The Philippines experienced one of the world’s longest lockdowns during the pandemic, lasting for almost a year. It was in these circumstances that I stumbled upon yoga—mostly because I had no available workout equipment at home besides a yoga mat I bought from a friend. Amidst the uncertainty of that time, I found comfort in the predictability that yoga provided—that every day at 6 p.m. I would be on my mat, not thinking about anything else, like quarantine or variants or closed borders—except for the challenging poses I needed to follow during the hour-long Zoom session. More than the physical benefits of yoga, I identified with its core beliefs: to listen to your body, to look at everything with compassion, to find stillness among the chaos. More importantly, it teaches me how important it is to find balance in life. 

These realizations and new skills that I developed from practicing yoga proved to be highly useful last year as I was promoted to the role of Managing Director of Goetz Moving. On the mat, we build strength and endurance to not buckle under pressure—and this is pretty much what is required of me as I navigate the complexities of leading a 40-year-old organization with 200 employees.

Modern living brings pressure and anxiety—in our industry probably more than others. It has become the norm to troubleshoot and firefight day in and day out, placing our bodies in constant fight-or-flight mode. How many of us has gotten up in the middle of the night while doing last-minute phone scrolling to respond to another “TOP TOP TOP URGENT” email? While we can never do away with the exigencies of our professional lives, so it is necessary to find ways to mitigate the impact on our health and well-being.

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of mental health, and rightfully so. According to the World Health Organization, mental health is a human right, and yet an estimated 1 billion people are living with mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In the workplace, poor mental health affects performance, productivity, communication, and engagement. Knowing this, we should be more proactive in promoting a culture of health and wellness within our organizations. Last year, the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment issued an advisory, requiring employers to ensure that employees are provided with effective access to mental health and self-care services. This directive strengthens the Philippine Mental Health Law, which requires workplaces to create programs and services for mental health education. At Goetz Moving, we started to implement programs during the pandemic, called Mental Health Mondays, Wellness Wednesdays, and Fitness Fridays, with the goal of motivating employees to be aware of their health and to make better choices.

On a more personal note, I witnessed how stress can have life-changing and detrimental effects on the body. My mom and Goetz founder Nil Muñoz passed away from cancer, which was mainly brought about by ignoring her health, as she was too focused on the business. This is the kind of situation we need to be aware of and avoid.

In the everyday hustle and bustle of life, I try to remember these things to keep me grounded, which I hope can also be useful to you:

There’s always room for growth;

When things get hard, pause and breathe;

Health is more than just physical; and

Be good to yourself.