Yoga Teachers | Politics is Killing Your Business Here’s Why
In this episode of the Yoga Liberty podcast, host Angelica (known as Yoga Liberty) is joined by co‑hosts Francesca Derviso and Tiana Quesenberry to discuss why injecting partisan politics into a yoga‑focused online business is detrimental. The conversation opens with a client who demanded Angelica share her political beliefs before agreeing to work together. Angelica explains her philosophy: she serves everyone, follows the Four Agreements, and believes a yogi should stay out of worldly affairs, citing Yoga Sutra 1.2 and the need for mental clarity through meditation. The hosts argue that political content attracts platform throttling, click‑bait algorithms, and distracts from the core mission of helping people heal through yoga. They share personal anecdotes—Angelica’s rise from a childhood of homelessness to leading multi‑million‑dollar companies, her experience at L’Occitane, and a transformative trip to Cambodia—to illustrate the importance of focusing on lasting impact rather than short‑term political debates. The episode also covers practical business advice: Angelica’s expertise in sales funnels, paid and organic advertising, email automation, landing‑page copy, and how these tools can empower yoga teachers to reach wider audiences without compromising their values. The hosts conclude that diversity of thought is valuable, but political litmus tests are a barrier to service, and they invite listeners to join their community and programs.
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Welcome to the Yoga Liberty podcast. My name's Angelica and I'm known as Yoga Liberty on social media, on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, everywhere, Facebook, whatever. I'm called Yoga Liberty. I picked that name because me and my yoga teacher one time were laughing about what we thought was funny and she called herself the Manifesting Mofo and me the Yoga Liberty because nobody really can be a yoga celebrity and be famous. That's dumb. So we decided we were, we were going to make fun of it and then I just made my social media handle. And now here we are today. Yoga Liberty has become a huge business that helps women all over the world create their online business and use sales funnels and traditional marketing and email automations and all the stuff that they've used for years to use against us. We're now using it for good. And so that's what we do is we teach people how to do that. So I am joined today by my two co-hosts, Francesca Derviso and Tiana Quesenberry. And we are here to share some knowledge with you that we hope helps you build your business. And gets you to the next level. And if you feel like what we say resonates with you and the kind of people that we are resonate with you, we would love to work with you and help you build your business, but only if you're fun and cool. Francesca, introduce yourself.
Hey, it's me. You've probably recognized me from all of the adjustments and assists videos in Yoga Lebrities Instagram. But yeah, always excited to be here.
And Tiana.
Hello, happy to be back. I am Tiana. If you have not tuned into any other episodes, nice to meet you. I have worked with Angelica for, oh my gosh, like 15 years now. So we go way back.
Way back.
I've actually known Francesca for just about the same amount of time. So we be going way back around here.
Way back. Way back. We've been talking about that a lot lately. And so today we wanna talk about a topic that is near and dear to everyone's heart. And I feel like it's very prevalent right now. We're gonna talk about politics and not talking about politics. I'm talking about politics. So someone came in on a call, um, with one of our team members this week, and she said, I do not want to work with Angelica unless she believes this, this, and this. And I was like, what? Because I don't ask those questions of people. I don't. I think my personal opinion about politics is that I am put on this planet to serve everyone. I also follow the Four Agreements mindset, which is everyone has come to their decision about what they believe based on the life that they've had and the experiences that they've had in their life. Who am I to judge? I don't think I'm God. I don't think that I have the— it's not for me to judge what your beliefs are because I would not want to be judged for my beliefs. Right. But also because it's just not for me to judge your beliefs. My goal is to help people build businesses online so that they can promote their yoga and what it is that they are most passionate about. And I teach them the skills that they didn't get in yoga teacher training about sales funnels, about advertising through organic marketing and paid advertising, about email automations and how to write a great landing page with good sales copy based on what it is that you have to sell. That is my primary purpose in life. I don't think that my purpose has anything to do with who's in whatever office or whatever's going on in the endless 24-hour news cycle that never stops trying to grab our attention. I feel even more passionate about that now that I'm a full-time influencer, creates content online because I understand the things that you have to say and do to get people's attention. And so I know if I'm doing this at this level and teaching this at this level, what people must be doing that work for Fox or CNN or whatever— pick your flavor, doesn't matter— they're all doing clickbait, you know what I'm saying?
Anyhow, mic drop.
Thoughts?
I would like you to expand on what you talked about with the Yoga Sutras and why somebody that came in this week with that level of questioning. I feel like what you, what you felt back referencing the Yoga Sutras is really helpful to know on this podcast.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So, um, one of the things that she said was that she feels like it's a yogi's duty to feel this certain way. That she also feels, right? And what the Yoga Sutras actually say in Sutra 1.2 is that the yogi is not involved in worldly affairs. And that is in the Sri Swami Satchidananda edition, the blue cover that we all did inside of yoga teacher training. He says the yogi is not involved in worldly affairs. Why is that? Because the worldly affairs cause yoga chitta vritti nirodha. They cause modifications of the mind. When our mind is modified, we cannot make clear decisions, right? And these people in these news cycles are trying to capture our mind and our attention, which is why it's so important to meditate, which is why it's so important to be clear in your mind. If they can make us an enemy because we believe something different about people who won't even exist in 100 years, then they have the control over our attention and our whole lives. Do you really want to dedicate your whole life and your brain and your mind in the precious few moments that you get on this planet to what someone else has decided should be your attention. And I think that's what the Yoga Sutras is saying. The yogi does not get involved in worldly affairs because it causes chitta vritti nirodha.
Yeah, I think that's huge because with somebody, Mic Drop, with somebody that is coming seeking for help building a yoga business who in this case primarily wanted to be traditional in that sense, referencing something that is like completely the opposite of what she led it on to be, I think is the— is a root issue in and of itself. Like, not only should politics not be part of the conversation, at least in this space— if you choose to do that somewhere else, that's your own prerogative— prerogative, but in this space, especially when you're trying to build an online business, like You, it's just not part of the conversation. And if it is that important to you, then maybe you shouldn't be seeking help or coaching in the online space. Maybe you should just try and figure it out on your own.
Well, yeah, that's my thought. If your, if your opinion's gonna be that specific or that strong.
Mm-hmm.
Definitely. I think, um, there was something Angelica that you had said earlier when we were talking today about. How there are people, important people, right, in this day and age that exist like all around the world, but that we don't necessarily even know about. That really resonated with me. I'd love for you to like touch on that.
So I was saying this morning, I don't wanna steal your thought. No, it's all right. You can steal my thought cuz I would love to hear what you thought about it and why it resonated with you. So I'll say what I said and then you say, share why, why it resonated with you. So one of the things that I've always told myself, anytime I feel stress, I, I'm a high performer. I'm someone that can handle high levels of stress. I've run large companies most of my life, multi-million dollar companies. When I worked for L'Occitane, I was running like $10, $15 million, $20 million districts. And I have made millions myself owning yoga studios and running online businesses. And one of the things I tell myself when I feel really stressed out is, will this matter in 100 years? Right? And so I was in my meditation yesterday, my Joe Dispenza meditation, and he's like, imagine the space around you. But he's more like, imagine the space. My gosh. Behind your head.
I can't.
That's exactly a Joe Dispenza meditation.
Space.
We love Joe Dispenza for that. That's hilarious.
It changed my life. Changed my life. Imagining the space behind my sternum in space and I'm like, well, in 100 years, like, no one will even know who I am. I won't even be important in any way. And maybe if you're listening to this 100 years from February 10th, 2026, like, hey, what's up, bro? But I doubt that that's gonna happen. That's the future. Anyhow, doubt that's gonna happen, but let's say it did, whatever. I don't think so. But in 100 years nobody's going to remember me, right? Like, I'm just going to be a blip. So anything that I do has some level of irrelevance to it, right? And so I was thinking like, well, okay, then I should just do what it is that I love and be focused on helping the people that I want to help and do the things that I can do to make this world a better place while I'm on this planet, right? And then the second thing that came to my mind was Well, but what about other people? They're not, they're not going to be important in 100 years either. And then I'm like, well, what about like, you know, like Queen Elizabeth, right? Like people remember her. But then I started thinking, will they? Because like, do you know who the King of England was 100 years ago? Do you know who the King of Germany is or was 100 years ago or 200 years ago or 300 years ago? Do you know who the King of Thailand is right now? Because they have one. I don't.
I have no idea.
You know? Right? So even those people have a level of irrelevance. So when we're allowing these other things to take our time away, to take that energy away from what it is that the precious little life we have, like that to me is a total waste. And so I was like, it just shifted my perspective entirely about what I was doing in the moment, but it really applies to this as well. Right. But what did, how did you tell me what you thought? This is not a real microphone.
A double mic situation right now is great. Um, no, honestly, when you said that, it just, it just made me think of my own like lived experience up until this point. I mean, you guys know me very well, so you know I love living under my cute little rock. I like to say.
We're ladies. We're not girls. Yes.
Oh, sorry, ladies.
Shout out, shout out to one of our clients, Noni, who posted the other day on social media. She was like, why does everybody say guys? I'm a lady. I know, I love her. She's amazing. She was on Facebook, you know, she likes to post on Facebook, not on Instagram.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anyhow, you're thinking about yourself and you were out there in the quantum field.
I'm thinking about myself in space.
I was, I was thinking about my lived experience in space and time. No, but you know, I like, I like to live under my, my cute little rock. And it's just like, when you said that, that really hit me because I was like, it's just so true. Like there's so many people that even, there's a lot of famous people today that I, I don't know who they are all the time. This actor, this, I'm like, I don't know who that is. Right. And it doesn't matter. And it's like me knowing them or not knowing them is not affecting my life. And I feel like I've been subconsciously, like, I guess doing that, what you've said, like how the first, the first part of what you said, like how it's just you keep taking action and working towards your goals and what matters to you and like not listening to that all other stuff. And I've just subconsciously always done that naturally in my life. But when you said those things, I was like, oh wow.
Yeah.
Like I, I resonate with that. I've been doing that. Yeah.
Well, I think that's big too, because like what Tiana, Tiana just said, like You are— we're so focused on doing what we want to do for our goals. So in the context of this woman asking the question that she did this week about what our political views are, if your true focus— if you were truly the person that wanted help to build an online business, that wouldn't be a make or break question for you. Like, I would understand if we were very politically heavy, especially in our marketing and whatnot. I could understand asking that question or Choosing to join or not join because of it, but because that's not how we are or how a lot of businesses are or coaches are in the online space, you're just asking the wrong questions because that just shows it kind of coincides with our last podcast about the kind of person that you are, whether you're, you know, a successful thinking person or not. That, that to me speaks volumes as far as you wanting to show up for yourself or not. Like if that's a make or break for you, then you didn't really want this. In the first place?
I'm not an expert at politics. I shouldn't be giving any political discord or what I feel about politics. It does not matter. I'm not an expert in it. I do not have all of the pieces. I do not know everything that's going on. However, I am an expert in sales funnels. I am an expert in paid advertising. I'm an expert in organic marketing. I am an expert in how to create landing pages that convert. I am an expert in creating email automations. I am an expert in like helping people build solid offers that are viable in the market. That's what I'm an expert at. I am not an expert in what all of the politicians are doing or any of the political stuff that's going on, but I can guarantee you that 100%, we do not have all the information in order to make informed decisions because you can either be misinformed or not informed, but you cannot be informed in the current political climate and in the 24-hour news cycle. And that is how I feel. I feel very strongly about it.
Yeah. There's a lot, there's just a lot of noise, right? There's a lot of noise and it's being, it's noisy on purpose.
On purpose, right? Because it makes them money.
Mm-hmm. So just focus on what you want to do, what you want to achieve, and how you can serve and uplift, uplift this planet and humanity.
Right. When I think about all the people from 2020 and that whole era that I lost as friends because they had such hard lines about what they felt like should be happening at that time. And not because they didn't want to be my friend, but because I honestly lost respect for them because of the way they were treating other people. You see, I don't care what someone's political beliefs are. I care how a person holds themselves and how a person treats other people. I judge people as individuals, not based on an arbitrary belief system that doesn't have anything to do with me. I'm not going to judge you based on what you believe. I don't know why you believe that. We haven't had a conversation about it, you know what I'm saying? That doesn't make any sense. There's lots of things that I wouldn't judge people on before learning more about There's so many ways that I'm really diverse and different than other people that I interact with on a daily basis. And that's what we were meant to embrace is that diversity and that difference. And that we are all a different creature and made by whatever you believe, divine, God, universe, spirit, however you define that. We've been made all by that same matter or creator or however you personally define it. And That means that we're all divine. My goal on this earth isn't to fight with people or to try to get them to believe what I believe. My goal is to help people and to serve them at my highest level, which I believe God, divine, brought me onto this planet to teach people how to get their mission and their passion out through the world, through the use of marketing and advertising, right? I, my whole life, I've learned how to be a great salesperson. I've learned how to do marketing. I've learned how to do advertising. I'm I'm one of the most elite, I'm in one of the most elite masterminds for marketing in the world. Only 100 people get in and I'm in it. Right? I believe that God gave me those tools so that I can help other people who have other tools, like how to get, how to recover from a stroke with yoga, how to help people heal from PTSD, veterans. You know, like how to help people who— domestic violence survivors who have to do trauma-informed yoga, like how to help children who are in the foster care system through the practice of yoga to get control of their mind. I'm— my purpose is to teach people like that who have a different mission than me how to get their word out so that they can reach more people. That's my purpose. My purpose doesn't have anything to do with like deciding who's right or who's wrong in politics. I'm— that's way too confusing. I don't all the information and they've purposefully made it so that we don't have all the information. So we just keep fighting with each other. That's ridiculous. I'm not going to be part of that. I'm not going to be.
Amen.
No, I'm working with everybody.
No, thank you.
No, thank you.
And honestly, it would be— the world would not be any fun if we were all exactly the same, right?
That would be awful, right?
Like I don't know. I just like, really sit and think about that.
And I think just like, stay in your own lane, you know what I mean? Like, that's what we're doing over here. So to come in and say, I need help, but only if you believe X, Y, and Z, that's just not going to get you anywhere. And if that's that important to you, then go build something around that.
Girl, what that says to me is like, okay, well, we're gonna spend the precious time that we have together in group calls and one-on-ones talking about politics.
Yeah.
No, thank you.
I don't even know anything about that.
That's like, and like, I have no opinions on that.
In that moment, like if that was to happen in that moment, in what way does that serve anything that you're working on? It doesn't.
It doesn't. It doesn't.
It doesn't. Why even bother with the conversation or let that be something that's a make or break for you when it doesn't directly affect anything that is happening for you in your future in that moment?
I can tell you right now, as a professional marketer, advertiser, and content creator, if you post political posts, your content will be throttled by the platforms. So that you cannot do paid advertising for that. So you 100% will be sabotaging your business. I think that a lot less people believe what people who want to push their beliefs on other people believe than they think believe. I know that was confusing, but so are they.
No, I followed you. Yes.
Confusing. Why, God? I just think that's ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous to ask people to think the same as you and then be, and then be upset if they don't, because you You don't know anything that happened in their life. You don't know why they believe the way they believe. You don't know anything about that person. And just to come in like that—
But also if that person is like doing you a service and actually helping you get where you wanna go, why does that matter?
Right, right. Well, exactly.
Exactly. It doesn't matter.
Some people feel like it's their moral obligation, and I think that's bizarro. I told the person we wouldn't be working with them that that wasn't a good fit because I don't, I work with people from all the different sides. I actually never ask people, It's not— I think most people are in the middle. From what I can tell, most people are in the middle where they're feeling confused about which side is the side to go and don't want to choose a side, you know. And whatever, like, I think there's this whole other side of that where people will be like, well, that's your white privilege. And I'm like, I'm gonna—
that—
there's nothing that makes me more angry than that. I grew up in shelters. We lived in cars. My mom went from abusive man to abusive man. We lived in people's basements. I brought myself up from nothing, absolutely nothing. We lived on the streets when I was a kid. I paid my way through college. I am self-made, 100%. My first business, I paid for it with money that I made playing poker. You know what I'm saying?
It's so true, and that goes with what you were saying. Like, you don't— we don't have— we don't know what any— for everybody's life stories are. So for you to point fingers— not you, but just, you know, the people in the world— to point fingers of like, she seems like this kind of type of person, I'm not going to ask for help, or I'm not going to go that direction, you're just doing yourself a disservice in the long run when you're that rigid around what it is that you believe and see. Yeah. 'Cause you don't know everybody's story.
You don't know everybody's story. When I went to Cambodia, I remember coming back and feeling really guilty for being an American. And I felt like, wow, these people, they, you know, back in the '70s, the Communist Party took over and they killed everyone who was of any level of education, anyone that spoke any other languages, they just murdered them, like millions of people. And so they pushed them back into an agrarian society in order to control them. And they live in like real poverty. And I remember I bought some like pants for the studio. I bought like 15 pairs from this lady and she started crying. She was like, you changed my, my family. Thank you so much. And I was like, whoa, girl, they were like $5 a piece, you know? But it, I felt so guilty coming back and then I've landed in San Francisco and now there's like McDonald's and there's a yoga studio in the airport. And I was like so overstimulated and I felt so guilty. About being born where I was born. First of all, there's nothing I can do about that. There's nothing I can do about that. But second of all, because I was born where I was born, I have an obligation to do the most that I can with that, to be the best version of myself, to do what I can to help other people in the capacity that I know how to, to do everything to the best of my ability, to be as successful as I possibly can. I have an absolute duty to that because it is a privilege to have been placed in this space that I did not choose, to be an American and have the opportunity to build this business and to help other people. And I believe that is what I'm supposed to do. I don't think it's my right to judge anybody else. That's just how I feel.
Mic drop.
Yeah, honestly. And at the time, I mean, at this day and age with everything that all the tools that we have in the online space, right?
Mm-hmm.
This is the time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That Combe guy from TikTok, he just sold his business for like a billion dollars or something. And he sold his likeness and stuff. I was like, dang, dude was like poor guy from Africa.
That's amazing.
It's amazing. There's opportunity everywhere. You can either look at opportunity or you can look at lack. I choose to look for opportunity.
Opportunity.
How I know a lot of people aren't going to like what I just said today. And I guess that's your choice. I'm really good at what I do though. So if you want to grow a business, I can help you do that.
You need an expert.
If you need an expert in growing businesses and building sales funnels and writing emails and doing sales copy, I'm your girl. I understand the yoga industry and I understand marketing, advertising, and sales. So on a level that's so much higher than anyone else, I do believe that we are the best at this in this industry right now. And we have a solid, an absolute solid program that gets people from point A to point B. You just have to make the choice. I always tell people, there's two kinds of people, successful people, not successful people. Successful people have problems like, how do I fix this landing page? How do I set up the button here? How do I make this email automation connect? Unsuccessful people have the problems of, I don't feel good on camera. I'm worried what people will think of my family. Oh, I just got stalled today. Oh, I need to stop and do some self-care. I'm busy right now. I just, I have this and I can't do this. I can't focus. I'm just, oh, this is so overwhelming. I can't fix those problems. I cannot fix what's in your head. Only you can fix that. But I can fix your landing page and I can help you make a sales funnel that converts at 4 to 7% on the first page and 20% on the second page. So that's just what I can do. First is what you gotta do. Help me help you. There you go. Anyhow, love you guys. It's been great. We have a lot of work to do, but we did make a commitment to do a podcast every week this week in 2026. So we're here making this podcast and, um, we, it will be me and Tiana for a while because Francesca is going to Thailand. We don't even know who the king of Thailand is, Francesca. You're gonna have to tell us when you get back. All right, well everyone, thank you again. Um, I apologize if this was triggering or you didn't like it. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be that way, but I feel really passionate about what I do and I feel really passionate about not getting in your own way. And so if you like what we do, you can join our Facebook group. The link will be below in the description. You can follow us here, you can follow us on YouTube or on the podcast anywhere, Spotify, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, whatever. If you wanna work with us and build your business, that link will also be below if you would like to build an online yoga empire in the Year of the Horse, because who doesn't want— it's the fire horse. All right, let's be successful. Thank you so much for listening. We appreciate you, and we'll see you back next week.
