YOGA & INSPIRED LIVING

SEPTEMBER 2015

AUTISTIC BOYS
ASTONISHING
RECOVERY

MAYAN
HEALING
FOR
WOMEN

AMAZONIAN
HAIR
SECRET

KNOW
YOUR
DARK
SIDE

Yoga
therapy for
menopause

IS YOUR
HOME

from Ana Forrest

AED 20

fierce love

www.yogalife-online.com

AED 20

www.yogalife-online.com

geopathic
stress-free?

FIERCE LOVE
FROM A WARRIOR

na Forrest is infamous in the growing tribal universe that is yoga. Uncompromising too.
Demanding. Direct. Many adjectives you wouldnt normally attribute to a yoga teacher.
But shes also intensely focussed. Sure. Knowledgeable. Insightful. Compassionate. And
not a little mysterious. Above all shes a born teacher, taking yoga to its far reaches by
using it to help students recover from hard knocks, heal and go on to make the most of
their lives. When you find out a bit about her journey read her fascinating book Fierce
Medicine for all the gory, and glorious, details these unconventional pieces fall into place
and you realise not only how far she has travelled, but how far you could travel too.

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IMAGES: SOFIA VAN DER DYS

Ana Forrest has been changing peoples lives for nearly 40 years.
An internationally recognised pioneer in yoga and emotional healing, Ana created
Forrest Yoga while working through her own healing from her lifes trauma and
experience. YogaLifes Kish and Catharine Nicol met her in Hong Kong

pose

I help students bring

their brain, mind and
heart into alliance

At Hong Kongs Asia Yoga

Conference earlier this year, we joined
a packed room for her Freedom from
Struggle class. While we know a Forrest
class will never be a doozy, we were still
taken aback by how much we, ironically,
struggled. Forrest Yoga is renowned
for holding poses for five to 10 breaths,
or longer. While this is good for building
strength, Ana wants us to really feel
the pose. You feel your body. You feel
the workings of your mind. You have
time to drink in the sweetness of the
pose. For some of us that is a whole
new and wonderful experience.

Theres a lot of wrist work.

Extremities are all expected to pull
their weight, the class trying to
imitate her famously flared toes.
She leads tough abs series. She
focusses on tucking the tailbone,
telescoping the ribs, wrapping the
shoulders, relaxing the neck. Oh, and
breathing, breathing, breathing.
She also is unsurprised to see
students have breakdown moments
in her classes. Sometimes you hit
your shit. Your brain may tell you its
time to quit. Its not! Learning to ride
the wave of intensity in a yoga pose in

a pain-free, struggle-free way serves

you in every aspect of your life.
Towards the end of her class our
brain is telling us its time to quit. Our
body too. But gradually we come to
realise that the struggle we are feeling
has been created by us, not by her. Its
a penny-dropping moment. One that
many have had before us, were sure.
She emphasises we should only push
ourselves to the edges of our practice,
so why are we aiming beyond? We relax
our mental dialogue as the individual
parts of our body, challenged and tired,
fall back into a more harmonious whole.
And we finish the class feeling good.

THE BEGINNING

Its hard to imagine, but Ana started

life out challenged physically.
Renowned as the bad girl made good,
shades of which many of her students
can identify with, today in her 50s
shes strong, flexible and controlled. At
the age of six, the physical problems
shed been born with that made
walking painful and a lack of love at
home resulted in her finding her first
transformation at a nearby stable.
She worked with the horses first to
earn rides, rejoicing in the speed and
grace of their four fast legs, then
instinctively realising not only could
she heal those with physical problems,
mental issues, spirits destroyed, but
they were healing her in return too.
Then a challenge from a girl at
school led her to her lifes most

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If you want to use yoga to heal emotional pain,

you must find out where it resides in your body and learn to take your
breath there. I dont teach yoga to help people to transcend. I want
peoples Spirits to reside in their body. I literally want to help people
embody their Spirit, not go through life fragmented

serendipitous moment, away from her suicidal thoughts,

drugs, cigarettes and alcohol to her very first yoga class.
And imagine this: at 14 she couldnt touch her toes. Yoga
led to another transformation, continuing her physical
healing, helping with her mental and spiritual pain and
highlighting her natural instinct to teach. And so since
then she has taught yoga, in various ways, now for over
40 years. A yoga that healed her, and now heals others.
A yoga that has gradually turned into Forrest Yoga.

THE PRESENT

Fast forward to today, thousands of students later, and she

leads her classes with her husband Jos Calarco, director
of Descendance, the internationally acclaimed Australian
indigenous cultural organisation. Together they bring an
increasing sense of healing to their classes. Jos and I are
combining our forces to bring people many different ways
to build a relationship with their authentic self and their

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Spirit, though song, dance and Forrest Yoga. Our people are
hungry for something that is real, raw, primal and authentic.
Our yoga Ceremonies tap them into where they are real
and raw and primal and authentic. It is so exhilarating!
Jos and I work with the didgeridoo adding
ancient vibrational healing to remove stagnant energy
and reogranise it. These healings also harmonise
the electromagnetic fields of the body, putting
order into reckless wave patterns, she says.
We [Jos and I, and my Forrest Yoga teachers] are giving
our people tools and the skills to use them to transmute
any craziness and anguish in their life, adds Ana. By walking
this Good Medicine road we learn to respect ourselves and
others. We are gleaning wisdom from our experiences,
and that brings healing and a broader experience of the
truth. As we heal, we get more generous of heart.
Anas generosity, in teaching and healing, stems
not only from horses and yoga, but also the Native

pose

Anas generosity, in
teaching and healing,
stems not only from
horses and yoga, but also
the Native American
Medicine Ways. Ana is
also a Pipe Carrier, which
is someone who has taken
on the responsibility
of the health and
well-being of the people

American Medicine Ways. Ana is also a Pipe Carrier,

which is someone who has taken on the responsibility
of the health and well-being of the people. Part of her
mission in life is to teach others to become healers.

FINDING THE SPIRIT

Ive had many realisations, not just one. I needed more

than one epiphany. When I became involved in Native
American Ceremonies and questing for my Spirit I came
face-to-face with everything that kept me from finding
my Spirit. When I finally did connect I was really happy, my
heart broke open. But then I became complacent and lazy
and lost that connection. So there were more changes in
my life needed to help me embody Spirit. It was a constant
learning process and a collection of breakthroughs.
When Ana discovers things that work for her, she is
compelled to teach them to others. While the anger she
felt towards life, for example, could have just burned

her up, instead she taught herself to use her anger to

her advantage. Anger is about relieving that craziness,
recognising something is insane, and tapping into your
inner rebel. Why the f**k should I obey insanity? I refuse!
Use anger against obeying stupidity. You may have
been taught youre worthless, but dont make it true.
I taught myself to take a stand for myself. Now I have
learnt to take the time to prepare a beautiful meal so Im
nourished, to cuddle with my husband so my heart and
Spirit is bright. I do these things because they are important
and they nourish and build my luminosity. I am worth
the time to nourish my Spirit, to rest, to feel worthiness.
Because worthlessness is a common and awful feeling.
Whatever has happened to someone, there is damage.
But can you take a stance and ask: What can you do to
heal the damage? Move the stuff out of your life thats
hurting you. All that heaviness and stuff that isnt you
get it out of the way. Connect to your authentic self.

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pose

TIPS FROM ANA

Take deep breaths. This is one of the keys
to purifying your blood and mood and
getting a little more into your power.
Take physical action. Go for a walk. Do yoga. Whatever
yoga. Go to a teacher or download classes online. Move
your blood, oxygenise your blood. It clears the murk out.
Eat clean food. If you are eating rubbish
you think rubbish. Its simple.
Dont drink, smoke, watch porn. Dont do
things that make you dull and stupid.
Stop wasting energy with useless fighting.
Ana has learnt the hard way and is therefore in
a unique position to be teaching these life lessons.
Wherever her students are, whatever theyve
been through, Anas way of using the bad to lead
to good is a life-changing lesson. Most of us run
from fear. Or go numb. But facing your fear is real,
its raw, its primal. It points to ways to connect
with your authentic self. It is a deep, rich, spiritually
nourishing road. You can work with it, choose to
use it. If its too big and scary then work out what
you can work with. For example, in a yoga class
handstands might be scary for you. So try a Dolphin
with one foot on the wall. Go into an inversion with
support that is safe. Go up against your fear and
youll start to transform it, it will start to change
shape. Then you will begin to build courage.

ONE OF MY GREATEST REALISATIONS

Her own journey from feeling worthless to realising she was the opposite was also one of numerous realisations. One of my greatest realisations
was that I could love, was worthy of love and am
love, she says. Because in my past I wasnt loved.
I didnt have the neurological connections and
receptors to feel it. I started hunting and tracking love through books, and they sounded like
horseshit. I kept thinking, people talk about it.
They sing songs about it. Why cant I feel it?
Several animals horses and her Spirit guides
and people have shown Ana the pathway to love
and in return she takes these teachings onto the
mat. I help students bring their brain, mind and
heart into alliance. Learn what is worth fighting for
and what isnt. Identify the battle between heart
and mind and stop it. I teach how to work with
these elements together in yoga and everything
else you do. I start in the science lab of being on the
mat. Yoga is your time to vision quest. Were
working to help you break through.
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Read all you want. Reading is wonderful and engages

you with peoples ideas. But then also get up and do
something. Reading is one step. Then take action.
Start to track your poisons.
Anger can be a good thing. You can use it for putting
fire under your own tail, to feed your life force.

LEARN
WHAT IS
WORTH FIGHTING
FOR AND
WHAT ISNT