"My intent in teaching Yoga is to do my part in healing the Hoop of the People; to inspire people to clear through the stuff that hardens them and sickens their bodies so they can walk freely and lightly on the earth in a healing way, a Beauty Way."

"I don't care about one's strength or flexibility, I care about the personal integrity they bring to their practice and teaching."

After more than 30 years of teaching yoga, Ana Forrest has evolved into an intensely spiritual healer. Her philosophy and approach are unique and powerful, drawing on her vast life experiences both as a survivor and a teacher. She is a living example of a spirit who has freed herself from the bondage of trauma, and chosen a warrior’s path of compassion. Having studied a multitude of Yoga styles and healing modalities, Ana’s focus is on coaching the student to use yoga in a meaningful way for the sacred exploration of truth, wholeness, and health. It is through the Asana, Breath and the way that one’s energy moves that the important life epiphanies illuminate us, offering a unique and powerful opportunity to make life decisions based on your own experience.

Ana’s presence and energy are remarkable—powerful yet supple, immeasurably strong yet deeply compassionate. Forrest’s own life trauma and experiences, which include physical abuse, drug addiction, epilepsy, bulimia, and lower-body paralysis, compelled her to explore a personal practice to continue along her spirit path. Her healing journey is a testament to the sense of self and new found freedom that emerged from “hunting her own spirit.”

Ana took her first yoga class on a dare at age 14 and became a certified yoga instructor at age 19. In her search to become a better healer, she incorporated Native American medicine and ritual, Polarity Therapy, Shiatsu, Reflexology, Psychotherapy, Regression Therapy, and Ayurvedic medicine into her portfolio. She is a gifted healer helping people to recognize their physical and emotional wounds, allowing them to free their spirits and carve their own enlightened paths.

Ana Forrest teaches yoga from an intuitive and highly developed understanding of the human body and psyche. She openly shares her wisdom in the yoga room. Every breath and yoga asana combine to create a healing dance led by a powerful and ever-present teacher. Ana’s potent teaching style challenges the whole being of each student. Asanas and Pranayama are the instruments she uses to probe and clear the emotional and mental blocks that dictate and limit so many lives. It is with her meticulous attention to the individual that each class becomes a healing journey. Forrest’s intensives, teacher trainings, and workshops are for serious yoga students who are committed to personal spiritual growth. She encourages her students to “get fascinated with (their) edges” and to “stay in the body.” In her approach one also learns to transform past painful experiences into wisdom, thus freeing the present and the future from the habitual patterning of the past. “As we free ourselves of these patterns we can learn to walk through this life as our spirit dictates,” says Ana.

Forrest’s approach towards yoga is an illuminating process that often shifts paradigms of belief and brings about new systems of relating to the self and the outside world. These often effect profound and meaningful changes in the lives of her students. “We cannot change the past, but we can change our relationship to it in order to bring about healing,” says Forrest. Perhaps Ana’s greatest attribute is her ability to hold a sacred space for spirits that are broken or need nourishment, enabling each individual to begin and continue along his or her true spirit path. In holding this space, an extraordinary bond is formed which highlights the essence of Ana’s yogic path -- community. Community is an essential part of the universal healing process as it promotes strength, support, and the raising of group consciousness. Her studio located in Santa Monica, California is befittingly called the Forrest Yoga Circle.

Ultimately, the results of Ana Forrest’s teachings manifest in her students who come away as more complete, unified beings that are physically, emotionally, and spiritually stronger. Forrest’s intentions are clear: “My goal is to bring healing to the planet, which also means to all of her children” further explaining that the Native American philosophy of “Mending the Rainbow hoop of the People” defines this vision. A vision where true planetary healing can be attained by teaching right relationship to all beings, animate and inanimate, so that in each moment of ones life they are relating appropriately with self and others.

Ana Forrest currently teaches workshops, teacher trainings and advanced teacher trainings throughout North America including her studio, the Forrest Yoga Circle in Santa Monica, California. For more information please visit us at www.forrestyoga.com.