Oz Movement Practice: Putting Play at the Heart of Movement, Sports, and Human Potential
What happens when the game you love most becomes a source of pressure, anxiety, and burnout? When movement, once a source of joy, starts to feel like a chore? This is the story of how I found my way back to play, rhythm, and connection, and why I believe movement should always be joyful, exploratory, and deeply human.Oz Movement Practice was born from a desire to put play at the heart of movement, sports, and human potential.
Me during a game in my sophomore year at Saint Francis College Brooklyn.
From Basketball Dreams to Burnout
I was a D1 basketball player from Romania and crossed the ocean at 19 with the dream of playing elite basketball. I spent four years in college mostly on the bench, battling performance anxiety that eventually led to complete burnout. The game I loved no longer brought me joy, it felt like suffering.How could basketball, once my passion, become a dark place? The court was no longer colourful or nurturing for my heart and soul. After I left the game behind, the hardest part came: the transition. Without basketball, I didn’t know who I was. My whole identity had been wrapped up in the sport. And when I moved, I only knew how to move like a basketball player.Searching Beyond Performance
“Where was the playful movement I once loved in basketball - the rhythm, dancing with the ball, moving intuitively?”
I started exploring different movement practices, seeking something beyond basketball drills and structured routines. I found in a specific movement method, the Ido Portal Method, something that was challenging and different. It made sense , nothing else had made sense after loving basketball so much. Movement gave me meaning through my body again.But something was still missing. It felt mechanical, focused on building skills. I was missing the play.. I felt anxious, pushing myself through every set to finish each rep.
Discovering Play and Presence
Me during Improvisation at Fighting Monkey Intensive 2024, Slovakia.
Then I discovered Fighting Monkey. Everything shifted. I realized what I had been missing:Nourishing soft movementAn internal understanding of my bodyPlayMoving like MYSELFThe pursuit of nothing but the present moment
This practice reminded me that movement isn’t about performance, but about being fully present, exploring your body, and enjoying the process.I was finally feeling belonging, I was feeling like I found a community of creative humans who love to play ! and explore life. FM is really about learning how to love life and solving life´s challenges. And this philosophy draw me in. Because at that point, I was looking to understand. To feel joy. And this is what the practice gave me.Movement as a Way Back to Yourself
My philosophy is now centered on using movement as a tool to come back to yourself... to how you want to move! Through play, we reconnect with our bodies, with others, and with the present moment. Play is how we learn about the world.. so why would we ever stop? Movement and sports, for me, are not about performance. They are about:PlayConnectionPresence
“Movement is a way back to ourselves. To the child within us. A way home.”
