Beyond Activ Singapore 2025

Two weeks ago I found myself in Singapore. I attended Beyond Activ, a Fitness, Health and Wellness networking event and conference with industry leaders. Major companies and their employees, CEOs, health professionals, public figures, investors, exhibitors from Australia, Asia, America, Europe. We discussed current trends, buzzwords, challenges and opportunities. Amongst about 1000 attendees was Kathy O. My aim was to meet likehearted people, have fun, observe, see how I could add value and potentially serve the audience in the future. Here are my main takeaways from each stage. 

The Beyond Fitness & Wellness Stage 

Bryan K. O'Rourke CEO of Core Health & Fitness, made an impact with his 'Futurize and Humanize' presentation highlighting the need for human connection as AI peaks and eventually loses our interest. The future is now, in the choices you make today. It was very much in line with the topic of 'in real life' human experiences being sought more and more voiced by Emyln Brown, Global Senior Vice President at Accor. I agree wholeheartedly. We heal when we are witnessed. AI will be used to categorize and file notes. However, AI can not give us the raw human connection we seek for survival.  

Longevity is the buzzword. We were reminded of the fundamentals to good health: "Lets ask what's good first. Nutrition, movement, mindfulness." I was happy to hear Emlyn Brown voice this. That man got my attention. Speaking to Emlyn after his panel feature gave me confidence in what I know, practice and preach. You don't need expensive gadgets. Create a strong and healthy foundation first then lets talk about the ice baths and cryochambers, which I do love. This was further reinforced by Arkadius Paszkowski, Senior Manager at Marriott International saying: "We need to educate people on the why and how to, not just the what". Yep, that's what I love to do.

Science is the new black. Melanie Gleeson, founder and CEO of Endota Spas highlighted customers want more evidence based treatments: "There is so much information now that we need to be careful not to bombard and add overwhelm". Personally, I believe it doesn't get much more scientific than the fundaments. All the 'new research' keeps reinforcing the basics. She highlighted there is a crossover between beauty and well-being. I don't think this is new information, I think we are not utilizing the information. Knowledge is not power, it is potential power. Applied knowledge is power. How are we going to use this information to move the needle? 

The Beyond Health Stage 

I was keen to hear how far we have gotten given my clinical background in dietetics, chronic disease management and having worked on the medical, surgical, renal, rehabilitation, oncology hospital wards, as well as in the outpatient setting. 

Everyone wants more focus on preventative health, yet no one really understands how to implement it. There was mention of lifestyle medicine and the 6 pillars of preventative health, yet no major changes are happening. One of the doctors even said it's hard for him to get his own staff not to eat McDonalds. Your own company would be a great place to start. Lead by example. They spoke about community based programs and bringing wellness and healthcare together. This is all about human behavior and they know it, but they don't know what to do with it.  

People are scared to talk about disease reversal because they don't understand it. They are more comfortable speaking about chronic disease management. They spoke about diabetes growing in prevalence and leading to kidney disease. Yet, they did not voice that T2DM is reversable. They shared that the killer of men diagnosed with prostate cancer is actually heart disease, not the cancer itself. My brain straight away thought 'grief and sadness'. My eyes welled up for the men who are harbouring these heavy emotions, and nobody sees it. Bronnie Ware shares one of The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying: "I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings".

There was one lady brave enough to exchange a few words with me when I asked her about disease reversal. She gave me a beautiful smile, reminded me she is not a doctor yet believes it's debatable. I'm here for that debate. 

AI as a means of early detection. Because they are scared to talk about reversal, and it seems they don't know how to implement preventative care, the next best thing is early detection and management. Early detection is not the same as prevention. It will make the reversal more easeful, if you understand how to heal. 

Functional disorders were touched on and the doctors did their best to address the audience question of 'what is it caused by and what do we do about it'. I went up to the psychologist who asked the question and presented my view, backed by science and quoted the people leading the research. It's a matter of nervous system dysregulation. He asked me: "So it is a societal problem?" Absolutely, it is a 'societal norm' nowadays to be in a dysregulated state. Being within the 'norm' does not mean it is healthy, it means it is common. Energy transference is a thing. You being dysregulated affects me. You shift the 'societal norm' by changing yourself. 

The challenge that kept arising was the 'taking action' part, which comes back to human behavior, overcoming resistance to change and how to become an action taker. Which comes back to emotion, energy in motion. "Knowledge fueled by emotion leads to action" - Jim Rohn. Who is motivating the masses? We need healthy role models living in integrity, which was what Dane Fort, Co-Founder of California Wellness Group highlighted. He used himself as an example stepping onto stage only 3 weeks post surgery. I shook his hand for being the 'miracle patient'. You become the 'miracle patient' by being the high performing outlier before surgery. I admire him for that as I know what it takes. 

Professor Brian Kennedy, Director, Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System Singapore got it right when he said "Too many decisions are taken out of the clients hands and into the doctors hands". Exactly. If you want people to take action and create change, empower them to take ownership. Remind them that their health outcomes are the result of their own choices. It always comes back to the man in the mirror. Instead of labelling people as patients and health consumers, label them as health creators. You are the creator of your circumstances and the architect of your life. 

It absolutely is possible to change the trajectory of your health. I want to remind you, there was a time in my life I too was cooking cancer, heart disease and liver disease in my body. I didn't know what I now know. Neither do they. When we know better, we can do better. I had an underactive thyroid which I healed in under 30 days because of my search for answers. I've experienced the difficulties of balancing hormones when the doctor didn't know how to guide me without pills. There is a huge gap here within the health and wellness industry itself no one is talking about. Maybe no one sees it? Maybe I see it because of what I have explored over the last 3 years within myself. Maybe this is where I add value and serve the audience? 

The Gala Dinner

GoodLife Fitness CEO David Patchell Evans, aka Patch overcame many challenges to achieve the impact he has had on the fitness industry. He deservingly received the lifetime achievement award. His wife acknowledged his kindness, bravery and adventurous spirit. I thought to myself, "I want someone to say those things about me one day as I'm receiving an award." Patch spoke about finding his passion through overcoming his medical challenges, the importance of directing our focus and embracing neurodivergence. I felt seen. I shook his hand congratulating him and his wife who also mentioned Patch putting everything on the line for his dream, selling their homes multiple times to reinvest. It has returned 1000x fold. That was the confirmation I needed to hear to keep building my vision. 

The Beyond Sports Stage 

"The elite athlete is the influencer to get people moving" - said Roy Teo, Sport Singapore Chief Industry Development. We used to think that elite athletes were just talent. Sports athletes are opening up about taking care of themselves. Clubs are investing more into the holistic wellness during the entire career of an athlete, as well as post career. There is more intentionality in sports overall to capitalise on sporting events and get people moving after the sporting event itself to promote health.

Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling has definitely had a few mindset coaches during his career. You can hear it in the way he speaks. I would love to be the mindset coach of a top athlete. Retiring at 28yo to focus on his swim school and other business ventures tells you he has smart people around him. 

Russel Harrison, CEO of Spartan Boxing Club got my attention prior to the event when we connected on LinkedIn saying the way to bring boxing into the community is to focus on progression and move beyond the sport. I asked him in person to explain this to me and was pleasantly surprised with his response. 'Progression' as in recognition for improvement in skills. 'Move beyond the sport' by highlighting the role of boxing in other areas of wellness such as emotional health. He got me there as I recalled myself going to boxing classes 7 years ago when 'there was something going on in my life back then. I was angry and I needed an outlet beyond the weights.' I also injured myself as a result of not knowing what I now know.

Summary

Big questions remain unanswered. The speakers that made the most impact were those that evoked emotion. There is so much room for improvement within and beyond the industries. Moving the needle is the biggest challenge. We are creating such beautiful spas, gyms, environments yet chronic disease is increasing. Trends are patterns. This is all about pattern recognition. Recognise the pattern, intercept the pattern, create a new pattern. There is a disconnect between the industries. They are looking to create bridges between each other but they are not seeing how. If you don't see what I see, let me show you.

My suggestion: Start with your company culture. Whether your company has a hierarchy or has flattened it, you must lead by example. There must be congruency and coherence. Spread it to your members and into the community. Make healthy the societal norm. Don't get me wrong, it absolutely is a huge task. This is what psychology would call 'reparenting' of generations to ensure a healthy future.

Start with yourself.

What is your understanding of healing and health? How are you ensuring you are being a healthy adult/ parent/ CEO? 

Kathy O's Takeaways and Action Points: 

1. Teach people how to take action. Everybody knows what to do. What we really need to teach people is integrity. Ensure that health and wellness extends beyond the hospital, beyond the gym, beyond the spa, beyond sports, beyond the workplace, beyond the school. The only way to ensure it extends beyond those environments is by creating it within the environment first. 

2. Teach people to feel their emotions without becoming them. There is a lack of understanding about the human nervous system, regulation and dysregulation. There was mention of needing to upgrade the medical teachings, “Go to the schools” said Co-founder at BDMS Wellness Clinic & Schulthess Clinic, Professor of Neurology Jiri Dvorak. Okay, let me through the door. I have no idea what they are teaching young doctors but it doesn't seem promising when they can't explain nervous system dysregulation and don't believe in disease reversal. We already have all the evidence we need. I can provide you with an entire list of 300 books on the topics of human behaviour, health, leadership, integrity, psychology, the subconscious mind, backed by scientific research. You probably only need my top 70 reads. 

3. What's your Vision? What are you aiming to achieve? Clarity is power in a noisy world. They kept talking about an ecosystem, bridges, bringing healthcare and wellness together, the crossover between industries. How? Where is your strategy? Decide. If you want to be in prevention then advocate for it and work within it. You're taking your focus and energy away from prevention by being a surgeon. Get more support by hiring a health & wellness strategist within your company. Outsource some responsibility. Without strategy and support you're spinning wheels.

I keep saying: there's a time and a place for both.

Leave the medical system as it is.

Let surgeons do their job. I had the most beautiful and skillful surgeon remove the breast implants for me. However, the healing is happening after the surgeon stiches me up, by my own body. It is the body's innate ability when we remove interferences and create the nurturing and nourishing environment it requires. The choices I make are either helping or hindering the healing. That is the part doctors, clients, patients, society is not being taught. Disease reversal means: healing. Healing is the restoration of health and healing is not being taught. So how are we meant to be and stay healthy? We are so disconnected from our intuition, we have forgotten how to heal. This is what we need to teach and relearn.

The principles of the 7 Pillars to Wellness and the Embodiment Fractal Framework can be taught and implemented within your company to heal/prevent burnout, optimise health and happiness, raise the ambition of your team, and maintain family values whilst growing the business. It's called 'Burnout To Breakthrough' because what I see people experiencing is the outcome of a dysregulated nervous system causing disease symptoms. Regulate the nervous system through mind, body, breathwork, spiritual and emotional hygiene practices and the body will heal and restore health. 

Burnout - dysregulated nervous system (Kathy O's definition). 

Dysregulated - used to describe people who are unable to control their emotions in the same way that others can, or the behaviour of these people (Cambridge dictionary definition).

Control? I would say identify, feel and understand. Do emotions need to be controlled? All emotion is welcome, not all behavior is acceptable. Emotions are not the same as behavior. Emotions express themselves in your behaviors which leads to gene expression. You behave the way you have been taught. When you know better, you can do better. It is a choice. 

You want to talk about health gain and disease prevention? Start talking about e-motions, energy in motion. Teach people how to complete the emotional cycle. Movement is the single most effective way of completing the stress cycle. This is where Fitness and Wellness crossover. Fitness is the business of helping people regulate their nervous system but they don't even know it, yet. 

Share this blog with someone you want to inspire. Sign up to the NuFit Wellness Newsletter and be the first to know it all. Attend my Wellness Workshops. Kathy O - Health & Wellness Strategist: Supporting people achieve optimal health, wealth and relationships with lifestyle principles through awareness, breath and conscious choice. Embodiment Coach: Alignment is the method. Embodiment is the achievement. Authenticity is a byproduct. Be unstoppable. Be authentically you.

.

.

.

.

.

.

KEYWORDS: Health, Wellness, Disease, Reversal, Prevention, Healing, Fitness, Lifestyle Medicine, Choice, Choices, Action, Change.