#79 – Keen on Yoga Podcast with Ana Forrest & Jose Calarco

 

Ana  Forrest is  an inspiration and has been
changing  people’s lives for over 45 
years. She  is an internationally recognized 
pioneer in yoga and emotional healing.


She is the Creatrix of Forrest Yoga, a mystic, visionary,
philanthropist, author, and Medicine Woman. Ana
crafted Forrest Yoga while working through healing from
her own life’s traumas – abuse and addictions, the feeling of
helplessness around the addictions, and the ongoing
suffering from chronic injuries & illnesses.


Ana took her first yoga class at age 14 and became a certified
instructor in 1975. Ana used yoga and Native American
ceremony to save her own life. It is her intent to pass that
lifesaving ability forward.


The process of healing herself inspired her to teach others to
heal themselves physically, emotionally, mentally, and
spiritually. Forrest Yoga is a powerfully physical, internally
focused practice that emphasizes the integration
of  transformative experiences from the mat into
purposeful daily life. 


Ana is at heart a woman of the wilderness. She has spent many
years in the mountains and forests learning from the animals,
trees, rocks, water, and the seasons. Prior to becoming a yoga
teacher, Ana spent her early years training horses, dogs,
cats, birds, and the occasional snake. She brings her deep
understanding of the animal kingdom to her teaching with humans.


Jose Calarco is Ana’s co-director of Forrest Yoga. Jose comes
from a long history of shamanism, the arts, music and healing,
bringing his decades of experience as an artistic prodigy to
Forrest Yoga.


He is also Director of the legendary Australian  Indigenous
company Descendance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance
Theatre www.descendance.com.au. Descendance won the UNESCO
(United Nations) competition as the world’s best Indigenous live
show.


Jose Calarco is a bridge to the spirit world. As Ceremonial
Leader for Forrest Yoga and co – teacher with Ana
Forrest, he creates and teaches ceremonies, tells creation
stories from the traditions of the First Peoples of Australia and
other shamanic traditions and weaves these into the yoga practice


His experience as a faith healer and Medicine Man spans over 30
years. He has collaborated with Indigenous wisdom keepers like
Medicine Woman and Australian cultural treasure Kathy Marika of
the Yirrikala People of central Northern Australia, and he
co-created Descendance Aboriginal with Indigenous elder and Song
Woman Imelda Willis of the Yidinji and Kandju tribes. Imelda
is Jose’s Spiritual Mother, and was a rare woman who had been
fully initiated. She adopted him as an equal into her tribes in
Far Northern Australia, sharing knowledge and hope with each
other and with the world.


Also available on YouTube