own unique style of breaking, building extreme upper body strength to create “footless footwork”. We go in depth on learning techniques he used to learn breakdancing in a pre-internet age. 

Krazy Kujo has been breaking since 1992… and is still continuing. We cover his approach to longevity within practice, with topics such as structural balance. 

This conversation is a great reminder to find individuality within our own physicality. What might be weird, unusual at the time… may end up transcending the culture. Find your own way of moving.

Thanks to Jacob for joining us on the Passive Hang! 

 @krazykujo

Episode #52: Lewie West - Full Body Acrobat

The man, the myth, the legend - Lewie West! (@lewie.west) on the Passive Hang. Lewie is a generalist acrobat who has been performing around the world for the past 12 years, now settled in Tasmania, Australia. 

We learn his approach to acrobatic movement - creating options, utilising the whole body (not just feet and hands!), floor surfaces, falling, mental preparation, creative inspiration and sequencing, skill acquisition. 

Yep, it’s a great conversation.

Lewie is now stepping into a new phase in his life - becoming a father, and teaching. Very excited to see this develop. Thanks Lewie for sharing your insights and time.

Check out his work @lewie.west or YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/LewieWest/videos

Episode #51: Tanner Walker, Hybrid Movement Practice - Exploring the Uncertainties

Tanner Walker (@tannerwalker_hmp) joins us for Episode 51 of the Passive Hang! Tanner is a movement practitioner and coach from Seattle on the west coast of America. He runs Hybrid Movement Practice and teaches in person at the Fremont Gymnasium, a movement group in Mercer Island, and teaches online. 

Tanner is the real deal. He opens up about his transformation in trusting himself, trusting his body, rediscovering physical enjoyment, after his dreams of becoming a pro baseball player left him desiring no physical pursuits. From dishwashing to Maui, we hear how he cultivated an appreciation of practice and started his movement journey.

We go deep into how he is guiding his own self practice, and search for truth. We talk at length about his recent discovery of @dougbrignole ’s work within the physics of resistance exercise. Recommended to check out the mentioned Doug Brignole’s podcast on the Power Project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VdX59JGEgQ

Why are we attached to some exercises? Can we utilise isolations of target musculature from a biomechanical perspective to supercharge strength development? 

 

Find Tanner @tannerwalker_hmp or at http://hybridmovementpractice.com

Many thanks to Tanner for joining the Passive Hang. Yew!

Episode #50: Ryan Hurst, GMB Fitness - The One Thing

Episode 50 with Ryan Hurst @ryhurst, one of the founders of Gold Medal Bodies (GMB) fitness @gmbfitness. 

I met Ryan 2 years ago when I was back travelling around on my bicycle in Japan. At the time, I was wandering, searching for inspiration. I had found this movement thing and was looking to connect with others - except in Japan, no one seemed to know what that was. At the time I was learning a lot from the Gold Medal Bodies website… and to my surprise, I found out that Ryan resides in Osaka, Japan - where I was planning to go! We met up for coffee and I was inspired by the way Ryan had designed his life, and the commitment of generosity he had to sharing his teachings and ideas. GMB has a whole vault of valuable guides and blog posts on their website, available for free. 

I’ve seen GMB fitness now explode all over the internet, helping tons of people discover a better way to train and practice. 

It was a great pleasure to connect with Ryan once again for Episode 50. 

He shares deep insight into how he approaches intuitive practice. Ryan’s orientation is longevity - and he explains how he intelligently adapts his practice to support that goal. 

Ryan is a father, he runs a company, hikes mountains, trains - how does he manage all this? By focusing on “the one thing”.  The one thing that really matters in each area of his life. With focused intentional energy you can achieve great things. 

Taking that thought into movement, when the subject is so broad, it’s tempting to pick a million things. But what’s the one thing you should be working on right now?

Thanks to Ryan for this conversation. @ryhurst

Episode #49: One Year of the Passive Hang - an update from the Host

It’s been a year since the Passive Hang launched it’s first episode. The first episode was a solo episode, and episode 49 is an update from the host. Sharing reflections of my movement journey, and of the Passive Hang. 

 

It’s a special time for me at the moment - I have just finished with my teacher, @tejovra. 

 

I’ve been learning from him for 2 years. During this time my physicality has transformed from a state of fragility to a state of confidence and play.

 

@tejovra guided me skilfully through generalist strength and mobility development, improved my handstand from 20s to 60s, handstand pushup, straddle press, 10 muscle ups…. sprinting… ballet squats…

 

But this is nothing compared to the powerful lessons and experiences he facilitated -

• I couldn’t do any vertical pulling without pain - to being able to one arm active hang. 
• I had constant upper trap tension in my neck - to where my neck actually feels supple. 
• I basically couldn’t spread my legs at all and this caused inside knee pain on my right side - to being able to train middle splits without dying. 

 

I have read all about “movement approaches” to injury rehabilitation… but it’s one thing reading about it and another thing actually trusting in a process and doing it and seeing that it can work. Despite these issues which would have stopped me from training before, we approached this in an intelligent way - working with and through the injuries - until when the pain subsided and I came out actually stronger than before. 

 

@tejovra showed me what actual quality training is… before I thought I was training but with no eye for detail. I had to go all the way back to the start (doing pushups on my knees!!), remove my ego and rebuild better movement patterns.

 

In this episode I share 4 key learnings from my time with @tejovra.

1. High quality basics … are key. 
2. Generalist strength and mobility training sets you up for complexity.
3. What may work for you, may not work for somebody else
4. Learn from other perspectives 

 

Reflecting on a year with the Passive Hang, I recommend 4 previous episodes which continue to resonate with me and influence my practice -

1. Episode 30 - Jozef Frucek from @fightingmonkey_rootlessroot - on the importance of regulating Energy 
2. Episode 21 - @harryowilliams - basically gives a handstand sermon from the gods
3. Episode 27 - Scott White - a practical guide to injury management
4. Episode 39 - @mrconorwild - deep insights into creative sequencing 

 

Otherwise Episode 12 and 19 with @thomashughemerson from @praksiscanberra. @thomashughemerson is my current teacher :)

 

Episode 50 to come very soon - ! 

If you have any requests of guests you’d love me to feature, send me a DM with the recommendation - either on thepassivehang.com or Instagram @phaonp

 

Thanks to everybody listening for supporting the Passive Hang. 

The Passive Hang - Episode 48 - Bilal Zeine and Ben Byfield - Gains in the Ghetto Reflections

Special podcast episode! A follow up to the vlog released last week, I have Bilal Zeine (@bilalzeine) and Ben Byfield (@meditativemonkey) as co-hosts to chat about our experience going to Gains in the Ghetto, a movement and handbalancing workshop at Ghetto Movement, Wollongong Australia - featuring teachers Harry Williams, Lewis Yost and Seline.

 

Bilal and I travelled up from Melbourne together, and I got to reunite with Ben after a previous trip earlier in the year to Praksis, Canberra. 

 

In this chat we reflect on our experience and on the main messages which resonated with us from the workshop. 

The Passive Hang - Episode 47 - Andres Vesga - From Fitness to a Movement Practice

Andres Vesga (@andresvesga) joins us on the Passive Hang! Andres leads the @hkmovementpractice group. He is an Ido Mentorship student residing in Hong Kong. Andres is originally from Colombia, and shares his story of crossing continents, crossing physical cultures, and finding movement practice. 

Trust the teacher, trust the process. The message which resonated with me the most from our chat - Andres has been with Ido for 8+ years, and is still excited to discover more. Instead of having a thousand books on the bookshelf, having only read a page each, it’s the approach of studying and practising one book with depth. Even though there are many teachers, finding your great teacher is challenging. Appreciate the gift and commit. 

Andres also shares the formation of the @hkmovementpractice group and how he likes to run it. Valuable insights for those who share the practice with others in a group format. 

 

The Passive Hang - Episode 46 - David Tilston - War, Spirals and Handbalancing

David Tilston (@david.tilston) - joins us for Episode 46 of the Passive Hang! David is a movement practitioner and teacher from the south of the UK. David used to be a Royal Marine and has served in Afghanistan. He shares his journey from the early days of soccer, to joining the service and now - to movement training. 

This was a wonderful chat which started off discovering what it was like to be on the front lines of the war, to the physical training in the military, before jumping over to his study of the movement principle based martial arts - Filipino Kyusho, and exploring application of the principles he’s discovered there with other pursuits - such as handbalancing. 

This is one to the unique studies of movement practice - the investigation of the similarities and differences of applying learnings from one field onto another. David has jumped between many fields - from cycling to yoga to warfare - and it was a treat to hear how he has combined those experiential learnings into his practice and teaching. 

You can check him out at @david.tilston and www.davidtilstonmovement.com

 

The Passive Hang - Episode 45 - Kenan Dinkelmann - The Dance of Life

Kenan Dinkelmann (@kenandinkelmann) joins us on the Passive Hang podcast! Kenan is a dancer, mover, performer and teacher who lives in Berlin, Germany. Lately Kenan has been sharing a lot more online recently - releasing two online courses around the concept of “Flow Acrobatics”. 

We get into what this means - flow, and acrobatics, falling, connecting movements… and learning how to become soft and expressive. When you go onto Kenan’s page you see him embodying all of these in every sequence he shares - masterful, showing a life’s work. It was lovely to hear the backstory behind him, and how he got into contemporary dance. 

I highly recommend you guys check out his work. Thank you Kenan for the chat! 

@kenandinkelmann

https://flowacrobatics.com