About
Carly Forest is an educator and facilitator who has led thousands of students through foundational practices and trainings over the past 20 years. As an Embodied Experiential Dreamwork facilitator, accredited Enneagram teacher, and endorsed Insight Yoga teacher, she supports and guides others through the delicate work of self-inquiry towards a life infused with curiosity, courage, and care. Her teachings and healing work constellate around the central task of supporting others to wholly inhabit their lives: to embrace the full spectrum of their humanity and skillfully greet the paradox of life.
Carly’s studies of spiritual psychology, reverence for poetry, dedication to self-inquiry, and relationship with the natural world have all left deep impressions and continue to inform her work. Her teachings and private practice have also been influenced by the work of Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Sandra Maitri, Marion Woodman, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Perdita Finn, Cynthia Bourgeault, and Terrance McKenna.
Over the past 25 years, Carly has also sat on regular retreats in both the Vipassana and Tantric Buddhist traditions. She has completed extensive training in mindfulness yoga and meditation at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Yoga Institute in California, and trained with the International Institute of Medical Qigong from 2013 to 2016. She is a certified Enneagram teacher through the Canadian Institute of Enneagram Studies under Dr Penny Whillans. She studied with Jennifer Welwood, a teacher of integrated spiritual/psychological work, for seven years. Carly completed her Embodied Experiential Dreamwork training with Dr Leslie Ellis and continues this work in her group and one-on-one offerings.
Carly is in her final year of her Master's Degree in Environmental Education and Communication, where her research focuses on dreamwork and intuitive and imaginative ways of knowing as essential skills in times of descent, both personal and collective.
Carly was the Yin Yoga and Mindfulness instructor to the Canadian National Women’s 7s Rugby Team, winners of the Bronze Medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Photography and website created by Berkley Vopnfjord
My Approach
Lit From Within: Practices that support a life infused with courage, wonder and care
Our outer circumstances and conditions are always in flux. Impermanence is the only certainty we are granted. Yet sitting in the immensity of change and how it manifests in our lives can feel overwhelming and, at times, incredibly frightening and disorienting. Learning how to find our deep inner ground and take refuge, again and again, in this ultimate homecoming is the task of our lives; a mark of true adulthood and an ennobling rite of passage for us all.
My offerings are the practices that have helped me stay illuminated when the world around me has darkened. These practices have increased my sensitivity, empowered my capacity for self-healing, strengthened my inner resolve, softened my heart and ultimately helped deepen my trust in the mysterious unfolding of my life. I offer these practices not as a panacea or a cure but as balm for the aching heart. I ultimately hope that you too will meet your challenges and triumphs with inclusion and curiosity.
I offer these practices and perspectives in the form of contemplative retreats, teacher training, through my online seasonal school and in my private practice. I draw from the unique sparks and inspirations that have kindled my heart and lit my soul from within. I weave together embodiment practices that balance and enliven the subtle body while strengthening and nourishing the physical body; psycho- spiritual inquiry and education; and, nature-based practices that encourage living seasonally and simply. These practices are not meant to emphasize perfection or achievement but instead remind us how to lovingly come home to who we are right now, reminding us how to rekindle our inner fire, again and again, and share our radiance and warmth where we can.