Gretchen Faust (BA, MFA, M.Th.,PP, RCST) began practising yoga in 1989 with Carolyn Oberst in New York City. Further study at the Jivamukti Yoga Cente and the Astanga Yoga Nilayam, as well as with Dr. Alison West, led her to begin teaching in New York in 1994. She then studied with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India before choosing to settle in Totnes, where she established The Forge Yoga Centre in 1999. She hold degrees in both Art History and Fine Arts, as well as being qualified in Swedish massage, Shiatsu, Polarity Therapy, Chinese Herbal Medicine and Craniosacral Therapy. Her personal practice and teaching have also been as informed by her experience as a classical musician and a visual artist, as well as by her love of cooking, gardening and birds. As an artist, she had been represented by Pat Hearn in NYC and is currently represented by greengrassi in London.