Four times malignant growths returned to Amit Gal Alon's body and each time he confronted and defeated them. As a result of the willpower which he discovered in himself, he developed a unique system in the field of the Anatomy of Motion and strength training. He decided that this would be his mission in life.
In 1995, during his service in the Israel Defense Forces, Amit Gal Alon discovered that he had contracted cancer. During the next ten years the illness returned three more times.
His battle with cancer was not so simple, especially since the illness returned several times. During each period of cancer what helped him to survive was to exercise his body. He is a man of movement. From childhood Amit was very active in sports and participated in nearly every existing type of sport. Movement was the essential part of his life. During high school, and while in the army, he played volley ball intensively. Then, while still in the army, the moment occurred which he will never forget. The moment when he was told that he has a tumor in his head. It was as if the world stood still. Suddenly, everything took on a new meaning and he began to ask questions about life.
Amit received the standard treatments available then: chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He suffered terribly from the side effects and nightmares during sleep. During the long period of difficult treatments he was unable to eat and could not exercise. He could hardly move his body and lost 15 kilos of muscle.
Amit was so weak that he could not lift both arms above his head. Amit trained with exercise machines, not to provide resistance to his muscles, but to allow him to execute the simple, physical movements that he could not do by himself. Amit chose to exercise in a neighborhood gym, rather than at home, because it was important for him to exercise with the exercise machines. When you work out in a gym there is no time for depressing thoughts. The only thought that you have is which muscle to strengthen next.
During rehabilitation between chemotherapy treatments he had to gain back the 15 kilos that he lost in each treatment course. Exercise built up his appetite and helped him overcome his thoughts. He stuck to his single aim, not to think about anything other than which exercise to do tomorrow and how to rebuild his body.
After the treatments, the tumor disappeared and Amit registered to study physical education in college. The connection between the body during illness and the study of movement helped him recover and survive that difficult period. He decided that he wanted to make this his profession and help others to connect with their body through movement.
At the end of his first year in college, he began to suffer from headaches, dizziness and imbalance. One morning while shaving facing the mirror, he noticed that the left side of his face was not functioning. Hospital tests found that the tumor had left metastases in his inner ear, adjacent to his brain. It was imperative to remove part of the tumor in an operation. Doctors began to speak with him about the percentage of likelihood that he would survive the operation. This was the first time that he began to think in terms of life and death.
The operation was a success. Two centimeters of the four centimeter tumor had been removed. The remaining two centimeters left next to his brain were to be overcome by treatments. During more than six months he underwent chemotherapy treatments and later radiotherapy treatments. All of the side effects came back: weight loss, vomiting and difficulty in eating. During this whole period he did not stop exercising.
Amit was in one of the most difficult, physical periods of his life. The exercises between the treatment courses helped him. However he also needed something for his soul. So he purchased paints and threw them freely on the canvas with his hands. He found that this made him feel better so he began to paint.
The free-hand painting led him to a new and exciting interest as far as he was concerned: digital graphic art. Upon completion of his studies in college he immediately enrolled for an additional degree in graphic art.
As soon as Amit began to study graphic art he discovered his hidden talent. He began to create and to specialize in the field of three dimensional graphics. He was attracted to drawing the body and especially was attracted to the movement systems in our body. Creating digitally on the computer, together with strength training by exercise helped him shut out his dark thoughts.
The age of internet was just beginning. Amit designed and built the first site in Israel dedicated to physical fitness. This was like rehab for him. It gave him satisfaction to help and to donate his knowledge to others.
In 2001, four years after the second battle with cancer, it returned for a third time. Now they discovered metastasis in the sinuses. They same well-known script repeated itself again. Unlike the first two times, this period was relatively easy. He was able to continue with almost all of his heavy workload and did not slow down. Even during treatments in the hospital he would arrive with his lap-top and continue his work.
During his third illness, Amit worked as teacher of anatomy and kinesiology in courses training physical education coaches. He found that his students had an essential need to understand how the body moves. The textbooks and illustrations of muscles did help them understand where each muscle began and ended, but most of them could not imagine how the muscle works when it contracts and extends.
Amit decided to create a system which could help his students understand how muscles move. He had the knowledge that he had acquired studying anatomy and with that the knowledge in digital graphic art and so he began to work day and night on a visual system that would represent the body in movement.
He felt that he had survived for a purpose. This was the mission of his existence in the universe in this life. As soon as he began to build the muscle system and saw the reactions of the students, he felt a deep need to continue and create the project of his life. Up till then there were only two books that presented the body in movement using pictures. He felt a passion to work all night and cause the drawings to move. He himself was surprised at the complex ability of the body to stabilize and move itself. Amit was enamored with this creation. Even today, ten years later, he continues to build and add more and more animations that represent the movement and changes of our body, which serves us all our lives.
In 2004, Amit published a Study Resource on CD-ROM dealing with anatomy of movement and anatomy of exercises. Many students and trainers in Israel took advantage of this tool and the feed back was very enthusiastic.
The students said that they don't have to imaging how the muscles work any more, and that the CD helps them greatly in understanding movement. This encouraged him to continue and develop this tool and make it available to the whole world.
Two years later, Amit once again became ill. The tumor returned to his neck and was removed by an operation. The forth time he got a gift: only an operation and no treatments. The recovery from the operation was not easy because a nerve in his neck had been injured. He was unable to lift up his right arm. So he decided to rehabilitate himself by swimming. Also since Amit lives near the sea he bought a surfboard and began to surf. The paddling helped him rehabilitate the nerve and within a month the hand resumed almost full function.
Throughout this period Amit continued to create and he built a learning tool which represents the body in motion. "Each illness just strengthened my inner feeling that I am still here to give to the world with my capabilities and my ability to represent our complex body in a simple and enjoyable manner." He said, "During the last four years technologies have improved allowing me to improve the movement tool and bring it to a much higher level." Amit decided to publish the creation for the whole world. He set an aim and adhered to it during years of development. This was not easy, but his internal motive of donation to the world was and still is very strong.
In 2010 Amit connected a visual internet system with the anatomy of movement and an additional tool of the anatomy of strength training. Movement exercisers and trainers around the world use the tool and the feedback is enthusiastic.
The wonderful feedback that people are sending give Amit strength to continue to create more and more. He is so happy to be here and that he has the ability to give to the world. His satisfaction from the love and feedback of his clients is great.
This year Amit is working on an additional anatomy tool for yoga, to be published within a few months. He will continue to create and give to the world as long as he can. Presently he is working with Dr. Gil Solberg on the functional anatomy of yoga. After that, perhaps, pilates.
Amit does not know how much longer he has to live. But that is not what is important to him, "It doesn't matter whether we live or die, but how we live." Amit is happy as long as he can give from his capabilities.