Sometimes I feel myself stopping in the middle of the day, ‘waking up’ and asking myself, what have I been doing today? and I find it really hard to remember.

I never seem to be able to catch up with the world. Regardless of how much I try to capture a moment, the world keeps spinning, and everything keeps changing.

But this fact does not scare me away from trying.

An old Capoeira friend once told me
“Dorme muito, pouco aprende, Capoeirista tem que dorme pouco”.

If you sleep a lot, you learn very little. A capoeirista should only sleep a little.

There always seems to be the constant re-evaluation of who I am, and who I am in the world. These questions constantly emulate for me within the roda.

Myself, the other person and the environment.

So many people ask me what they should be focusing on when they are in the roda.
So I ask them what should you be focusing on when you walk down the street?

There are a hundred and one things that you can be focusing on, there are many things you should be focusing on. But to really get the most out of everything, quite simply you need to focus on everything and nothing at all.
It’s like a friend tells me:
Where is the mind?

That said, here is a little test for your enjoyment:

I believe people are generally selective learners, like selective hearing, if they know what they are looking for, generally anything that is within that scope of knowledge they will try and learn. Everything else is secondary or not seen or heard at all. But if you are not focusing on any one thing, if you can relax the mind but still be in a state of readiness, if you can be willing to adapt and take in everything, then your mind is then on its way to training awareness.

This is my understanding of Malandragem. The pliability of thought, the lucidity of decision, a way of living.

monday 9th/2/04

Today I survived one of the scarest classes of my life. Without a doubt, just one of the many to come. (more…)

Walking down the street to buy a coffee I was trying to think of how to introduce myself to mestre carlos. I walked up this dirty street of london, filled with run down shops and small delis. It was a beautiful day as the sun was shining few clouds were out and the suns rays glinting off of the street trying to make it seem a little more beautiful. (more…)

One of the most beautiful attributes of capoeira is its ability to adapt. It is in the non-committing, loosely phrased, sneaky way of the brazilian culture that glues the game together. (more…)

We walked down the cobbled stoned streets of the pelourinho, luminecent and glowing with energy. our fate however, lied within the darkness of the night sky and the spiradic glints of twinkly stars. Our destiny lay within the mystery, for better or worse. We were off again to visit some more groups of capoeira. We all squished into Mestre bamba’s car like a sandwich, and drove up around the corner. Mestre Bamba parked the car.

My heart froze. (more…)