Joji Balcita
Joji is a student of meditation (Vipassana and Zen) and hatha yoga
since 2000. Forever inquiring into the art and science of the body and
movement, she also studies dance and martial arts. When not teaching
yoga, she is a graduate student (Comparative Literature) and an
aspiring painter.
“In my years of teaching yoga in UP and in
private classes and hotel/spa establishments, I gained the notion that
people who stay with yoga are those who are truly concerned about their
health and physical fitness. They are the ones who have the discipline
to keep coming back, who don’t get bored with the asanas.
“Many come
to yoga because it is popular nowadays, along with all the trappings of
stylish yoga clothes and branded yoga paraphernalia, and all the talk
about yoga spirituality (mantras included). Many also come because they
want to lose weight and gain health. Whatever the reason for coming, I
have seen people come and go and never achieve the style, the ideal
weight, or the health they wanted because they simply lacked discipline.
"In
the end, I think it’s all about discipline, whether the student wants
to achieve a fairly well yet consistent practice or an advanced
practice. I have seen among the yoga students that it is they who have
the discipline who eventually create a lifestyle of health including
diet, weight management, and yes a spirituality that unites body, mind
and spirit."
Jon Cagas
Jon was a member of the Team Yoga 2002, the flagship project of the former Yoga Foundation of the Philippines. He is grateful to his teachers for instilling in him the true meaning of this 5000-year old discipline.
Jon is an assistant professor at the UP College of Human Kinetics where he also finished his MS in Physical Education (2005) and Bachelor's degree in Sports Science (1999). He completed his 200-hour teachers training course in 2007 from the Centered Yoga Institute in Thailand and went on to study yoga in India the year after. In India, Jon studied at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, the Sivananda Ashram in Neyyar Dam, and the Kaivalyadham Yoga Institute in Lonavla, where he received intensive training in hatha yoga and pranayama.
From time to time, Jon conducts workshops and retreats for Flow Yoga QC. He teaches yoga regularly at Yoga Manila.
