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Grassroots to Global: What a 1:30 A.M. United Nations Side Event Taught Me About Community Sport

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  Screencap from https://www.instagram.com/p/DayjmGLSMat/ I have to be honest with you. It was 1:30 in the morning in the Philippines. I was feeling under the weather. My eyes were heavy. I was sitting in the dark watching a United Nations High-Level Political Forum side event on my phone while most of Metro Manila was asleep. I did not make it through the entire session live. Running a fever eventually won. I screen-recorded the remainder and finished watching the parts I missed the following morning. But I showed up—and sometimes showing up at 1:30 in the morning while running a fever is exactly what building something meaningful looks like behind the scenes. The event was called Grassroots to Global: Community-Based Sport Solutions Advancing the SDGs , organized by the Martial Arts Coalition for Sustainable Development (MCS) as an official side event of the 2026 United Nations High-Level Political Forum in New York. Arena Fitness Dojo is currently the first and only Philipp...
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Why Tai Chi Is One of the Best Workplace Wellness Exercises for Every Age

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Yesterday, I had the privilege of conducting "Pause & Flow: An Introduction to Tai Chi" for hundreds of employees during Western Digital Laguna's PHO Community Day . Many people expect a Tai Chi seminar to be quiet and relaxing. It certainly was. It was also surprisingly challenging. One of my favorite things about teaching Tai Chi is proving that exercise does not have to be intimidating. You do not need to run, jump, or lift heavy weights to challenge your body. Sometimes the slowest movements demand the greatest control. To demonstrate that Tai Chi truly is for every generation, my seven-year-old daughter, Luyi , opened the program with a beautiful Taijishan (Tai Chi Fan) performance before joining me for a Tai Chi partner demonstration. Watching a child perform alongside an adult illustrates one of the greatest strengths of Tai Chi—it is genuinely an ageless martial art. Movement Starts Where You Are Rather than asking everyone to stand immediately, we be...
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What’s Wrong With ADHD If It’s a Superpower? Everything. Also Nothing.

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Everyone talks about ADHD as a superpower. Nobody talks about waiting hours in summer heat because you can’t plug in your own aircon. Here’s both sides — unfiltered, from someone living it at 4am. Normally, I work around 200–250 hours a month — and when I accidentally overbook myself, that number can climb to 300–400 hours. Mondays to Sundays. Holidays included. I rarely take days off. Why? Because days off make me sick. Literally. Last year, I had a full week off during Christmas season. I spent almost the entire month of January with a fever. Another time, all my students cancelled for the day. I suddenly had nothing to do. The next day, I got the flu. It sounds dramatic, but it has been a pattern for as long as I can remember. Growing up, we thought I was just a sickly child because I was absent from school almost every week. Looking back, my doctors and I eventually realized that long periods of inactivity seem to affect me far more than most people. Whether it is my ADHD, th...
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