Body - people - place

You have a body. A body that craves to move. A body that craves to really connect to a place. A body that wants to resonate and connect with other people moving too.

There's so much information out there to decipher and you want to learn how to curate and craft what's right for you with guidance from someone that's nerdy, passionate and understanding. You want to be outside, reconnecting to the seasonal rhythm, to move connect and recalibrate your own. Practice (hell life) can be lonely - you want to connect with others and share meaningful encounters.

You want to delve deeper into a practice, be guided with a map, but also learn how to attune to and read your own compass (i.e. learn how to fish). You want to learn how to be the architect of your own practice - self-sufficient, adaptable and creative - but share the journey with others.

You are curious to understand, sustain and enjoy how YOUR body moves, while feeling empowered to overcome obstacles you may face.

If this sounds like you then maybe we would be a good fit. Why not schedule an introductory call or have a look at what I offer below.

ABOUT ME

 My coaching spiel

I coach in-person in London regularly, hold workshops in London, the UK & internationally and coach and share to people all over the world via Online Coaching and our MWTS online community. I am the founder of Move With The Seasons and Move With The Trees and co-founder of STate Of Play (Stop) Training

I’m mainly known for natural movement training and Tree Climbing in London locations, but using movement practice as a vehicle for curiosity and understanding has been my life practice for the last 13 years. I am many things, a father, a husband, a son, a former IT desk jockey who escaped “security” to pursue this mad idea that I can share and facilitate movement practices for a living. My movement lineage is rich and my expertise is ill-defined. I feel blessed and grateful to those who have invested their time and wisdom into me. I am an Evolve Move Play coach and Fighting Monkey Stray Dog/Instructor, but I have learnt from a lot of different people. My passion is to explore relationships between body, people and place, my inner and outer landscapes, on a journey to better understand connection, creativity and change. Movement practice opened the door for me to better understand myself and my ever-changing body in an ever-changing environment and is the keystone to me being better at being me. We create knowledge with the questions we ask and take responsibility to actively explore, test and study. It (knowledge) will not just “come to us” by passively waiting. Within my movement practice is the coded guide to living with integrity and in alignment with my true self. How could I not attempt to spark that gift for someone else?

So, I help inquisitive people to understand, sustain and enjoy how THEIR body moves while empowering them to overcome challenges they may face. And if it helps you be better at being you and contributes to you enjoying life a little more - I am happy. I take great joy in facilitating meaningful experiences through outdoor movement practice (although I/we practice inside a lot too, more in winter), that may be play-driven, but also enjoy guiding people to awareness of the nuance and technical detail they may also need - from the from noticing the quietest of things to amplifying what resonates to yourself and others - from the mundane to the magnificent - it takes practice and a lot of love and interest in wanting to help yourself.

You can join our drop-in classes, courses/class series & workshops or go deeper with your development and connect with our regular London movement group via the movement practice membership and get access to unlimited classes/workshops, exclusive members-only classes and the Move With The Seasons Online Community (and also ongoing discussion and resources for self-practice). Or you can of course get my full attention with personal 1-to-1 movement coaching or online coaching and support.

A very quick story…

I went from being a talented Track & Field athlete and excelling at multiple sports in my late teens to a deskbound, sedentary IT Support technician, completely out of touch with my body and at a loss with no motivation on how to break out of the rut. Stopping and starting the gym. Feeling empty and unfulfilled - sound familiar? Only exercising/training because you know you “have to” or for the extrinsic reward only? Yep me too. Something had to change.

Fast forward about 10 years of Desk work and I essentially had a few catalysts and experiences that merged to become a huge paradigm shift and change in my life. I looked for alternatives to traditional hypertrophy-based exercise. I wanted something fun and something that didn’t require lots of motivation to do. I discovered terms such as functional training, paleo and primal. I started martial arts again. I discovered Parkour. I found ideas such as natural movement and started following people like Ido Portal way back in 2010, before he was as popular as he is today. This all changed my practice and relationship to my body. I wanted to find out more about movement.

I began searching and training under and taking inspiration from Darryl Edwards (The Fitness Explorer), Lee Saxby, coaches at Parkour Generations, Frank Forenich, Ido Portal’s Movement Culture via online coaching and workshops, and Erwan Le Corre's Movnat and Natural Movement, to name a few.

I quit my job and became a Gloves Boxing Club coach, a West Hampstead gym specialising in boxing, natural movement and barefoot running which was then owned by Lee Saxby and Tony Riddle. I brought a practical/useful movement element to The Gloves Club movement philosophy and spearheaded their direction into providing movement-based classes, borrowing from the many elements I was influenced by at the time. This became my apprenticeship and training ground to continually learn through interacting with the members and students at the gym there, learning through doing, watching the talented coaches and teachers around me and going to many movement workshops to continue my development, well before many of them became popular and trendy. I learned through many hours of experience, being a student and then putting it into practice, testing and experimenting in the real world.

I owe what I am today "...by standing on the shoulders of giants." This list of my teachers and influences needs to be updated but it gives you an idea of those that have influenced me and a lot of them to this day.

I now teach movement (whatever that is) to a vibrant London community and at times across Europe. I have been lucky to teach Natural Movement all over Europe certifying Natural Movement coaches working for Movnat in the past and now coaching for Evolve Move Play as one of Rafe Kelley’s first coaches. Teaching has brought me many amazing experiences. I count myself lucky, but I also believe I made a lot of my luck with intention, hard work and not being afraid to pursue things that may end up not going my way.

I continue to learn and test. Empty my cup, have it filled and share it with my community. As mentioned, I am an Evolve Move Play coach and European representative being one of Rafe Kelley’s long time students. I am also a London based Fighting Monkey Instructor under Jozef Frucek and Linda Kapetana (or a “FM Stray Dog” as they call us) I visit their intensives and workshops often, and I currently arrange the venue for when they visit London to deliver their workshops. I dedicate a few of my classes to their inspiration - It is hard to put into words how they have added to my life and practice.

Over the last 13 years I've have learnt and taken inspiration from the likes of Ido Portal Method, Lee Saxby, Frank Forencich, Tom Weksler, Dr. Andreo Spina to name a few. I'm a London based level II Movnat Certified Trainer (MCT) under Joseph Bartz, a friend, amazing teacher and one of my biggest influences on me.

I hold personal 1:1 sessions with my clients, and conduct group classes indoors and outdoors and hold workshops in London, and around the UK. I continue to draw movement inspiration from any and all quality sources, one of the most important being the profound learning experience of being a father to my three children, a loving husband and trying to be a better human!

To use my talents, resources and opportunities to serve my family, community, habitat and the world is something I used to have in this bio (well it’s still here). It’s not that’s not realavent, it certainly still is. It’s just that I’m older now. apparently wiser. I’m just trying to find my way as a coach, a husband, a parent… a man. I don’t think anyone is certain about what they are doing. I just do my best to be sincere and authentic to myself and my loved ones and perhaps if we meet this will effect you as you will effect me.

I look forward to it.

That’s enough about me… who are you?