Ana Forrest has been changing people’s lives for nearly 40 years.  An internationally recognized pioneer in yoga and emotional healing, Ana created Forrest Yoga while working through her own healing from her life’s trauma and experience.  With thousands of licensed practitioners around the world, Forrest Yoga is renowned as an intensely physical, internally focused practice that emphasizes how to carry a transformative experience off the mat and into daily life.

By teaching asana, breath and an awareness of the movement of energy through the body, Ana teaches yoga from an intuitive and highly developed understanding of the human body and psyche.  With her meticulous guidance, Ana’s students cultivate an acute awareness of their own practice and life process, resulting in an exhilarating journey into self-discovery, cleansing and healing.  For Ana, this is her intent.  “In teaching Forrest Yoga, I am doing my part to mend 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 in a healing way, in a Beauty Way.”

Ana took her first yoga class at age 14 on a dare and became a certified instructor at age 18.  Her extensive study and clinical application of healing modalities, including homeopathic and naturopathic remedies, anatomy, reflexology, pressure point therapy, craniosacral therapies, Shiatsu, chiropractic, polarity and hands on healing, always informs her work.  In her life-long pursuit of becoming a better teacher and healer, Ana has undertaken intimate studies in Sweat Lodge, Pipe Ceremony, Vision Quest and Sundance with various Native American and African healers. 

Ana is an ordained practitioner of Native American Medicine, a Reiki Master, a Certified Regression Therapist, and a graduate of Anthony Robbins Master University.   She is a Faculty Member at The University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic and sits on the Boards of F.A.R.E. Play (Foundation for Athletic Research and Education) and Earth & Sky Circle (organization for Native American Ceremony).  She is the recipient of a Los Angeles Mayoral Commendation recognizing her outstanding teaching and healing work in the community, the first time a major U.S. city bestowed such an honor on a yogi or yogini.  Ana is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal and a consultant to the USAF 48th Fighter Wing (RAF Lakenheath, UK), Exalted Warrior Foundation (Tampa, FL) and hiwecanhelp.org (Newcastle, UK).

Ana has generated extensive worldwide media coverage.  She continues to teach throughout the year around the world.  Her book, Fierce Medicine: Breakthrough Practices to Heal the Body and Ignite the Spirit, (HarperOne) was released May 2011.

Heidi Sormaz, PhD is the owner and director of Fresh Yoga studio in New Haven. Heidi Sormaz, Ph.D. is the founder, owner and director of Fresh Yoga in New Haven, CT. She has studied Yoga for 17 years and taught for 11. For many years Heidi's focus was academic, studying the interrupting of habitual thinking with specific attention and meditation techniques. She brings these principles to her classroom, encouraging students to work with their minds as specifically as they work with their bodies creating a fully embodied experience. Working this way, as emphasized in Forrest Yoga, allows you to understand the emotional walls you have created from your life experience and break the habits that keep you stuck in your body and life. This way of working helped her move through her own challenges of dealing with severe social anxiety and recovering from an eating disorder.
Certified Forrest Yoga Teacher and Mentor, Heidi has worked with Ana Forrest as the lead assistant in her national workshops and foundation teacher training courses. She is a senior student of Master Steven Bennett, in the martial art Taijiquan and the internal art Qigong and has taught Taijiquan and Qigong at Yale University. As a teacher trainer, Heidi is known for her kind, clear communication and ability to help students constructively view the ways in which they are effective in front of a classroom or not. In addition, she helps them understand the connection between what they do with their bodies and patterns of speech in front of a room and how they live their lives.
Heidi received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Psychology from Yale University. She is an expert on the influence of arousal and attention on performance. She has been an educator, speaker, and corporate trainer with over 15 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 article "Meditation can Reduce Habitual Responding."
In 2008, Yoga Journal selected Heidi as one of their "Next Generation of Yoga Teachers".
To learn more about Heidi, visit www.freshyoga.com.

Catherine Allen, E-RYT, has been teaching yoga since 2001. She is an inspirational and motivational teacher who gives you newfound confidence in your body's ability to heal, strengthen, and evolve both on and off the mat. Catherine will support you through your personal journey on the mat so that you can walk your life path as a more self-empowered, passionate, and breath-filled person. Catherine is Teacher Liaison to the Forrest Yoga teachers community worldwide and is honored to be a Forrest Yoga Mentor Teacher and Guardian of the Forrest Yoga Legacy. She assists Ana nationally at teacher trainings and workshops. As part of Ana's teacher trainer team, Catherine supports yoga teachers by encouraging them to find their authentic voice, to step into their roles as healers, and to share their unique gifts with the world. Catherine's classes provide a strong emphasis on breath nourishment, smart alignment, compassion for oneself and honing practical life skills for off the mat.

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.

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).

Talya Ring fell in love with Forrest Yoga because it provides a safe and enticing arena within which to explore and express repressed emotions, enabling her to go deep into relation with her Spirit. Connection to Spirit & Transformation are Talya's invitation, both to herself and her students. She draws from her years of study with Ana Forrest as well as a variety of spiritual teachers based in Native & Toltec traditions. Along with her life and teaching partner, Steve Emmerman, Talya is dedicated to building a cohesive and healing community of students and teachers that supports its members' personal and spiritual growth. Together they co-founded Turbodog Spirit Center - A Forrest Yoga Community, 1 of only 4 non-profit studios in the country. Steve & Talya lead retreats, trainings and workshops worldwide with the mission of awakening students and teachers to their true selves. Talya is proud to be a Guardian of the Forrest Yoga legacy and the Keeper of the Forrest teachers under her care.

Steve Emmerman experienced Forrest Yoga's powerful healing gifts firsthand. Dedication to the practice mended the devastating effects of a neck injury, incurred at age 15, and awakened him to a rare and precious depth of feeling he hadn't previously known. Steve is a powerful seer of truth and patterns. He introduces fun and playfulness to gently bring his students face to face with their challenges, and he inspires them to courageously walk through the changes they seek by shattering their "I can't" beliefs. Steve braids his teachings with the complementary practices of the Toltec (a la HeatherAsh Amara) and the Blackfoot (via Chuck Walks in Spirit). By stimulating his students to unearth new layers of strength and power, Steve advances his mission to help people truly feel good in their body, and to make meaningful connections with their own hearts and the hearts of others. Together with his wife and teaching partner, Talya Ring, Steve co-founded "Turbodog Spirit Center - A Forrest Yoga Community", 1 of only 4 non-profit yoga studios in the country. They teach workshops, trainings and retreats worldwide. Steve is honored to guard the Forrest Yoga legacy and to serve as a Mentor. His vision is to craft a far-reaching web of exceptional teachers, fueling their commitment to their asana practice and personal journey.

Erica discovered Forrest Yoga in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, while searching for practices to heal adult-onset migraines. After establishing and growing a career in Madison, she worked as a professional jazz pianist (voted "Madison's Favorite Jazz Artist" in the 2002 Isthmus Reader's Poll) and music educator. Erica moved to New York City in 2004 to begin graduate work at Columbia University, studying Ethnomusicology. She was dismayed to discover that the Big Apple, which offers up everything a person could possible desire to study, had a dearth of Forrest Yoga instructors. She began practicing Vinyasa, New York??s reigning style, at a studio down the street, and Iyengar in the school gym, using yoga to stay sane during graduate school. Upon completing her Master's Degree, she enrolled in the 2006 Back Bay Yoga Forrest Yoga Teacher Training, where she realized that teaching underpins all of her most fulfilling activities, and thus decided to return to New York and begin teaching yoga. Erica brought Forrest Yoga to Om Factory NYC, PURE Yoga NYC, and teaches Vinyasa at the very same studio where she began her own Vinyasa studies, Life in Motion. She has completed Ana??s Advanced Teacher Training, and assists her nationally and internationally. In addition to teaching public group classes, she works privately with New York clients, writes for www.yogacitynyc.com, and provides business counsel and support for young yoga teachers. She continues to work to unravel the mystery of her own migraine headaches, and finds inspiration from the human body and all of her students.

Willow has explored using athletics and healing arts in her journey for improving quality of life both emotionally and physically. She has unique experiences from competitive boxing, racing motorcycles, Cyclocross and marathon running and has combined them with years as an experienced Licensed Massage Therapist, personal trainer, exercise & nutritional coach and Senior Level & Leading Forrest Yoga Instructor to orient you towards a sustainable path to achieve your physical goals and emotional healing. Her yoga classes are designed for All Levels and incorporate anatomy & kinesiology as well as Forrest Yoga canons of Breath, Strength, Integrity & Spirit. You will leave feeling grounded and more fulfilled with your developing yoga & self awareness. "Willow is the embodiment of a woman in power; the way that she lives & breathes & walks is an example to all who work with her. For those of you who have the opportunity to work with Willow, don't waste it, it's an extraordinary one." ~ Ana Forrest, founder of Forrest Yoga

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.

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.

Through Forrest Yoga and various body-based modalities, I have met my Spirit and made peace with my experience of depression. I turned my journey into medicine by creating a 7-week Yoga For Depression class series in 2004, which I've led while living in Dallas and the East Bay of San Francisco. I'm currently working toward my master's degree in Somatic Psychology and aspire to be a licensed clinician. Since my initial certification in 2000, I have completed Forrest Yoga's Advanced Teacher training and traveled worldwide to assist Ana Forrest. As a Guardian, I've presented four Forrest Yoga Mentorship Program (FYMP) rounds a 3-Day FYCET and numerous hands-on assisting clinics for teachers. I absolutely delight helping teachers find their authenticity! I previously had the priviledge to co-manage the FYMP and Forrest Yoga's Assistant Program. I wear many hats relating to Forrest Yoga and my intention is to serve the Hoop of the People and the Hoop of the Teachers with great care, integrity and lightness of heart.

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.

Dedicating myself to enlighten the healing and empowering qualities of Yoga over the past 13 years, I have taught more than 12,000 hours to people ranging from physically disabled to top level athletes. This experience has enabled me to understand and value wholeheartedly the art of teaching yoga. I have been deeply moved to connect to Spirit and to live authentically by Ana Forrest (my teacher for the past 10 years) and the teachings of Forrest Yoga. I am ecstatic to be given an opportunity to support and grow my Forrest Yoga community as a Guaridan of the Hoop of the Teachers. Through the FYMP, I will use my truth speaking and healing talents to help you to find your authentic voice; help you find magic when you assist; show you how to intelligently and intuitively sequence a class and seamlessly tie theme/intent in; speak with clarity; and bring your connection to spirit into your teaching and life. I've successfully completed Forrest Yoga's foundation, advanced and continuing education teacher training courses with Ana Forrest and Ashtanga teacher training with David Swenson. I have also studied Iyengar, Power, Vinyasa, Anusara and Jivamukti yoga. I continue to assist Ana nationally at workshops and teacher trainings.