Former technocrat exchanges success for contentment through yoga school

MANILA, Philippines - Weary of the pressures of government service, Finnish-Filipino executive and technocrat Lasse Holopainen closed his eyes, took a deep breath, quite literally, and saw the light. No longer glued to deskwork, he now spends much of his time on his mat at Urban Ashram Yoga studios, which he and his fellow teachers own and where he thrives as a founding teacher.

Each year, many professionals flee their line of work to pursue a second career. Holopainen has taken the entrepreneurial route, but sees his ventures as a mission.

“I want to help humanity and help myself,” says Holopainen, who teaches pranayama, or energy through breath extension, and the Flexibility Not Required (FNR) beginner-friendly yoga classes for the urban warrior and the exercise-shy.

Holopainen grew up in Cebu and has impressive credentials. He graduated from the business management honors program from Ateneo de Manila and acquired an MBA from INSEAD France. Granting his mother’s wishes, he worked for an international bank in New York and became an investment banker for international mergers and acquisitions at Schroeder’s Merchant Bank (now Citibank) in Singapore in 2000.

In his 30s, Holopainen became assistant secretary at the Department of Energy and subsequently founding president of the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation that runs the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), which he also established in 2005.

“I had a successful international career, a wonderful and beautiful wife, children, a title, a good salary and a level of national influence on energy policy. I wasn’t even 40. I was running an organization of 140. Because I was really busy, I never had the time to reflect: Is this what I wanted to do? You start feeding off the adrenaline of success to take you the next level,” he says.

After years of being deskbound, Holopainen incurred debilitating back problems that couldn’t be fully cured by chiropractic medicine and physical therapy. His wife, Maricar, then enrolled him in a hatha yoga class, which gradually healed his lower back spasms and decompressed the pinched nerves in his spine.  When the tensions in his body started to loosen up, Holopainen understood that his high-stress response to situations affected his well-being.

“I began to recognize that most of the things that I had been doing were to be successful but not to become content,” he says. A series of deaths in the family underscored the realization even more. The idealistic Holopainen quit his post in 2009 and enrolled in an intensive yoga teacher-training course — his route to a balanced life. 

In addition to Urban Ashram Yoga, he has since set up businesses with an advocacy for conservation such as Easy Adventure, an eco-friendly resort in Reserva, Aurora (Baler), and Easy Energy International, an alternative energy and micro-turbine distribution company.

Together with friends, the Holopainens set up Urban Ashram Yoga to attract a wider population that deals with the pressures of city life and aspires to deal with it in a healthy way. “We teach people about their anatomy and their self- potential.  When they learn how to remove the blockages in the body — the limitations that age puts on us and limitations set by gravity — then the other stuff starts falling in line.”

In the booming yoga studio market, Urban Ashram Yoga’s three studios in Pasig, Bonifacio High Street and 6780 Ayala Avenue, Makati, share a beginner-friendly proposition: the Flexibility Not Required (FNR) Classes and the Stress-Free Gentle Flow Classes. These are made available at convenient schedules for those who have never exercised in their lives or have physical limitations due to injury or genetics.

The pranayama or energy extension classes through breath control help to improve circulation to remedy fatigue, relieve tension and exhale the toxins in the body to increase vitality, according to www.urbanashrammaanila.com.  It is taught twice a week in the three studios.

FNR teaches basic poses that improve posture and loosen up the back and tight hips for those slouched in front of the computer. Is one shoulder higher than the other on one side from lugging a purse or laptop?  FNR has exercises to correct alignment and muscular imbalance and immediately improve levels of energy and calmness throughout the day.

FNR classes respect the individual’s body type and encourage him or her to work out according to one’s capacity, says Holopainen.  With the help of props such as blocks and straps, exercises are modified for beginners who may not be able to do the full poses. Still, they can get the benefits of the same exercise. Regular practitioners who have shown improved strength and flexibility, on the other hand, are given challenges.

Holopainen says the studio’s objectives are to encourage people to sustain their practice, to work correctly, to increase body awareness and to improve their focus and attention.

“Stretches release endorphins. When they come out of class, our students glow,” he says.

All told, Urban Ashram Yoga’s programs aim to aid people in recapturing their youth and vitality. “They come out feeling clean and fresh. The mind has been reset and the body is just a tool to assist it,” says Holopainen.