True passion can’t be tamed

Bond villains are iconic in their own right but when they go on to create one of the most challenging sports in history they are elevated to the status of a legend. And Sebastien Foucan is a legend.

Foucan played an acrobatic bomb-maker in 2006 epic ‘Casino Royale’ where he takes Daniel Craig’s James Bond on a chase of his life by vaulting through jungles, construction sites and leaping off buildings and cranes, in what has become one of the most memorable action sequences in Hollywood history. What you see in that sequence is Foucan’s incredible skill at Free-running, a sport that he evolved from Parkour.

Parkour comes from the French word ‘parcours’ meaning ‘route’ or ‘course’. It consists of being able to “move freely over and through any terrain using only the abilities of the body, principally through running, jumping, climbing and quadrupedal movement.” It originated on the streets of Lisses, the suburb of Paris where Foucan grew up.

However, the 40 year old Frenchman, finally decided to breakaway from parkour because he felt that the discipline had become too one-dimensional and lacked a spiritual aspect. His passion for the sport led him to push the boundaries and create a more fluid, challenging version of parkour called Free running.
The popularity of free running has skyrocketed since the airing of Channel 4 documentary ‘Jump London’ which starred Foucan and led to him starting his own academy.
The philosophy of free running is that each person has their own instinctive approach to different challenges, obstacles and fears. However, overcoming them is as much a mental journey as a physical one, but one that needs to be made if one is to live a truly fearless life. The same philosophy holds true for Sebastien Foucan who’s life is a lesson in how true passion can never be tamed.
Watch Sebastien Foucan’s inspiring TED talk and get inspired to find your own passion and follow it fearlessly.