#Chakrachat Series : Yoga Teaching & Learning with Ben and Rianna

The landscape of teaching and learning has immensely changed as a result of this pandemic and it is no different with Yoga. It would be interesting therefore to create a space for conversations for yoga teachers and practitioners to talk about their reactions, responses and reinventions

Gracing our #ChakraChat session are two inspiring and thriving yoga teachers of the country, Teacher Ben and Teacher Rianna.

Ben Bernabe is a Vinyasa yoga teacher and teacher trainer based in Manila, Philippines. ( @yogawithben)

He started his yoga practice in 2010 with Yoga for Life, a community-based organization that offers yoga as complementary therapy for people living with and affected by HIV. He took his teacher training in 2012 at the Victorian Institute of Yoga Education and Teacher Training (VIYETT) in Hampton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He obtained his 500H Diploma in Yoga Teaching (DYT) on December 15, 2012.

He has been teaching Vinyasa and Power Yoga at Beyond Yoga since coming home to Manila in 2013. He led his first Vinyasa yoga teacher training with Rianna Gatus in July 2017 at Beyond Rockwell, Makati City, Philippines.

Ben is also the President of The Red Whistle, an HIV awareness organization in the Philippines. He was also formerly the President of Yoga for Life and the Executive Director of the B-Change Foundation, an Asia-Pacific regional NGO.

He has a Master of Development Studies degree from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts in European Languages degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

On the other hand, Rianna Gatus ( @riannayoga ) has been teaching yoga for more than ten years. She teaches smart, dynamic, and intuitive yoga classes. Rianna found the mat through tough times of personal grief. As one of the founders of Beyond Yoga studios in Manila, she opened the space with the desire to share yoga to people around her.

She is trained in Vinyasa, Ashtanga, and Hot Yoga, with more than 1,000 hours of training and continuing education under her belt. Her goal as a teacher trainer is to train people with emphasis on skillful and precise sequencing, hands on assists that are connected and confident, and the ability to create an experience that brings people back to themselves.

​Her vision is a world with more yoga because everybody deserves it. Tune in and learn from these two amazing Teachers!