Movimiento es vida // movement is life

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Life is a series of ironic twists and turns. It’s how we react and deal with situations as they come. Unexpected and like a thief in the night, the coronavirus crept into our virtual chimneys, threatened to infect and maim us with a flu so sticky it would drown our lungs and fail our organs. Uncanny is 33 deaths linked to vaping in October last year. Soon, fear enveloped us all as governments took action and even outlawed outings, sending citizens around the world in a panic shock of preparedness for this flu pandemic. And so we all huddled at home, posted photos of dogs, cats, babies and exercise routines while we #workfromhome, #stayathome during the #movementcontrolorder. While at home, it felt as if we were waiting for a strong gust of luck to suck the virus and safely tuck it all into a vacuum and dispel it as far away as Space X could propel to the stratosphere. Which, incidentally, entrepreneur Elon Musk made history last night with this feat…

Not too long ago, a different kind of pandemic was creating havoc on our digital screens. It was a streak of Zombie-inspired television series and movies, dystopian dramas and Dracules in thirsty love. Millions of production dollars poured into creating these heart-stopping, arenaline pumping flicks in Hollywood, Hollywood’s north in Vancouver, Bollywood’s Mumbai, all the way to the Train from Busan (2016)! We were inundated by content that promised terror and fear, where few ordinary men would strive to live day by day. One of these ordinary blokes, would have been Brad Pitt who uttered in the World War Z (2013) film these words that would have stuck in my mind, and somehow in a convoluted way inspire me to want to change my entire career direction.

Movimiento es vida // movement is life

That statement, “Movimiento es vida // movement is life” made quite a statement for me when I watched it the first time in 2013 and formed one of the building blocks of what I’m working on today.

I love keeping notes in Google Keep on subject matters that I’m researching on. It’s easy to find, convenient to store and retrieve and is always handy on my phone whenever I have a thought to add to the subject. So I noted down this phrase immediately after the movie. These form building blocks to future plans, and I’ve noticed that quotes, statements and quirky notes somehow find their way to the big picture in the end.

Movimiento es vida
Move to stay alive

Movement as therapy
Movement AID

Five years ago in 2015, we began the process of pivoting our business model from a brick and mortar events management agency to a media and software technology company. It was hard. Hard to stop doing the things we were used to doing. Today, in the heat of the virus, we are ready to launch Move8.org – a social enterprise that sets out to bring movement as therapy to the world. Well, we’ll start in two cities – Sydney and Kuala Lumpur. The idea is this. Provide an open-sourced gym where members join free but pay a fee for services provided by our pool of independent fitness and allied health professionals whenever they book a session. The Move8 gym is no square space but the great outdoors – parks, office conference rooms, home gyms, gym gyms and so on. Monies collected by this social enterprise, makes it self-sufficient to run a pay-it-forward service to bring movement AID to those who need it; the elderly, those who are unable to move around. Members can opt to volunteer or get paid as a #Move8Warrior and it could be assisting in the form of picking up groceries to running an errand, or exercise sessions.

A personal story to wrap. Movement is indeed therapy and has been therapy at least for my mother, a brain tumour survivor who has had her pituitary glands removed. Dependent on five different kinds of oral hormone replacements, diabetic and hypertension pills, it’s been a privilege to be her carer to see this. There’s nothing like living with someone with such diseases because the reality of it just hits your own mortality in your face. Thus, in my own perplexed fear that I too may be living proof of our appetite for food and a sedentary lifestyle, I’ve forced myself by adopting this movement therapy business model is a means to an end. It’s my own personal justification for a career that I certainly am betting on, that will bring a feel-good-bang to every buck.

Indeed, those words ring truth…

Movimiento es vida // movement is life

I was once dead, like a zombie but now vivacious and never felt more alive!

We’re giving out free memberships this year as a token of thanks for your support – sign-up here.

#Move8 #movementastherapy