Council of Stewards

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.

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.

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.

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.