Teacher Feature: Ria Tirazona

When I was younger, I used to dream of becoming a gymnast. As I grew up, I discovered this practice called yoga and I was amazed at the beautiful shapes and forms I saw in pictures. I began to wish I would do that, but I could not muster up enough courage to actually give it a try. After all, being extremely unhealthy and overweight, tipping the scales at almost 250 pounds, it felt not just unimaginable, but impossible. Add to that, the sheer thought of coming to a yoga studio and being in the company of fit and flexible people daunted me.

As 2010 came to a close, I made a New Year’s resolution to finally give it a try. In January 2011, I finally found the courage to show up on the mat --- and to myself. I walked into a Yin Yoga class and immediately fell in love with the practice. Soon after, I found myself exploring different styles of yoga, ranging from Hatha, Ashtanga and Bikram. By the time I discovered Vinyasa, I knew there was no more turning back from this path. I went all in and began my journey towards becoming a yoga teacher.

In 2012, I took my 300 Hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training under the supervision of Anna Carbonell, Clayton Horton and Moching Yip. I am also certified as a Kids and Family Yoga Teacher by Rainbow Kids Yoga and I hold a Level 1,2, and 3 certification by Radiant Child® Yoga, where I was trained to work with children with special needs.

In December 2013, I came back to the practice that began it all for me, and completed my 100H Yin Yoga Training in Singapore. I received my certification from Victor Chng, director of Yin Yoga in Asia. My next goal is to become a yoga therapist, and at present I have completed a 50H SmartFlow® Teacher Training Intensive on Older Adult, Restorative and Therapeutic Yoga.

My greatest insecurity in the early stages of my teaching career in yoga was the fact that was my weight. Despite having lost quite a bit of it and seeing how yoga benefited me, I could not help but catch myself feeling inadequate next to other teachers who were not only physically fit and attractive looking, but they could do poses such as inversions that remained elusive to me. While I was teaching a number of classes already and was getting the hang of being a teacher, from time to time I would catch myself making excuses about myself and my not “looking like a yoga teacher”.

Things changed for me immensely when yoga+ introduced the Warrior Flow series and invited me to be a part of the team in leading these classes. It made me realize that everything I was worrying about was truly useless!

Warrior Flow, for me, is not simply a beginner Vinyasa or a foundations class. It is a class where I got to really understand what it meant to be in yoga. In these slower paced and yet dynamic classes, one has more time to discover how to modify poses depending on their body structure, to build on strength and flexibility with more time for awareness and self-discovery, and to also sweat it out without being overwhelmed by the class.

Leading these classes and working with differently bodied, differently abled, and differently capable students made me appreciate the practice even more. Indeed, it is a class wherein everyone can find their Inner Warrior --- regardless of weight, age, and physical condition.

Off of the mat, I work as a Senior Associate at a psychology clinic. I hold a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, and I incorporate my psychology practice into my style of teaching yoga. As a college instructor of psychology, I have been able to conduct workshops on breath and bodywork, as well as yoga and mindfulness. I have also lectured on yoga psychology, breath and bodywork, and yoga for special needs populations in several 200H Teacher Training Certification programs in Manila. From time to time, I do freelance writing work and blog at www.archetypesandasanas.com.

Besides leading classes in the studio, I love doing community classes. One of the highlights of my teaching career was being able to lead a community class in Singapore as a fund raiser to support Yolanda relief efforts. On occasion, I lead classes at the Farm at San Benito.

To say yoga has changed my life is an understatement. Through the practice, I learned to believe in my own strength and that I can overcome impossibilities. More importantly, I learned to be comfortable in my own body, whatever shape, form or condition it is in. This is what I long to share with my students always --- that it doesn’t matter how much you weigh, how old you are, or how seemingly “inflexible” you may be. All that matters is that you show up for yourself. Once you do, you will be amazed at how abundant blessings can come into your life. What motivates me most as a teacher is being able to witness my students discover their own potentials, both on and off the mat.