Though you wouldn’t know it from looking at me, I am interested in physical fitness, especially where exercise intersects with philosophy. When I was in to Taoism and Buddhism, I practiced tai chi. I still do, along with pa kua and some other kung fu stuff I can’t really pronounce.

Now that I am “neo-druid,” I have asked myself, what would a “druidic” workout look like? I would think that it should embody a “oneness” with the environment, developing awareness and balance. It would be a whole-body workout with minimal equipment. It might also take into account this facet of the training of the legendary warriors of the Fianna:

No man was taken until he had woven his hair into many braids and he was set at a run through the woods, while the ones seeking to wound him were sent after him there having been just one forest bough between them at first. If he was overtaken and wounded he was not allowed entry, If his weapons had quivered in his hand he was not taken, If his hair was disturbed in any way out of its braiding he was not taken. If he cracked a dry stick under his foot as he ran he was not taken. He also had at full speed to jump a branch level with chest and stoop under one level with his knee without breaking stride or else he was not accepted. Also he had to extract a thorn from his foot without pausing in his stride or else he was not taken.

So, what workout does all that? I present to you Parkour. It is an art, often styled an “extreme sport,” in which the participants seek to move as quickly and efficiently through whatever obstacles are in their way. With leaping, vaulting, balancing, tumbling, climbing, and crawling, it develops every part of the body. It is, more than anything, a philosophy — one that interweaves well with a modern druidic approach to life:

Basically, Parkour is a natural method to train the human body to be able to move forward quickly, making use of the environment that’s around us at any given time. This ‘art of displacement’ requires neither specific structure nor accessory for its practice. The body is the only tool. It’s an athletic discipline accessible to all, because it combines all the natural skills of the human body: running, jumping, climbing… It’s a sport that permits exploration of the potential offered by your body. It’s about being able to face the obstacles with which you are presented, whether they be in the natural environment or in the urban environment, in a search for movement that combines effectiveness and control.

Practicing parkour has made working out fun for me. It’s like being a child again and seeing the whole world as a playground. I push myself hard, right to my limits, but out of a spirit of: “let’s see if I can do this,” rather than the grim and boring workouts I used to have. I will never be able to pull off the extreme parkour, “Jackie-Chan-Like” maneuvers the founder of parkour does in this video, but that’s okay. I am only competing with myself, having fun, and getting in shape.

For more information about parkour, I suggest americanparkour.com.