NEXT TRAINING: April 18 ~ 19th, 2026
REGISTER NOW!
The Restorative Yoga & Yoga Nidra (Level I) teacher training at Dragonfly Yoga Barn is for yoga teachers of all lineages, levels, and backgrounds who are interested in deepening their awareness of and potentially sharing a RY-YN practice with others. RY-YN is a wonderful offering at retreats, to private students and groups, and as a specialty class that can be shared in person and online.
This training is also an excellent fit for those who simply love yoga and want to incorporate this beautiful pairing into their own practice, or for those in health support teams such as nurses and those who work with chronic illness patients to learn a beautiful practice to share with clients and family.
Hands On. Supportive. Nourishing.
We all need this 💜
Enjoy 13 hours of in-person training with Katie O’Connell at Dragonfly Yoga barn and 2+ hours non-contact reading prior to / and homework after the training, including the writing of Restorative Yoga sequence and a Yoga Nidra script. This course offers students 15 CEUs. Katie is a registered YACEP / CEU provider with Yoga Alliance.
YOUR INVESTMENT: $375 tuition includes 13 hours of in-person instruction on site at Dragonfly Yoga Barn, course manual, and lunch on Sunday, + 2 hours coursework to receive certification. Training fee includes a yummy soup & bread lunch on Sunday. Required texts for this course will be shared with students once they are registered. This course requires a minimum enrollment of 8 students to run, so please register early!
DAY 1 Training begins on — at 10 am and runs until 6 pm with a 45 minute lunch break. DAY 2 Training begins on — at 9:30 and runs until approximately 3 pm.
REGISTER NOW TO SAVE YOUR SPOT
TURN YOUR TRAINING into a MINI RETREAT & STAY WITH US! Add an overnight stay in our comfy and beautiful dorms, plus early morning breakfast of homemade scones, granola, fruit, oatmeal, and tea, AND Five Element Flow Yoga class with Katie on Sunday morning from 8-9:15 for only $125. Wanna stay two nights and really sink in? If enough students are interested, we will offer it to the whole group!
Join us for the next training TBA
May 2022 RY ~ YN TT @ Dragonfly.
We have loved hosting this training other studios as well as here at Dragonfly Yoga Barn, our sweet OM away from home! Want to bring this training to your studio? Let’s talk!
Once you have registered for the training, we will send you a list of required and suggested books and materials for this course, as well as the weekend schedule. There will be a reading assignment prior to the weekend, as well as a homework assignment which must be completed prior to receiving certification and CEUs for the course.
The training happens over two days, and students may commute or opt to add an overnight stay Saturday evening at Dragonfly which includes continental breakfast (homemade scones, delicious GF/V granola, yogurt & fruit on Sun. morning, as well as an Ayurvedic 5-Element Flow practice with Katie before training hours. All students should bring your own lunch for Saturday, a reusable water bottle, your yoga mat, & any snacks you might need for both days. Dinner is on your own. If you are lodging at Dragonfly, we can suggest a few lovely local options for dinner in Center Sandwich, or you can pack in a ready-made meal.
Let’s get to the roots of RY ~ YN:
WHAT IS RESTORATIVE YOGA (RY)? Restorative Yoga is a deeply relaxing practice, offering a respite from the stress of daily life and work, and calming the nervous system, allowing us to exit the “fight, flight, freeze” response, and instead drop into the body’s ability to rest, digest, relax, and heal.
The benefits of Restorative Yoga are many! In addition to supporting relaxation and calming, research shows Restorative Yoga aids in stress reduction and promotes a decrease in cortisol (stress hormone); it soothes the nervous system and supports relaxation response (parasympathetic NS), promotes deep breathing, helps support our immune system, fosters a sense of compassion and well being, improves sleep, supports the vascular system, and it helps with integration of the body, mind, and spirit. Restorative Yoga is considered safe during pregnancy, is a wonderful practice for those recovering from illness and injury, and can be an important facet of a treatment plan for those with chronic health conditions, including cancer, lyme, and autoimmune dis-eases, and more. In addition to the physiological benefits of the practice, RY also has a profound positive affect on the energy body, including the 7 main chakras. Katie is certified in Restorative Yoga by Kripalu School of Yoga and has also studied Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater, Cora Wen, and Janet Stone.
WHAT IS YOGA NIDRA (YN)? Yoga Nidra is an ancient and powerful healing modality found in the oldest philosophical yoga texts, and offers the participant a deep state of conscious rest and relaxation during which one’s awareness of the subtle energy body is expanded. While reclining comfortably, participants are guided using a ready-made script. The goal is to remain “awake and aware,” even though the physical body is enjoying profound rest. We often set a meaningful intention for this practice, called a Sankalpa ~ a deep heart’s longing or affirmation of health and wellness. Yoga Nidra is proven to: balance the autonomic nervous system; create calm in the body and mind; strengthen the immune system; lower blood pressure; relax the busy mind; and incite our natural ability to heal itself. Conditions addressed by Yoga Nidra practice: PTSD, ADD, ADHD, insomnia, MS, chronic pain, anxiety and depression, cancer, eating disorders, digestive conditions, addiction, aggression, stress, asthma, and the list goes on! Katie is certified in this method by the California College of Ayurveda.
WHY PUT THEM TOGETHER in the same class? When reviewing the body ~ mind ~ spirit benefits of each practice, it is easy to see the numerous similarities and to imagine the magnified benefit of offering this pair as a dovetailed practice. In a RY-YN class, each practice is offered distinctly, but with the beautiful overlap that occurs once the practitioner is fully relaxed in the restorative practice and can glide into Yoga Nidra effortlessly in a state of peace and calm. This course was originally created by Maureen Miller, who lovingly passed the curriculum onto Katie when she retired from teaching. Katie is grateful to keep this wonderful training active for yoga teachers and sincere students who want to learn and to deepen their own practice.
ABOUT YOUR GUIDE for this TRAINING: Katie O’Connell is a 22-year veteran teacher with over 15,000 logged teaching hours and over 2,000 training hours in Yoga & Meditation alone. Her love of Restorative Yoga began over 20 years ago in 2000 when she participated in a Restorative Yoga training with Judith Lasater, sometimes referred to as the “mother” of this beautiful practice. In 2010, she went on to study Restorative and Yoga Therapy with Cora Wen, completed a Restorative Yoga teacher training at Kripalu with Sudha Lundeen in 2011, and joined Yoga NH’s RY-YN training with Maureen in March of 2022. Katie was trained in Classical Yoga Nidra by Dr. Marc Halpern of the California College of Ayurveda in early 2015 on site at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas and has been facilitating YN with students for close to a decade.
“Both practices have been a blessing in my life and in the offerings I share with my students here at Dragonfly and at retreats and trainings around the world. I look forward to sharing this training and these beautiful practices with you.”
~Katie
