WHAT IS ONA OMI?

Ona Omi is an approach to movement and fitness that has been interwoven through years of training and study in various arts, disciplines, and schools of thought. Ona Omi meaning Waterway/Water-path is a blend of conventional and non-conventional techniques, methods and ideas. Ona-Omi utilizes concepts and philosophy to create a vitalistic and progressive approach to Longevity and expression in movement, fitness, and overall wellness.

Ona-Omi is an interaction with our environment that can express vitality, adaptability and mastery of oneself and settings.  The system is a constant evolutionary development of strength and plasticity, only limited to one’s imagination and anatomy. “We aren’t robots, We are Human” if our training is unvarying, monotonous, mind-numbing, we will plateau our personal and collective development as athletes and Humans, yet if we fail to create some kind of regiment then we will not last due to a lack of a solid foundation. Ona-Omi is a bridge between these two approaches.

Ona-Omi is forming structure to become structure-less; Form to become formless, fluctuating between these two modes of movement to create something dynamic. In the African world of music and rhythm, there is often a musical pattern that remains constant, but what makes the music so vitalistic is what I call the “Jazz”. The jazz component is the breaking free of monotonous rhythm patterns, deviating and dwelling in free and almost chaotic expressions only to come back to the source (the constant/repetitive pattern). This “Jazz” can be applied to one’s training. The approach with Ona-Omi is to utilize techniques, sequences, patterns, and forms but to be able to deviate from this to create vitality within our own development (i.e. central principles of movement).