Inhabit Yourself: A Conversation with Ana Forrest

(KT’s Q&A with Ana Forrest was published in November, and I just realized I never posted it here.  Check it out! – JM)

Ana Forrest is one bad-ass yogini. If you haven’t seen a video of Forrest practicing, stop reading right now, load up Youtube and watch one. I’ll wait.

She moves with a stunning combination of grace and power. It was a year ago that I first saw photos of Forrest. Finally, I got to practice with her in person.

Yogani Studios in Tampa hosted three workshops with her this past weekend that I had the great fortune to attend.

Ana considers a yoga class to be ceremony because the work done inside the class is sacred. She and her staff hold that sacred space by working with the “highest quality of attention.” They also require the same from you. If you haven’t attended a class with Ana Forrest, let me give you a little bit of advice: Do not chatter with your neighbor. Listen carefully to instructions and follow them. Do your best to stay tuned in. It’s only two and half hours. You can do it. She can help. Her voice is deep and grounded, and although she leads so many workshops she never sounds scripted; her words always seemed heartfelt.  She connects with her students, although there are so many, calling us by name (we have name-tags on our mats) and giving us shoulder rubs. She is serious, but also nurturing, like a mother. I sense she will scold me if I misbehave, but I also sense that she truly wants to teach me and to soothe me of any aches in body or soul. She is stern, but light. There is laughter. Which is good, because it’s hard.

I asked Ana how she keeps her energy high and fresh:

“I do it in a few different ways. I do prayers every morning, especially when I teach…calling in the energies of the four directions to help me bring in the most healing energy and whatever is necessary to help people break through their shit so that they can get to something profound.  Two is: I’m a fanatical turbo bitch about doing my own practice.  I protect it really hard… and practicing with my assistants gets me off and brings my energy way up… Three: There’s a huge amount of excess energy that boils in that room. You can feel it… I drink it in.  I can get more high on a class I teach than my own practice sometimes because I just can’t generate the same amount of energy that all of us together do.  So, I’m constantly working on nourishing myself.”