Julia Forest

Julia Forest

Julia Forest’s Bio

Julia (Rashmi) Forest is a deeply caring, compassionate and internationally celebrated teacher. A traveller at heart, her journey for truth has led her to study yoga, meditation and natural healing extensively in India and North America. She is a sought-after Yoga Teacher, impassioned Women’s Health Educator, Yoga Therapist, Anatomy Instructor, and Registered Massage Therapist who leads trainings and workshops internationally.

Following the lineage of classical Hatha yoga of her teacher Yogrishi Vishvketu, and inspired by the fluid, breath-synchronized dance of Vinyasa, Julia’s teaching approach honours the ancient traditions, while refining the physical practice with modern understanding of biomechanics and physiology. She expresses a unique teaching style that blends technical precision with experiential aspects of yoga, a balance between her classical and modern influences.

Julia has extensive background in body-centered therapies and physical rehabilitation, and has taught individuals of many ages and abilities, including teens, women who are pre- and post-natal, as well as those with injuries, living with MS, fibromyalgia, cancer and chronic pain. She encourages students to experience the inner workings of each posture with whole-heartedness and curiosity and to meaningfully explore how the practice of yoga translates into everyday life. Julia believes that movement is a prayer and that the breath connects us more deeply to ourselves, the earth and one another. The emphasis in her classes is on the healing qualities of inner stillness, movement and breath for the cultivation of inner peace, health and well-being.

Julia is director of Awakened Spirit Yoga, co-director of the Healthy Breast Program and co-founder of the MammAlive Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on health promotion and women’s health education. She has been a trainer with Akhanda Yoga and a supporting teacher with the Women’s Human Rights Institute at the University of Toronto since 2009 and has more than a decade of yoga teaching experience.

Julia is grateful for the many blessings that the path of yoga has brought to her life and for being part of such a beautiful and vibrant community.