Teacher Feature: Roxanne Piad

Since I was young, I've always been very active and up to the challenge to try out different physical activities. For several years, I was very into boxing, swimming, and running. The endurance, cardio and strength training helped keep me fit and strong. However, at around 2011, I took a corporate job with a new company and had to take a pause from my regular fitness routine while I was adjusting to the new workload.

Eventually, I started to feel the difference in my body and I was easily affected by the stress and anxiety that came with the job and knew that I had to do something about it. I saw that yoga+ was just in the building across my office and I went for it! After my first class, I was hooked! I kept on coming back and tried the other types of yoga that the studio offered. At first, the practice was more physical for me but soon, I started to see beyond the physical benefits that one can get from a regular asana practice.

I felt more energized, more compassionate, happier, and had more self-awareness. I've never felt healthier and stronger. I found myself sharing and talking about yoga non-stop with my co-workers, friends and family. I decided to look into the teacher training, with the initial purpose of deepening my personal practice. But having experienced teaching during training was such a high that I was immediately convinced that it was something I wanted to do.

I completed my 200-Hour Absolute Hot Yoga Teacher Training last April 2014 and my Yin Yoga Teacher Training with Victor Chng last September 2014 in Manila both with yoga+. It was amazing to be able to study and learn from my mentors, all of whom I look up to and aspire to be like. To be the kind of teacher that students can relate to and who can push them to go beyond their comfort zones. I want to inspire my students the same way that my teachers serve as an inspiration to me.

When I was given the opportunity by yoga+ to manage their new studio at De La Salle University, it was both humbling, an honor and such a blessing for me. I thought hard about it, especially the pros and cons of leaving the corporate world for good. But I knew deep down that my heart belonged to yoga. So, I left my day job and instead, worked full-time as a yoga instructor and the studio manager for yoga+ Express at DLSU.

The change hasn't been easy and the pressure was different from what I was used to back in my corporate job. But I looked at it as a challenge and as a new journey for me to embark. I had my family, great mentors and friends who supported me all the way. After teaching my first class at DLSU during our opening day, in spite of having only 5 students, that was the moment I knew I made the right choice. To be able to impart and share what I have learned and am continuously learning from my personal practice. I know that this is just the start of a new path and in yoga, the journey is what it's all about.