Romy Toussaint
John Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” Transformational trainer and coach Romy Toussaint does this daily by teaching others yoga and mindfulness. Romy fell in love with movement at an early age. During the period of her life when she worked at Educational Testing Service or ETS, her gym trainer suggested a yoga video to her. When she did that power yoga class, she felt that she had exercised her muscles and a deep connection to something inside of herself she knew could not be named. For the next three years, Romy continued to take yoga classes and soon added yoga routines to the aerobics classes she provided.
She feels a deep connection to the philosophies taught in yoga, including non-violence and the importance of truth. She uses these guiding principles throughout her life and is eager to teach others about them. Yoga has helped Romy learn more about conscious leadership, and she enthusiastically shares her learning with others to help them live their lives to the fullest. Using the lessons she gained from her connection with her inner self, she helps others learn to be present and receive their emotions as a gift.
Romy believes yoga is for everybody at any age and says we are all born as natural yogis. She holds classes for little kids, encouraging them to be present, keep moving, and have fun. Romy thinks we can learn a lot about yoga principles through play and tries to help adults achieve deeper relaxation through this same level of playfulness. Learning these abstract principles has its mental and physical challenges. However, Romy believes games can help others by putting them at ease and returning them to the present moment. She focuses on teaching several different techniques, including breathwork, sitting in silence, and movement. She also uses a technique that requires her students to play with their personas. She believes we can learn a lot about ourselves from our hidden characters by putting on an exaggerated personality and playing with those personas.
Romy feels comforted and assured that she is a part of something bigger when she sees the impact she makes on others, and her most inspiring example is when her help was requested by a woman diagnosed with breast cancer. Throughout her entire treatment, Romy met the woman every other day to do breathing, relaxation, and eventually physical exercise. Romy remained compassionate and empathetic towards her new friend throughout her journey battling cancer, helped her be present at the moment, and taught her to take one step at a time. Today, her client continues to teach the same lifestyle lessons to others facing cancer.
Toussaint emphasizes the significant aid she has received from other women while creating her start-up, “Romy Yoga.” Her clients taught her to value her worth and charge costs she believes her services are worth. One of Romy’s previous mentors, Grace Caitlin , made a significant impact on her life when she taught Romy about a ‘full body yes’: agreeing to do something only if she really wants to do it or strongly refusing if she feels like they are saying yes in fear of hurting the other person’s feelings. Romy believes that having other strong women guide and encourage her to value herself and her services has helped her to become the successful woman she is today.
Romy advises young females today to follow their dreams and know their worth as they overcome the challenges they might face on their journeys. Her inspirational story tells us that it’s okay not to be perfect always and assures us that we can find support from other females. She reminds us that we are not obligated to meet others’ expectations but instead should set our own goals as we reach new heights.
