About me
I’m Olay,
A movement practitioner and teacher driven by a passion to transform people’s perspective on movement and their relationship with their bodies. With this goal in mind, I work to improve the way we move and enhance movement quality by blending different movement disciplines and ideas with a holistic approach in both my personal practice and my teaching.
Exploring and working on movement is an endless journey. Having started teaching in 2014, I have now reached a point in my own movement journey where I want to reach more people. With this in mind, I created this platform, hoping it will serve as a helpful guide for those who wish to start their movement practice as well as those who already have one.
MY CAREER JOURNEY
I have been physically active my whole life, always outdoors and moving. Through the games I played as a child, I learned how to fall, developed socially through my roles in those games, and began to understand myself. This movement journey, which started with street games in my neighborhood, eventually led me to football, the activity that had the greatest impact on me.
I was athletic but lacked strength. Recognizing this, I introduced CrossFit into my life. Later, I incorporated Functional Fitness into my practice, pursued training in this field, and participated in competitions, achieving notable results. At the same time, I began managing a gym and teaching group classes.
I enjoyed discovering the holistic nature of Functional Fitness, which combines various disciplines like weightlifting, bodyweight training, and endurance. Realizing what I could achieve with my body made me happy, yet I was training not for my well-being but to become better at what I was teaching. I had gained strength, but my body awareness and overall health were not where they should be.
Over time, an internal shift led me to seek a more holistic practice. This search first introduced me to gymnastics and yoga. In 2018, after attending the European Movement Meeting organized by Ido Portal, my perspective on movement and my entire practice changed completely.
Through dedicated practice inspired by the ideas I encountered there, I shaped a new outlook that became my guiding path.
Understanding the difference between training (where everyone moves the same way) and practice (where an individual engages personally with what they are learning) was incredibly valuable to me. This distinction taught me how to “learn to learn.” This expansive perspective on movement has had a profound impact on my personal growth. Based on my own experience, I believe that as we become more aware of movement, understanding how we use our bodies can play a key role in our personal journey toward balance and well-being.