Student Feature - Viva Banzon
Her name suits her to a tee: Spanish for “life affirming,” Viva has enjoyed a life-long pursuit of learning—especially concerning the health of our oceans—personal and spiritual exploration, and a passion for travel and adventure. Those who know her well appreciate her distinctive laugh: steady and quiet at first, it builds to an enthusiastic release that lights up her face, a face meant to smile.
The ninth of ten children, Viva grew up in an academic setting during her first 25 years. Her parents settled in Los Banos, Laguna, a small campus under the University of the Philippines system. Her father was a well-known chemistry professor, who did pioneering work on biofuels at Iowa State University for his PhD. Her mother put her medical career on the backburner to raise their 10 children, but joined the university infirmary staff after her fifth child.
Viva’s childhood was idyllic and busy. “We were expected to do well in school and in helping out the family with chores.” Laughing, she recalled: “I remember one time I brought home a stellar report card, and my mom said, ‘Grades don’t mean anything if you don’t do your chores.’” The children were not paid for chores—they were considered part of family responsibility. The only way to acquire pocket money was to not spend their transportation allowance, so in lieu of a bumpy ride to school, they all walked, braving the occasional snake falling out of a tree and the heavy seasonal rains.
Viva attended The University of the Philippines Rural High School and excelled in all her studies—except for home economics. “I was so bad at embroidery, I thought no one would ever want to marry me,” she laughed. She didn’t keep her head in books all the time, however; she played several sports in high school, volleyball among her favorites.
For her undergraduate degree, Viva moved to the more urban campus under the same university in Diliman Quezon City, the most populous city in the country. “Growing up the ninth child in an Asian family, you learn diplomacy and respect for your elders,” Viva clarified. “So I learned how to be creative about striking out on my own. It helped that my older sisters had already blazed a few trails.”
She completed a Bachelor of Science with a focus in Marine Biology, which was highly relevant in a country of 7,100 islands surrounded by ocean. “I threw myself into everything water and earned an Open Water Scuba Diver Certification. It was great fun!” After graduation she started out teaching laboratory classes, but she disliked the exposure to formaldehyde from preserved specimens. She took a year off to take the Eurail in Europe and visit the U.S. with one of her sisters. When she returned to the Philippines it was to investigate coral reefs. This proved more enjoyable than laboratory work, because it involved time outdoors, diving, travel, and attending conferences. Viva went on to get a Master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island, and a PhD from North Carolina State University. She worked on diverse topics, but always focused on basic research that would help protect the ocean from the negative impacts of human activity.
In between degrees, Viva lived in Rome, Italy, for a few years, working with a geophysicist to develop methods to infer climate cycles from historical records of floods, eruptions, and the like. She also learned to speak and cook Italian. “As a working woman, I tended to make simple dishes, often referred to as cucina povera or ‘peasant cooking,’ which uses few and humble ingredients,” she said. “Meals in Italy tend to have three to five courses, always with in-season vegetables or a salad, ending with fruit, and occasionally dessert. The most important thing I learned is that whether I made pasta from scratch for cannelloni, or a quick 15-minute spaghetti con aglio, olio e pepperoncino, it is the joy of having the meal with family and friends that is important.”
When Viva moved to Florida for a post-doctoral position at University of Miami, she shifted from boots (or fins) on the ground (or water) research to satellite oceanography. Satellites carry cameras that repeatedly take pictures of the earth and its ocean. These images can then be put together to create a map of a region or of the entire world ocean. A time series of these maps makes it possible to study changes and other dynamic phenomena, just like the fast action shots of a figure skater makes it possible to study what moves make or break the performance. “I very much enjoyed the work and I liked Miami. The tropical vegetation and weather, the crazy drivers, and the energy of the city reminded me of the Philippines. Plus, I learned to ride a bicycle for the first time.”
Her work experience in Miami eventually lead her in 2009 to accept a job in Asheville at what is now part of the National Centers for Environmental Information. NCEI is the Nation’s leading authority for environmental information. An important part of Viva’s job was to provide daily maps of global ocean temperature, using a combination of satellite data, which is corrected using actual measurements collected at sea. These maps have many uses, ranging from weather prediction to marine resource management.
Physical activity has always balanced Viva’s more cerebral pursuits. While in college, in addition to SCUBA diving, she was also active in a mountaineering club when this was not yet a developed sport in the Philippines. It was at that time she was first introduced to yoga through her brother, who was a Transcendental Meditation teacher. Viva completed the TM Siddhi program that includes asana, pranayama, and meditation, but after seven years of immersion, she moved to the U.S. and lost touch with this community. Instead, she got a black belt in taekwondo while in graduate school.
“When I came to Asheville, I returned to yoga to heal from injuries and surgery,” Viva explained. She began taking classes at One Center Yoga. Since then, she has found growth and a deepening practice by attaining teacher-training certificates, the most recent in Purna Yoga, which incorporates asana, meditation, nutrition, and philosophy. She also takes asana classes at Iyengar Yoga Asheville and is a regular at the philosophy class on Sunday. “I like the precision of Iyengar and Purna yoga and the fact that poses can be modified for each person to suit our individual situation.”
Viva retired from her job at NCEI in 2019, leaving her more time to cook, hike, cycle, and—as she exclaims with a smile—“pursue all the projects I have put off all these years.” She managed to visit Egypt and Jordan prior to COVID, but had to postpone indefinitely a cruise through the Chilean fjords. She is taking this year of quarantine to do jigsaw puzzles of exotic places, take online yoga classes, and read real books. And, who knows: her sister, a retired English professor, jokes about writing romance novels together. Clearly, the word “retirement” doesn’t really suit Viva: there’s another chapter unfolding for this yogini!