Rising Stars: Meet Angelena Sweet of Lafayette, CO

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angelena Sweet.

Hi Angelena , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hi. My name is Angelena and I am an Adaptive Yoga Instructor. I began working for myself in 2013 and later started my LLC, ‘Yoga with Angelena’. At 22, I was fresh out of college, had just returned from living outside of the county, and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I signed up for a yoga teacher training and it completely changed my life. In my first YTT, I learned a lot about myself, who I wanted to be and what I wanted to offer others. I started practicing ‘ahimisa’ or “compassion”, which is the first yama of the 8 limbed path of yoga, both with myself and others. With this practice of compassion, forgiveness, non-harming, and kindness, I healed a lot of my past wounds.

Originally, I was the student who thought I never wanted to teach. After I finished my training, I felt like I had gained so much and wanted to share those gifts with my community. I started off teaching vinyasa and power classes twice a week, while working another job full time. I did other trainings in my spare time and completed another 300 hours of training by 2016. It was after expanding my understanding of what yoga was and could be that I changed the way I taught. I went from a power vinyasa teacher to teaching mainly yin yoga, flow, and prenatal and postnatal yoga. I wanted to offer inclusive classes that could be adapted to serve the various needs of my students, rather than the rigid structure of a pose, set sequence, or series.

In 2017, I left my day job and switched to teaching full time. I began offering private lessons through the studios I taught at, leading yoga retreats (both local and abroad), co-leading teacher trainings, hosting workshops, and working events. It was scary and lot of work to make it sustainable in the first year, but eventually, I built a community and found my place.

Over the years, I have become more independent and built partnerships locally and abroad. I have my own private clients, separate from the studios I teach at. I host my own teacher trainings. I create my own content and have offerings both online and in-person. I travel to teach more: hosting workshops and trainings at a variety of studios out of state. In 2024, I co-founded the retreat company, ‘Kinship Yoga Retreats’, with my dear friend and ayuvedic teacher, Kaytee Hernandez. We led our first independent retreat to Iceland, last summer, and will be in Leland, Michigan this summer. This year, I’ve also started a prenatal yoga school of my own.

‘Yoga with Angelena’ is an adaptive, inclusive, dynamic experience. I offer a variety of tools to my students and private clients to meet themselves where they are and grow in that space, at their own pace. I teach with lightness, humor, and occasional silliness. I believe that yoga should be malleable and adaptive for every body at every stage of life.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Teaching yoga full time has not been an easy process. When I began teaching, the pay per hour was what most people pay for a sandwich at the deli. To make ends meet, I picked up every class I could sub in addition to my regular teaching schedule. Some weeks I taught 16-18 classes. This translates to 32-36 hours of studio time, because as a teacher you show up early, set the space, greet students, check them in for class, process payments, teach, clean the studio, and reset the space for the next teacher. This does not include drive time or preparation for class like planning your sequence, theme or making your playlist. Teaching yoga is definitely a job you do out of passion for the cause not the money you make.

The first few years I wrestled with the desire to teach full time and leave my corporate job, but needed to pay my bills. When I finally took the leap, I did not realize what it would take to be in business for myself. I had to market and sell my services on social media, create a website, order business cards, and create an elevator pitch of why someone might want to work with me. Ironically, this is the complete opposite of the yogic path which encourages letting go of attachment to others beliefs, switching from external focus to internal self-study, and creating balance and harmony in life. Marketing and running a business were definitely areas of growth for me.

I am more of in-person, face-to-face interactions person. I like to have meaningful conversations and detest selling myself as a product. So, I have found balance in growing my business through word of mouth, being active in a way that feels authentic to me on social media, and sharing marketing materials when it feel appropriate. I’ve had to learn to ask for what I am worth rather than just taking the first offer.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I teach adaptive yoga. This means that I pay attention to individual needs of my students and the collective needs of the class. I offer modifications to make poses more accessible. I provide options to make my students more comfortable or variations to challenge them to find their edge. I teach to the student rather than the pose. I never try to put my student into a shape, instead I find the variation of pose that works best for their body and experience that day. I guide my students with clear cues that keep them engaged and also know what to expect. I am mindful of how my speech, body language, and presentation can affect my students experience and teach from a trauma informed lens. I treat my students with respect and trust that they know their body best rather than tell them what they need.

I have a broad understanding of anatomy, human variation, divergent thinking, and how bodies move. My teaching background includes working with special needs, perinatal students, children, elderly, youth, adults, and minority groups that are often underrepresented in the yoga classroom. I use my understanding, experience, and background to create practices that are inclusive, creative, incorporate dynamic movement, and offer moments of stillness. I am always learning from my students and continuing my personal education to better serve my community.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I am compassionate, kind, and I listen. All of these qualities help me be a better teacher and show up for those I serve.

Pricing:

• Private Lessons starting at $120/hour
• Group classes starting at $200/hour
• Yoga Retreats starting at $1,500
• Teacher Trainings $600- $1,650

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kinshipyogaretreats.com/about and https://www.yogawithangelena.com/about
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogawithangelena/ and https://www.instagram.com/kinshipyogaretreats/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YogaWithAngelena

Image Credits
Josh Sweet and Anne Marie Herring