NEXT Training May 18 ~ 19, 2024

This training is FULL!

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 12 hours of in-person training with Katie O’Connell at Dragonfly Yoga barn and 3 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: $350 includes 12 hours of in-person instruction on site at Dragonfly Yoga Barn, course manual, and lunch on Sunday, + 3 hours of follow-up coursework to receive certification. Students need to purchase two texts for the training: Restorative Yoga for Life, Gail Boorstein Grossman and Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation & Stress Relief, Julie Lusk

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 on Saturday, May 18th, 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.

Join us May 18 ~ 19, 2024!

Tentative Schedule: Saturday

The training consists of 12 hours of in-person training and 3 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 15 CEUs for yoga teachers registered with Yoga Alliance.

• 9:45 am arrival & check in
• 10 ~ 11 am: Welcome & introductions; What is RY? What is YN? The 8 Limbs of Yoga
• 11 ~ 12: Postures & Benefits; Restorative Props 101; Body Systems & Subtle Body
• 12 ~ 2 pm: Getting Creative: Exploring the Asanas; Sequencing & Cueing
• 2 ~ 2:45: Lunch Break (BYO)
• 2:45 ~ 3:45: Yoga Nidra: Posturing and practice
• 3:45 ~ 5: Asana Exploration and Practicing with Yoga Nidra scripts
• 5 ~ 6 pm: Katie leads RY ~ YN class

Tentative Schedule: Sunday

• For overnight guests: 6:30-7:30 am continental breakfast; 8-9:15 am Five Element Flow Yoga w/ Katie
• 9:30 ~ 10: Q & A from Saturday
• 10 ~ 11:30: Asana Exploration
• 11:30 ~ 1: Yoga Nidra Themes, Sequencing, and Practice
• 1 ~ 1:45: Lunch
• 1:45 ~ 3: Build your RY “nest” and Katie leads RY ~ YN class
• 3 ~ 3:30: Q & A, HW & closing

Training fee includes a homemade soup & bread lunch on Sunday.

Once you have registered for the training, we will send you a list of required and suggested books for this course. 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 seeds of the practice grew from B.K.S. Iyengar’s belief that all students need deep rest after the physical work of an asana practice. Judith Lasater, one of Iyengar’s long-time students and senior teachers, brought the practice to the US in the 1970’s and coined it “Rest & Digest,” suggesting the practice’s ability to bring us into deep calm and relaxation. Using bolsters, pillows, blankets, and other props to support the body in a variety of passive poses, students remain in a given posture for 8-15 minutes, focusing only on the breath as they are eased into a state of deep rest. Sometimes poetry and guided imagery are used to help participants to release stress and tension, “letting go” of what does not serve the body and mind; in some classes candlelight and soothing music are used to create a calm environment for the practice.

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, which in turn, helps oxygenate the body on a cellular level; it 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:

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 through each of the koshas (five layers of your being), all while remaining perfectly still. 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; incite our natural ability to heal ourselves; increase one’s creativity; increase the flow of prana in the body; relieve pain, and more! 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.

A little herstory: Restorative Yoga & Yoga Nidra as a teacher training module is the brain child of Maureen Miller, long-time NH Yoga teacher, E-RYT, creator of Yoga NH, and former “Living Yoga” studio in Concord, NH. Maureen and Katie (that’s me) have been yoga friends for over 15 years, both leading yoga teacher trainings and hosting events, and both believing deeply in the concept that everything is connected, and everything is energy; so putting positive energy into each thing we do–for ourselves, others, and for the planet–is paramount. And this practice we call Yoga supports every aspect of this idea. So, when Katie saw Maureen had created a training in RY-YN, she reached out and asked if the workshop could come to Dragonfly, and voila! It was a wonderful, well-attended 2-day training, and both teachers decided to put it on the calendar again soon. When Maureen announced in late 2022 that she would be retiring from teaching yoga and offering trainings, Katie begged Maureen to come back to Dragonfly to teach RY-YN just one more time… but what she received was an offer to take over the training and all of its contents so the course and its positive impact on students could continue. I call that grace.

I am incredibly grateful for my friendship with Maureen, and I am so happy to offer this course to you.

ABOUT YOUR GUIDE for this TRAINING: Katie O’Connell is a 20-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 workshop 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