Taken from APK. This was a post from Chris Seaton. I find that whenever he posts something I'm inspired. He is a great individual and even though I haven't trained with him yet, he is definitely a great traceur. So I'd like to share this with everyone.
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One topic that I've seen pop up frequently on the boards is "What's good music to listen to while training?"
My favorite, oft-repeated response to these questions is simple: "None."
If there is one aspect of my training I wish I could impart to all of you, it would be my love of the sound of silence while I train Parkour. Music has its place in what we do, but at the moment you open yourself up to the sounds of the world around you--even when there's a lack of sound--you begin to learn things and grow in ways you never dreamed possible.
Let me begin by addressing one common objection to the idea of training in silence: "Music helps me go into my own little world and concentrate better." I get that, folks, I really do. Sometimes we need to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world to concentrate on what we're doing. The question I have in response to that, though, is this: does the music imbue concentration, or is it your own willpower that allows you a heightened sense of focus?
My thought is that it's the latter. Here's my reasoning. When you slip on a pair of headphones and turn on your favorite tunes--whatever genre it may be--you're placing your brain in a position that inherently distracts it from whatever you're doing. This is because the music pumping its way into your head is diverting part of your concentration to process the auditory signals it's receiving from the beat. No matter what else you're doing, the music will always be sitting there in a part of your brain, distracting you from a minute aspect of what movement you're training, or taking away from your focus in an important setting. Those of you who find this helps their focus are actually concentrating harder because you've got a level of "background noise" interfering with your thought patterns. You find this necessary to continue with what you're doing, and hey--as long as it works for you, that's cool. Go with it.
There's a reason I think this works for some people. We live in a society where quiet is almost anathema to our very being. Most of us get home and turn on the TV or radio for some sort of "background noise" the moment we cross the threshold. It's instinctive. Without that form of noise things can seem "too quiet" and bother us to no degree. This isn't as much of a problem for people who live in urban environments, I've noticed, since there's always some form of noise polluting the air--be it sirens blaring from emergency service vehicles, the idiot in the low rider who just loves to share the latest gangsta rap bootleg, or the fat women fighting in their underwear in the middle of the street. Most of us learn to tune this sort of "noise" out, and focus only on one or two things that we find of interest. It's the way our brains have adapted to deal with the information overload our society continually throws our way. When we train, though, allowing ourselves to "tune out" the world can do us a far greater disservice than a good.
For starters, there's the fact that your hearing gives us a sense of perception around the world that we don't have when it's burdened by music. Planting iPod headphones firmly in your ears and turning up the volume means that you're now immune to the sound of the car that could be coming your way, or the people running in the opposite direction backwards while typing a text message to their friends on a Blackberry. This sort of lack of perception can be hazardous to your health. If you can't perceive the obstacles coming your way, you can't react to them, and that can lead to injury. Your hearing is one of the senses that you've been blessed with--so USE IT! Let it give you information just as much as sight, taste, smell, and touch can provide.
Second--training without music can give you a chance to develop your hearing in greater detail than you can with music going. As an example, sit outside for a few minutes today. Shut your eyes, and listen to everything going on around you. Try to identify the sounds you hear, and do so in great detail. Is that a robin or a bluebird? Are the footsteps you hear those of a man in sneakers, or a woman in high heels? Is the car driving by really a car, or is it a service truck? I'd wager most of you can't tell the differences in these sounds right away. Give it time, learn to listen carefully, and eventually you'll find your perception heightened to ninja-levels of clarity.
Finally, training without music allows you to keep a greater sense of your own body. When you don't have a driving beat going in your head at all times, you can focus on your breathing, your sense of touch, and how fast your heart's going when you run. You're able to look out for obstacles that provide for a test of your abilities and tackle them full force. Your balance will be greater...the benefits are endless, but the point is that you have to start listening to yourself as well as your environment!
So learn to love silence, my family. Make the quiet--and the ambient noise around you--a part of your training, and see yourself grow. You'll find yourself better for the effort.
- Chris Seaton
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