Meet Your Teachers

Mae Evangelista

Yoga is a powerful tool for change - may it be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual.  In my case, yoga changed my career path!  I left my corporate life to be a yoga teacher and share the wonders of yoga to other people.

My passion for movement and fitness got me hooked on yoga since 2009.  I was invited to compete that same year in the Philippine Yoga Asana Championship.  Training for the competition was intense but it was well worth every single bead of sweat as it really improved my practice.  I've only been practicing yoga for a little over a year when I felt the need to deepen my practice so I decided to join the Greenpath Ashtanga Vinyasa teacher training under Clayton Horton and Mo Ching Yip in 2010.  Since then, I've been teaching Ashtanga, Vinyasa (Flow and Gentle Yoga), Power Yoga and Hot Yoga.  I've also been striving to spread the beauty of yoga to others, especially my students.

Ohm Shanti.

When not teaching, you will find Mae at Plana Forma, where she also teaches.  She is a make up artist on the side, too.

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Eunice Cu

I first encountered yoga in 1998, practicing with Hoze Arando and Sandy Carmona, the pioneers of yoga here in the Philippines. Instantly, I fell in love. Yoga not only strengthened my body. It also was able to silence my mind and invigorate my spirit.  

Soon after, I went to medical school and was no longer able to practice yoga. During the next few years, I went on to become a pediatrician and started building a medical practice. Yoga called to me again at this time and I knew I had to come back to my first love. Following my dream, I did a 200 hour Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teacher Training at Bliss Yoga in 2010. It is now time to share my love for yoga with other people and help them find the serenity it has brought me. 

When not teaching, Eunice is a pediatrician and you will find her at her clinic, curing the world of sick babies.  

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Ryan Chester

Since I started doing martial arts I've always had an interest in yoga, how it can make me more flexible and allow me to kick higher. I didn't realize that flexibility was only part of the many benefits I was going to gain from a regular yoga practice.  

I took my first yoga class in Victoria, BC, Canada in late 2006 when I joined a friend at  Bikram Yoga Victoria. The class didn't blow me away at first. It was hot, the teacher talked a lot, I didn't listen, all the usual first timer reactions. I kept on going back for more. Six months later I found myself in Oahu, Hawaii for Bikram's 9-week intensive yoga teacher training. Since my graduation, I have been teaching yoga full time at different studios in Canada & the Philippines. 

Yoga changed my life. It allowed me not only to become more flexible but gave me greater stamina, better health (yogis rarely get sick) and a more positive way of thinking, among others. Yoga gave me the opportunity to travel and share yoga with thousands of people and now I have found my true home here in the Philippines.

In this world you have to work hard to achieve your goals. Persevere and never give up. Yoga will help you with that determination you need.

Start your yoga journey today. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Namaste.

When not teaching, you will find Ryan in his office at the studio, doing his job as Studio Manager. Twice a week, he will sweat it out with a little Muay Thai training.

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Dinah Salonga

I discovered yoga in late 2005 when a Bikram studio opened right below my office. Since doing my first class, I have not looked back. I cancelled my gym membership, sessions with my personal trainer and badminton trainer and decided to focus on yoga. It was very difficult in the beginning. I couldn’t even lift my arms overhead for more than a few seconds! But I persevered and that led me to pursue the path of a yoga instructor.

I love yoga because of the way it works not just on the muscles but on all parts of the body - organs, glands, joints - and the mind as well. I kept on going to yoga classes and wondered why I was getting so addicted to it. I thought it was just the usual endorphins that one gets from exercise. It was only during the Absolute Hot Yoga Teacher Training in Koh Samui, Thailand in October 2010 that I understood it all. All the postures that we do in class work on our body alright. But more than that, it teaches our mind a lot of things - focus, concentration, patience, determination, being still. 

Yoga has allowed me to do many things even at my age. I joined the 1^st Philippine Yoga Asana Championship in  2008 and I was the oldest contestant! In my teacher training class, I was also the oldest student. I was doing 2 yoga classes each day alongside young women who are half my age. I felt proud at having achieved all these things. I knew that the practice and love of yoga made these possible. 

I still struggle with some postures but with the new maturity that yoga has brought me, I now realize that yoga practice is more than just perfecting postures. It is really about perfecting life. And I am learning that every time I step on my yoga mat. This is the lesson that I try to share with my students every time I lead the class. My goal is to help them start on a journey towards discovering all the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that a consistent yoga practice brings and hope that someday yoga will also teach them what it has taught me.

When not teaching, you will find a busy Dinah, being the big boss of her IT company, SQL Wizard.  Chosen as one of the 10 Outstanding Entrepreneurs in 2007 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Dinah is a statistician by education, but got sidetracked into IT and made it her profession.  She has been a programmer, a database administrator, a pre-sales consultant and a product marketing manager at the various stages of her career.  Now you know who to call when you have IT needs! 

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Aisa Locsin

My first hot yoga class was a birthday present to myself, back in January of 2009.  This love for yoga has grown each and every day since then.  Yoga has opened new doors and presented new possibilities for me.  It was, and constantly is, an essential catalyst for change in my life.  In my three years of practice, I explored the worlds of Vinyasa, Ashtanga and Yin Yoga, but I always constantly found myself getting drawn back to hot yoga.  Its practice has taught me reverence, patience, acceptance and reflection.  It was inspiring.  Inspiring enough to get me on a plane to Koh Samui, where I did my 200-hour Absolute Hot Yoga Teacher Training Course.  This was an important part of my yoga journey. My teachers at training, Pim, Jeanne, John and Harreson, will always be perfect reminders of why I chose to become a teacher.  They have devoted their lives to sharing something so wonderful with the world.  They are teachers who teach with their hearts. 

Now that I have become one, I embrace the opportunity of spreading light and the love for the practice of yoga to everyone, as well as the chance of inspiring others, in the exact same way yoga continues to inspire me.  

See you all on the mat!

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, may all things be happy and be free.

When not teaching, you will find Aisa underwater, diving with the fish and turtles; on its surface, riding her surf board; by the beach, spinning fire poi or up in the mountains, planting trees.  This little nature lover is also a Gemologist and does Sales & Marketing for the studio.

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Neil Salang

When not teaching, you will find Neil working for his company, Asia Prime Properties, Inc., a company that builds homes for the working Filipino.  He believes that affordable homes can be beatiful too. 

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Thank you, Diego F. Jose, for the teachers' photos!

www.diego.ph