We were lucky to catch up with Kristina Van Orden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kristina , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I have been blessed to have so many experiences in my life that encouraged me to pivot, embrace change, and remain open to opportunity. In 2016 I was traveling through Mexico with my son and fell in love with an area of Nayarit. The next year I purchased a small piece of land with the intention of retiring there. My dream of retirement became something else. Over the next few years I changed the course of my career – I was an accomplished executive at a Fortune 500 company. But I felt I wasn’t living my dharma. Corporate restructuring created a window in 2021, and I decided to start all over again as a yoga and fitness professional. My passion for wellness and guiding others through physical, mental and spiritual practice propelled me to fast track my formal education, study and certify so I may fulfill my inner calling of encouraging health and peace.
Fast forward 3 years later I am forming my own business – a wellness collective that provides a wide range of events and services to our community. Rather than retire to Nayarit, the vision is to create our home base; a year round wellness and retreat space.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I founded Yoga Life Collective in 2025, formalizing my vision of a cooperative of wellness professionals that host inspired and intentional events and retreats, as well as offer personalized one-on-one instruction. I love being in good company – when I meet others in the space that I admire I immediately begin to think of events where we can work together.
We curate experiences that highlight our interconnectivity with nature, our community and our inner selves. We offer a wide range of specializations including athletic coaching, pre and post natal yoga, meditation, reiki and sound healing. Blending other features of our holistic practices, we often feature skin care, massage and LLLT (low level light therapy) in our yoga based events.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think for anyone with decades of experience working for a large company, stepping away to build from the ground up is daunting and downright scary; this is especially true if you are single mother with no safety net (👋). Gone are the fully funded marketing resources and established name recognition – I had to remove the dependencies I once had on teams – I am it! What’s more, I personally haven’t had to rely on clients for my income since my first years out of college. I understand this is the reality for most of the folks I work with now, but for me this was a big part of starting all over again.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

There are a lot of wonderful yoga instructors out there – I am blessed to have met so many over the years I have been practicing. In my own development I have found it’s important to stay open to learning no matter how long you have been doing this. If you begin to practice with competition, narrow judgement or comparison in your heart, it will affect how you guide your community. We must remain curious, supportive and committed to grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yogalifecollective.com
• Instagram: @yoga_life_collective
• Facebook: Kristina Van Orden
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinavanorden/