We recently had the chance to connect with Sandra aka Subhadra Griffiths and have shared our conversation below.
Sandra aka Subhadra , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I was first called to become a television director and producer at 25 years old, back in 1995, when I began studying at LA City College in Los Angeles. But life had other plans. Around that time, yoga found me, and what began as curiosity became a lifelong devotion. For 30 years, I immersed myself fully in the science, discipline, and lifestyle of yoga—building Yoga Angels, leading teacher trainings and certifications, teaching internationally, and creating wellness programs that span the full human journey, from prenatal to the Golden Years. We call this continuum “Womb to Wisdom.”
Since 1997, Yoga Angels International has positively touched thousands of lives across the globe.
At 54, almost three decades after my first attempt, I returned to LA City College to reclaim the dream I had set aside. Now, at 55, I’m in my second year of the Television Production program. I produced and directed three short student films as I actively prepare to direct and produce feature stories I’ve carried within me for years. In summer 2026, I will earn my associate degree and transfer to USC to complete my bachelor’s degree in Television and Film Production.
Another calling I have fulfilled along the way is writing my memoir, Strip to the Naked Truth—a story of survival, revelation, and self-restoration. The book is now complete and available at:
👉 https://striptothenakedtruth.com
I have also completed the screenplay adaptation during my scriptwriting courses at LACC, and I plan to direct and produce the film version of my memoir.
My journey has shown me that purpose has no expiration date. Sometimes the dream waits for you—until you are seasoned, strengthened, and finally ready to claim it
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Sandra Griffiths, also known as Subhadra, and I am the founder of Yoga Angels International, a wellness and education organization serving communities worldwide since 1997. Yoga Angels actually began as a children’s program at Gardner Street Elementary School, taught inside the historic Michael Jackson Auditorium. From there, the program grew rapidly—we taught in nearly every school across LAUSD, as well as private schools. We later partnered with the City of Beverly Hills, expanding yoga, mindfulness, and wellness education for children and families in the schools of the Beverly Hills District.
Our work is grounded in a unique, lifelong philosophy we call “Womb to Wisdom,” which supports every stage of human development—from prenatal yoga to children, teens, adults, and the Golden Years. One of my proudest achievements was returning home to Jamaica in 2006 to begin training teachers in my homeland, planting seeds that continue to grow today.
Another transformative chapter began in 2020, when I traveled to Africa for the first time during the global COVID shutdown. While the world was closing, Africa opened a new door: I began certifying teachers in Kenya, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar, returning in 2023 to expand our presence and deepen our impact across East Africa.
My work with children also inspired me to write several children’s books during my years teaching Yoga the Children’s Way in Beverly Hills. These books are now being illustrated and will be released under our Yoga Angels Children’s Way sector.
Today, I continue to grow Yoga Angels while actively pursuing my long-awaited creative calling. I am in my second year of the Television Production program at LA City College, preparing to transfer to USC in 2026. I’ve completed my memoir, Strip to the Naked Truth, as well as the screenplay adaptation, and I’m in development to direct and produce the film version of my story.
Across yoga, storytelling, and film, my mission remains constant: to empower, uplift, and create sustainable, transformational programs for communities globally.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part of me that has served its purpose and must now be released is the version of myself that over-gave to my own detriment. For years, I poured into others until I was empty, believing that giving without limits was love, service, and purpose. In my memoir, Strip to the Naked Truth, I share how my grandmother used to scold me for this by saying, “You’re going to give away your ass and shit through your ribs.” As a child, I didn’t realize how deeply those words sank into my subconscious—but I now understand something essential: words are made from letters that spell them, and words are spells.
I carried that “spell” for decades. My ribs were metaphorically sore. My heart ached. My spirit felt stretched thin from giving beyond my capacity. Because the truth is: you cannot give from an empty bucket.
With time, experience, and healing, I learned how to measure my energy, honor my limits, and give only from my overflow. When I give from fullness, the receiver is nourished by my vitality—not my depletion. And I remain intact, vibrant, and generous without sacrificing myself.
This lesson took years to learn, shaped by burnout, boundaries, and the deep awareness that I must keep “weeds out of my energy garden.” Today, I release the version of me who bled from over-giving and step fully into the version of me who gives with wisdom, discernment, and balance.
“Some words become spells we didn’t consent to — but we always have the power to break them.”
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
The defining wounds of my life are layered and complex, shaped by experiences of rape, violence, and a long line of traumas that I recount in my memoir, Strip to the Naked Truth. Yet even in those darkest moments, I never saw myself as a victim. As a Jamaican woman, resilience was woven into me from childhood. Growing up, I didn’t fully understand that the strength I was building was preparation for everything I would face in this lifetime. Survival wasn’t a heroic choice—it was our natural way of life. You get up. You live. You move. You don’t lay down and wait to die.
In my memoir, I created a section called “The Medicine Cabinet,” where I share the very practices that became my daily tools of purification and transformation. Meditation, visualizations, yoga postures, breathwork, affirmations, and silence were my balm—my scouring agents for cleansing the residue of every wound. These were the practices that helped me redesign and refine myself back into the God-being I always knew I was, long before trauma tried to shape me into something smaller.
My healing came not from denying my wounds, but from alchemizing them—turning the pain into power, the fear into discipline, the chaos into wisdom, and the shame into testimony. I refused to let the systems of this world define me. Instead, I chose to reclaim myself, to walk with dignity, and to rise into the woman I was destined to become.
Today, I can say with humility and gratitude:
I wouldn’t have wanted to be born anywhere else or to experience anything different.
I now over-stand that every chapter of my life was designed for my evolution.
These wounds were not my ending—they were my initiation.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
Is the public version of me the real me?
I love this question, because I don’t believe we were ever meant to live as representatives of a fake version of ourselves. I believe we were created to be the fullest expression of our true nature, unique to each of us—just like our fingerprints. Over time, I learned that being myself 100 percent of the time is far easier on my nervous system. Integration always wins over separation. When you try to be divided, you’re constantly picking up broken pieces and trying to glue yourself back together again.
The title of my memoir, Strip to the Naked Truth, was no accident. It reflects a lifestyle and a spiritual commitment I embodied—literally and metaphorically. Stripping, both physically and internally, clarified me. It would not allow split behaviors or multiple personalities. Instead, it demanded that I operate as one aligned spiritual being, fully present, honest, and whole.
There is only one me, but like anyone evolving, I have layers. Through introspection, regulation, and governance of my body, mind, and spirit, different aspects of me appear when needed—each one authentic, aligned, and rooted in truth. It reminds me of something my grandmother used to say: “There is a time and place for everything.”
So yes—the public version of me is the real me.
Just expressed in the variation that the moment calls for.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
YES—this question about dancing is the very essence of joy in my life. I literally dance. A lot. Dancing is one of my deepest forms of prayer. It is how I move energy, how I express gratitude, how I stay connected to the Source. And when you ask if I’m “tap dancing to work,” the answer is a wholehearted YES, every single day.
Life, in my eyes, is such a miracle that I don’t have the space or desire to sulk or lose the rhythm of living. The way I dance is the way I live—free-form, vibrant, fluid, and flowing with the electricity of life, which is always available to us no matter the external circumstances. I’ve learned that my outer world is not what determines my reality. It is my internal voice, internal vibration, and internal feelings that shape and shift my external circumstances. This truth alone keeps me tap dancing daily.
Now, I’ll be honest: my level of vitality can sometimes be annoying to people who don’t overstand this frequency. But I made a decision long ago that I will never shrink myself to make others comfortable. My fullness, my joy, my divinity, and my Godliness are not negotiable. If someone feels discomfort in my presence, that’s theirs to process—not mine to manage.
I am a representative of my own holiness, and I intend to show up in that fullness, joy, and dance for the rest of my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: Https://yogaangels.com
- Instagram: @Yogaangelsintl
- Linkedin: @yogaangelsintl
- Twitter: @yogaangelsintl
- Facebook: @yogaangelsintl
- Youtube: @yogaangelsinternational
Image Credits
Cowayne Benjamin from BugLyfe Media [email protected] IG @buglyfemodels
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
