Illegal exercise/Risk training

October 14th, 2025

I heard an RNZ interview the other day with someone talking about the 'fad' of “Quadrobics” or “Quadrobers”, people who walk around on all fours, or do animal patterns as training. Apparently in Russia there is a proposal to create legislation to make it illegal, with fears it 'dehumanises' cultures and may lead to people taking on aspects of animals, such as biting people and other anti-social behaviour (https://nz.news.yahoo.com/viral-trend-teenagers-dressing-furry-114626026.html). Mum told me she heard the interview and laughed, thinking about how I had been moving around on all fours as a serious pursuit for years.

Thinking about this, I wondered if maybe in a future space, I would be illegal. That, in another timespace, moving, speaking, engaging with the world in unintelligible ways will be outlawed. I guess that future is now for many of our kin, both human and non. Today, however, I had a direct experience of being illegal, or at least outlawed.

The Adaptation Futures Conference is being held at Te Pae, a massive conference centre in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. It sits in the middle of the city, a part of the red zone, with the Ōtākaro running sedately beside it. The walls in the main auditorium are beautifully woven with panels creating a satisfying large scale texture. The rest of the centre holds rooms of a similar black density, illuminated with fluorescence. The days are filled with research, talking, people, food, diversity, energies and emotions swirling, meetings and listening. It is rich with both connection, and substance. I am overwhelmed most of the time and avoid any kind of attempt to meet anyone new by intention.

By chance of the after lunch sessions being full, I took it as a tohu and went outside to meet the large kōhatu that looks after the entrance to the centre. All the usual questions arose as I found ways to work on, with, in relationship to them. How do we build capabilities (skills, connections, pathways) and capacities (strength, endurance, diverse resources), to enable a practice of daily, monthly, seasonal, generational, intergenerational listening, decision making and action. How do we physically connect to the places we need to be in relation with if we are physically unable to? Can we shift the time, place, sequences of our decision making, so that the places and contexts we are deciding about, have a voice that is not only heard, but felt as both imminent and unfolding.

When I feel the potentials of a particular place, space, context, I sometimes tend to jump into the middle of that space and move, test, play. This time, that meant I missed the sign that said “No Climbing”. Lol. A security dude came out and very nicely said something to the effect of "Sorry, but you're not allowed to be on the rocks, because of 'safety concerns' and 'they've been blessed'". I moved to the concrete bench, made for sitting on next to the pathway, and continued a practice of being in dynamic motion and awareness. I wondered how we are enabling the continuation of our maladaptive practices by creating legal and structural blocks to the access of not only dynamic ecological systems, but also removing experiences of risk, difference and non-linear experiences of our urban, suburban and domestic habitats. We allow this to some extent for our children, however, as adults, these experiences are limited to recreational, health and exercise contexts, or entertainment.

What is the consequence of not building in physical risks and hazards in our centres of economic and cultural exchange, and encouraging both individual and collective negotiation of everyday space? What does equitable access to risk training look like?