Angela Connell set up Flow Space Yoga in Alexandra – but her story and what she achieves in her community is so much more than mere bricks and mortar.

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It’s like a backstage pass into the real person behind the success. What makes them tick, what makes them successful. A peek at some of Central Otago’s smartest and most interesting people.

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Originally from Central Otago, Angela Connell studied education and fashion design after leaving school. Undecided on a direction, she left the familiar shores of Aotearoa for an overseas adventure.

She moved to Australia, where she waitressed, tended bar and climbed her way up the ladder to manage a bar in Melbourne.

Angela says she had a feeling of being ‘stuck’. Something wasn’t right in her life – her work in hospitality was pulling against her core values.

“There’s just so much wastage in hospitality: massive amounts of good food, produce, and the packaging everything comes in.

“And of course there’s the massive amounts of alcohol consumed and the consequences that brings for people.”

Angela set off for India and Nepal. 

“I travelled to India, the source of yoga and meditation, and immersed myself in the culture and spirituality there.”

She spent time at different temples, volunteered at an orphanage, and a sense of community began to grow within her.

“It was a feeling from seeing so much suffering and poverty, but seeing the wonderful ways that communities pulled together and helped each other.

“They do it so much better than we do in our Western culture.”

Angela returned to Australia, where she spent six months at a monastery – something she describes as transformational.

“I finally believed in myself – my self-doubts were gone and I could see my potential in the world.”

So, after three years spent building a career and a journey of self-discovery, Angela changed direction and followed her true north.

“I made a commitment to myself to do something good; not to focus just on my own success, but to focus on solving challenges for our communities.”

Travel had opened up her mind to personal practice, she says, and clarified her sense of direction.

“I felt drawn to teaching yoga after being inspired by a yoga teacher living near the monastery.

“She was in her seventies, and was inspiring in the way that she lived, her gentleness.”

So after the hard core work in the monastery, meditating every day, Angela decided to follow a holistic path and integrate what she had learned into every day living.

As a qualified yoga teacher, she could bring together her passion for sustainability and the environment, her interest in improving mental health and her creative side.

“I had reached a point where I thought I could keep on meditating and be a monk in a cave for the rest of my life – I think that would actually be the easy path.

“But the challenge was to come back into society and share the teachings in the community.”

So, she came home, following Mahatma Gandhi’s mantra: “Be the change you wish to see in the world’.

“I wanted to bring my skills home, to the people in the community I was familiar with.

“I came home to give back, and established a yoga base here in this lovely, fresh beautiful place we live in.”

Angela has built a wellness centre at Flow Space yoga.

Angela says she drew on her managerial and operations experience from the hospitality world.

“It’s a tried and true business framework, but within that, whatever your goal is it’s going to shape the way you run your business.

“My business goals are about connecting, compassion, challenging people to live more consciously.

“My goal is not to expand and become a franchised chain – it’s to stay grounded in the community and people first.

“So, I understand the need for balance and work with a business model that supports my goals.”

Angela says it’s about playing by traditional business rules, but balancing that with her intention of sharing teachings.

“I don’t think we should be limited by economics or capitalism; it’s a model we can use but it shouldn’t define us.”

Angela says her future plans are to continue developing the concept of a ‘wellness centre’. She is continuing to connect and collaborate with other yoga teachers, and expanding the range of wellness services on offer.

“I have developed the business to include two psychologists and a massage therapist.

“It’s about including different therapies and different healing modalities for both mind and body.

“What brings me personal joy is creativity, so I will continue to build creative and fun stuff within Flow Space, like our monthly poetry and creative writing events, sometimes with live music.

Angela says she is not stuck hard and fast to a plan – her business plan is a guide.

“One of my philosophies is to enjoy the scenery and be willing to take side tracks and discover different ways of doing things along the way.

“It’s about being open-minded and not to have a tunnel vision approach – that there’s only one way of doing things.

Her message to anyone is don’t avoid the hard conversations – whether it’s with yourself or someone else.

“In wellness, there’s a focus on positivity, and there can be this perceived sense of needing to be positive all the time.

“It’s actually about getting down to the grit and the realness, and having the courage to have genuine conversations about what really matters in life.

“I think the more that we can do that, especially in small groups, the more we can foster a really authentic, connected and resilient community here.”

For more information and well-being resources click here

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