The Passive Hang

The Passive Hang - Episode 44 - DJ Murakami - Expressions of Strength

Daniel Murakami, @strongcamps on the Passive Hang! Daniel is one of the minds behind @movementquestofficial and is known for the feats of strength he shares. A lot of his posts get me to wonder about norms that lie present in the fitness culture. When you see him push over a tree, or pick up a barbell in an awkward angle - powerfully and safely - it gets you to question. 

Daniel raises many interesting points of consideration in our chat - the most beautiful being the importance of intention in training, and how movement is an expression of intention, constraints and a task. Under this model there isn’t anything that may be “wrong” or “correct” - it’s all just a matter of perspective. It’s so difficult to see other’s perspective sometimes - especially when they may sound diametrically opposed to your own. Daniel leads by example, at the moment even studying under a system which he is highly skeptical about. Why? If it gets him to discover something new, reconsider something - it’s all worth it. 

In addition it was wonderful to discover more of the personal side of Daniel’s own story and practice, where the name “Strongcamps” came from, setbacks from injuries, and why he orientates towards strength training. Lots of laughs in this one, it’s great knowing that the humour isn’t just in the movement quest videos.

Check out Daniel’s own podcast, the Questcast on iTunes and Spotify. Otherwise via @strongcamps or @movementquestofficial, or www.danielmurakami.com

Episode out now on iTunes and Spotify. 

The Passive Hang - Episode 43 - Nil Teisner - Finding your own flow

“To get deeper in my practice, I had to let go of being a versatile all rounder… we don’t need all this strength… it’s nice to have, but we don’t need it."

Nil Teisner (@nilteisner) on the Passive Hang podcast this week! Nil is a multidisciplinary teacher covering physical skills, body preparation, and reflective practices. Nil has been catching my eye recently due to his work around “finding flow” - a concept from Mihaly Cikszentmihalyi - and manifested beautifully in Nil’s own practice - a mixture of acrobatics, dance, floorwork and more. 

So what does it mean to find flow? Cikzentmihalyi describes it as this state of complete absorption into the task at hand. I think this is what is so beautiful about movement practice - moving the body - you ARE your body - and that’s it. Nil is a guide - helping others finding YOUR flow - not others. Nil shares his journey across multiple practices, including - the practice of letting go - letting go of competency, strength, things that don’t serve you anymore - to let in the new. The generalist vs specialist discussion continues… but I can see how Nil has moved past this - we get to hear about how he structures his OWN practice - which I could feel he truly enjoys. 

Other topics we cover is preparation of the body; specific vs general strength development, the role of chaos and the emotive layer in practice; perception of risk and falling. Lots of great stuff.

You can find more of Nil’s work over @nilteisner or www.nilteisner.de

The Passive Hang - Episode 42 - Garrett Kuljian - The Supple Dragon

Garrett Kuljian (@gmoneymvmt), aka Gmoney aka The Supple Dragon aka Troy from Movement Quest joins us on the Passive Hang! Garrett is a practitioner, teacher and physical therapist in San Diego, California. 

Garrett is on the movement journey. I love seeing all the work he is putting into the practice day in, day out. This is a guy who is coming from nothing and becoming something - and it’s not coming easy. I was eager to get Garrett on the podcast because I could see that this was someone who is taking an intelligent approach to learning. Finding good teachers, surrounding himself with peers in the space, putting in the work. 

Garrett shares his story from collegiate stiff tin-man to now slightly malleable practitioner. With a strong focus on bodyweight strength and flexibility, Garrett shares some great insights for the up and coming enthusiast - what to look out for, mistakes and how to navigate our way through this landmine of false prophets. 

Practical information includes mobility tips and tricks, managing load and volume, injury management and assessment, and how to juggle different goals. 

Many thanks to Garrett for the chat! You can find him at @gmoneymvmt or www.gmoneymvmt.com 

The Passive Hang - Episode 41 - Joel Mullen - A Teacher who Moves People

Joel Mullen (@move_or_be_moved) join us on the Passive Hang! Joel is the head strength coach at Movement Co, a massive facility in Perth, Australia. Joel describes himself simply as a personal trainer - but his experience and knowledge suggests a lot lot more.

Joel is a straight talker, no BS here, and we start off with the challenges of navigating the modern day movement scene, before jumping into a basic principled approach for developing strength and strength programming. We touch on some fiery topics such as training strength for transferability, and also the whole bodyweight strength vs barbell method thing. 

Joel has spent a lot of time thinking about how to communicate and help people with outcomes. We dig into his process of how to motivate someone, and the hard question - how does one become a good teacher? His thoughts are useful for a lot of other teachers out there - how do we help people help themselves.

 

You can find him over at @move_or_be_moved. 

The Passive Hang - Episode 40 - Farid Herrera - Skills, Sequences and Stories

Farid Herrera (@farid_herrera) on the Passive Hang! Farid is a movement teacher in the UK, and an absolute ninja on the ‘gram. Farid’s own practice is broad and varied - incorporating all types of ground movement, parkour, soft acrobatics and more. There is a clinical type of precision present in his movement quality which is really attractive to the eye and what got me following his work initially. 

We cover the backstory - from his days in trying to break into the school gym, performing parkour on the school’s roof… to performing in the Twilight premiere. Knowing this, watching Farid’s content seems to make more sense - the precision, the beautiful sequences. Although a previous performer, Farid is now a committed teacher, sharing all that he has learnt into his own unique style. 

Farid shares his thoughts on training, his own practice, core attribute and movement development - particularly power, the modern movement culture and how he thinks about flows and sequencing. 

I highly recommend checking out Farid’s work - @farid_herrera or on YouTube, he even has an app and also courses via his website www.faridherrera.com 

All the options for all the people to get a taste of his brilliance!

The Passive Hang - Episode 39 - Conor Wild - Softness and Creative Sequencing

Mr Conor Wild (@mrconorwild) on the podcast ! Conor is a teacher, acrobat and circus performer from the UK, but currently resides in Tasmania, Australia. 

In this episode we cover in depth an approach to creative sequencing - something really relevant to those practising floor work, locomotion, acrobatics. Conor has a really easy going way of explaining things clearly and practically - lots of gold here. You will get that feeling on his Instagram as Conor breaks down complex movements on his Instagram via 10s reels - that make sense. 

Conor is a big advocate for exploring softness and longevity in practice - which most people may not think when seeing explosive, dynamic acrobatic movements. What is softness? We go through the distinction of softness as a quality and feeling vs as a visual attribute. I always hear the term “soft acrobatics” so it was good to get perspective on how to approach practising this.

Other topics are how to approach self directed learning for physical skills, building capacity for acrobatics and even… his steps for a helicoptero. Boom!

Thanks Conor for jumping on the podcast.

Interested in talking about this episode? Jump on the Active Hang forum - there’s a podcast discussion space. www.thepassivehang.com 

The Passive Hang - Episode 38 - Flynn Disney - Parkour and First Principles

Mega episode here! Flynn Disney (@flynndisney) jumps on the Passive Hang and shares his perspective on the practice of parkour. Flynn is a teacher of parkour and movement, with a strong focus on the somatic perspective. Flynn has an extraordinary ability to link parkour with established principles of neuroscience and emotion, whilst also proposing his own first principles approach to the practice. 

I came across Flynn with a high recommendation from 2 previous guests I’ve had on - Will Brown (@wbrown7) and Jack White (@attuned.space). He didn’t disappoint! In this episode we cover the relationship between intensity and sensitivity, risk management through technical skill development and attuning to bodily signals, progressive overload in an emotive context, variation versus variability and much more…

For the movement enthusiast who is exploring parkour or related environmental practices, Flynn shares some good pointers on what to focus on in the beginning of the journey. Highly relevant for myself as I start to play with rail balancing and precision jumps. 

He currently leads an online exploration group which is a practical, experiential way for practitioners to explore the principles he shares on the podcast episode. Highly recommended to check out his website www.flynndisney.com for more information. 

You can also get in touch with Flynn at @flynndisney

The Passive Hang - Episode 37 - Zack Finer - Lead Ape

Zack Finer (@z.finest.fridge) on the Passive Hang! Zack is Co-Owner and Teacher at Ape Co, a movement school in both Denver (@apeco_denver) and Boulder (@apeco_boulder), Colorado in the USA. I was super excited to get Zack on as he is a long time Ido Portal student and is now growing a thriving community - sharing movement in an exciting way.

Zack kindly shares his experience with finding Ido, how his training has evolved and developed over the years, how he approaches guiding students and thoughts on developing a mindset of practice. One thing that I really enjoyed was that there was no mysticism here - Zack has just put in a lot of hard work to learning - whether it be a 1 arm handstand or juggling a soccer ball 100 times. 

He talks a lot about the development of non-physical qualities from the practice -  attention to detail, pursuit of excellence, patience, commitment. It’s these type of qualities which I find transformative to the self over time - instilling a belief that even though you may suck at something, after dedicated practice… you can achieve things that other people may look on in wonder. This is what I see as the exciting potential of the culture - and it’s inspiring now to see dedicated movement schools(!) being built. 

You can find Zack at @z.finest.fridge or over at Ape Co (@apeco_denver, @apeco_boulder)

The Passive Hang - Episode 36 - Iesu Escalante - Identity in Motion

Iesu Escalante (@iesu_escalante) joins the Passive Hang! Iesu is a teacher and performer, who resides in Paris and is currently working with the National Circus Centre over there. Iesu has trained in Chinese Martial arts from as long as he can remember, and has studied various other disciplines over the years. He is now devoted to teaching his work via “The Shifting Project”. 

The first thing that jumped out to me when talking with Iesu was his passion. This is something with a huge amount of living energy. When you first go to his page you’ll see all sorts of dynamic acrobatic skills - and when Iesu talks - it is a similar energy - dynamic, vibrant, exuberant. 

Iesu takes us through his interesting background - being raised in a Kungfu family in Mexico, to then living as a young adult in China, studying in the Shaolin monasteries, to then travelling across to Europe to join the Circus school. 

Iesu is developing a unique view to practice - with his main teaching called “The Shifting Project”. This project is designed to help enable an individual to connect with their identity, and foster independence in thought and in ways of moving. The main principles he uses are Lifting and Sinking, and the art of change - not being stuck to a single shape or form - but being able to shift between them. In the podcast he talks about the development of these principles and some practical applications. Very cool!

You can find him and connect with Iesu on Instagram via @iesu_escalante. 

The Passive Hang - Episode 35 - Glenn Robson - The Domestic Cat

Glenn Robson (@glennrobson_) back on the Passive Hang! Glenn joined us previously as part of the Aspen Coaching (@aspencoaching) crew back in Episode 24, and now jumps on for a solo episode. Glenn runs Aspen Coaching with his wife Emma (@emma_louise_robson) and Paul Twyman (@pault8_upsidedown). Glenn has previously trained with the Ido Portal Method and is currently studying with Fighting Monkey. 

Part of the attraction of going deeper into a physical practice is the opportunity for self transformation. Glenn shares his story of how the practice has helped him realise self destructive behaviours and re-orient himself according to more truthful values. Apart from all the cool tricks and handstands you may see on Instagram, I think it is this element which keeps a lot of us in the game. We feel something, we search for a meaning, an understanding. We can sense that in our practice, we can uncover deep truths about ourself. In transforming ourselves, we can transform our world. Glenn openly shares his struggles and realisations through the years. 

Glenn sits at an intersection, having experience through many modern day phenomenons - crossfit, Ido, Fighting Monkey. How does this all come together in his teaching? Does he throw people into the fire? or does he step them through a more graduated process? We discuss some interesting case examples of how he applies the different methodologies. 

A great one from someone who has experience with it all, and is applying it to many different people. Many thanks to Glenn for jumping on.