We continue to amplify local businesses for the Dufferin Board of Trade.
Full video transcript:
The art of Muay Thai is building self-confidence, it’s building physical strength, mental strength while you’re learning the martial art. We have about 250 families. Our curriculum is actually from Reggio Emilia, Italy. It’s not teacher driven, it’s child driven. My passion for eyes came at a very young age where I witnessed cataract surgery being done, and I remember saying to my parents that this is what I want to do. I want to help people see. It’s more than a workout. It’s training, it’s a journey. It also reinforces some values of respect and self-control and discipline. Our curriculum is child centered. We look at the children’s intentions. We use really interesting loose parts and wooden toys. We’re doing watercolors with real paint brushes, clay, not Play-Doh. Before opening Shelburne Optometry here, I did actually practice in the city, but it wasn’t quite me. I wanted to be somewhere where I could really make a difference in providing them a level of care, which I’m able to do now. Art of 8 Martial Arts Academy offers classes for the full spectrum of the household. As far as I can tell, we’re the only martial arts facility in this region that offers programing specific to women. We start at six months and we go all the way up to before and after school programs. My absolute passion here within eye care is dry eyes. We offer a range of personalized eye care and skin care services, from comprehensive eye exams to contact lens fitting, digital imaging and our very own in-house medi spa, eye spa called Aura. This is a family operated business. I stay more on the coaching, and Janeque handles pretty much all of the administration. We have two boys who are also deeply integrated. When I decided to open my own business, I asked my daughters to join me on this journey and they were more than excited. They worked hard in those early days. We became full very quickly in our first location, and the reason was word of mouth. I’m from London, England. I’ve been in Canada now for ten years – I moved for love and I stumbled across Shelburne in my travels and fell in love with the place. Our catchment does go within the whole of Dufferin County, which is beautiful because we love seeing people from far and wide, not just here in Shelburne, but sometimes even beyond that. And it’s really fascinating to get to know those people and help provide the care that they need as well. We started Art of 8 Muay Thai in 2019. The community really loved it. They enjoyed it. It was something new and we saw a great opportunity to bring some of the lessons that I learned to the community. I really love having those conversations with my patients, trying to help them provide the best solutions to make them feel better. It’s very beautiful in terms of how it trains one’s mind and body and how it builds community. All of the work that we put into it… it’s been an amazing journey.