ANA FORREST: Tapping into Energy that Brightens You Inside

Ana comes to DC's Down Dog Yoga in December for a series of workshops. In anticipation of her arrival, the renown yogini spoke to us about obtaining contentment and exhilaration in a challenging yoga practice, finding and losing (and finding) your center, and more..........

Most people can depress themselves quickly with their internal dialog. But they don't know how to work the other end of the spectrum. "Can you get turned on? Can you get ecstatic? Can you get excited?

What I'm working to bring to people's attention is the habitual thinking that keeps them stuck in their pain; in their suffering; in their blindness; in their injuries and diseases; and in their lousy relationships to themselves and to others.  A lot of it is going on at a subterranean level.  There is so much energy that is used up by that stuff! Tuning inward and starting to get skillful at stopping it - it's kind of like plugging a leak.

Part of getting to the ecstatic realm is learning to work in an energy efficient way, not struggling. And it is 1,000 percent breath-related. I work with a really intense, deep breath. Staying connected to the feeling of the breathing is a big piece in shifting out of the old paradigm and into a newer one. We have to pour ourselves out of the ruts in our yoga practice in order to play on the ecstatic realm and on the breakthrough realm.

Accomplishing the poses - yeah, that's cool. But there's something else available entirely - using the pose to generate the energy necessary to heal an area. That's a total reframing. Or using the pose because it puts you on an uncomfortable edge and on that edge is some treasure that you can learn about yourself. But every pose also generates its own - I call them "pose nutrients" - exquisite and unique energies.

Read the full interview here!

Dalai Lama Recognizes Work of the Washington Humane Society

Photo By: Zaid Hamid

Dalai Lama on Stage at our Event

Friday was a remarkable day in the life of the Washington Humane Society (WHS). His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who was visiting Washington, DC to accept the Congressional Gold Medal, made a visit to N Street Village for a special event held in conjunction with the Washington Humane Society.

The Washington Humane Society and N Street Village, a nonprofit social service agency for homeless women, have partnered to create a unique volunteer program which benefits both homeless women and homeless animals. The women from N Street volunteer weekly in the Washington Humane Society shelter in an internship program with specific goals in mind—helping to care for, rehabilitate, socialize and train the animals, while gaining valuable experience.

All of us from WHS were honored and humbled to have this tremendous opportunity to meet with the Dalai Lama and hear his heartfelt remarks on the importance of compassion to animals and to one another. The Dalai Lama is emblematic of unity and compassion, and it meant a great deal to us that His Holiness chose to recognize our programs as well as the precious animals in our care.

The Dalai Lama spoke for twenty minutes on the potential expressions of compassion in our daily lives, and offered advice and teachings which served as an inspiration for all who attended. If you would like to hear the Dalai Lama's remarks for yourself, Fox WTTG has posted his remarks online, click here to listen.

The Washington Post gave a fantastic recount of the event, click here to read the article, as did Washingtonian Magazine, click here for that article. Pamela Sorensen of Pamela's Punch gave a wonderful personal recap as well; click here to read her touching remarks.