Personal Anecdote: The Body I Live In
Yāna Motion Lab has always been more than just a business. For me, it's deeply personal.
Over the years, life has delivered its share of wear and tear: a knee that needs replacing, a shoulder that's given out more than once, a spine that's been injured in both the neck and lower back, and arthritis that reminds me daily of the sports and accidents that brought me joy—and pain.
Once upon a time, I was a weekend warrior. Skiing with my wife and friends, backpacking into the wild, golfing on weekends, and chasing the kind of physical pursuits that make life vibrant. Now, those adventures feel like memories paused. Skiing is off the table. Hiking has become risky. And each movement I make must be measured, intentional, and protective. I find myself navigating a health system that asks me to wait months, sometimes years, for the surgeries I need.
But waiting doesn't mean doing nothing.
My new definition of progress is this: maintain where I am, preserve the movement I have, and find joy in what I can do. I'm committed to being as ready as possible for the surgical path ahead, and even more committed to living fully until then.
They say "60 is the new 40" - well, I sometimes feel like I've got the body of an 80-year-old and the heart and drive of a 30-year-old. So, I move in the direction I can, grounded in honesty, guided by objective data, and fueled to stay connected to the people important to my life.
This is why we built Yāna.
The Problem: We Don't Value Movement - Until It's Gone
Movement is foundational to our lives. It defines what we can do, how we participate, and how we connect. Yet most people don't truly value movement health until it's compromised... and when it is, whether from injury, aging, or chronic conditions - our world suddenly shrinks.
We lose access to joy, purpose, and independence. We cancel plans, avoid activities, and start viewing life through a lens of limitation rather than possibility. As an athlete, this is frustrating. As a parent or partner, it's heartbreaking. As a worker, it's costly. As a human being, it's isolating.
The healthcare system, as it stands, isn't built for proactive care. Too often, we wait until we're in crisis. And even then, the assessment of movement is typically subjective, based on a clinician's eye or a few standard questions. There's no definitive, repeatable, objective test. No "ECG for your body" to benchmark or track movement health over time.
We saw this gap. And we knew we had to fill it.
The Solution: Yāna Motion Lab
Yāna is a clinical-grade 3D movement assessment platform designed to bring objective, standardized, and repeatable movement health data to everyone.
At its core is an 8-camera, markerless capture studio that uses research-grade biomechanical modeling. Through standardized protocols, machine learning, and cloud processing, we generate movement scores that compare an individual's motion against healthy population benchmarks. In minutes, comprehensive reports, including synchronized videos, are delivered via our mobile apps.
We call it the Yāna Movement Assessment. It can be a quick 5 to 10-minute scan or a full 30 to 50-minute baseline evaluation. All output is medical-grade and can be exported to health records. Most importantly, it's repeatable, making it ideal for tracking rehab, monitoring progress, and setting personal goals.
This is not a gamified fitness product. It's a clinical platform designed to empower clinicians, clients, and care teams with objective, actionable data. It's the "movement ECG" we always wished existed. The Yāna user experience was built to serve ALL stakeholders in the movement health journey, most importantly providing the client/patient full visibility to their own data.
The Journey: 8 Years to a Moment of Readiness
Yāna's roots go back over eight years. The first spark came from two brilliant minds, my fellow co-founders Dr. Andrew Digney and Dr. Jantinder (Taj) Baidwan. They are both forward-thinkers who recognized the need for accurate, repeatable, and accessible movement health assessments.
They believed, and I wholeheartedly agreed, that motion needed to be measured with the same rigor and objectivity as a blood test or an X-ray. No more subjective assessments. No more guesswork. We envisioned a world where movement health data was as easy to understand and act upon as a cholesterol score.
In 2019, we attempted our first launch in Vancouver. The idea was strong, but the technology wasn't there yet, and the market wasn't quite ready either. Then came the pandemic. Like many others, we paused and re-evaluated.
We moved operations to Calgary and did a full rebuild. Clean sheet. New tech. New model. The world had changed and so had we.
Markerless motion capture had evolved. AI had matured. The public was now much more aware of the importance of movement health. People were asking questions about their bodies, their capabilities, their future.
We answered with Prema - our Phase 1 platform. It's now live. Additional modules for posture and gait are launching in the months ahead. Our product is ready. Our service is polished. The experience is impactful.
And most importantly, our mission is clear.
Vision for the Future: Motion Health for All
Our vision is simple:
Everyone should have access to their movement health.
They should be able to:
- Understand where they are today
- Set goals for where they want to go
- Track their progress along the way
- Collaborate with a team of experts who guide and support their journey
Movement health isn't just about avoiding injury. It's about reclaiming your life, pursuing your passions, and staying engaged with the people and activities that bring you joy. It's about confidence. Independence. Resilience.
We want to eliminate the days of one-way, subjective movement exams. At Yāna, we're ushering in a new model, one where patients and clients are co-pilots in their care, empowered with data and engaged in the conversation.
We're launching in Calgary, with plans to bring Yāna to Vancouver and Toronto later this year. And this is just the beginning. Our long-term goal is to see Yāna Studios in clinics, wellness centers, corporate offices, and community hubs across Canada.
Movement health should not be a privilege. It should be a right.
Call to Action: Let's Move Together
Whether you're a healthcare professional, a clinic operator, a physiotherapist, a strength coach, a wellness entrepreneur, or someone who simply wants to move better, we invite you to experience Yāna.
Come visit our studio. Get your own movement health scan. See what your body is telling you.
If you're part of an organization that values innovation, prevention, or performance, let's talk about how a Yāna Studio could fit into your operations. Our platform is flexible and scalable, designed to integrate into clinical, corporate, or wellness environments. If your practice is not big enough to host a Yāna Studio, then our new Yāna Clinical Platform allows small clinics, individual clinicians & trainers to book in clients to a Yāna General Lab and access reports.
And if you're a fellow Canadian, passionate about proactive health, join us on this journey. Share your story. Spread the word. Help us bring motion health into the mainstream.
Closing Comments: A Note from the Heart
Movement is life. And life is meant to be shared.
As someone who knows what it's like to lose mobility, and what it means to fight to preserve it, I want to offer this simple truth: A broken body does not mean a broken spirit.
But investing in your body, investing in movement, is an investment in joy, connection, and hope.
At Yāna, our tagline is: "Motion Health for Life."
Because we believe in life-long movement. And we believe everyone deserves to live fully, with purpose and pride, for as long as they can.
There's an old adage, that rings more true today:
"You don't stop moving because you get old; you get old because you stop moving."
Here's to moving forward, with honesty, courage, and community.
May your movement journey be filled with strength and determination, and may you always have the will to walk over the hills in front of you.
Warm regards,
Paddy
CEO & Co-Founder, Yāna Motion Lab
Learn more about our technology and services at Yana Motion Lab or download our app to access your movement health data anywhere.