n/PK - Nepal Parkour

n/PK is a small zine detailing the parkour training scene in Nepal, as experienced by a visiting parkour practitioner from outside Nepal. Originally posted on www.penelopedavison.com, where you can download the print zine.

A big thank you to the following people and organisations: Asim Shrestha, Dinesh Sunar, Christian Maki, Saroj Tamang, Ramesh Shrestha, Boby Qumal, Uttam Bist, Ujwal, the Nepal Parkour and Freerunning Association, the Parkour and Freerunning Association of Nepal (Nepal Parkour), and everyone else who helped me feel welcome. Special thanks to Dishebh for arranging the zine for print.

WHAT IS PARKOUR?

It really depends who you ask. If you ask a stranger on the street, typical responses include:

· Jumping between rooftops. · Doing flips and tricks. · Getting from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’ as quickly as possible.

These responses are varying levels of correct, but it’s a little more nuanced than that.

Parkour Earth, a grassroots international body for parkour, defines parkour as an umbrella term, neatly wrapping around ‘purist’ parkour, freerunning, and l’art du déplacement. Generally speaking, parkour is the practice of learning to overcome physical and mental obstacles. This is often with the goal of maximising speed and efficiency of movement in an effort to gain utilitarian strength that can be useful in a reach or escape situation, or more commonly, to be more helpful and resilient in day-to-day life. Physical obstacles are overcome through a mixture of running, climbing, vaulting and jumping. There’s a focus on increasing mental fortitude through challenge and learning to safely manage fear and judge risk, but values such as altruism, humility, and often non-competitiveness are core to the practise.

Parkour originated from a mix of military and indigenous practices from a range of sources, but coalesced into its current form in France around the 1990’s. Beginning with David Belle and an expanding group of friends and fellow athletes who called themselves the Yamakasi, parkour was gradually developed through a period of intense training. Over time they pushed this training further and further to test their physical and mental limits, which included the oft-imagined roof jumps (which in modern training is somewhat niche, and only one element of high level training).