A newly opened wellness studio in Taytay is looking to change how residents of Rizal province access traditional yoga instruction at a time when demand for authentic wellness services outside Metro Manila continues to grow.
Indian Yoga School PH opened its doors this year as the result of a partnership between Filipina entrepreneur Anj Volante and Kirtti Anand, a yoga instructor and therapist from Rishikesh, India, a region widely regarded as the historical origin point of the practice.
The studio’s founders say the venture was created to address a gap they had both noticed independently. For years, residents of Taytay, Antipolo, Cainta, and neighboring towns in Rizal who wanted a serious, structured yoga education had few options nearby, often driving into central business districts such as Bonifacio Global City, Makati, or Ortigas to find qualified instruction.
Volante, who had been searching for a studio of her own before deciding to build one, said the process of researching what an authentic yoga education actually required led her to look outside the Philippines for a lead instructor rather than hiring locally from the existing fitness industry.
“Our goal is to build a high-quality sanctuary right here in Taytay, making genuine, lineage-backed yoga accessible to the local community,” said Volante, who serves as the studio’s founder.
An Instructor With International Training
Anand, who leads the studio’s teaching curriculum, brings more than seven years of experience training within Yoga Alliance-registered teacher training course institutions, along with wellness retreats and yoga centers across India. His background includes specialized instruction in traditional Hatha yoga, pranayama breathwork, meditation, yogic anatomy, and yoga philosophy.
He has also worked as a yoga therapist, a role that focuses on using yoga techniques to address specific physical concerns such as postural imbalances, chronic tension, and injury-related limitations, rather than general fitness instruction alone. That distinction, according to wellness industry professionals, has become an increasingly sought-after qualification as more practitioners look for instruction that addresses underlying physical issues rather than surface-level fitness outcomes.
“Yoga is more than physical posture; it is a science of living,” Anand said. “I am committed to delivering a transformative, authentic experience to our students in the Philippines, rooted in wisdom and guided by true experience.”
Part of a Broader Wellness Trend
The opening of Indian Yoga School PH comes amid a broader shift in the Philippines, where interest in structured wellness practices, including yoga, meditation, and mental health-focused fitness programs, has been steadily rising in recent years. Much of that growth has historically concentrated in Metro Manila’s urban centers, leaving surrounding provinces with limited access to specialized instruction.
Industry observers note that studios positioning themselves around instructor credentials and traditional training, rather than general fitness branding, have found a receptive audience among practitioners seeking more than a workout. As disposable income and health awareness rise across provinces surrounding Metro Manila, demand for specialized wellness services has followed a similar trajectory to what urban centers experienced roughly a decade earlier, though the supply of qualified instructors in those provinces has lagged behind.
According to the studio’s founders, Indian Yoga School PH is designed to accommodate a wide range of skill levels, from first-time practitioners to those pursuing advanced or teacher-level training. Class sizes are being kept intentionally limited in order to allow for individualized instruction and alignment-focused correction, an approach the founders describe as central to the studio’s identity rather than a limitation of scale.
Serving a Growing Region
Taytay and its neighboring municipalities have seen consistent population growth over the past decade, a trend that has fueled demand for services once concentrated primarily in Metro Manila. Wellness and fitness offerings have followed a similar pattern, though specialized, tradition-based instruction has remained relatively scarce in the area until now.
Local business groups in Rizal have previously noted the tendency for residents to travel into Metro Manila for specialized services ranging from healthcare to fitness, a pattern that places additional strain on commuting infrastructure and limits access for residents without reliable transportation into the city. Studios and service providers that establish themselves directly within these provinces have increasingly been viewed as addressing both a consumer demand and a broader regional infrastructure gap.
The studio’s founders say they intend to serve residents throughout Taytay, Antipolo, Cainta, and Angono, positioning Indian Yoga School PH as a regional destination for authentic yoga instruction rather than a small neighborhood fitness studio. They have also indicated an interest in eventually expanding programming to include teacher training courses, which would allow students in the region to pursue yoga instruction credentials without traveling abroad.
A Cross-Cultural Business Model
The partnership underpinning Indian Yoga School PH reflects a broader pattern seen in the Philippine wellness sector, where local entrepreneurs increasingly seek to pair business development expertise with specialized instructors trained abroad. Volante’s role centers on operations, community outreach, and long-term business strategy, while Anand oversees the technical and educational aspects of the curriculum.
This division of responsibilities, according to the founders, was a deliberate choice meant to ensure that neither the business side nor the instructional integrity of the studio was compromised in favor of the other. Volante has noted that her own ongoing training as a practitioner under Anand’s guidance gives her direct insight into the student experience, which she has said informs decisions about scheduling, studio design, and class structure.
Industry analysts tracking wellness sector growth in Southeast Asia have pointed to this kind of cross-border instructor partnership as an increasingly common strategy for studios looking to differentiate themselves in a market where certification mills and short-term training programs have made instructor credentials harder for consumers to evaluate at a glance. A studio built around a single, verifiable instructor lineage, rather than a rotating roster of locally certified trainers, offers a clearer value proposition for practitioners specifically seeking traditional instruction.
What Comes Next
For now, the studio’s immediate focus remains on its core class offerings and building a local student base. Both founders have described the opening as the first phase of a longer-term plan to establish Rizal as a legitimate destination for wellness education, rather than a market that continues to rely on Metro Manila for specialized instruction.
Plans under consideration include expanding class schedules to accommodate working professionals who commute into Metro Manila on weekdays, along with weekend intensive sessions aimed at practitioners from further afield in Rizal and Laguna. The founders have also expressed interest in community outreach programs, including subsidized sessions for local schools and senior citizen groups, though those initiatives remain in early planning stages.
Indian Yoga School PH is currently open and accepting new students across all experience levels.