“As national money is in short supply, Summit County businesses, and individuals are taking action as a community. A voluntary co-operative is being organized as a network for a local, organic barter currency. There is no cost to anyone for this system.” This announcement was made in March 2012 – in September there are over 70 businesses in Breckenridge that joined the network and accept the Mtn Hours currency. Now it’s coming to Denver.

During the Great Depression there were thousands of local, organic currency systems created because the national money was in short supply. That has occurred again today as there are record foreclosures, and bankruptcies in the US, and internationally. While Wall St may be getting bailed out, Main St. is struggling with a shortage of currency. If currency does not flow, then the local economy is sluggish, and stops.

What are the benefits of the “organic” Hour money?

1. Main St. needs more money. Many people don’t have enough to pay their bills.

2. Hour money listens as it is issued by the people for their benefit.

3. Hour money stays in our community and does not take wealth away from us.

4. Hour money is debt and interest free, so it is sustainable and not subject to compounding debt which causes scarcity, foreclosure, and bankruptcy.

5. Hour money fails at the multi-national Big Box stores by design. By using our money we practice stewardship of our community, our independence, and our neighbors. Colorado is one of the most beautiful places on the planet with unique history, character, and charm. Hour money is a staunch line of defense to keep it that way.

How can businesses get involved?

When you agree to accept Hour Currency in your business, we issue you 20 Hours ($200) every 3 months that you can immediately start spending into the community. The amount to be issued occasionally changes to balance with the amount of currency in circulation with relation to the goods and services offered. Typically, 5 Hours are issued for local businesses which agree to accept Hours in return. Each local independent business that signs up will get 20 Hours for each 3 months that they remain a member. The more local businesses that except Hours, the more valuable the money becomes. Additionally, currency must flow. The more places it flows the stronger our economic circuit becomes.

Other ways to acquire Hours:

Ask for Hours as change when shopping at stores that accept them
Exchange your federal dollars for Hours from an trader who has an excess supply
Accept them in payment for your labor or goods.
Ask your employer to consider accepting Hours by agreeing to accept Hours as a percentage of your regular pay.

If you are a business owner and want to sign up to accept the Hour Currency please contact us through hours@peace-kidz.com.

Below Joby Weeks gets national TV attention for mtnHours.

Today there are dozens of organic money systems in the US which are entirely legal. For example Durango, CO has Durango Dollars which is issued by the local chamber of commerce. Different towns have different systems as to how the value of the money is calculated. Taxes are to be paid on all transactions which would occur with national money. An Hour is equal to $10. Hours has four denominations:

1/10 Hr = $1 • 1/2 Hr = $5 • 1 Hr = $10 • 2 Hrs = $20

Hours is denominated in time as this is a universally known measure. “Time is Money” and it is backed up by our labor. Unskilled labor typically will make about 1 Hour for an hour worked. Semi-skilled, and highly skilled will earn as much as two parties agree on just as they do now. Obviously, a doctor or any brick and mortar business will have much more training, and overhead to cover.

Mile High Hours denominations front

Mile High Hours denominations back

Before money existed societies bartered their time, services, and products. The People could get what they needed by trading. Money was invented to make these transactions much easier. View mtnHours as barter receipts. Imagine we have 20 local businesses which all agree to accept Hours as money. Each business would be given $40 equivalent in Hours. $800 in Hours was equally distributed among each business in the co-operative without cost.

Now, the currency begins to flow and as each local business accepts Hours. People get what they need without the national currency(Federal Reserve Notes). After all, the Fed is just a private company just like Federal Express. We have just as much a right to create money as the Federal Reserve. Of course we will need FRN’s for products which originate outside the county, and to pay bank debts, and most utilities. However, over time Hours will become more widely accepted. Hours is a complimentary currency which helps the overall system function with more fluidity.

For example, in Ithaca, NY the local credit union borrowed $30k equivalent from the currency co-operative. That’s right. The bank borrowed money from the People without interest for a building expansion. The contractors who bid on the work were required to accept Hours for a portion of there work. Not a problem for the contractors as Hours are accepted all over town. Ithaca, NY has been doing this for 20 years, and Hours is modeled after their very successful system.

Here’s a quick history of organic money from the Great Depression.

More links: MtnHours.com, MileHighHours.com, IthacaHours.com

The post New Money – Mile High Hours, A Community Based Alternative Currency System appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

12►

Michael Fink, to most people better known by his artist name ‘Wilby’, lives on the Big Island of Hawaii, together with his wife and two sons. His predominant color was blue before moving there. Now it is way into the red spectrum. Living on an active volcano with the mesmerizing lava flow must be the reason.

Here is what Michael reveals about his methods: Currently I am doing a technique I call “Reflectives”. I use reflective shapes to bend pic mapped patterns I make and place onto the ground plane, and or sky plane. The technique is very random. I don’t know what I will have when beginning the image. It’s always a surprise. Simply put, I create shapes and place them, arrange them, change their size and shape, position, and look at them from many different angles until I see something wow. Then I work with it to see if I can improve it. Most times I can. In MY view of course. I often place a mirror in the middle of the Bryce space. I like the balancing effect it has. People ask for a tutorial, but because it’s not a strict formula I can only give tips on settings. On your reflective shapes, turn off Specularity, Diffusion and Ambience for best reflectivity. Use high resolution pic maps. Keep haze height low. I don’t mind helping those who ask. But! I will say this technique is not for those who are in a hurry. Some of my images took 3 weeks of manipulations to get the final look.
 
Artist website: http://wilbysart.com/

The post The Visionary Art Of Michael Fink appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

Look at this school supply list!!! Where to fit all this stuff?

Aaaaarrrgh! It’s always the same, one looks forward to something for the better part of the year – like Christmas for example – and when the time is finally there, you blink, and it’s all over. The summer break is not any different. Remember the last day of school? The happiness, the relief, and this exciting feeling to have the whole summer in front of you? Well, that seemed to have happened only a few days ago, but the ugly truth is: next months the alarm clock starts ringing again early in the morning and we’re back in the old grind …anticipating next year’s summer break…

Worst thing is, this years school supply list looks like it requires a forklift rather than a tote. Seriously, who’s gonna carry all this stuff? Well, you know the answer to this already…

But, no worries, we got you covered. Our line of eco-friendly backpacks and totes from Instinctive is designed to carry all your gear in style, organized, and sustainably. Using industrial design knowledge, Instinctive works to integrate responsible production and disposal methods with a casual life-style. The goal of each new generation of Instinctive bags is to make a more sustainable bag in an effort to support the global community.

The latest outburst of extreme weather patterns across the United States gave us a quick and deadly reminder again how urgent it is to keep our planet in mind, and companies like Instinctive make it easy for us to do our part.

INHABITANT PACK

$54.99

AVAILABLE COLORS: Teal Panda

FEATURES:

3 large compartments
Padded laptop sleeve (fits most 15″ laptops)
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder straps
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YKK Zippers – premium quality
100% recycled 600 D Polyester, hardware and webbing
Rubberized NON toxic and waterproof coating on underside of body fabric
Dimensions 16in (h) x 12in (w) x 8in (d)

APPROACHING PACK

$44.99

AVAILABLE COLORS: Sketchy Camo, Bamplaidboo

FEATURES:

2 large compartments
Padded laptop sleeve (fits most 15″ laptops)
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder straps
Removable cell phone pocket
Side cargo pockets
Organizer
Reinforced base panel for durability
YKK Zippers – premium quality
100% recycled 600 D Polyester, hardware and webbing
Rubberized NON toxic and waterproof coating on underside of body fabric
Dimensions 18in (h) x 13in (w) x 7.5in (d)

BAMBOO MESSENGER

$44.99

AVAILABLE COLORS: Sketchy Camo, Bamplaidboo, Teal Panda

FEATURES:

Large main compartments
Padded laptop sleeve (fits most 15″ laptops)
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder strap pad
Quick access front pocket
Organizer / slide pockets
Reinforced base panel for durability
YKK Zippers – premium quality
100% recycled 600 D Polyester, hardware and webbing
Rubberized NON toxic and waterproof coating on underside of body fabric
Dimensions 12in (h) x 18in (w) x 5.5in (d)

TRUNK PACK

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AVAILABLE COLORS: Teal Panda

FEATURES:

Large main compartment
Quick access front zip pocket
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder straps
YKK Zippers – premium quality
100% recycled 600 D Polyester, hardware and webbing
Rubberized NON toxic and waterproof coating on underside of body fabric
Dimensions 12in (h) x 10in (w) x 5in (d)

DIAPER PACK

$54.99

AVAILABLE COLORS: Bamplaidboo

FEATURES:

Removable padded changing mat
Internal baby accessory pocketing
Quick access, insulated bottle pockets
2 large compartments
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder straps
Side cargo pockets
Parent’s organizer
Reinforced base panel for durability
YKK Zippers – premium quality
100% recycled 600 D Polyester, hardware and webbing
Rubberized NON toxic and waterproof coating on underside of body fabric
Dimensions 17in (h) x 11.5 in (w) x 7in (d)

TOTE

$15.99

AVAILABLE COLORS: Bamplaidboo, Teal Panda

FEATURES:

Large main compartment
3 internal pockets
Front pocket (deep enough for a water bottle)
100% recycled 600 D Polyester, hardware and webbing
Rubberized NON toxic and waterproof coating on underside of body fabric
Dimensions 16in (h) x 11in (w) x 3.5in (d)

The post Get Your Eco Friendly Back-To-School Backpacks! appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

Any kids with ambitious demands for their birthday gifts have a few more items to add to their wishlist. German water play company Wibit is taking inflatable water toys to a whole new level by offering systems of modular water park elements, which can be arranged in different ways every time the play park is set up.

Wibit’s flagship model, the Sports Park 60, features fun modules like a curved bridge, a cliff, a slide, a mini-pond, long jump and high jump areas, a trampoline, a swing, a free floating catapult, an “action tower”, a ramp, a balance beam and more. If assembled in sequence, the humongous inflatable structure measures around 130′ by 105′. Impatient kids need to wait three hours for the three electric pumps to inflate their new birthday gift.

Wibit offers smaller setups as well and they all look like a blast, but for those who can afford to go all the way out Water Park 60 is the ultimate water fun package. It’s high grade quality allows for commercial use like festivals or challenging sport competitions. Pricing is not available at this point, but I’m sure it’s nothing that a second mortgage on your crib won’t take care of.

Wibit Water Park 60

Wibit Aqua Track

The post All I Want As A Birthday Gift Is My Own Water Park appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

Here in part 2, as promised, we first visit the undisputed parkour authority in Colorado, the APEX Movement, which extended their presence already to 3 locations within the state. And after that, like it or not, we look a bit into the dreaded competing vs. not issue in freerunning, and see if we can come to a convincing verdict.

We probably all know the kind of businesses that hop a ride onto something trendy to make a quick buck, but they are lacking passion and competence, and as a result they disappear as quickly as they popped up on the scene. Well, if there’s someone NOT falling into this category, it is the APEX Movement. On their homepage it reads: Home to the very first parkour classes in the Western Hemisphere. These cats have been spearheading the movement here in the U.S. for years and thanks to their early involvement with the arts of freerunning Apex is now a very important player in the North American parkour community.

Amos Rendao

When anyone mentions Colorado, there are most likely a lot of other activities that come to mind before thinking of parkour: skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, and mountain biking are just a few of them. Because of our attractive geography recreational activities are very outdoor oriented. When you have the great Rockies as your playground, why would you be jumping over urban rooftops? So, at first it comes a bit as a surprise that a freerunning gym is flourishing in a location like Boulder, but on second thought, the mentality and philosophy of parkour should very much resonate with the locals. After all, freedom is cherished and everything natural is highly appreciated and valued here in the mountain state, so it’s only logical that a lot of Coloradans get a grasp on the true purpose and potential of freerunning.

The skill level of the trainers and traceurs/traceuses at APEX is impressing. Amos Rendao, co-owner and head instructor comes from a martial arts background and got involved with Colorado Parkour 5 years ago. Since then his accomplishments have been recognized by Jump magazine, he got recruited as stuntman for local movie productions, and he represented APEX in national parkour competitions. In this recent video the boys and girl of “A-Team” show off their talents.

APEX Movement’s classes are not restricted exclusively to parkour, but they focus on natural, functional movement. Fluid and efficient movement is a lost art that most of us should choose to relearn. Our resemblance to primates is obvious to a 3 year old, but we just surrender to the fact that, compared to our furry relatives, we possess the agility of a brick wall. We’re missing out on so much by not taking advantage of our true potential. Science tells us that we use only 10% of our brain capacity, and I tend to believe that the average person uses even less than 10% of their physical capacity. There’s something seriously outta whack with us. Our generation, I mean everybody walking the face of our planet right now, has ONE important task to fulfill. And that is to completely rethink life. We need to step back and analyze our values, our beliefs, and especially who we put in charge to make important decisions. The machine is just not working anymore because we successfully maneuvered ourselves into a dead end. System failure – please empty cache and hit restart button in order to continue. And as painful this might seem for some of us at first, but rebooting society and installing a new operating system that’s based more on true enjoyment of life rather than the short lived thrills of acquiring gadgets will be soooo liberating.

FREErunning teaches us to move creatively, and that step is so important because it puts a new spin on something so basic that nobody even thought of changing it. We thought we figured it out a long time ago, and are proud that we managed to take the evolutionary step to walk upright. Awesome. Strut around in a tight suit and uncomfortable shoes – check. Now it’s time to stop being so well behaved and to get back on all fours once in a while.

That all being said, APEX Movement is a good place to explore our inner monkey and to make use of all the muscles and joints we have at our disposal. Here’s the link once again, so hit ‘em up when you’re in the area and schedule a class or two.

The question whether official parkour competitions are desirable has been debated so many times that ‘veteran’ traceurs start barfing when the topic comes up. I personally have been in favor of no competition for years, mostly because I wanted to see parkour free of control by corporate sponsors and fame/money driven neglect of core parkour values. Obviously this viewpoint is shared by many members of the PK community, like this manifesto proves that I found on ParkourPedia:

The members of this community stand firmly against the idea of organized parkour competition. Our reasons:

1. We don’t believe in elites.
We don’t believe in any form of selection among practitioners.
We don’t believe in the necessity of any form of hierarchy of performance among practitioners.
We believe to be “the best” doesn’t mean anything in parkour, because winning or losing don’t mean anything in parkour philosophy.
We do not accept such a drive as part of the parkour philosophy.

Instead, we believe the drive to train should always and only come from within.
We strive to be stronger for ourselves and others, not against people, but with and for others.
Therefore, we reject and disregard any form of rivalry between practitioners.
Instead, we value mutual respect and solidarity in making progress as individuals and as a community.

The text goes on and for those interested in reading the whole spiel, just follow this link.

This sounds all really plausible, but how boring would life be if decision making was easy? I find the following take on the subject very interesting and it caused me to revisit my standpoint. The first few paragraphs are written by Amos Rendao of APEX Movement Boulder and the text in its entirety can be read here.

I am sure there are going to be plenty of competition nay-sayers out there that will despise this idea, but it seems to me that obstacle course competition can be a great way to train for real life emergency situations.

This is not a perfect analogy, but there are some themes that cross over rather well:
Trying to stay focused and calm amidst pressure and adrenaline is an important skill. No matter how talented you are with movement, if you freak out and can’t stay focused, you’re bound to make crucial mistakes, and that baby in the window of a burning building is going to be reasonably disappointed.

Adapting to mistakes and unforeseen outcomes is also a neglected skill during casual training. In my experience, most people don’t make it a point to finish out a line, and even more often, usually only train one technique at a time. If they’re training a line, you’ll see them slip up on the third movement, and then stop and think about what happened or go back and start at the beginning. In contrast, when the clock is ticking and there’s no turning back on an obstacle course or emergency situation, one must deal on the spot with mistakes and unforeseen outcomes.

Dr. Kenneth Kao, D.C. is also a trainer at APEX and he also wrote a piece on competing from a doctor’s perspective. This whole article can be found here.

Competition in Parkour – A Doctor’s Perspective

Humans have a primal nervous system called the sympathetic nervous system. You’ve probably heard of it described as “Fight or Flight.” This system is devoted to survival. Adrenaline, reaction time, freak out I-gotta-get-outa-here mode are all SNS related. Much of parkour, facing your fears, is a SNS response.

Competition is a sympathetic response.

Uh oh, you’re thinking, here he goes trying to say that anything sympathetic is good. But wait! I’m not saying that because it’s sympathetic we should compete. Otherwise, I’d be advocating axe murderers chasing traceurs down. I’m just saying that competition is so extremely fight or flight that it is seconded only by actual injury, risk of death, and dying.

Huh?

Yeah. Competition is the safest way to push our sympathetic nervous systems into over-gear. Competition is a capsule that adds rules to “warfare” in order to preserve longevity of performance. What I am saying, dear reader, is that competition is as close to natural sympathetic survival instincts as we can make it. Without death games, that is.

Is it overkill to practice recreational activities with real life situations in mind? Maybe not when playing ping pong or frisbee golf, but when we really see parkour as a way of life and keep up the urban ninja metaphor, it couldn’t hurt to put those hard earned and extraordinary freerunning skills to work if needed.

I would love to hear your thoughts and input on this topic. Not that we are in a position to have the final word in deciding if there will be parkour competitions or not. Unfortunately companies like Redbull just bully their way through the door by waving around a wad o’ cash and the verdict is spoken. Everything underground that’s worth a flying hoot eventually goes mainstream – hip hop and dubstep are the best examples. It’s just a matter of time until commercial exploitation and bastardized, watered down versions of the original will keep the short attention spanned minds of the masses entertained. But the same way that the true essence of subcultures like hip hop and street art has influenced mainstream consumers in a positive way, commercialization of parkour will do too. The people who need and want to hear the message will listen and they will get it, and the more people who get it, the better for the much needed evolutionary shift.

So what’s the conclusion? By writing this article it occurred to me that deciding either pro or against competing will go against the fundamental values of parkour. Those values are based on the freedom of the individual and any kind of restrictions would contradict the whole idea and make it less credible. If we want to walk the walk on freedom issues we need to go all the way, no exceptions, no hypocrisy, no double standards. Once e get this, we’re ready for the next level…

The post Urban Ninjas – The Zen Of Parkour Part 2 appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

After it served its Olympic purpose, city officials decided to make use of the amazing structure and had it transformed into a futuristic, 118,000 sq.ft. water adventure playground. Originally designed by Australian firm PTW Architects and Arup, the former hi-tec sporting arena received a major makeover from Toronto-based theme and water park design company Forrec, and re-opened on August 8th 2010 after a year of renovations. Since then Happy Magic Watercube Waterpark became the second most visited destination in Beijing for recreational purposes, after the Great Wall, and can proudly call itself Asia’s largest indoor water park.

We have to give big props to Forrec’s creative team. Their conceptual use of vibrant colors, which receive a natural enhancement through sunlight coming through the bubbly facade by day and a shimmering glow effect when the park is illuminated by night, is a perfect example of how to bring out the inner child in kids of all ages. Even though many haters and nay-sayers might diss the interior of the park as kitschy plastic wonderland, thousands of happily screeching and splashing youngsters can’t be wrong. The attractions include floating jellyfish, speed slides, a lazy river, tube slides, a thing called aqualoop, and a whole bunch more.

The conversion from an exclusive gold medal hunting ground for gifted athletes to a state of the art recreational facility to be enjoyed by the general public was a smart move by the city leaders. It just happens too often that countries miscalculate the benefits of hosting a prestigious sports event like the Olympics or a soccer worldcup, and their return of investment gets drastically diminished by ridiculous maintenance fees, which easily amount to 10s of millions of dollars per year. Let’s hope for the Beijingers that the steep admission ticket of 200 yuan (about 31 US Dollar) for adults and 150 yuan for kids under 4 foot 9 inches tall doesn’t keep the locals from supporting the park. Judging by the lack of patrons in the photos though, it’s pretty dubious that the place is profitable yet.

The post Happy Magic Watercube Waterpark in Beijing – Enchanted Bubble Fun appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

Julia Bluhm initiated the petition because she experienced the effects that those completely unrealistic “Hollywood” standards of how girls should look like had on her friends. They complained about being fat and were self conscious about their looks, which were not in line with the digitally distorted imagery that the media dishes out to them. , who read Seventeen and think these fake images are what they should be, I’m stepping up,” Julia wrote. “I know how hurtful these photoshopped images can be. I’m a teenage girl, and I don’t like what I see. None of us do.”

Julia, with the help of organizers at SPARK a Movement, was able to present over 84,000 signatures to Seventeen. The result: An encouraging big win! Ann Shokets, the editor-in-chief of the popular teen mag, announced in their latest issue that faces and body sizes of their models won’t be digitally altered anymore. Besides not digitally messing around with body sizes and faces, Shokets committed to even more, and promised to feature a ‘diverse range of beauty’ in their magazine.

Well, there you have it. The pressure worked and common sense can celebrate a victory. And while this may taste sweet, there’s a lot more work for all of us to do. We have to make businesses feel again that they depend on us. We, the customers, are the ones paying their bills, so we make the policies. When we see there’s something we have to learn to set our foot down again and make firm demands. For the entertainment industry and media to promote anorexia, and sell us a bunch make believe barbie doll beauty as real, is not only idiotic, but unhealthy and harmful. We don’t even have a clue how many girls and women develop inferiority complexes, because they believe that they will never be desirable for a man. And how many guys are unhappy with the looks of their girlfriends or wives, because they also buy into the airbrush scam?

There is simply no way to justify that we allow the media to have a negative effect on our self esteem and happiness. Being lied to by the press is unfortunately something we got used to, but if the carelessness of so called journalists and magazine editors leads to depression and potentially suicidal thoughts, it’s our job to put the breaks on it. Teenagers are having a rough enough time already – dealing with the changes in their bodies, stress at school, pressure of being popular, etc. The last thing they need is an anxiety boost caused by the irresponsible promotion of beauty ideals that are impossible to achieve.

Thank you Julia and SPARK a Movement for making some noise. You were heard and you hopefully will be heard again in your next campaign on change.org, in which you ask Teen Vogue to follow Seventeen’s example, and commit to the no image altering same policies. Good luck, we signed and we’ll make sure to follow your progress.

The post Win! Seventeen Magazine Stops Photoshopping Girls Because Of Eight Grader’s Petition. appeared first on Peace Kidz | Youth. Eco Shop. News..

Ok, so by now you’ve probably guessed that we have a thing or two for parkour, and yes, indeed, we very much love it. That’s why in part 1 of the article we want to dig a bit into the Zen-iness of free running, and then question the ninja comparison, which has become a quite popular analogy associated with parkour. In part 2 we’ll put the spotlight on the top dogs of parkour teaching here in Colorado, and after that take a look at two different viewpoints on the controversial competition vs. non-competition issue.

Now, before we start, just a few words about terminology. We’re aware of the subtle differences between parkour and freerunning, but to make things easier, we throw both styles into the same pot. I personally am a strong advocate of the ‘free’ concept and feel that we have way too many rules already, which usually taste of old geezer conservatism. Parkour and freerunning are new and fresh, why not take advantage of the opportunity that presents itself to do things a little smarter? Let’s allow more creative freedom so that individual talents can blossom and let’s commit to keeping it that way.

I’ve always been a fan of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do style, in which he took some established and well working elements from different martial art styles, and combined them into his own customized, personal system, tailored to his abilities and physique. We’re all unique for a reason, so let’s drop the uniforms and start putting our personal spin on things, in line with the advantages and disadvantages we were born with.

A Huge Leap For Mankind

We as a species have made huge progress over the last 50 years. I’m not only talking about all the incredible technological advances, but the physical achievements of athletes around the globe took some giant leaps. Can you picture an event like the X Games in the 1960s? Or even wingsuit skydiving? There seems to be a never ending desire embedded in our genetic blueprints to constantly push the envelope and do things better, braver, and bigger than the generation before us, and this process is accelerating. A rapidly evolving communication network provides us with easier access to what else is out there in the world, giving us the itch to make previously set records look like child’s play. Scientific discoveries in quantum physics, which strongly suggest that we create our reality through our believes, encourage people to let go of self limiting thoughts and to discover their true potential.

Big whoop, some martial artists out there might think, all this recent spiritual awareness is yesterdays news. Their ancient founders recognized the mind/body connection thousands of years ago, and now parkour practitioners, who often have already a solid martial arts foundation, are the most recent community of athletes to benefit from the old grandmasters wisdom. Their knowledge and techniques are empowering freerunners to accomplish a level of body control that was 50 years ago unheard of in the Western World.

There are countless videos posted on the net showing off incredible parkour moves, and even though they reveal little or nothing about the practitioners training methods, we can be certain that not all of them come from a martial arts background. Since the idea of parkour itself has a lot of Zen flavor, it is not essential to practice Zen style meditation or chi kung to become a good freerunner, but it would sure help in case you intend to become a great one. Shaolin kung fu masters, who all include chi cultivation in their training, are known to develop abilities that blow other martial artists straight out of the water. Zen training is not a religion or attached to a certain region of the world, Zen is universal. It enables us to focus better on what we’re doing and to attain better results in whatever we try to accomplish.

I love how eloquently Amos Rendao, Owner/General Manager and Head Instructor, at APEX Movement phrases what parkour is about. It perfectly reflects how deeply ingrained Zen and spirituality are within the community:
“Parkour and Freerunning are the science of movement and moving meditations: thoughtlessness while balancing, a silent landing that Confucius wouldn’t hear no matter where he was sitting, or a battle with your ego and fear as you take that leap you once thought impossible. We start with logic as a broken mirror, and use it as a tool to mold our bodies until our bodies become our surroundings.”

But it is obvious that a lot of traceurs also incorporate various elements from gymnastics and from another rapidly growing phenomenon called tricking into their routines. Since those complicated moves do not contribute to the concept of ‘moving efficiently around obstacles’, their sole purpose has to be the pure enjoyment of accomplishing this kind of body and mind control. And this to me is very fascinating. For the first time in history a new free style sports movement is organically developing through the integration of a variety of disciplines and styles that are mostly propagated via the internet, specifically youtube. This confluence shows that through breaking down barriers and learning from each other, regardless of cultural background, we can speed up evolution. No limits, no fear, free from censorship and bureaucracy, creative minds from everywhere on our planet give their contributions to the worldwide community. The result can only be described as magical.

The following vid clearly demonstrated how all these different disciplines are getting mashed up, combined, adapted and rearranged into a colorful and unrestricted freerunning collage. It shows the essence of the whole movement in all its beauty: achieve freedom by taking back control of your life. If we see the world as our playground, which we explore and interact with it in the most creative way, we can reclaim our birthright of self expression. And as soon as we recognize parkour as a state of mind, we can apply the same principles of freedom and creativity to all of our daily tasks and activities. Lets take a look at the video.

All of these impressive accomplishments on a physical and spiritual level are very positive, so why would anybody draw parallels to ninjas?

Let’s not fool ourselves by over-romanticizing the profession of an assassin. There’s no glory in being a hitman, no matter how fancy a name you give it. At first, ninjas were rather sloppily trained peasants, hired to to take out assigned targets. It wasn’t until much later, after some ronin samurais turned into ninja warriors, that they became so widely feared. The combination of having prolific skills but no code to follow by made them extremely dangerous.

The parkour philosophy embraces and respects life, and no true freerunner has any ambitions to go out and kill people for money. But despite their highly questionable original purpose, the concept of the ninja warrior has been embraced in many parts of the world as being some kind of eastern Robin Hood. In a messed up society in which government officials take away our freedoms and fill their pockets with our money, the hopeless population is longing for folk heroes: An honorable breed of stealth warriors who jump out of the shadows, kick some corporate ass, and then quickly bounce up a house wall to disappear over the rooftops. When word got out about an underground community of fearless urban athletes who laugh into gravity’s face, it surely must have triggered some kind of wishful thinking about freerunners being the badly needed justice league. Hmmm, will today’s urban ninjas be the urban jedis of tomorrow? Time will tell, but for know parkour is joy and acrobatic art, I’m even hesitant to call it a sport. It’s a super creative and revolutionary way of reconnecting with nature, the anarchy of movement.

Hope this page is helpful, informative and gives you some new and motivating insights about parkour and freerunning. Keep checking back in because we will post part 2 of the article in a few days. Peace out and success in your quest to achieve parkour greatness.

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Adam Scott Miller, an acute lifelong visionary artist, has come through art academia with a BFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a MFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art. He lives in Far Northeast Queensland, Australia amidst the most ancient rainforest on Earth with fiance D Raymond and 4yr old stepdaughter Auraura. Throughout, he has integrated key principles of insight from art, science, and mysticism towards the road less-traveled of honest devotion to limitless growth and dilating creativity. Adam’s paintings are praised globally for their transcendetail and the elegant envisioning of reality as emergent from the unified-field ecology of energy.

The paintings of Adam Scott Miller are artifacts excavated from exploring the relationships between mystical personal experience and universally relevant concepts. Art is his tool for discovery, and a by-product of the experience of his consciousness. This integral creative work is how he processes his perceptions of the visible world and the energetic fields from which it blooms forth into new informed and numinously refined visions of symbiosis. The ‘numinous’ is characterized by the quintessential qualities of the sacred: mystery, awe, fascination, satisfaction, and inspiration. The art serves as a reflection of our context, and achieves its maximum potential in the intention to improve and benefit the whole. [Adam Scott Miller, Yosemite, 2009]
 

Artist website: http://www.corpuscallosum.cc/index.html

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A Peace Graffiti Work of Art Depicting the Dalai Lama

Inspite of how most people think about graffiti, we love it. If it’s well done, needless to say, I’m not talking about some poorly executed wanksta-gangsta tagging. But the fact is, there are lots of incredibly talented artists out there, and what good is the most incredible artwork if it wilts lonely on a yellowing sheet of journal paper, hidden from the public eye under someone’s bed.

Inner cities and poorly planned, boring suburbs alike can be very depressing in their bland greyness, and city officials should encourage creativity, especially in youth, by setting up plenty of legal walls to give these young talents a chance to display their colorful art publicly, without getting in trouble. In most countries, defacing property with graffiti without the property owner’s consent is considered vandalism, which is punishable by law. Have people stopped smoking pot since it has been declared illegal? No. Will graff writers stop painting in places where they’re not supposed to? No. Well, obviously there is a strong desire for these artists to express themselves and make their work accessible. And like poets, film makers, and sculptors, visual artist use their medium to communicate their emotions, which is a very healthy way of venting off. When it comes to graff writers, who often grow up in underprivileged neighborhoods, a lot of these emotions involve pain, desperation and anger aimed at society and politics. Like rap and hip hop, street art is raw and honest. And while it may not be as polished and perfect as some highbrow gallery art, it is real, and that’s why we need it. Subculture and underground art is a vital asset to the art scene, which is way too corrupted by profit thinking and elitist attitudes.

Besides bringing up the legal issue, graffiti opponents usually lash out at the lack of quality in the artwork. Yea it happens, not all of the pieces I’ve seen I’d like to have on my wall, but the same goes for the mass produced garbage that they try to sell you as artwork in places like Hobby Lobby or WalMart. This stuff to me doesn’t qualify as art, it’s merely decoration, whipped out by the dozen to satisfy the ‘art lover’ that shops for an abstract piece to match their carpet. Something ‘neutral’ that doesn’t provoke thinking or evoke any emotions. And no worries, it won’t, because it’s not coming from the heart.

The gallery of international peace graffiti pieces in this post proves that the desire for peace and the criticism of the horrors of war does not know borders. People will not be silenced, visual artists will not stop painting, poets will not stop slamming, and musicians will not stop making beats. And I salute and thank all of them for their visions, their intentions, and the incredible energy they put into their creations. Long live art!

The copyrights belong to the individual artists and crews. Enjoy.

Soft! 2003, Tagliacozzo, Italy

Demon (Paris); IRAK by Karz (Basel Switzerland); Mirk (Paris)

Ladymack and Waf, Belgium

Elex and Bane, Miami, 2003

Peace in Burma!

“Petrol” By Roc and Sendy’s in Barcelona, March 2003

PC Kid, New York City

April 12, 2003, in Jerez, Spain

Belfast Peace Wall, Belfast, Ireland

A wall graffiti in San Francisco containing a quote and image of Gandhi

2 of Banksy’s Peace Related Pieces

“Infinite Justice” (Afghanistan war) by Sendy’s in Barcelona, March 2002

by Kez (Iceland), Mint (Iceland), Viagra (Denmark), in Copenhagen. Denmark

Peace Graffiti in Persian Language, A1one 2010 / IRAN

Alt-R, Ithaca, NY

“The Real Face of The War” By Chulo and Sendy’s in Barcelona, March 2003

Mote. DST DayStarTribe, Texas

Make Peace Not War, Purmerend, Holland, by Dopie and Getone

“LA. AGAINST THE WAR” – E.L.A. BY: MAN ONE (coi/90dbc), ASYL’M (sh/90dbc), RUKUS (visions/wgs), VYAL(coi/90dbc/vt), MARKA27 (ala/3a) Bush/Saddam chars by ASYL’M.

Drake Crew, Malaysia

Won.ABC, Munich Germany, Iraq: 2003

Dmote, Australia

“One Thousand Words Too Many” by Jest and W.I.N.D. Can Discipline (CDCrew), in Laval, Canada

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