yoga nidra teacher training

Yes. I have 3 payment plans available.

2 monthly payments of $1100

3 monthly payments of $733.33

4 monthly payments of $550

This training is not just for yoga & meditation teachers, healing arts professionals. It’s for anyone who loves Yoga Nidra and has a personal practice who is ready to learn more and go deeper.

I’ve trained people from a wide range of professional backgrounds, including actors, scientists, physical therapists, and psychiatrists.

*Please note, the training is by application only.

Absolutely. I have run 5 Teacher Trainings over Zoom since March of 2020, and they’ve been fantastic. I promise I will keep you engaged. 😊 If you haven’t practiced with me, I have a pretty dynamic teaching style!

I also make use of slide decks, breakout rooms, and encourage plenty of lively discussion and interaction, so we can really build a connected community and get to know each other.

Honestly, I’ve found that a Meditation or a Yoga Nidra TT is actually better virtually – and I know that’s quite a claim to make. But I think you will find that each day in training feels like a mini-retreat. Your lunches can be spent in silence, maintaining the inner energy. After practice, you will have the opportunity to continue to rest in your Rest Nest, reflecting and integrating, followed by seated meditation and journaling.

I am deeply dedicated to creating sangha (community). Through this TT, you will make new friends and colleagues from all over the country, possibly from all over the world. Students from my a recent TT ‘zoomed in’ from all over the USA, as well as from Denmark, the UK, Belgium and Singapore. My student in Singapore was practicing teaching with my student in Santa Monica. Truly global connections were made!

Yes.

In the time leading up to the training, please create space in your life for a regular Yoga Nidra practice, if you don’t already have one. Ideally practicing daily, if possible.

After your practice, I recommend spending a few minutes in silent, seated meditation, followed by a few minutes of journaling, perhaps noting resonant words/phrases that dropped you deeper or pulled you out, or describing experiences and things that came up. Or you can simply free-write, giving yourself the chance to fully download anything that may have come through.

Additionally, if you have the time and you want to dive in, feel free to get started reading Kamini Desai’s book, Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep. But there is no rush…and I’d much rather you spend your time PRACTICING Yoga Nidra than reading about it.

No.

This training is not currently eligible for CE with YA. Here's why – while I am a fully trained Yoga and meditation teacher, I am not an RYT with YA. I completed my Yoga, Meditation and Yoga Nidra Teacher Training in 2013 at an ashram in Australia. It was a 2 year training with over 1000 contact hours...and countless non-contact hours - since I lived at the ashram for 2 years - with my teachers, for the entire duration of the training.

But for some reason, Yoga Alliance North America had it listed as a 200 hour TT. Despite the fact that it was an Australian government-accredited vocational training (meaning Aussies could get government money to study yoga and meditation!! LUCKY AUSSIES!).

I never felt that it would be of any professional benefit to me to put 200 RYT after my name, since this designation didn’t reflect the level of training I’d completed. And I am primarily a meditation teacher – so I made the decision not to affiliate myself with YA.

I could jump through some hoops to get it accredited, but it hasn’t been at the top of my priority list.

In over a decade of teaching and 4 years leading Teacher Trainings, my lack of affiliation or accreditation with Yoga Alliance has never been an issue!

Of course!

So most yoga and meditation teacher training programs include home practice in the number of training hours.

This training factors in approximately 6-8 hours a week for home study. Over the course of the training, that’s 54 hours, at a minimum, bringing the total to 104 hours.

Your home practice includes:

• daily Yoga Nidra practice (minimum 4 times a week - averaging 45 minutes to an hour each practice)

• viewing prerecorded videos and supplemental materials

• completing homework assignments

• completing quizzes

• writing at least one full 8 stage Yoga Nidra script

• practicing teaching with classmates, if extra practice is needed

• submitting a recorded Zoom class

If you complete the requirements for certification, you will absolutely be trained to teach the practice upon completing the training.

To ensure you are ready to teach at the end of the training, you will be participating in Teaching Practicums throughout the training. We learn best by doing, not by talking about doing!

Following the completion of the training, you will also have the opportunity to attend Post Course Group Mentorship sessions.

There are some very short Yoga Nidra TTs out there - some as short as 20 hours - and I can say with FULL certainty that no one comes out of those 20 hour trainings or 'immersions' anywhere near ready to teach.

My top priority is making sure that I send WELL-TRAINED Yoga Nidra teachers out into the world.

Yoga Nidra is a deep and rich practice and system of teachings that intersects with Yoga, Tantra, the nervous system, sleep science, the subconscious mind, belief structures, and our social and cultural conditioning.

That’s why this is a 100 hour TT, with 50+ contact hours, over the course of 9 weeks - with additional teaching mentorship support following the training.

If you decide to train with me, it is my promise to you, you will come out of my TT fully competent and super stoked to share this incredible practice. By taking a training with me, you’re hiring me to do a job. I take this job very seriously. It’s my promise to you that I will hold up my end of the agreement - if you hold up yours!

And my students never use scripts! If you're teaching with a script – you’re not teaching!! You’re reading! 😊

Yes.

You will receive all the training and resources necessary to share the practice with others.

Additionally, you are also MOST welcome to take this training, even if you have no intention of teaching, as a means to deepen your own practice and connect to a community of like-minded seekers.

Yes. I offer a limited number of partial scholarships, with priority given to BIPOC yoga/meditation teachers who are not otherwise employed in another field.

After you have completed the course application, please email me at hilary@meditationchick.com to request the scholarship application.

I train small groups, so I am not currently able to offer full scholarships. Thank you for your understanding. 🙏🏼

If you have strong admin skills, an impeccable attention to detail, and honor your commitments fully - you are invited to inquire about a Teaching Assistant Scholarship.

Please note, you MUST have the time and space to accommodate this extra level of responsibility.

Yes. Absolutely.

Yoga Nidra is becoming more and more popular every year. When I first started talking about it in 2008, almost no one had heard of it. Now it’s almost at a point where it’s fully mainstream. And I could not be more stoked. Yoga Nidra is one of the most powerful practices for our modern life.

Everyone needs this. They don't all know it yet, but it's been gaining popularity slowly and steadily for the last several years. Primarily as a sleep meditation, but people are catching on that there's much more to it.

The top meditation on Insight Time is a Yoga Nidra for Sleep with over FOURTEEN MILLION plays. One of my Yoga Nidras for sleep has 314k plays. (Not quite as many as 14 million, but I’m pretty pleased with 314k!!!)

It's hit the mainstream meditation landscape. And it’s also hitting the scientific research landscape.

Research into the neurobiology of Yoga Nidra is currently being done at Stanford, under Dr. Andrew Huberman. Yoga Nidra is poised to grow significantly in the coming years. Additionally, with the sleep science being popularized by Dr. Matthew Walker, folks are understanding the need to practice relaxation techniques to improve sleep quality and quantity.

One of my students who completed a training with me in the spring started offering it to her private clients as an option instead of their regular mindfulness practice - and all her clients only want to practice Yoga Nidra now! Another has been offering her private clients Yoga Nidra, followed by sound healing. Another was hired to teach Yoga Nidra at Miraval Spa. Another has been combining it with his Yin and Restorative offerings. Other students have been offering Yoga Nidra to corporate clients. (I also offer Yoga Nidra to corporate clients and it’s very well received.) Other students have been offering Sankalpa workshops, Full/New Moon/Solstice/Equinox Yoga Nidra workshops.

Still others have focused their work on Yoga Nidra and sleep, emphasizing the physiological benefits. I also have trained students who are therapists, psychiatric nurses, and a neuro clinical physical therapist - all of whom have integrated Nidra into their clients and patients. There are MANY avenues to explore.

Also, there are still relatively few well-trained Yoga Nidra teachers out there – so having and honing this skill will set you apart. Adding it to your toolkit will significantly increase your capability to support yourself as a yoga teacher or wellness practitioner.

Don’t stress. All sessions will be recorded, and you will receive the link to the recording.

It is essential that you watch all recordings of the sessions.

For certification, it’s required that you view any sessions that you miss, and you will be asked to submit either a summary of the lesson or your notes and reflections.

These recordings will be available for streaming for one month following the last day of the Teacher Training.

You are welcome to audit any missed sessions in a future training.

Email me! Happy to discuss. We can hop on a call, if need be.

I recognize the investment of time and resources required to commit to a Teacher Training and want to make sure you are clear that this is a good decision for you - and that I am the right teacher for you.

Thank you for your application!

You’ll hear from me as soon I review your application.

If you’re a good fit for the training, you’ll be accepted and you’ll send in either your deposit or the full payment for the course.