About – Cat Allen Yoga

MEET CAT ALLEN

Catherine Allen has been teaching yoga for over 20 years and is renowned for her skill as a practitioner and teacher trainer. Cat has completed intensive yoga studies in India and studied several forms of yoga, including Ashtanga Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Pralaya Yoga. Her style is rooted in the Forrest Yoga system. For years, Cat apprenticed directly with Ana Forrest, the Creatrix of Forrest Yoga. After receiving the honored title of Forrest Yoga Guardian, Cat became one of the first Forrest Yoga Guardians to be authorized by Ana Forrest to teach the 200-hour Forrest Yoga Foundation Teacher Training and 9-day Forrest Yoga Advanced Teacher Training. Cat herself created Poppy Perinatal Yoga, an approach to prenatal and postnatal yoga that promotes more comfort and support in pregnancy, labor, and postpartum recovery. Yoga teachers and birth workers worldwide throughout the United States and Europe have been trained in the Poppy Perinatal Yoga approach. Cat is a Level 5 Certified Forrest Yoga Teacher, Forrest Yoga Guardian, E-RYT 500, RPYT, Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator, and Birth, Loss, and Postpartum Doula. When not on the mat, Cat enjoys spending precious time with her husband, her children, and coterie of canine and feline companions.

(Read the uncut version of Catherine’s bio if you’re curious for more details.)

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FORREST YOGA

Forrest Yoga® , created by Ana Forrest, is renowned as an intensely physical and internally focused practice that emphasizes how to carry a transformative experience off the mat and into daily life. The practice challenges students to access their whole being and to use Forrest Yoga® as a path to finding and then cleansing the emotional and mental blocks that dictate and limit their lives. 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. Forrest Yoga® does not require strength or flexibility; it only requires a willingness to learn how to feel authentically and respond honestly. The practice is founded on five pillars — Breath, Strength, Integrity, Spirit, and Go Deeper.

TESTIMONIALS

The private lessons I took with Catherine transformed my body and my way of looking at the world. She is a brilliant teacher – knowledgeable, disciplined, creative, and kind-hearted. She consistently pushed me to my edge, while keeping a close eye on my physical limitations.

Lorlene Hoyt

Cat is an inspired and motivated teacher whose class has given me a newfound confidence in my body’s potential for moving in new ways and for growing in strength and flexibility. Her class is a journey, a goal, a process, a project, an opportunity.

PDW

Cat is focused, sensitive and gives great personal attention with a simplicity that makes for utter clarity.

Jason Slavick

Thanks to Cat, my overall physical condition has improved dramatically. I bend lower, stretch further, balance better, and stand taller. She has a wonderful, people-oriented teaching style coupled with a soothing demeanor and calming personality.

Gary WolfCreator of Roger Rabbit

Catherine is a patient and thoughtful teacher, precisely what is necessary to guide students to push themselves beyond what they think they can do. Even as a 50+ year old, I have become stronger and more flexible in the four years that I have studied with Catherine. She is always right there with modifications but, maybe more importantly, with the experience to tell you when you really can try the pose unmodified or hold the pose longer. In a world of yoga teachers with pretzel bodies and second-grade teacher voices, her calm encouragement lets you know that you can trust her judgment about what your body can do, not hers.

Nanette

Catherine teaches with unmatched clarity and precision. Her language is concise, her assists spot-on, and as her warmth and humor reveal themselves, one feels the presence of greatness.

Stephen Green

I started yoga because for the last 4-5 years I have suffered from tremendously horrible headaches and have been through every medication and treatment imaginable. Since starting yoga practice I have been feeling better and I believe a lot of that has been directly related to the way you teach.

Jill

Catherine taught me that yoga is not just what you practice on the mat, but off the mat as well and that how you treat yourself on the mat is a good indication of how you treat yourself off the mat. With her help, I have become much more focused on my breathing (off the mat) and being in the present.

Cat makes everything seem clear and achievable as she guides you into a pose and before you know it she’s pushing you past your ‘wall’ – mental or physical. I love how Catherine always brings something new to each class – ‘Have I done this with you?’ So there is always discovery and new accomplishments mixed in with improving the core postures.