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Fierce Medicine: Breakthrough Practices to Heal the Body and Ignite the Spirit
In Fierce Medicine, Ana Forrest, charismatic teacher and founder of Forrest Yoga, combines physical practice, eastern wisdom, and profound Native American ceremony to help heal everything from addictive behaviors and eating disorders to chronic pain and injury.
Fierce Medicine is also part memoir, detailing Ana Forrest's journey to move beyond her past as she helps others to do the same. Filled with helpful yoga exercises, Fierce Medicine teaches us to reconnect with our bodies, cultivate balance, and start living in harmony with our Spirits.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 13, 2011
187 people are currently reading
984 people want to read
About the author
Ana T. Forrest
4 books14 followersAna T. Forrest is an internationally recognized pioneer in yoga and emotional healing. Her own trauma and life experiences have formed the foundation from which Ana created Forrest Yoga—a distinct approach of using yoga to address today's physical and emotional challenges with a highly developed understanding of the human body and psyche. Ana challenges her students to access their whole being, and to use Forrest Yoga as a path to track, find and clear the emotional and mental blocks that reside within their bodies and that dictate and limit their lives.
With more than 35 years of experience teaching yoga, Ana Forrest is a living example of a teacher and healer who has freed herself from the strictures of trauma and habits and has chosen a warrior's path of truth and compassion. Ana became a certified yoga instructor at the age of 18, is an ordained practitioner of Native American medicine, and has studied Polarity Therapy, Acupressure, Homeopathy, Hands-on Healing, Shiatsu, Chiropractic, Martial Arts, Psychotherapy, and Regression Therapy.
With Ana's meticulous guidance, students cultivate an acute awareness of their own practice and life process, creating a unique and powerful opportunity for them to make practical life decisions based on their own experiences. She says, "In teaching Forest 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."
Attaining a global reach for her life mission, Ana teaches around the world, throughout the year. She is a contributing expert to Yoga Journal and other national and international wellness publications.
With more than 35 years of experience teaching yoga, Ana Forrest is a living example of a teacher and healer who has freed herself from the strictures of trauma and habits and has chosen a warrior's path of truth and compassion. Ana became a certified yoga instructor at the age of 18, is an ordained practitioner of Native American medicine, and has studied Polarity Therapy, Acupressure, Homeopathy, Hands-on Healing, Shiatsu, Chiropractic, Martial Arts, Psychotherapy, and Regression Therapy.
With Ana's meticulous guidance, students cultivate an acute awareness of their own practice and life process, creating a unique and powerful opportunity for them to make practical life decisions based on their own experiences. She says, "In teaching Forest 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."
Attaining a global reach for her life mission, Ana teaches around the world, throughout the year. She is a contributing expert to Yoga Journal and other national and international wellness publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
January 22, 2012
First I must apologize to Ana. I know you've been through a lot, and I think you're great with some great ideas in terms of practice.... BUT:
So far, this is not unlike any other egotistical branded yogi out there. I hate to say that, but from the beginning I honestly thought this would be different. If dredging up ones past is the only way this new wave of yogi's are making a living, they ought to look around because everyone's doing it.
I am a yoga junkie and crave to hear how successful yogis have gotten through their past to achieve greatness and new ways of practicing yoga, but if it means going through my past (AGAIN) I will put my head in an oven. I've done all of this (on several retreats, trainings and yoga books) and want to move from my past, not keep living in it.
I urge this new wave of yogis that are offering something different (at a high price) to come up with, well, something different.
So far, this is not unlike any other egotistical branded yogi out there. I hate to say that, but from the beginning I honestly thought this would be different. If dredging up ones past is the only way this new wave of yogi's are making a living, they ought to look around because everyone's doing it.
I am a yoga junkie and crave to hear how successful yogis have gotten through their past to achieve greatness and new ways of practicing yoga, but if it means going through my past (AGAIN) I will put my head in an oven. I've done all of this (on several retreats, trainings and yoga books) and want to move from my past, not keep living in it.
I urge this new wave of yogis that are offering something different (at a high price) to come up with, well, something different.
June 10, 2011
Ana is, indeed, fierce and has found a unique path through the yogic world. She is not a sunny, calm teacher but rather fiery and kind of eccentric, which I appreciate. Her childhood was awful, and reading about her redemption through working with horses, discovering yoga, and doing some Native American healing is inspiring.
This book is organized strangely--essentially an autobiography with scattered side-trips into basic yoga instruction. I think it would have worked better either as one or the other, or if the memoir was in a separate section from the yogic stuff. But as it is, it doesn't flow and is hard to follow. If you want to experience Ana, I'd suggest taking a workshop or buying one of her interesting instructional videos.
This book is organized strangely--essentially an autobiography with scattered side-trips into basic yoga instruction. I think it would have worked better either as one or the other, or if the memoir was in a separate section from the yogic stuff. But as it is, it doesn't flow and is hard to follow. If you want to experience Ana, I'd suggest taking a workshop or buying one of her interesting instructional videos.
September 6, 2011
This medicine was maybe a little too fierce for me.
July 20, 2017
I read the book throughout the last 6 weeks in which I started practising Forrest Yoga with an amazing teacher.
I wasn't put off by Ana's life story told in the book at all. If anything, it drew me in closer than the spiritual and the physical side of her style of yoga - but yes, if you like unicorns and rainbows and put Buddha statues all over your house instead of working on your issues, this is not for you. You have no issues to work through? Well, then nothing in this book should be that offensive and triggering to you, but reviews for this book seem to prove otherwise.
Both my expectations for and my fear of Ana Forrest were high. The yoga teacher who makes people cry, who breaks seasoned yoga teachers in her training workshops. The yoga that people love to hate. It seemed to be a kind of yoga that is only for the highly traumatised, and I don't think I am THAT broken. What I found is for the first time in my life, a yoga I can get behind 100%.
This book, and Forrest yoga, is for people who aren't afraid to look at the dark and ugly in the world and ourselves.
If you hate the silly New Age "Everything is gonna be alright" stuff, but can sympathise with animistic spirituality - native Indian spirituality being Ana's thing, but if you can get behind Chinese and Korean animistic traditions, Shinto, Wicca and shamanism for your view of spirituality, you will love it. A few chapters might sound a little woo-woo, but my woo-woo meter would indicated a 3 out of 10 a the most. She doesn't actually say she believes she closed the ozone layer - what she describes is that she started a meditation circle focussed on healing the enviroment... too much for me personally, but really not a whack thing to do.
Ana herself says she picks and chooses what works for her - so no chanting or praying or whatever will be forced on you. And even if none of that spiritual shit applies to you, her asana practice is one hell of a workout, and well described in this book, too.
I wasn't put off by Ana's life story told in the book at all. If anything, it drew me in closer than the spiritual and the physical side of her style of yoga - but yes, if you like unicorns and rainbows and put Buddha statues all over your house instead of working on your issues, this is not for you. You have no issues to work through? Well, then nothing in this book should be that offensive and triggering to you, but reviews for this book seem to prove otherwise.
Both my expectations for and my fear of Ana Forrest were high. The yoga teacher who makes people cry, who breaks seasoned yoga teachers in her training workshops. The yoga that people love to hate. It seemed to be a kind of yoga that is only for the highly traumatised, and I don't think I am THAT broken. What I found is for the first time in my life, a yoga I can get behind 100%.
This book, and Forrest yoga, is for people who aren't afraid to look at the dark and ugly in the world and ourselves.
If you hate the silly New Age "Everything is gonna be alright" stuff, but can sympathise with animistic spirituality - native Indian spirituality being Ana's thing, but if you can get behind Chinese and Korean animistic traditions, Shinto, Wicca and shamanism for your view of spirituality, you will love it. A few chapters might sound a little woo-woo, but my woo-woo meter would indicated a 3 out of 10 a the most. She doesn't actually say she believes she closed the ozone layer - what she describes is that she started a meditation circle focussed on healing the enviroment... too much for me personally, but really not a whack thing to do.
Ana herself says she picks and chooses what works for her - so no chanting or praying or whatever will be forced on you. And even if none of that spiritual shit applies to you, her asana practice is one hell of a workout, and well described in this book, too.
April 5, 2019
“As a Yoga teacher, I worked and lived in this very strange New Age market filled with so many deceptive promises that I was embarrassed to be associated with it; I was afraid that anything I put out into the world would end up on the same nonnutritive shelf. I call that sweet sickening process spiritual diabetes.”
Ana T. Forrest is an influential and divisive yoga teacher in the west. As part of my 200 YTT, I read Fierce Medicine, because Forrest Yoga is an influence for my teachers. I also recently took a workshop with Forrest. To break down the class format, Forrest Yoga is focused on abs. Everything starts with the core. It is the stabilizer for the postures that are to come, and one of the things that my teacher loves about Forrest Yoga is that we are cued to work the smaller, deeper muscles of our body. I experienced this firsthand at the workshop when she gave out cues to work our TA by instructing us to set our sacrum on the floor and lift our tailbone up. A Forrest Yoga class runs 3 hours long, starts with core work then pranayama breathing exercises, standing series then closes off with singing and dancing. All of the postures are renamed. Hammock is what she calls both legs behind the head!
After reading Fierce Medicine, I was expecting the workshop to whoop me (and it did!) but there was gentleness in Forrest’s instruction that I was surprised to feel. The theme of the class was to romance your soul. She said some of us had ugly energy when we were trying something new, and to focus not on what we can’t do, but what we can do in the pose. She was powerful and also funny, kind and inspiring.
I say all this because the workshop brings up the question, what do you look for in a yoga class? Similarly, Fierce Medicine brings up the question of, what are you looking for in a yoga book? If you’re looking for a manual on asanas, you get some of this. Forrest shares poses that open the heart and release fear. But Fierce Medicine is so much more than that.
It is a memoir and it is an emotional self-healing guide full of steps to change your habits, journal your fears, and meditate on your death. I loved reading about Forrest’s story, and how she weaved in elements of her personal life to share how her lived experiences shaped her yoga teachings. Forrest has a traditional yoga phase that included training with Iyengar, but it is her experience with Native American medicine that truly differentiates Forrest Yoga.
Although Ana is highly aware of the woo-woo nature of the yoga industry, she is also spiritual and inevitably makes eyebrow-raising statements in Fierce Medicine. She is a healer, after all. It is extremely illuminating to read her story. I will definitely be returning to this.
Ana T. Forrest is an influential and divisive yoga teacher in the west. As part of my 200 YTT, I read Fierce Medicine, because Forrest Yoga is an influence for my teachers. I also recently took a workshop with Forrest. To break down the class format, Forrest Yoga is focused on abs. Everything starts with the core. It is the stabilizer for the postures that are to come, and one of the things that my teacher loves about Forrest Yoga is that we are cued to work the smaller, deeper muscles of our body. I experienced this firsthand at the workshop when she gave out cues to work our TA by instructing us to set our sacrum on the floor and lift our tailbone up. A Forrest Yoga class runs 3 hours long, starts with core work then pranayama breathing exercises, standing series then closes off with singing and dancing. All of the postures are renamed. Hammock is what she calls both legs behind the head!
After reading Fierce Medicine, I was expecting the workshop to whoop me (and it did!) but there was gentleness in Forrest’s instruction that I was surprised to feel. The theme of the class was to romance your soul. She said some of us had ugly energy when we were trying something new, and to focus not on what we can’t do, but what we can do in the pose. She was powerful and also funny, kind and inspiring.
I say all this because the workshop brings up the question, what do you look for in a yoga class? Similarly, Fierce Medicine brings up the question of, what are you looking for in a yoga book? If you’re looking for a manual on asanas, you get some of this. Forrest shares poses that open the heart and release fear. But Fierce Medicine is so much more than that.
It is a memoir and it is an emotional self-healing guide full of steps to change your habits, journal your fears, and meditate on your death. I loved reading about Forrest’s story, and how she weaved in elements of her personal life to share how her lived experiences shaped her yoga teachings. Forrest has a traditional yoga phase that included training with Iyengar, but it is her experience with Native American medicine that truly differentiates Forrest Yoga.
Although Ana is highly aware of the woo-woo nature of the yoga industry, she is also spiritual and inevitably makes eyebrow-raising statements in Fierce Medicine. She is a healer, after all. It is extremely illuminating to read her story. I will definitely be returning to this.
January 3, 2017
Here are some assertions Ana makes in her memoir.
1. Yoga is about fear, pain, and death.
2. She can see and manipulate energy/auras, talk to animals, pray holes in the ozone layer closed, and has been persecuted as a witch in past lives. But others who claim supernatural talents and/or experiences are phonies.
2.5 Oh, and once, she remotely healed a friend's uterus by channeling the magical weaving powers of a spider. But she accidentally sewed it up so tightly that they had to have a caesarean section!
3. She is a admitted asshole and bitch.
4. She doesn't observe the yamas and niyamas, and particularly rejects Ahimsa, asserting that her style of healing requires the violence of destroying negative energies and patterns, and often "killing" the former self. She calls herself a daughter of Kali.
While I acknowledge Ana has endured and persevered through a very hard life, I came away from her story very sure that I want to continue to enjoy the style of yoga she created, but separate and distant from the person who created it.
1. Yoga is about fear, pain, and death.
2. She can see and manipulate energy/auras, talk to animals, pray holes in the ozone layer closed, and has been persecuted as a witch in past lives. But others who claim supernatural talents and/or experiences are phonies.
2.5 Oh, and once, she remotely healed a friend's uterus by channeling the magical weaving powers of a spider. But she accidentally sewed it up so tightly that they had to have a caesarean section!
3. She is a admitted asshole and bitch.
4. She doesn't observe the yamas and niyamas, and particularly rejects Ahimsa, asserting that her style of healing requires the violence of destroying negative energies and patterns, and often "killing" the former self. She calls herself a daughter of Kali.
While I acknowledge Ana has endured and persevered through a very hard life, I came away from her story very sure that I want to continue to enjoy the style of yoga she created, but separate and distant from the person who created it.
February 26, 2013
An amazing memoir, a great story, and a good introduction to both Forrest Yoga and the woman who developed it, Ana Forrest. Reading this book, one understands more why Ana Forrest developed Forrest Yoga. It is primarily a healing modality that also helps us learn how to breathe properly, and how much healing can be accomplished by simply understanding how we breathe.
Ana Forrest is a strong, intelligent, complex, and fascinating woman. That comes out in this memoir, that should be interesting to anyone interested in topics of self-healing, recovery from abuse & addiction, Native American medicine & ceremony, horses, the American Southwest...I could go on. Not simply a "yoga book," in fact, it's only summarily about yoga. It's mostly about healing and the power we all have to improve our lives, our bodies, and our minds.
Ana Forrest is a strong, intelligent, complex, and fascinating woman. That comes out in this memoir, that should be interesting to anyone interested in topics of self-healing, recovery from abuse & addiction, Native American medicine & ceremony, horses, the American Southwest...I could go on. Not simply a "yoga book," in fact, it's only summarily about yoga. It's mostly about healing and the power we all have to improve our lives, our bodies, and our minds.
Read
August 7, 2016"Do these people feed your fire for developing your heart's desire, or diminish it? Do they feed your belief that you can do it, or not? If not, cut off or change the relationship - quick! - before they infect you with their soul-deadening virus." p 125
"Bulimia is a behavior pattern that extends beyond food. I was bulimic with all sorts of things. I would gorge on information and puke it back up. Dive into something indiscriminately and just cut and run. I would approach everything with the attitude, I can get through this. I can endure this. The bulimics in my workshops do Yoga the same way: Just let me push through this. I can take it. The key to overcoming bulimic behavior - in fact, any addictive behavior - is to stop, breathe, feel, discover the real need, and then feed the true hunger inside." p 147
"Bulimia is a behavior pattern that extends beyond food. I was bulimic with all sorts of things. I would gorge on information and puke it back up. Dive into something indiscriminately and just cut and run. I would approach everything with the attitude, I can get through this. I can endure this. The bulimics in my workshops do Yoga the same way: Just let me push through this. I can take it. The key to overcoming bulimic behavior - in fact, any addictive behavior - is to stop, breathe, feel, discover the real need, and then feed the true hunger inside." p 147
September 11, 2013
Overall I liked it. It's an interesting blend of shamanistic and yogic thought. I have to admit I just skimmed the asanas to do sections and mainly focused on the autobiographic and philosophic bits. I can definitely see the potential appeal of Forest yoga for some folks, even if I wouldn't find it the branch of US yoga that calls out to me (despite my own interest in shamanistic practices.)
Definitely worth a read, I did find there were many moments where I felt major events were skimmed over in her later life that I would have liked to know more about and it sometimes made the book feel too episodic for my tastes. But still there's enough meat here to read and think about for most I would think.
Definitely worth a read, I did find there were many moments where I felt major events were skimmed over in her later life that I would have liked to know more about and it sometimes made the book feel too episodic for my tastes. But still there's enough meat here to read and think about for most I would think.
May 21, 2013
Anatomy wasn't accurate, but her life story is amazing!
September 30, 2023
No words can be said right now. It is a beautiful and liberating truth
December 29, 2020
This is an excellent book on so many levels. A revelatory bio, a manual for Hatha Yoga, an inspiring method of personal transformation and an unapologetic melding of multiple disciplines to introduce a new American spiritual practice that incorporates equal parts Yoga, Shamanism, Native American practices, NLP and tough love. I have to say I came to this volume with a dose skepticism, I am also a trained Shaman, a certified and practicing yogi and I've followed a spiritual path for most of my life, so my endorsement is more that fandom.
Ana tells her story in sordid detail. Her youth was tragic and her journey difficult but she tells it with a ferocious spirit that refuses to be quenched. She swears, she drinks, she's damaged, she's divorced, she's been disillusioned and she's fearless, undaunted, inspiring and I loved it. She will inspire you to undertake your own transformation with this book.
Throughout the book she includes exercises and rituals to help you change what you don't like in your life. Examples of her own and her students' transformative experiences abound along with photos that illustrate the poses that compliment her ideas. It is unorthodox but I believe revolutionary.
Having discovered yoga at a very young age, she was fortunate to study with BKS Iyengar, one of the foremost yogis in the modern age. So the yoga is based in Indian tradition, of course she's brought her own slant to the poses and gives her ideas on how to unblock energy, unload beliefs that obstruct your progress and reshape your paradigm. But she doesn't claim that the healing is easy, happens overnight or that she has all the answers.
Dig in and spend some time with this book.
Ana tells her story in sordid detail. Her youth was tragic and her journey difficult but she tells it with a ferocious spirit that refuses to be quenched. She swears, she drinks, she's damaged, she's divorced, she's been disillusioned and she's fearless, undaunted, inspiring and I loved it. She will inspire you to undertake your own transformation with this book.
Throughout the book she includes exercises and rituals to help you change what you don't like in your life. Examples of her own and her students' transformative experiences abound along with photos that illustrate the poses that compliment her ideas. It is unorthodox but I believe revolutionary.
Having discovered yoga at a very young age, she was fortunate to study with BKS Iyengar, one of the foremost yogis in the modern age. So the yoga is based in Indian tradition, of course she's brought her own slant to the poses and gives her ideas on how to unblock energy, unload beliefs that obstruct your progress and reshape your paradigm. But she doesn't claim that the healing is easy, happens overnight or that she has all the answers.
Dig in and spend some time with this book.
August 25, 2013
I am new to serious yoga practice so I am sure some of my opinions will mellow in time, HOWEVER:
I looked forward to reading this book after watching Ana's videos - make no mistake, when it comes to power on the mat she is the real deal. She reminds me of Simon Borg-Olivier that way. As a "speaker of truths" and a renowned "expert contributor on European and Asian Wellness" (Yoga magazine)I read this expecting, if not debunking, at the very least not yet another rehash of health myths. One of the most egregious is the tired fallacy of getting "all that nonnutritive undigested garbage out of our [intestines]." If one is going to "speak truth", it helps to base that on facts.
I found her focus on new lovers, former lovers, a new "beloved", a "soon -to-be-lover" a distraction. In most realms of emotional recovery, a truly intimate relationship is one of the products of, not one of the means to, spiritual growth.
If you are already a fan of Ana Tiger Forrest - and I readily admit she is an AMAZING presence, a rock star of the yoga world, you will like the book. If you find the uncritical acceptance of things couched in nonsense terms such as: alternative, Eastern, quantum, wellness, (or God forbid 'quantum wellness'), and using 'cleanse' as a noun;to be maddening then maybe it's best to give this one a pass.
I looked forward to reading this book after watching Ana's videos - make no mistake, when it comes to power on the mat she is the real deal. She reminds me of Simon Borg-Olivier that way. As a "speaker of truths" and a renowned "expert contributor on European and Asian Wellness" (Yoga magazine)I read this expecting, if not debunking, at the very least not yet another rehash of health myths. One of the most egregious is the tired fallacy of getting "all that nonnutritive undigested garbage out of our [intestines]." If one is going to "speak truth", it helps to base that on facts.
I found her focus on new lovers, former lovers, a new "beloved", a "soon -to-be-lover" a distraction. In most realms of emotional recovery, a truly intimate relationship is one of the products of, not one of the means to, spiritual growth.
If you are already a fan of Ana Tiger Forrest - and I readily admit she is an AMAZING presence, a rock star of the yoga world, you will like the book. If you find the uncritical acceptance of things couched in nonsense terms such as: alternative, Eastern, quantum, wellness, (or God forbid 'quantum wellness'), and using 'cleanse' as a noun;to be maddening then maybe it's best to give this one a pass.
July 19, 2016
i started doing forrest yoga about a year ago
even though i have traditionally not liked hot yoga (and i still don't do the 100 degree+ classes) i kept coming back because there was something in it that spoke to me
now that i've committed to a forrest practice i decided to read more about this intense ana woman i kept hearing about
HOLY SHIT SHELLAC BATMAN
this lady is not kidding around, and so much of what she says (especially "spiritual diabetes," i love that) deeply, deeply resonates with me
the book is part biography, part self-help, and part yoga instruction
but the self-help is so....forrest
there is gentleness in forrest, but it is overshadowed by strength
ana healed herself, physically and emotionally, by facing her past and becoming stronger, even though that path to wellness was not always linear
you make mistakes, you have setbacks, but each time you must turn back to your path to wellness and be courageous, even though that is scary as hell
there's a call to strength and action here that i don't see in a lot of yoga practices and "self-care" writings
i love that this woman has no fucks to give
she is my spirit animal
even though i have traditionally not liked hot yoga (and i still don't do the 100 degree+ classes) i kept coming back because there was something in it that spoke to me
now that i've committed to a forrest practice i decided to read more about this intense ana woman i kept hearing about
HOLY SHIT SHELLAC BATMAN
this lady is not kidding around, and so much of what she says (especially "spiritual diabetes," i love that) deeply, deeply resonates with me
the book is part biography, part self-help, and part yoga instruction
but the self-help is so....forrest
there is gentleness in forrest, but it is overshadowed by strength
ana healed herself, physically and emotionally, by facing her past and becoming stronger, even though that path to wellness was not always linear
you make mistakes, you have setbacks, but each time you must turn back to your path to wellness and be courageous, even though that is scary as hell
there's a call to strength and action here that i don't see in a lot of yoga practices and "self-care" writings
i love that this woman has no fucks to give
she is my spirit animal
May 18, 2014
I'm at a crossroads here: I mostly enjoyed this book, and I thought it had some great insights. I also think that Forrest showed a lot of bravery in sharing her story, especially the parts that are less than flattering. There as a lot of stuff about Spirit Magic and the like, but that's common in many yoga books.
What was really difficult for me was that the entire time I was reading it, I couldn't shake my previous experience with Forrest. I went to the Yoga Journal Conference 2013 in Florida, and took her session. I had no idea who she was or what her system was about, but the description looked interesting to me. I thought she was a tool, and I felt she talked down to the students. I was uncomfortable enough to send negative feedback specifically about her & her session to the conference organizers in my evaluation.
It was a little hard to reconcile how the woman who wrote the book and the woman I saw in Fort Lauderdale were the same person. I kinda wish I hadn't met her. Maybe hers is a style that you just need to have complete buy in to appreciate.
What was really difficult for me was that the entire time I was reading it, I couldn't shake my previous experience with Forrest. I went to the Yoga Journal Conference 2013 in Florida, and took her session. I had no idea who she was or what her system was about, but the description looked interesting to me. I thought she was a tool, and I felt she talked down to the students. I was uncomfortable enough to send negative feedback specifically about her & her session to the conference organizers in my evaluation.
It was a little hard to reconcile how the woman who wrote the book and the woman I saw in Fort Lauderdale were the same person. I kinda wish I hadn't met her. Maybe hers is a style that you just need to have complete buy in to appreciate.
July 10, 2021
My review is much like my experience of this book: all-over-the place.
Some bits are amazing. Some bits make me ponder how a book contract was ever offered, and the hard part was the experience of vacillating between the two.
Look, my beloved brother was schizotypal. I can follow the most insane and inane trail of reasoning and be utterly unflappable about it- and yet the pace with which Ana was able to go from, "be gentle to yourself, I think THAT and THAT and THAT is fucking stupid, yoga healed me, but THAT kind of yoga WON'T heal you, I am the PINNACLE of woo-woo spirituality, but all those wanna-be-healers are whack-a-doodles" was mind boggling.
I went into this book a fan of what I knew of Ana Forrest. I have fellow yoga teachers who sing her praises and I know she has been the catalyst to an enormous amount of healing, but I am just not a fan of screeching from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other with utterly no brakes in between, which is what it felt like reading this book.
It was a rough read with a few sparkles throughout.
Some bits are amazing. Some bits make me ponder how a book contract was ever offered, and the hard part was the experience of vacillating between the two.
Look, my beloved brother was schizotypal. I can follow the most insane and inane trail of reasoning and be utterly unflappable about it- and yet the pace with which Ana was able to go from, "be gentle to yourself, I think THAT and THAT and THAT is fucking stupid, yoga healed me, but THAT kind of yoga WON'T heal you, I am the PINNACLE of woo-woo spirituality, but all those wanna-be-healers are whack-a-doodles" was mind boggling.
I went into this book a fan of what I knew of Ana Forrest. I have fellow yoga teachers who sing her praises and I know she has been the catalyst to an enormous amount of healing, but I am just not a fan of screeching from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other with utterly no brakes in between, which is what it felt like reading this book.
It was a rough read with a few sparkles throughout.
July 20, 2021
Part biography/part yoga manual, this book takes an intimate and mostly practical look at how yoga can transform everyday life. As a fledgling yoga teacher, I found the practice exercises particularly helpful and they range from yoga poses to breath work and various themed meditations.
This is not a yoga book for the faint of heart. I will say that Forrest isn't shy about sharing her opinion, which can be intense, but that also adds to the authenticity of what she is writing. I found a lot of inspiration in her words and encouragement.
I did chuckle a bit when she spent some of the beginning of the book trying to say how she wasn't "New Age" and then proceeded to do a lot of New Age things in the rest of the book. But, maybe that's just part of her growth.
I definitely would recommend this to those interested in reading a memoir that shows the value of yoga as a daily and practical experience.
This is not a yoga book for the faint of heart. I will say that Forrest isn't shy about sharing her opinion, which can be intense, but that also adds to the authenticity of what she is writing. I found a lot of inspiration in her words and encouragement.
I did chuckle a bit when she spent some of the beginning of the book trying to say how she wasn't "New Age" and then proceeded to do a lot of New Age things in the rest of the book. But, maybe that's just part of her growth.
I definitely would recommend this to those interested in reading a memoir that shows the value of yoga as a daily and practical experience.
February 10, 2017
This book is part biography, part yoga instruction and part guide to traditional and non-traditional medicine and therapy.
A friend recommended it to me at a time when I felt my yoga practice had become too mechanical. I needed guidance on how to incorporate mindfulnes into my movements, to regulate my breath and to reduce my speed of thought on my mat. This book ticked all the boxes!
In this book, Ana Forrest managed to reflect on her tough journey through life, a journey through abuse and self-destruction. Eventually through yoga and spirituality she had gained selfknowledge as well as physical and mental healing and with raw honesty, some blunt humour and an easy-to-read style, she shared this journey with the reader. I enjoyed the book and it will have an impact on my yoga practice and as well as my everyday life.
A friend recommended it to me at a time when I felt my yoga practice had become too mechanical. I needed guidance on how to incorporate mindfulnes into my movements, to regulate my breath and to reduce my speed of thought on my mat. This book ticked all the boxes!
In this book, Ana Forrest managed to reflect on her tough journey through life, a journey through abuse and self-destruction. Eventually through yoga and spirituality she had gained selfknowledge as well as physical and mental healing and with raw honesty, some blunt humour and an easy-to-read style, she shared this journey with the reader. I enjoyed the book and it will have an impact on my yoga practice and as well as my everyday life.
June 4, 2017
I don't know, I liked it. I liked it a lot. This woman has lived a hard life. It's more of a memoir with instruction woven in and out of it, but the tone is one of raw honesty, and it's definitely another perspective, one I don't generally hear from the yoga community. The phrase, "And that's why I don't believe in ahimsa..." Hahahaha, man. Talk about fierce. I was verbally punched in the face a few times. Zero bullshit is tolerated. I'm certain she'd make me cry in person. That's cool. I'm an easy crier.
I'll probably buy this. The yoga progressions and suggested meditations would be good to have around until I internalize everything. That's why it took me so long to read.
I'll probably buy this. The yoga progressions and suggested meditations would be good to have around until I internalize everything. That's why it took me so long to read.
March 29, 2013
I gave it two stars because I would like to fool myself that I didn't waste my time with this book. HUGE disappointment. Fierce it was but I feel like I have read this story so many times. I was disappointed that the author focused more on her bio than the healing process. I think if you are a fan of Ana Forrest or a follower of Forrest Yoga then you may enjoy it as the book is a self promotion of her practice and an absolute finger pointing of everyone that hurt her in life. Not much enjoyment to be shared.
January 9, 2021
If you think yoga is all about meditating and calm, this book will change your mind. I've met some pretty fierce yoga teachers but from the sound of this book, Ana Forrest is on the next level. Intimate, truthful, with some moments that'll make you wince or hold your breath, Fierce Medicine is part yoga book, part memoir. It shows you that not all yoga books and not all yoga is created equal. I didn't agree with everything she wrote, but the book inspired me to figure out what my truth is, as she did.
June 1, 2015
Maybe it was due to my own struggles, but I loved this book. What some seem to have found bothersome (her weaving of a memoir and instructional) was a thing of beauty for me. Perfectly formed.
I have been practicing yoga for a while (15 years) and studying Buddhism for about ten years. I have, and still do, struggle with many of the same issues Ana has, and I found it amazing to read her rather unique (in the "new age" world) thoughts!
I really, really enjoyed this book.
I have been practicing yoga for a while (15 years) and studying Buddhism for about ten years. I have, and still do, struggle with many of the same issues Ana has, and I found it amazing to read her rather unique (in the "new age" world) thoughts!
I really, really enjoyed this book.
December 30, 2018
I read a lot of this book right after having food poisoning. It was perfect for that time. I felt like I had died overnight, completely alone, and started the next day with Ana's death meditation to feel reborn and redirected in my life. This book should be read by everyone, but especially those needing to redirect their lives toward growth and purposeful action. This isn't a cute book to read and do nothing about. It's all about forward progress. Read it.
April 11, 2013
As I read this, I thought of many of my friends to whom I would recommend it. The yoga and other techniques included are quite sound, but the true core of this book is Forrest's story of healing from child sexual abuse, bulimia, and addiction. While Forrest is not an exceptionally gifted writer, her story resonates, as it rings with truth.
November 8, 2016
Nothing new but a good reminder to take your struggles to the mat. Ana's voice is raw, sometimes humorous and mostly self aware if not a bit rough at times. Enjoyed the memoir bits of the book where she tells her life journey but find the movement of Forrest Yoga a bit of a money making franchise, self-help, teacher training pay me for personal power ego trip.
September 3, 2017
This book was great for making me breathe throughout my day and also for making me more relaxed and aware during my daily yoga practice, however I didnt enjoy reading Ana's story - I felt it was exaggerated and egotistical.
October 21, 2021
I really enjoyed this book and really hated it all at the same time. There is a lot of good knowledge and interesting story in this book. In between of all the good however, is babble and repetitiveness. Grateful to be done reading it
July 18, 2014
Incredible.
October 29, 2017
Read this. And do the Death Meditation.
April 17, 2024
I didn’t love this
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