Restorative Yoga: How to Facilitate Conscious Rest

We are excited to announce a new program at VSOHA: Restorative Yoga Teacher Training! This 20-hour Yoga Alliance Continuing Education course is ideal for graduates of a 200-hour yoga teacher training or accredited bodywork program. The course will be taught by Rebekka Walker, Program Director of VSOHA’s 200/240 hour & 300 hour advanced Yoga Teacher Training programs.

What is Restorative Yoga?

Restorative yoga is a form of yoga that allows for the space and time to relax, resting deeply and completely. Practitioners rest on props, lying down or sitting, so they can relax into postures for upwards of ten minutes. These long-held poses accentuate the body’s natural alignment, and the benefits are many.

“As we prop the body up and place students into these resting poses, the nervous system responds,” says Rebekka. “The benefits of this conscious rest are lowered blood pressure, increased resiliency, lowered triglyceride levels, and regeneration of the organs. Overall, restorative yoga builds a deeper capacity to deal with demands of our busy daily life.”

“Restorative yoga is a very old practice,” continues Rebekka. “It arose when B. K. S. Iyengar suffered from severe illness as a boy and wanted to be able to practice the poses. Because he was healing, his teacher, Krishnamacharya, developed this method of being able to rest into the poses themselves. Iyengar was then the first to break down how to utilize props in this way.”

Rebekka, who studied with Mr. Iyengar during one of her first yoga teacher trainings, went on to study with Judith Lasater, author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times which is the course guidebook for VSOHA’s Restorative Yoga Teacher Training; Judith has been teaching restorative yoga for over fifty years.

Rebekka touches on restorative yoga in VSOHA’s Yoga Teacher Training programs and looks forward to deepening students’ understanding of conscious rest, the use of props, and easeful positioning.

“This course is by request of many of our students and graduates,” says Rebekka. “ Current yoga teachers will come out of it with the ability to teach a restorative yoga class, and for bodyworkers, this course will supplement their understanding of how best to support their clients.”

The Restorative Yoga Teacher Training runs June 21-23, 2019. For more on the course, including tuition fees and the application, visit our course information page.