ABOUT ME

My name is Simon Thakur. I am the creator of this “method” or approach to practice. At the time of writing this I am 47 years old, living in Northern NSW with my partner Janet and our two small children.

I have been practicing various traditions of physical and mind-body practice since I was 17. In these three decades I have intensively practiced Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Daoist-influenced meditation and qigong, Chinese medicine and internal martial arts, Capoeira Angola, Japanese aiki-jujutsu, freestyle wrestling and Brazilian Jiujitsu, Filipino martial arts, and spent at least a year or three or four dabbling in boxing, muay thai, systema, strength training with barbells, kettlebells, clubbells, indian clubs, butoh, continuum movement, Feldenkrais method, bodymind centering, Pilates, gymnastics strength, parkour, FRC, Weck Method, ropeflow, and probably lots of other things I can’t remember.

I have a long and varied academic background including a bachelor’s degree in medical science from Charles Sturt University, postgraduate certificate and postgraduate diplomas in evolutionary biology and ecology (biodiversity studies and zoology, officially) from the University of New England, an advanced diploma in Myotherapy from RMIT, diplomas of remedial massage and eastern massage (shiatsu and Tuina) from CIT, countless certifications and coaching qualifications and at least 5 partially completed bachelors degrees. The list of sciences and “ologies” that I have studied and completed units on at university and postgraduate levels is ridiculous:

I lived for 10 years in Asia, studying Asian traditions of practice from the best teachers I could find, in their native countries, in their native languages. I have studied in depth with world-recognised lineage holders in Yoga (particularly under the Mohan family, students of T. Krishnamacharya, at their home in Chennai), in Chinese martial arts (most notably under Luo Dexiu of Gao style baguazhang and xingyiquan, in Taipei), in Capoeira Angola (in the schools of Mestre Joao Pequeno and Joao Grande and their students, and Mestre Lua Rasta, Marcelo Angola and their students), and FMA (Kali Illustrisimo under Rey Galang in Canberra).

I received my purple belt in BJJ from Rhys Dykes in Mullumbimby in 2022, and have been coaching BJJ since 2020, using an ecological approach to coaching since the very beginning.

Alongside all of this, I have been training, mentoring and assisting teaching bushcraft, survival skills and nature connection work with people up and down the east coast of Australia since around 2012, starting with Jake Cassar, then Bluegum Bushcraft with Lee Trew and Gina Chick, Kate Rydge and Sam Robertson from Nature Philosophy, Australian Survival Instructors with Kev Newton, learning from Jon Young, Malcolm Ringwalt and even the infamous Tom Brown Jr when they visited Australia, and Janet and I have played our part in the weaving together of the Australia-wide nature connection community over this decade and a half, creating and supporting adult programs, mentoring on kids and family camps and local skillshares. We have hosted and continue to host our amazing friends from this community as guest teachers on our camps, including Jake, Gina and Lee, Sam and Kate, Ei Yang, Claire Dunn, Mahli Hawke, Eva Angophora, Sam Harris, and others sharing deep knowledge of bushcraft, tracking, and ancestral skills.

I came out of the closet with Ancestral Movement around 2012. We have been running our retreats several times a year on the Deua river in southeastern NSW since that time.