I am nothing outside of yoga because what I’ve learned, after leaving behind “the yoga world,” is that I still practice yoga all the time, in whatever I do.

Yoga taught me to be mindful and aware in whatever I’m doing, and to step aside from my thoughts and emotions and see them as separate from myself.

It taught me to practice satya, and I don’t need to be in a yoga studio to do that.

Finding a Practice, Becoming a Teacher

I originally got into yoga in my late 20s because I found an app that I could use to practice at home.

That suited my schedule and my personality, lol. I fell in love with the physical challenges, but also with the mental clarity it provided.

I only became a teacher because people kept asking me to teach them.

I never saw myself as a yoga teacher, and I always struggled with the ways yoga has been used to abuse and manipulate people, mostly by male yoga “gurus”; to misappropriate a culture I’m not part of; and with the incredible amount of judgement from the online “yoga police.”

Despite all of that, I know yoga changed my life for the better, and it will never leave me.

Neurology and Handstands

And thanks to my curiosity and education in neurology, I’m now aware of the brain-based reasons why yoga can be so transformative.

I continue to teach yoga teachers and other movement instructors how to bring functional neurology into their teaching, because I believe understanding what’s happening in the brain when we move and breathe mindfully is one of the most powerful ways we can help others — and ourselves.

These days, I mostly teach handstands, but it’s a very yoga-informed style.

I like to think I teach the eight limbs, but the asana just happens to look like handstand drills.

And neurology drills, too.

It’s all yoga to me.

The Early Instagram Years

I started my yoga business not long after getting my certificate.

Looking back, I was incredibly lucky with the timing.

Yoga was taking off, Instagram was still new and actually a nice place to be, and my account grew rapidly — it was possible to gain 10,000 followers a week back then, which sounds completely ridiculous now.

That was basically it at the start: I was one of those Instagram yogis.

I travelled A LOT, often meeting up with other Instagram yogis around the world and doing partner photoshoots with them.

It all felt very serious back then. Now it makes me chuckle.

When the Numbers Changed

Because I genuinely believed the numbers mattered.

I bought into all the capitalist, patriarchal messaging that says our businesses have to keep growing, that hustling is the way to succeed, and that you’re basically a nobody if you’re not showing up on every social media platform.

And then came a blessing in disguise: my Instagram account started shrinking.

I’ve been losing followers since 2020. My engagement has gotten worse and worse. And, eventually, my business stopped growing too.

A Different Measure of Growth

But here’s the funny thing:

My happiness has continued to go up.

My trust in myself has gone up. My sense of fulfilment has gone up.

And every year, I feel more comfortable with the business I’ve actually built, rather than the business I thought I was supposed to build.

Of course, I still have days where I’m like, “OMG, am I okay?! Should I go… get a real job?! Or, God forbid… marry a man for his money?” (JK. I’d rather be homeless.)

Building on Her Own Terms

But for real: I’ve learned over the decade-plus that I’ve been doing this self-employed movement-teacher thing that you really can opt out of almost everything people tell you that you should be doing, and instead do what LIGHTS YOU UP.

I’ve broken convention in nearly every way.

I don’t market my offerings using traditional marketing tactics. I’ve pivoted so many times. I’ve allowed myself to disappoint people who want to control what I do. I’ve chosen curiosity over a rigid business plan.

And I’m not rich.

But I am wealthy.

I have built a business that gives me freedom, creativity, fulfilment and the ability to make my own decisions about how I spend my time and what kind of work I want to do.

For me, that has become a much more meaningful definition of success than watching a number on Instagram go up.

Business Takeaways

  • Define success beyond audience size. Adell's following and engagement declined while her happiness and confidence in the business she built rose.
  • Let curiosity guide a pivot. She moved across offerings and now teaches handstands and functional neurology rather than following a rigid business plan.
  • Choose marketing that fits the business. She says she does not use traditional marketing tactics or show up on every platform simply because others say she should.