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Congratulations Elena Ogle! A Recap of FitEX 2016

Elena Ogle and Persephone Singfield | Courage My Love

2016 Exercise Industry Awards night

Elena Ogle – A Happy Recipient

On the night of Saturday, November 26, we attended the New Zealand Exercise Industry Awards. It is an annual event that we love to take part in for a couple of reasons. The awards dinner is always a fun evening with inspiring people from the industry, and Courage My Love is a proud presenting sponsor of the Mind Body Award. This year’s recipient is the very deserving and delightful Elena Ogle from Gisborne.

Elena was one of four finalists for the Mind Body Award and a very surprised and happy winner. Elena owns a Gisborne, NZ studio called Reset. It is a beautiful communal place she created with her business partners to run regular events and activities supporting the local community. Congratulations Elena!

Congratulations also to the other finalists who put their very best forward for the Mind Body Award application and process. We commend your courage and value the time you put into it.

Awards Night

The awards dinner was a stunning event where an array of winners for various categories were both acknowledged and celebrated. After spending the evening with them, I can truly say this event was about the amazing people in our country who are out there making a difference in our communities.

There were spontaneous hakas, provoking goose-pimpled skin and teary eyes, and the recipients clearly deserved public applause for their efforts in the industry. It is on this special night that we all remember how exercise is so much more than just fitness; exercise and movement are healing people. We heard about work in prisons, work with the mentally ill, work with the physically disabled and much, much more.

FitEX Conference

Earlier in the day, we attended the FitEX Conference. The weekend-long event features the latest in science and business for every facet and role within the fitness industry. 48 presenters delivered 103 sessions to over 700 people at FitEX 2016. Courage My Love Heart Director, Persephone Singfield, was one of those presenters and brought her yoga sessions to the conference.

The keynote speaker, Lisa Champion, opened the conference early Saturday morning with a heartfelt presentation based on CONNECTION, which included some fun practical activities. We learned from Lisa the importance of compassion, empathy and authenticity in relationship to connecting with the people we meet within our industry.

As an exercise therapist, Lisa specialised in helping clients with pain, injury and rehabilitation issues. Lisa’s work increased her awareness of the emotional toll associated with pain and injury and decided to study counselling to better help her clients with psychotherapy. Her presentation concluded with a kind note. We were all given kindness cards and invited to pay little acts of kindness forward throughout the conference.

“As I sat in the auditorium listening to Lisa Champion share her wisdom, I found myself looking around at the other attendees. I observed a beautiful crowd of humans from the fitness industry soaking in the powerful messages Lisa imparted while I mused at how nurturing this industry actually is. Though  you will find the odd boot-camp task master of a personal trainer, there are many switched on and connected exercise professionals that truly wish to deliver their best via the pathways Lisa spoke about – empathy, compassion and authenticity. I felt heart warmed to be among my peers.”

– Persephone Singfield

1 Comment

  1. […] Body award category and we’re thrilled to be recognizing the great work of yoga teachers. Elena Ogle won last year – out of all the entrants she exemplified the ideal mind body teacher. Elena engaged with […]