Mentor Teacher
brian@bodyworkyoga.com
(310) 418-8959
Los Angeles, CA
Brian currently teaches Forrest Yoga at Exhale's Center for Sacred Movement in Venice and Shakti's Elements in Santa Monica, California. Prior to this, Brian (www.bodyworkyoga.com) taught for five years at the Forrest Yoga Institute in Santa Monica. He has assisted Ana at workshops and during the Spring 2006 Teacher Training in Los Angeles. Brian's classes have clear purpose and his enthusiasm for teaching inspires both students and teachers to move forward in their lives and healing. Brian carries Ana's vision of teaching people how to practice and move through life in a Beauty Way. This translates in the practice as working without struggle and embodying freedom in the asanas. Outside of yoga, Brian maintains a bodywork practice specializing in healing pain through energetic deep tissue and cranial sacral bodywork. A continuing six-year mentorship with master healers Ana Forrest and Dr. Vincent Medici has given Brian an experiential relationship to "seeing" energy flow within and around bodies. He is a deeply kinesthetic teacher and healer, gifted in his ability to get students feeling, trusting, and strengthening their own Body's Intelligence. He is skilled at mentoring teachers in the art of "seeing" empathically and performing safe hands-on assists. He is also a teacher of Anatomy and Pain and Orthopedic Evaluation at the Shiatsu Massage School in Santa Monica.
Mentor Teacher
fonky1@steveemmerman.com
7732780877
Chicago, IL
Steve (www.turbodogyoga.com) has been teaching Forrest Yoga since 2000 and has assisted Ana Forrest at countless workshops, conferences, and both the Foundation and Advanced Teacher Trainings. He and his wife Talya lead workshops and retreats worldwide. Steve is on sabbatical as a Forrest Yoga Mentor and continually trains Moksha Apprentices.
Mentor Teacher
gypsybill7@sbcglobal.net
(214) 682-1207
Dallas, TX
CURRENTLY ON LEAVE OF ABSENCE FROM THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM.
Bridget Foley (gypsybill7@sbcglobal.net) has been studying with and assisting Ana Forrest for nearly 10 years. She teaches Forrest Yoga full-time in Dallas and is a certified senior Forrest Yoga teacher. In addition to offering group classes and workshops, Bridget also incorporates healing modalities including bioenergetics, energetic healing and writing into private sessions, offering her clients the opportunity to create the life they most want to live through their work on the mat.
Mentor Teacher
annhydeyoga@gmail.com
(713) 977-3567
Houston, TX
The Forrest Yoga Foundation course and certification process was the beginning of the most powerful and fulfilling work in my life. I look forward to supporting and guiding you through the same process so you can continue to develop your gifts, become a compelling teacher and inspiration to your students. The mysteries of you will start to unfold as you dive into the homework and a great sense of accomplishment and confidence comes from completing it and becoming certified. I want to help you get it done so you feel empowered to continue along this fascinating healing path that is Forrest Yoga. I continue to study extensively with Ana Forrest assisting her in workshops and attending advanced teacher trainings. In addition to Ana's Teacher Training Foundation Course, I have also completed the Boustany Yoga Teacher Training in 2000. I teach Forrest Yoga throughout the Houston, Texas, area (www.annhydeyoga.com).
Mentor Teacher
unmani44@bellsouth.net
561-261-7362
Pompano Beach, FL
UNMANI IS CURRENTLY ON SABBATICAL FROM THE MENTOR PROGRAM
Unmani (Jessica) King, aka Priestess, has certifications in more than 20 healing modalities and uses her skills and love for healing in the yoga room with her compassionate assists and insights. Unmani (www.yogiunmani.com), an invigorating and inspirational speaker, has worked in the area of personal growth for over 25 years.
Mentor Teacher
info@bluebuddhayoga.com
(925) 487-4592
San Ramon, CA
Through Forrest Yoga and bioenergetics therapy, Colleen has met her Spirit and made peace with her experience of depression. She created Blue Buddha Yoga (www.bluebuddhayoga.com) while in Chicago to reflect her interest in bringing yoga to those who live with depression. She authored a 6-week Yoga for Depression class series with companion workbook and has presented her classes in Chicago and Dallas. (She now lives in the East Bay of San Francisco.) Colleen is currently co-authoring a San Francisco State University sponsored study on Forrest Yoga's effects on depression. Through this work, Colleen hopes her students will learn to brighten and make their depression one of their life's greatest teachers. Since her initial Forrest Yoga certification in 2000, Colleen continues to be inspired by Ana while assisting her national workshops. In 2006, Colleen was delighted to complete Forrest Yoga's Advanced Teacher Training. She is grateful to be Forrest Yoga's Mentor Liaison and support this awesome Hoop of healing. Colleen is also certified in prenatal, post-natal and kids yoga and is constantly inspired by her two little wise children.
Mentor Teacher
raffainfo@verizon.net
857-205-2500
Cranston, RI
The owner-operator of the Raffa Yoga studios (www.raffayoga.com) in Cranston and North Kingstown, Rhode Island, Christine has practiced Kriya Yoga for over fifteen years. Christine has studied with Baron Baptiste, Beryl BenderBirch and Ana Forrest. She has completed both the Forrest Yoga Teacher Training Foundation Course and the Advanced Teacher Training Program and assists Forrest Yoga trainings worldwide. Christine feels her experience with Forrest Yoga has truly transformed her life. Ana's yoga style brings intuition and wisdom into each posture which allows one to look deeply inside oneself. The Forrest Yoga method assisted Christine in reconnecting with the healing power of the breath and intuitive nature of the wiser self. She incorporates her expertise in functional rehabilitation, soft tissue dysfunction and biomechanics into her teaching style. She is a licensed Massage Therapist, certified St. John Neuromuscular Therapist, Somatic Emotional Release Therapist, certified Pregnancy Massage Therapist and advanced Craniosacral Therapist. "I have observed debilitating injury and emotional distress in yoga students who overcome the odds and create a healing path through a consistent yoga practice," Christine said. "Yoga is truly a gift of life. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to share my passion both on and off the yoga mat."
Mentor Teacher
kelley@tworiversyoga.com
425-333-4295
Carnation, WA
Kelley Rush has been a student of yoga for nearly two decades. She has studied extensively in the traditions of Iyengar, Viniyoga and Forrest Yoga. After years of deep soul searching, it was her love and connection to Forrest Yoga and its community that really made her heart sing and her Spirit soar! Kelley has studied yoga with Ana Forrest since 1998, completed the Forrest Yoga Foundation Course in 2000 and she enjoys assisting Ana in workshops and teacher trainings nationally. Kelley is proud to be a Forrest Yoga Mentor and is excited to be able to help teachers take their teaching skills and intuitions to the next level! In Carnation, Washington, Kelley has the unique blessing and great fortune to teach at her studio, Two Rivers Yoga (www.tworiversyoga.com) that also shares land with her home and family! Kelley's classes focus on strength-building bodywork, working with injuries and healing energy, while encouraging students inward to explore the depths of their spiritual potential. Kelley's vibrant teaching experience also includes an advanced teacher training with Shiva Rea; intense study and training with Robin Rothenberg & Gary Kraftsow; certification in Prenatal Yoga through Seattle Holistic Center; and doula training through Seattle Midwifery School.
Mentor Teacher
heidi@freshyoga.com
203-927-7604
New Haven, CT
Heidi Sormaz, PhD is the owner and director of Fresh Yoga studio in New Haven. She has studied Yoga for 13 years and taught for 8. For many years Heidi's focus was academic, studying the interrupting of cognitive habits (habitual thinking) with specific attention, focus and meditation. She brings these principles to her classroom, encouraging students to work with their minds as specifically as they work with their bodies creating an intensely mindful and dynamic class. Working this way allows students to understand the emotional walls they have created from their life experience and break the habits which keep them stuck in their bodies and lives. This way of working helped her move through her own challenges of dealing with severe social anxiety and recovering from an eating disorder. Heidi is a certified Forrest Yoga teacher and Forrest Yoga Mentor. She has assisted Ana Forrest in her national workshops and foundation teacher training courses. She has also studied Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga. In addition, she has extensive training in the martial art Taijiquan and the internal art Qigong. She is a senior student of Master Steven Bennett and teaches Taijiquan and Qigong at Yale University. She has been an educator, speaker, and corporate trainer with over 10 years experience in designing and leading seminars on stress management, meditation, and educator training. HDR Press published her book Performing Under Pressure and Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine published her original research article "Meditation can Reduce Habitual Responding." In 2008 Yoga Journal selected Heidi as one of their "Next Generation of Yoga Teachers."
Mentor Teacher
sinheemc@gmail.com
822-10-8885-7916
Seoul, KR
Sin Hee McCabe (sinheemc@hanafos.com) brings a wealth of experience to her yoga classrooms in Seoul, Korea. She travels to the United States frequently and has studied many different forms of yoga. Her students now travel for hours on train to see her and enjoy the loving quality in her Forrest Yoga classes. She has completed the Foundational Teacher Training and two Advanced Teacher Trainings with Ana Forrest. She continues to assist Ana when she teaches in Hong Kong and looks forward to helping the mentorship program hone their remote program application.
Mentor Teacher
suzi@orcasmandala.com
(360) 376-4015
Orcas, WA
Suzi Zobrist celebrates a vibrant and passionate life filled with sunny days at the beach with her daughter, Solana and sweetheart, Bernard. Forrest Yoga has helped Suzi heal from ovarian cancer and has kept her breathing throughout motherhood. Her yoga practice is about embodying her truest self and living bold, bright and beautiful. Suzi lives on Orcas Island, Washington, where she teaches out of her studio, Orcas Mandala (www.orcasmandala.com). Suzi loves to guide and be witness to the evolution of her students as they learn to breathe, feel and awaken something inside them that feels good. As a senior Forrest Yoga teacher, Suzi assists Ana Forrest nationwide at workshops and teacher trainings and is honored to be selected as a Mentor Teacher.
Mentor Teacher
reegez512@hotmail.com
(303) 246-6942
Denver, CO
Looking for a new way to physically challenge herself, Regina stumbled upon her first yoga class eight years ago. Thousands of Downward Dogs later, she still finds joy in the strong physical aspect that yoga offers. Regina has been blessed with countless beautiful teachers -- most notably the students in front of her in each and every class at the studio she co-owns, Yoga Energi (www.yogaenergi.com). Although Regina has studied many different styles, including Ashtanga, Anusara, Power and Iyengar, her primary teaching influence has been Ana Forrest. Regina loves the strength and focus of Forrest Yoga and how it is designed to support our physical, mental and spiritual growth. Through this challenging practice, we can learn grace and calmness, as well as the strength of our own Spirit. Regina's true work lies in living her yoga off the mat as well. Finding compassion, love and gratitude in every moment has been the greatest gift yoga has given her. Sharing this gift with her students is her greatest joy.
