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Council of Stewards

Mary Addison-Lamb
Robin D. Carnes

iRest Certified Teacher
Silver Springs, MD

Robin's life took an unexpected turn during adolescence when she gave birth at age 16. The challenge of leaving high school and raising her son called for every ounce of strength and perseverence Robin could muster, along with a generous amount of grace. This early crisis plunged Robin into a life of self-inquiry that continues to this day.

Finishing her undergraduate education at age 33, Robin went on to attend Harvard Divinity School and later also received graduate level instruction in clinical social work at Boston College for 1.5 years. She graduated from Boston College Graduate School of Management with honors in 1988, focusing her studies on Organizational Development.

After serving as an organizational development consultant and trainer for large and mid-sized companies for 8 years, Robin decided to take just three months off in 1996 to take a deep breath. She never looked back. After co-authoring Sacred Circles: A Guide to Creating Your Own Women’s Spirituality Group (Harper San Francisco, 1998), she went on to be certified in iRest yoga nidra meditation, as well as becoming a certified yoga teacher. She has taught nationally and internationally for the past 13 years. Robin is especially proud of her work as a co-organizer of 9 major women's spirituality conferences at the Washington National Cathedral, Sacred Circles: A Celebration of Women's Spirituality. She offers yearly women's yoga and creativity retreats in the Caribbean.

Robin currently serves as the yoga and meditation instructor for the Specialized Care Program, a multi-disciplinary PTSD treatment program funded by DOD, since 2006 and served as the lead instructor in the DOD feasibility study of iRest meditation for PTSD symptoms. Robin's most passionate professional interests are to facilitate greater availability of iRest meditation in military settings, as well as to train and prepare iRest teachers to be optimally effective with military students.

Robin is married, lives in Silver Spring, MD and is so happy to be the grandmother of Skyler, now 5 years old.

Anne Douglas

iRest Level V Supervisor
Banff, AB, Canada

Anne has been studying with Richard Miller since 1996, is a board member of his Canadian Center of Timeless Being Society and has actively participated in the development of the Integrative Restoration ~ iRest Yoga Nidra Trainings. Anne had the privilege to be the first person to attain iRest Certification and is presently serving as a Supervisor for trainees with an area of expertise in therapeutic settings which includes dyads, customizing a practice and working with difficult emotions or beliefs.

Anne is a certified, professional level (500 hour) Kripalu Yoga Teacher, a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist, and Holistic Lifestyle Coach. She draws upon these skills to facilitate classes, private coaching, personal growth workshops and yoga teacher trainings in her home town of Banff, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Anne feels that she has arrived "home" in these exquisite non dual teachings and the wonderful community that is blossoming within the Integrative Restoration Institute. Her own experience of inner peace and deep joy that has arisen from the practices has inspired her to share them with the world.

Barbara Eastham

Barbara has been a student of Richard's since 1996. She participated in the development of the iRest Yoga Nidra Trainings in Canada and is an iRest certification supervisor.

Barbara has a Master's Degree in Health Education, and more than 30 years of Yoga teaching experience including many years of training Yoga teachers. She was instrumental in the recent development of the Yoga Therapy Certificate Program at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta.

Barbara sees great value in the nondual teachings for easing personal suffering and discovering the underlying freedom in one's life. She is also touched by the value of these teachings for the world today. She is motivated to serve on the council by her commitment to join with the CTB sangha in exploring ways to make these teachings available(and also because the CTB sangha is such a great group of people to hang out with!)

She has a special interest in supporting connectedness and community - and also in promoting research with the iRest Yoga Nidra protocol.

Barbara lives in Calgary, Alberta with her husband and has two grown children.

Clearlight Gerald

iRest Certified Teacher
Montreal, QC, Canada

After years of exploring different traditions and teachings with a deep desire and longing for authenticity and truth, Clearlight felt that she had ‘arrived home’ when she attended her first retreat with Richard Miller in 2004. Since then, Clearlight has been immersed in the study of nondual wisdom teachings with Richard Miller, Joan Ruvinsky and this beautiful community of CTB friends.

The insight and inquiry stimulated by these nondual teachings have been life changing, bringing Clearlight a greater ease of welcoming what life brings and a recognition of the wholeness that always is. For Clearlight it is a privilege to support IRI/CTB in bringing these teachings, including iRest, to our communities.

Clearlight’s undergraduate and graduate studies were interdisciplinary in nature – and included a focus on religious studies, women’s studies and public policy. As it became evident that yoga was her primary focus and love, she went on to receive yoga teaching certification as a Kripalu Yoga teacher and Pregnancy Yoga teacher in 1999.

In 2002, Clearlight opened Yogaspace in Montreal, Canada where she continues to offer group classes and workshops in both yoga and yoga nidra, as well as pregnancy yoga and childbirth preparation - her teaching specialization that has been close to her heart for years. (www.yogaspace.com)

Clearlight is registered with the Yoga Alliance (E-RYT 500) and is a mentor for the IRI iRest teacher training program. She lives with her husband Eric and their two dogs in Montreal, and is a passionate urban gardener.

Ruben Giron
L. Ross Guest

iRest Certified Teacher (Level V Supervisor)
Kimberley, BC, Canada

I am a husband, father, grandfather, retired lawyer now working as a yoga teacher and business consultant.

My interest is the day-to-day, practical applications of iRest and the non-dual understanding. Finding some way to take these teachings to our needy populations is a focus of mine.

As a Supervisor for IRI I enjoy working with certification students. The discussions and discoveries that come forth through the certification process are always exciting and refreshing.

Lastly, I am interested in finding ways to use the iRest protocol with populations that can afford to pay to support those who work with populations like the homeless.

My field of experience in offering iRest Yoga Nidra lies primarily in multi-session trainings, introductory weekends and retreats.

I have studied with Richard for over 10 years, attended at least 15 retreats with Richard. I am President and a founding director of the Canadian Center of Timeless Being Society.

Kirsten Guest

iRest Certified Teacher (Level V Supervisor)
Kimberley, BC, Canada

IRI Director of Certification

YA500 Yoga Teacher

Kirsten has been a student of Richard Miller's since 1998 when she attended her first Retreat into Stillness. After this retreat, she began to find a sense of peace and self acceptance that kept her returning to retreat after retreat, digging deeper for the source of this new-found ease in her life.

The first iRest Level I training in 2006 put a context and a framework to the work that had been changing her life and informing her yoga teaching since she began working with Richard nearly nine years prior. It all began to fall into place.

Kirsten has since become an active member of the iRest team, helping to develop the iRest Trainings, refining the training format and material, and, along with a supportive team, create the iRest Teacher Certification program.

Kirsten’s particular interest in iRest is in effectively spreading these teachings to as many people as possible. There is nothing more delightful to her than watching the incredible transformation that occurs as a student of iRest begins to get a taste of the ease, acceptance, and peace that she began to find for herself so many years ago. In her local community, she offers multi-week iRest courses to yoga students as well as the general public. She travels to offer introductory weekends, retreats, as well as assist at iRest Trainings.

Colette Herrick, RN

I am a certified Viniyoga teacher and for years I had a curiosity about Richard Miller's work. In 2004 I attended my first retreat conducted by Richard, along with my partner Allan. The first retreat touched me profoundly by its simplicity and the wisdom of the teachings.

Since then I have attended a retreat every year. In 2008, I co-hosted a Level I iRest training in Salt Lake City, Utah. While I am not teaching iRest Yoga Nidra or Yoga at this time I feel it influences all my current endeavors, including my professional engagements as an executive coach and organizational consultant through my company Insight Shift: www.insightshift.com.

When not working or attending a retreat, I love being with our beautiful twin granddaughters, hiking in the serene and spectacular natural gifts of nature, sharing meals with friends and family and experiencing iRest.

Adrienne Jamiel, MA, ERYT-500

iRest Certified Teacher
New York, NY

From her first experience of iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation with Richard Miller, long before there was the training program for teachers, long before there was an Institute and website, and long before there were research studies documenting iRest’s efficacy, Adrienne knew three things:

First, that she had finally found a meditation practice that made sense physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Second, that what is now known as iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation and Body Sensing Yoga would transform the practice of yoga and meditation in this country.

Third, that Adrienne would take an active role in introducing this practice to others. Serving on the Council is an affirmation of that first knowing years ago.

Always one who believes in the potential of the human heart to heal, Adrienne has found a way to be in the presence of healing on a daily basis. As the principle instructor in research studies in the area of substance abuse at a national residential treatment facility, she knows first hand the relief that iRest practice brings: relief from the pain of multiple gunshot wounds; relief from the debilitating effects of chronic asthma; relief from the deep desire to use chemicals to self medicate in order to feel better.

Adrienne’s iRest CD is successfully being used in the Memory Impaired/Alzheimer Program at the Jewish Home & Hospital Lifecare System in NYC. She also instructs weekly yoga classes in the day care program for seniors with various levels of cognitive and physical disabilities.

Adrienne holds a masters degree in Exercise Physiology, is a certified professional level yoga instructor and an iRest Certified Teacher. She is an anatomy instructor who has spent 20 years researching and teaching about how physical gender differences affect women practicing yoga. As the founding director of the Dharmic Institute, Adrienne is the creator and director of the nation’s first Yoga Teacher Certification training with a specialty in women’s health and healing.

For more than 17 years, Adrienne has maintained a successful private practice as a yoga and meditation instructor in New York City (www.DharmicInstitute.org) where is lives happily with her husband.