I thought moving forward meant doing more. In 1995, I was in New York on sabbatical, seriously considering a master’s degree in infrastructure at NYU. Back then, I solved problems by adding more:  more study, more structure, more credentials. It’s a pattern a lot of us know well.
Then I stumbled into a studio called Yoga Zone. I didn’t know what I was walking into. I just knew I was tired in a way that sleep couldn’t fix. That first class cracked something open.
I went back to Manila, back to work. But something had shifted quietly underneath. I channeled my hunger for edge and depth into technical diving – wreck, cave, deep diving. I was still chasing  intensity in a different direction.
In 1999 that body caught up with me.
I ended up in traction from a cervical slipped disc, a rude awakening that sent me toward homeopathy, a vegan diet, tuina massage, accupuncture and daily meditation.  It was my first real experience of rebuilding my health from the ground up  and it changed how I understood the body entirely.

In hospital traction for a slipped disc, drawing by Elmer Borlongan, 1999. The drawing is now part of the collection of Pinto Art Museum.

That experience was the turning point that deepened everything.
In 2003, I went through hormone therapy and IVF, trying to start a family. It didn’t happen. The grief was real, and it didn’t have a name. I found myself in Australia, studying meditation and Inner Space Interactive Sourcing (ISIS) healing with Clairvision School founder, the late Dr. Samuel Sagan. That’s where I understood for the first time that healing isn’t about fixing a broken part of yourself. It’s about learning to see yourself clearly.
In 2008, I practiced Ashtanga yoga and traveled to Mysore, India, to study with the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. It was physically demanding and humbling in the best possible way.
I learned that discipline isn’t punishment, it’s devotion.
In 2011, I was studying energy healing with Master del Pe, then Theta Healing. In 2013, I found Kundalini Yoga and it was different from anything I had practiced before. It doesn’t just work on the shape of your body. It works on your nervous system and glandular system, on the actual wiring of how you respond to life. I completed my Level One Kundalini Yoga teacher training in 2014 with the late Guru Dass.

Level One Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in Bali with the late Guru Dass, 2014

In 2015, after 22 years in corporate, I reached a crossroads. Instead of looking for another role, I chose to commit fully to this work. I dove deep into sound healing with gongs, became a Vinyasa, Hot, and Yin yoga teacher, and  took Theta Healing teacher training under Theta Healing founder Vianna Stibal..

A participant reflecting on her experience during relaxation with the gong, 2016

 

Gong Master Training with Grand Gong Master Don Conreaux in Hamburg, 2018

 

Advanced ThetaHealing Teacher Training in St. Gallen, Switzerland with ThetaHealing founder Vianna Stibal and her husband Guy Stibal, 2018

When the world went quiet in 2020, I turned toward Shamanic Healing. I’m now completing three years of advanced studies this July. I’m not an expert who has everything figured out. I’m just a woman who was bone-tired in New York thirty years ago, walked into a class, and never really left.
Every modality I’ve studied found me exactly when I needed it.
The burnout led me to the mat. The injury forced me to look at my health. The heartbreak led me to meditation. The pandemic led me back to the earth.  I’m not a guru. I see myself more as a guide, someone who has done the work, understands how the body and mind are wired, and can help others navigate their own path back to themselves.
If you’ve never heard of Kundalini Yoga, Theta Healing, or Shamanic practice, that’s completely okay. You don’t need to understand the technical side to begin. You just need to know that there are many ways back to yourself and you don’t have to find them alone.
In loving service,
Rosan