Meditation is a door way into self discovery. I teach many forms of meditation but over the years have focused mainly on iRest® Yoga Nidra meditation because I’ve seen the incredible transformation deep within myself and others that has taken place - to have this unshakeable ground of being. Will you join me in experiencing this transformative tool?
To get started, here is a 10 minute breath-sensing meditation to help ease the mind, body and spirit.
“Marie is an amazing source of light and energy. Her peaceful nature is comforting to be around. She has magic hands when it comes to massage and a depth of knowledge that’s incredible. Her morning meditation sessions are a calming way to begin your day. ~Leigh”
Integrative Restoration Meditation
iRest® (Integrative Restoration) meditation is a deeply healing meditative practice that is based on the ancient teachings of yoga, meditation and yoga nidra. iRest® is a ten-step process that is effective, guided, and can be performed in a group or individual setting.
iRest® recognizes that the issues are in the tissues and deep healing happens when we become intimate with the body, learning to deeply listen to it, and experiencing body as the great integrator. In this practice we let go of the story and experience whatever comes up as a sensation in the body. The body is a wonderful lie detector and always trying to tell us when something is right or not right.
iRest ® Dyad Co-Meditation. An iRest dyad is a personal one-on-one meditation session in which the student is completely supported by the teacher in delving deeper into self-inquiry, and welcoming and inquiring into whatever is arising at the moment from a place of complete openness. Rather than coming from a place of brokenness or a need to fix or change something, we start from the place in ourselves that is already whole, allowing the possibility to discover profound insights. A dyad session is more verbal and less guided as the practitioner explores the sensations, images, thoughts and emotions that are arising for them in the practice.
It’s a co-meditative experience in which the student is supported in welcoming and inquiring into layers of being. It's an opportunity to meet what is arising in the present moment from a place of complete wholeness. A dyad can be useful to be supported to work more personally with the 10 step iRest protocol and to work with anxiety, depression, pain, to tap into a deeper source of creativity in one’s work, or to investigate self-limiting beliefs and emotions. Welcoming old conditioned patterns, or some new surprise arriving in the moment, allows us to welcome our true knowing and discover profound insights regarding what action we may take in our lives.
These 60 minute sessions can be face to face or on Zoom.
The 10 steps of iRest
1) Connect to Your Heartfelt Desire. Bring to mind your heart's deepest desire - something that you want more than anything else in life that instills a sense of value, purpose, and meaning. Consider how does life want to live through you? Perhaps it is a desire for health, compassion, well-being, or awakening. Feel this heartfelt desire with your entire body while imagining and experiencing it in this moment as if it were true.
2) Set an Intention. Reflect on your intention for your practice today. It might be to relax and rest, or to inquire into a particular sensation, emotion, or belief. Or, you may reflect on intentions that will support living your heartfelt desire in everyday life. Whatever your intention, welcome and affirm it with your entire body and mind.
3) Find Your Inner Resource. Bring attention to your Inner Resource, a safe haven within your body where you experience a feeling of security, calm and well-being. How and where do you feel this in the body? If helpful, you may imagine a special place, person, or experience that helps you feel secure, at ease, and a sense of well-being. Feel into your Inner Resource at any time during your practice or in daily life even when you feel overwhelmed by an emotion, thought, or life circumstance and wish to feel secure and at ease.
4) Feel Your Body. Gradually move attention through your body while welcoming the various sensations that arise.
5) Become Aware of Your Breath. Sense the body breathing. Observe the natural flow of air in the nostrils, throat, and rib cage as well as the rise and fall of the abdomen with each breath. Feel each breath as flowing energy coursing throughout your entire body.
6) Welcome Your Emotions. Without judging or trying to change anything, welcome sensations and emotions that are present in your body and mind. Also notice opposite feelings and emotions. Sense both opposites simultaneously. Welcome everything just as it is.
7) Witness Your Thoughts. Notice and welcome thoughts, memories, and images that are present in your mind. Without judging or trying to change them, observe any thought, memory, or images and notice corresponding sensations in your body. Welcome your experience just as it is.
8) Experience Joy. Welcome sensations of joy, well-being, or bliss emanating from your heart or belly and spreading throughout your body and into the space around you. With every exhalation, experience sensations of warmth, joy, and well-being radiating throughout your body.
9) Find Lasting Peace. Set aside thinking and dissolve into Awareness, awake and conscious of the Self.
10) Reflect on Your Practice. As you complete your practice, reflect on the journey you've just taken. Recognize the feeling of peace that is always present. Integrate this into your everyday life, in both pleasant and difficult moments.
Benefits of Meditation
When practiced regularly - a little and often - meditation enables you to meet each moment of your life with unshakable peace and wellbeing, no matter how challenging or difficult your situation.
Meditation can be practiced by anyone, regardless of physical ability or experience with it. Once learned, it becomes a set of tools for life.
Based on current studies with iRest in the military, the Defense Centers of Excellence has approved iRest as a Complementary and Alternative Medicine warranting continuing research for its use in the treatment of PTSD. In addition, the U.S. Army Surgeon General has listed Yoga Nidra (based on research with iRest) as a Tier 1 approach for addressing Pain Management in Military Care. iRest has been shown to be effective in scientific trials for conditions including chronic pain, sleep problems, depression and anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).