Course Overview

This series on Integrative Restoration Yoga Nidra is designed to help you achieve deep relaxation. The form of research-based meditation known as Integrative Restoration (or iRest®) has benefited many groups, from special operations troops to cancer patients coping with pain. This course features 24 classes that will bring the practice of iRest into your life and home.

Through a blend of theoretical and experiential learning, you will explore the 10 vital steps of the iRest Yoga Nidra practice. The course also includes specialized sessions aimed at improving sleep habits, relieving pain, managing stress, and healing from traumatic experiences. Under the expert guidance of Ms. Birkholm, you will learn how to create an Inner Resource of peace, cultivate joy, and utilize meditation techniques embraced by large corporations and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Course Structure

1. Introducing iRest Yoga Nidra

Begin your journey with an exploration of how stress affects the body, the roots of yoga nidra, and the 10 steps of iRest that you’ll practice throughout the course.

Duration: 38 min

2. iRest Foundations: Philosophy and Practice

Examine the foundational texts and teachings that shape iRest. Learn how to set up your practice space and understand the best times to practice.

Duration: 33 min

3. Creating an Inner Resource

Discover how to cultivate and connect with your Inner Resource, a key element in your iRest practice.

Duration: 33 min

4. iRest Practice: Inner Resource

Engage in a guided session to develop an internal experience of well-being, transitioning from external anxieties to calm meditation.

Duration: 39 min

5. The Power of Intention and Heartfelt Desire

Explore intention and heartfelt desire as tools to reconnect with your true self and enhance your life.

Duration: 33 min

6. iRest Practice: Intention

Participate in an extended session where you identify and reflect on your intention and heartfelt desire.

Duration: 33 min

7. Learning to Listen to Your Body

Learn to attune yourself to your body as a symphony of sensations and signals, enhancing your sensory awareness.

Duration: 33 min

8. iRest Practice: Body Sensing

Practice receiving the messages your body sends, using tension and relaxation techniques to deepen your awareness.

Duration: 31 min

9. Exploring the Power of the Breath

Understand what your breath reveals about your health and peace of mind, while learning various breathing exercises.

Duration: 33 min

10. iRest Practice: Breath Sensing

Engage in deep meditation using breath sensing principles and explore how it influences your physical and mental experience.

Duration: 35 min

11. Feelings and Emotions as Messengers

Learn to view your emotions as guides that inform your experiences, and differentiate between feelings and emotions.

Duration: 30 min

12. iRest Practice: Feelings and Emotions

Apply the principles learned to receive different emotions during your practice, treating them as visitors in your space.

Duration: 34 min

13. Finding Deeper Wisdom in Your Beliefs

Encounter tools to deal with limiting beliefs and understand the fundamental concepts behind human suffering.

Duration: 31 min

14. iRest Practice: Beliefs

Explore your beliefs to create awareness around your experience and guide you toward your desired life.

Duration: 35 min

15. Discovering Uncaused Joy

Learn methods to cultivate joy that exists independently of external factors, enhancing life satisfaction.

Duration: 35 min

16. iRest Practice: Joyful Well-Being

Participate in a session designed to cultivate joy and tap into the joy-inducing elements of iRest.

Duration: 34 min

17. Cultivating Awareness

Dive into the goal of iRest practice by exploring the continuum of awareness from a separate self to pure awareness.

Duration: 34 min

18. iRest Practice: Awareness and Peace

Engage in a practice that helps you embody enlightenment and deep connection.

Duration: 41 min

19. Using iRest for Sleep

Learn to create a sleep sanctuary and develop techniques for improving sleep with iRest practices.

Duration: 33 min

20. Using iRest for Pain Relief

Understand how the iRest protocol can provide strategies for managing chronic pain.

Duration: 35 min

21. Using iRest for Stress Management

Explore how iRest helps you become resilient against anxiety while engaging in a short practice session.

Duration: 36 min

22. Using iRest for Healing Trauma

Learn how to use iRest principles to integrate traumatic experiences, understanding how trauma affects the body and mind.

Duration: 38 min

23. The Science behind iRest Yoga Nidra

Dive into the scientific research supporting iRest and understand how mindfulness components work together for healing.

Duration: 37 min

24. iRest Yoga Nidra for Everyday Life

Conclude the course by experiencing lasting peace and empowerment through deep connection to your true self.

Duration: 42 min