About - Dutch Flow Academy

Dutch Flow Academy

ABOUT US

A platform about teaching essential skills for rotational training equipment to gain mastery in using momentum.

Dutch Flow Academy was founded in 2017 with the simple goal of bringing flow and functionality into movement. Harbert became obsessed with the mace, aka steel mace, or macebell, and this led him to pursue the history of the mace by documenting its origins in India. He also taught multiple workshops and reached hundreds of people through his online teachings. Dutch Flow Academy brings his knowledge to a worldwide platform where you can learn the skill to master and teach rotational training equipment. Our mission is to give you the freedom to move through skill, flow, and creativity. As a philosophy we harness six principles to apply on swinging an object.

Freedom of Movement through Skill Creativity Flow

Dutch Flow Academy Philosophy

Swinging is balancing between momentum and control
“Chaos is were things are so complex you can’t handle it, and order is where things are so rigid that it’s too restrictive.” (Jordan Peterson).In between chaos and order is a place that’s meaningful, this place is what I call flow. What is the first thing someone does with a mace that doesn’t know what it is? Yes, swing it around chaotically. What is the first thing most people do when they try to swing a mace? Yes, trying to control the mace and tensing up enormously. Let’s say chaos is momentum and order is control. Swinging a mace is therefore finding balance between control and momentum and to create a space where you flow between the two.
Every Inside has an Outside
“For every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together” (Alan Watts).Insides go with outsides. You need eyes to see the world, but you also need a world to perceive with your eyes. In a sense they need each other and are therefore one. This is also true when using a mace. When you perform a certain exercise you can always reverse that exercise and create a new movement through that action. This seems logical, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve performed a certain exercise for a long time until I found out I could do it the opposite way too.
Aim to give Direction
We succeed when we score a goal or hit a target. We fail, or sin, when we do not (sin = to miss the mark). We cannot navigate, without something to aim at and, while we are in this world, we must always navigate” (Jordan Peterson).Think about an archer who is about to shoot an arrow. The archer cannot shoot the target without properly aiming his bow. Aiming correctly is the singular most important thing when swinging a mace to give direction to it. Aiming correctly will ensure that the momentum travels in the right direction and you will not have to interfere with the momentum and are therefore able to let go.
Decrease the load you're carrying
Think about the weight of the mace, it isn’t that heavy actually. But is feels very heavy. This is due to its weight distribution. You have two options when handling a mace, clinging to it or letting go. If you cling to the mace and tighten your muscles, you’ll make the mace 10 times heavier than it actually is and will diminish your chances of going up in weight. The goal is to go up in weight instead of making the weight heavier than it is.
Become the Eye of the Storm
“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you” (Deepak Chopra).Once you’ve aimed correctly and let go, there is momentum or chaos happening. The body shifts from one side to the other and needs to stabilize itself. You will need to have to be connected to the ground from the toes up.

Freedom

Freedom of Movement stands for the ability to move whenever you want to or need to. This translates to development in coordination, strength, mobility, and conditioning. We believe skill, creativity and flow will add another dimension to your freedom of movement.

Skill

Skill is about developing coordination and neural pathways. You must be able to control your body to control the tool. Mastering a movement pattern has to be prioritised before weight or complexity.

Creativity

Remember when you were a child and movement was exciting? Adding creativity to your movement practice adds the element of play and intellect. We coach and empower you to create your own movement and to play with it as an antidote to all the seriousness.

Flow

Flow in our context can be interpreted in two ways. Flow stands for the flow state that appears when you're fully engaged with what you're doing. Flow also alludes to the seamless transitioning between movements, making the tool an extension of the body.

The Flowing Dutchman

The direction of my life changed drastically when I finished my studies at the university. I decided to pursue my dreams and founded Dutch Flow Academy back in 2017. At that time I became obsessed with the mace and started to incorporate that into my personal training and training classes. Even though nobody around me knew about the mace, everyone that touched a mace became enthusiastic. In 2018 I visited the U.S. to meet the big names in the mace community and I got three certifications for the mace specifically.

The mace has its origin in India, where people train with Gadas in Akhadas (ancient holy gyms). I visited India in 2017 for the first time and was captivated by it’s original culture and training styles. After that trip I was captivated and visited India for the second time to pursue the history of the mace. Every culture around the world has had some type of mace as a weapon or tool. It is has been amazing to see a culture that already uses the basic types of movements with a mace for 3000 years. The Gada is basically is a bamboo/wooden stick with cement/stone at the end of it. They have been using the Gada for strength in Kushti wrestling, a specific type of wrestling in India. It simulates throwing someone over the shoulder.

The year after I went to India again to document even more training traditions in India. I still have the same motorbike and I use it when I travel to India. I’ve fallen in love with the country. After India I returned to the USA to give three mace flow workshops and meet more mace people. The USA is the epicenter of the mace as we know it in the West, and I’m grateful to know so many people that are involved in this. Influenced as I was by everyone that was swinging a mace, deep inside me I knew that those first years of discovering the mace had brought me on a different path that I needed to unveil. Over the years I’ve added multiple programs to the list and a clear foundation and structure has appeared in my approach. This is the Dutch Flow Method, a specific way to look at flow within movement that will unlock your skills with every rotational tool out there.