About Alena
Hi, I’m Alena. A lover above all else, some may say I’m a different kind of yogi. Spiritual and free-spirited with a dose of fierce rebellion, I have made it my life’s work to educate women all over the world on how to love themselves from the inside out. I have been teaching yoga for more than 13 years, and am Studio Owner of Reach Yoga in Pacific Beach in beautiful San Diego! You can check out our amazing classes and more info about Yoga Teacher Training at reachyoga.com.
From working with yoga and empowering women, I know first-hand what it feels like to be uncomfortable and confused in your body. Growing up, I turned to drugs and alcohol at a very young age (we’re talking teenage years) - and FOOD - to fill the void. I loathed my body, which was apparent by the extra 50 pounds I’d gained in the process of trying to love myself in all the wrong places.
In 2009, I knew I needed to make a change. I packed up my life and moved from Reno to San Diego to reinvent myself in hopes of finding the answers I was seeking on how to really be happy and more importantly, love and accept myself as I was (am).
The saying, it gets better before it gets worse? That’s exactly what happened when my obsession to LOOK good led me down the path of severe orthorexia, an eating disorder that involves an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Previously a self-proclaimed “fat girl”, I was now just 98 pounds, alone in a new city, and totally depressed.
This was my rock bottom moment. And one of the greatest gifts of my life.
It was then, at just 19 years old, that I dove into yoga and personal development, striving to understand how to “fix” myself. I now know that none of us need fixing though because none of us are broken, something I teach in all of my programs.
It was then that I enrolled in a nutrition program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition along with jumping into my first yoga teacher training. Despite all that I was learning, I still had a massive fear of allowing myself to be fully expressed, and found myself judging aspects of myself that I now accept and love.
It wasn’t until my 3rd yoga teacher training that I finally said YES to the discomfort of teaching, a decision that radically shifted the trajectory of my life. I began teaching at just 20 years old, creating my own Yoga Sculpt program and using my mat as a place to come home to myself, breathe, meditate, and continue to evolve.
My dream of becoming a full-time yoga instructor came true, and it’s because of my dedication to healing and opening myself up to self-reflection and awareness that I was able to LOVE myself and become Fully Expressed.
This is what I want for all of my clients.
Now stepping into my 30s, I have never felt more alive, balanced, or proud of the woman I have become. What I know for sure is that it often takes UN-becoming all that we’ve attached to our identity in order to step into the truth of who we are at our core.
I am clear all of it was set forth so that I could learn from a place of personal experience, and share my knowledge with women ready to live their truth
- Fully Expressed.