in the UK we're expecting to return to lockdown this Thursday, for 4 weeks. The situation is not looking good across Europe, and I bet other parts of the northern hemisphere will follow during the 2020/21 winter.

Join me and other Activators to exercise together, for free! Every weekday at 1PM to 1:20PM UK time. You can join from anywhere in the world, if that time suits you.

Batten down the hatches

If you're thinking, the lockdown is "just four weeks", remember the March 2020 lockdown was only meant to be 4 weeks too #justsaying.

Also, it's much more difficult to exercise in the colder months, many of us will not feel like going for a jog, or even a walk, when the temperature outside is closer to zero centigrade - especially in Europe.

Stay active, or face the consequences

There's no way to sugar coat this... if you don't move as much as you need to, your health will suffer. Let's make sure that doesn't happen. Just 20 minutes a day of moderate to intense activity is going to ensure your health is kept in good shape.

Don't get ripped-off dude

During the second lockdown I don't want you, your family or friends to get ripped-off by illegally operating dancers who are masquerading as fitness instructors, teaching through Zoom.

Illegal operators a plenty

There are many people running 'bhangra exercise' Zoom sessions, all of them are using music illegally. If you love Punjabi music, we should insist that they do not break the law.

The only organisations in the world allowed to have the appropriate music licence are partner organisations of EMD UK. Pungra is the only EMD UK partner that specialises in Punjabi music.

Everyone using Zoom (or any live streaming such as Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live or similar) to stream copyright protected music is breaking the law. We're not using the licence because we're not streaming Punjabi music through Zoom - we are using YouTube who automatically scan the music and ensure the copyright holders are awarded the money generated through advertising. By the way, most of the instructors running these sessions have no exercise qualification(s).

The others "can" become qualified as Pungra instructor and get the correct licence, if they want to... go, share the message... oh no don't go anywhere, stay home and email them instead.

Not all those running Zoom based sessions are operating illegally. If you're interested in some that are doing great sessions, using music legally, take a look at EMD UK's web site for all EMD UK partner organisations.

Live streaming on a small screen isn't good for dance-base exercises

They are also low quality because there is a lag with using Zoom (and similar) for dance-type exercises - and who the heck wants to follow a laggy, low audio quality class, on a laptop screen... when you can use the largest screen in your home, a television? I'll show you how.

Instead of paying £5 or more for those, join the Pungra Club for free and exercise with us, for free too. Seriously, no cost, and no catch. Yeah, I know amazing hey? You want to tell all your family and friends!

I want you to exercise with me, and many others, as part of the Pungra Club. We'll be using the videos we have freely available on YouTube.

What's the point, if it's free?

You might be thinking, "if the videos are available freely on YouTube, what's the point of the club?" That's an excellent question. The answer is that there's something really motivating about exercising with others at the same time, and also connecting with like minded individually digitally in the Facebook Group - during this time that we cannot in-person.

From next week, We'll be exercising from 1PM to 1:20PM every week day. Other times will become available soon too. To stay in the know, please join the Facebook Group.

I bet you know dozens of people that would be interested in joining us. Please forward this email to them. If they prefer not to join Facebook, that's ok. Just join the mailing list at pungra.fit

These are activities organised for free! I have some funding from Sport England, but even when that is used up I intend to keep going. I am using free, or cheap, technology to make this possible voluntarily. I want you to share your energy, at the same time, so it motivates us all to keep going.

1. Stay motivated and connected!
2. Stay legal and above board!
3. Stay home and keep everyone safe!

Request to join the Facebook Group