Angelika Lankina
We don’t stay in the place we were born. Not really. We change; the land beneath us changes. But there’s a home within us that remains.
For me, that home is writing. From the death of my father when I was six to countless heartbreaks and a lifetime of displacement, words have always been my anchor. They carried me across borders and through reinvention—from Russia to England, the U.S. to the Caribbean, and throughout Europe.
Writing saw me through 16-hour days on film and TV sets as a Production Assistant while I earned my BFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU. It shaped my perspective during study abroad semesters in Paris and Shanghai and guided me through nine years of working with small businesses, start-ups, and non-profits in sales, copywriting, and creative marketing before a career pivot into the yoga industry.
Words continue to drive me through this passion project, 7 Yoga House, the marriage of my life as a creative professional, yoga teacher, and scholar.
Journey to Yoga
Yoga is my second home. I’ve practiced on and off for over a decade, but in January 2022, I arrived at the Sivananda Ashram in Nassau overwhelmed by depression, anxiety, and unhealthy dependencies born of work-life imbalance, heartbreak, and burnout. Over the course of a year as a karma yogi, I immersed myself fully, even considering vows as a nun, and earned my 500-hour Advanced Hatha Yoga certification.
Today, I embody what I teach. I am living proof that the discipline of yoga and the art of words are powerful and sustainable pathways to self-expression and healing.
Current Projects
I’m working toward a C-IAYT designation, which will allow me to apply therapeutic yogic techniques in clinical settings.
I teach Hatha and Yin Yoga classes in Miami; I’ve led over 500 classes in private, resort, residential, and studio settings. I’ve completed further training in Yin and functional anatomy under renowned Yin yoga teacher Jo Phee.
I recently completed a sci-fi/fantasy novel and am currently immersed in 1001 Nights of Poetry, a personal project in which I challenge myself to write a poem daily.
7 Yoga House
I’m fascinated by the core esoteric teachings of all religious traditions, as well as dreams, the I Ching, Tarot, alchemy, and astrology. I’m spiritual: baptized Russian Orthodox, born to a Jewish father, initiated into the Sivananda lineage, and currently attending a Jesuit graduate school. Sometimes, I find myself in the church of my bedroom, weeping on my knees. God is in everything I do and everything that I am.
I started 7 Yoga House in 2023 after returning from the ashram, as a way to share what I’ve learned—and continue to learn—in digestible and engaging ways through multimedia and blogging. I decided to relaunch the project as a Substack newsletter in January 2025.
If you want to connect, I’m always reachable at angelika@7ygh.com.
Pictured from top to bottom of this page: Miami, 2021; Sivananda Ashram (right after graduation from Teacher Training, 2022); Eldorado Mountain Ashram (2024); photo of LMU’s Cohort 12 of graduate MA Yoga Studies program in classroom at start of summer intensive, left, and at trip to Self-Realization Shrine in Los Angeles, right (2024); during various tasks as karma yogi in kitchen, modeling (photo credit to Orel Revivo), assisting on a Teacher Training, in the marketing department at Sivananda Ashram (2022-23); contemplating life* as a 4-year-old by the river in St. Petersburg, Russia (1999).
* I have always been a philosopher, children’s faces do not lie!