Yoga Nidra on Podcast: The Rebel Clinicians

I hope you're having a beautiful week. I know I am.

The yard is looking lovely—still some blossoms on the trees and bushes, everything's green, garlic is growing in the garden. 

Like John O'Donohue says in his poem, For Presence:
 

"Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that
seek no attention."

Today, I want to introduce you to Yoga Nidra on Podcast: Rebel Clinicians.

My good friend and fellow yoga teacher at Mosaic Yoga, John Cottrell is an amazing human being and recently hosted me on one of his podcasts.

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John gets up about the time that most of us go to sleep which gives him the time he needs to do amazing things in the world. In addition to being a very gifted and engaging yoga teacher John also:

• Has a Ph.D.

• Is an award-winning body builder

• Leads mens groups and retreats

• Is an incredible baker and sells his delights at his online business, One Cake Wonder—ships anywhere

• Is a trained actor and dancer

• Loves to DJ

• Has his own mens active clothing line M-Body 

• So much more! I'm just scratching the surface

As if this were not enough, John also hosts at least 3 podcasts (that I know of). 

I had the great honor to be interviewed on his fantastic Podcast, Rebel Clinicians, with his pod-parter Alex. 

We had the BEST conversation and I can't wait for you to hear it.

We discussed all things Yoga Nidra but also so much more …

We talked about discovering and working from our own special magic. 
We talked about the importance of finding YOUR thing and understanding that as a pointer to all things through presence.
We talk about how clinicians like therapists and the like can use practices like Yoga Nidra to help them ground and rejuvenate after long hours of helping others.

Please check it out below, it's a great listen.

Then after, buy one of his hoodies, attend his yoga classes, and eat 3 dozen or so of his latest delights.

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SALT LAKE CITY YOGA
CLASSES UPDATES

So, every 6 months the space that Mosaic Yoga rents from hosts a craft market over the weekend.

The next craft market is happening at the Mosaic Yoga Space Saturday, May 17th and Sunday, May 18th.

This means that Yoga For Stiff Bods will only be hosted on Zoom on the Saturday, May 17th. 

I've got some travel coming up—my French Riviera retreat and other European travel—so I want to make you aware of some classes I'll be getting subbed. See my updated class schedule on my website.

We have AMAZING teachers at Mosaic so you'll be in good hands while I'm away.

I'll still be available for private sessions, mentor sessions, and my weekly online Yoga Nidra class, all via Zoom while I'm gone. I'll be working while I'm in Europe so reach out if you'd like to join or book an online class.

Clearly, the best solution is to join me in my French Riviera yoga retreat, June 7–13, 2025. I've got two spots left. 

You Are Only as Good as the Quality of Your Sleep

Yoga nidra is often referred to as yogic sleep due to the fact that it promotes a state of consciousness that is somewhere between being fully awake and sleeping. As a sleep meditation teacher, (Yoga Nidra facilitator) I help people take advantage of what Yoga Nidra offers in order to improve their sleep.

Why? Because I know this fundamental truth: we are only as good as the quality of our sleep.

You want to be the best you can be. You want to excel at home, at work, and in any environment in which you find yourself. But the truth is that your ability to excel is impacted by the amount of restful sleep you get. So if you are not getting enough restful sleep, your ability to excel is hindered.

Why Good Sleep Matters

My role as a sleep meditation teacher gives me the opportunity to work with all sorts of people in the States as well as the UK, Europe, Asia, and Canada. One thing I've noticed is that it's easy to find reasons to justify a lack of sleep. But there is no escaping the fact that both the body and mind need rest. And they need plenty of it if a person is to operate at peak performance.

According to the Sleep Foundation, here's what quality sleep can do for you:

• Improve your mood by helping you deal with stress better.

• Improve your heart health by regulating your blood pressure.

• Improve blood sugar regulation, reducing the risks of certain diseases, like diabetes.

• Improve mental function, including memory and cognition.

• Give your immune system a significant boost.

• Help you better manage stress in your day-to-day life.

• Improve physical recovery after exercise and/or athletics.

• Help you maintain a healthy weight by regulating both appetite and metabolism.

The human body is a fantastic creation capable of doing amazing things. Ditto for the mind. But both mind and body need time to refuel, repair, and rest. All three are the primary benefits of good, quality sleep.

Finding Your Rhythm With Sleep Meditation

The Sleep Foundation's Dr. Abhinav Singh refers to sleep as "a rhythm.” As a musician, I love that comparison. Not only do I agree with this good doctor's assessment, but I also know that finding your own rhythm is one of the keys to consistent restful sleep. And that's one of the things that Yoga Nidra or sleep meditation is all about.

One principle of to facilitate sleep meditation is rhythmic breathing. Sleep meditation practitioners can learn to control their own breathing to help reduce stress and anxiety. This is one of the things that helps them reach a more relaxed state. The rhythm of one's breathing sets the stage for meditation practices that lead to the state Yoga Nidra seeks to find.

Turning to sleep meditation to help find that rhythm can help create a daily sleep-wake cycle that encourages a person to excel. If that's what you're after, I hope you will consider sleep meditation. And as a sleep meditation teacher, I can help.

Tips for Improving Your Sleep

In addition to sleep meditation and yoga nidra, there are other things you can do to improve your nightly sleep. Without getting into detail, they include things like:

• Maintaining a regular sleep schedule

• Creating a relaxing environment for sleep

• Being careful about caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine

• Getting regular exercise

• Avoiding excessive screen time before bed
  

Apart from coming to your house and setting up your perfect sleep environment, I cannot help you with all these things but what I can help you with sleep meditation. That is my area of expertise and one I would be happy to share with you. Remember this: you are only as good as the quality of your sleep.

Starting Over

One thing I teach in my online Yoga Nidra training is the value of starting over. Tell me if you relate to this story.

I attended college back in the era of “floppy disks” and one day I got a hard lesson on just how "floppy" these disks were.

One evening, after a grueling day of wrestling with an essay I'd been writing for weeks, what was to be my pièce de la résistance, my magnum opus, and intended to be both my senior thesis AND my entry into a prestigious essay contest, I sat down at my desk to print off my essay so I could submit it the following day and as I clicked the floppy disk into my computer and looked at the contents to find the file to print … nothing. Nada. Rien.

Floppy. 

 Everything on that disk had been mysteriously obliterated.

So, what did I do? What could I do?

Sitting there at my desk, I simply started over. 

The words were fresh; I’d practically memorized the thing. 

But this time instead of wrestling with the words and ideas, they tumbled out of my brain and danced through my fingers onto the keyboard fast and fluid. This time it formed more clearly with ideas I hadn’t even thought of the first time. This time, it had soul. 

I finished the essay (again).

I graduated with my degree.

I took 1st place in the essay contest. 

Starting over can be a gift. 

Regardless of how many times you have to come back to your presence in meditation, it doesn't matter, starting over is a gift.

Even if you've let your meditation or yoga practice go, it doesn't matter, starting over is a gift. 

No matter whatever we've lost, tried, and failed at, no matter what didn’t take the first time (or several times), starting over is a gift. 

May we all celebrate the opportunity to come back to presence and start over again and again and again. 

This time could make all the difference.

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Online Yoga Nidra Training

I’m absolutely passionate about Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra has taught me more about myself, the Universe, and my purpose in the world than any other practice and I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned with you.

If you’ve ever thought about teaching Yoga Nidra, now is the time—the world needs it more than ever. Also, the world needs more qualified Yoga Nidra teachers, and this course is designed to teach you to become a Yoga Nidra expert, delivering this healing practice in the power of your own voice— because there’s no one who can teach like you can.

One of the things I’ve learned about Yoga Nidra is that even though practicing it is very easy and can lead to profound transformation, being an effective Yoga Nidra facilitator can be very difficult. This is why I’ve created Facilitating Transformation with the Yoga of Sleep, an enlightening, engaging, and enjoyable online Yoga Nidra teacher training where you will learn the art and science of teaching Yoga Nidra using the power of your own voice. You’ll also learn how to apply your expertise to acquire and create excellent teaching opportunities through live or online group classes, workshops, courses, private sessions, and even how to lead yoga retreats and other paid events. I’ll even teach you how to create digital products to sell and share your teaching gifts with the world. In short, you’ll learn how to make a massive impact while making a great living doing what you love.