“The times are urgent; let us slow down.”
This teacher training immersion is a deeply transformative and compassionate container- held for teachers, healers, activists, artists, and all those who care for others and hold space in their communities.
Cúlú traenála do mhúinteoirí agus cúramóirí.
It is an invitation to step intentionally into the seat of yoga nidra guide; to learn to transmit this ancient, life-giving rest practice with authenticity and skill while being held, fed and renewed by the land on all levels.
Yoga nidra is a bridge between life (the land) and the subconscious. A portal where magic inhabits the ordinary and we are made new. The body falls asleep while the mind makes space for invention, imagination and restoration.
It is a specific state of consciousness where we pendulate the liminal boundary between waking and dreaming, life and death. We enter the otherworld while remaining tethered to the grounded wisdom of nature. The Irish expression ‘idir an da linn’ or the ‘in-between’ captures its gentle, liberating potency.
This offering is a nudge to inquiry for one who has an established relationship with the power, poetry and enchantment of yoga nidra. It is also suitable for the practitioner who is geared up to deepen their devotion to their practice, their work, their ancestors and the more-than-human world.
Through deep absorption of Yoga Nidra (both wild and indoors), nourishing, local community meals, lectures, emergent rituals, river swims, herbal foraging walks, sacred sites and music this training retreat will encourage descent and celebrate openings.
You will learn ABOUT:
The principles, structure and function of yoga nidra
How to create and guide your own original yoga nidra practice
Honouring and upholding lineage
Inhabiting the role of guide with confidence and authenticity
Untapping energetic potential through sankalpa shakti
The foundations of ancestor ritual- altars, rites of passage, boundaries and energetic protection, prayer, ceremony
Breathwork practices and restorative yoga poses to complement the practice of Yoga Nidra
Ethics and best practice
“The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled.
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NÁDÚR-BASED YOGA NIDRA
For those working toward justice in the face of genocide, climate breakdown and mass extinction rest is resistance. Lying down becomes a radical, decolonising act that interrupts burnout culture, roots us in the rhythm of the planet, and restores the clarity we need to act from our deepest values.
We gather in Brigid’s country, Co. Kildare in the days between grianstad an tsamhraidh (summer solstice) and Lughnasadh. Rivers, wild meadows, quiet woodlands and sacred wells invite stillness, devotion and deep remembering.
This immersion will create a wild natural container to resource you in your work, deepen your restful, relational enchantment with the land, sea and stars and embody and talamh, the earth at the height of Irish summer.
Themes of Inquiry 2025:
Reclamation of the language of prayer
Sound Healing and forging authentic voice
Leading with presence and integrity
Honouring grief and exhaustion- supporting ourselves while supporting others
An Ghaeilge mar dhroichead don talamh. The Irish language as a bridge to the land
Deepening relationships with the ancestors
Post-activist explorations on decolonial practices
Divine animacy (relationality, other-than-human perspectives)
Eros and attunement to the mammal body- developing a sensuous relationship with the holy in nature
The ancient paradigm of the celtic wheel, cyclicality and the cosmic principles of samos and giamos
Rewilding the practice of yoga nidra
Poetry, music, dance
“Teaching is a survival technique. It is for me, and I think it is in general; and that’s the only way real teaching, real learning, happens. Because I myself was learning something I needed to continue living. And I was examining it and teaching it at the same time I was learning it. I was teaching it to myself aloud.
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What’s included:
40 hours deep immersion in the practice of nature-based yoga nidra
Lunches by an award-winning local eatery
Daily lectures, workshops, demonstrations, yoga asana practices (Hatha Vinyasa, Yin and Restorative practices)
1-1 mentorship and feedback in writing and guiding your own Yoga Nidra practice
Online platform with curriculum and notes
Guidance on recording and publishing meditation practices
Extensive pre and post-course reading and resources list
In-depth creative writing practices
Certification* (for guides): On successful completion of all course requirements
“Unless there’s wildness around you, something terrible happens to the wildness inside of you”
Meet Your TEACHERs:
Cathy French is a teacher, writer and dynamic modern guide of yoga nidra and the inherited magic of Ireland’s animist spiritual lineage.
She is a secondary school English teacher whose approach embraces a deep grá for poetry and the power of spoken word.
This third annual Yoga Nidra & Nádúr event draws on Cathy’s sixteen years of experience designing and delivering classes, workshops, retreats and teacher trainings. She has led countless humans through grounding celtic wheel yoga nidra experiences both online and in person in Ireland and North America and most recently through her Substack publication ‘the creature’.
Cathy nurtures a soulful, grounded connection to Source and honours the Catholic and Celtic faith traditions of her ancestors. Her guidance is informed by cyclicality, ecological eros and queer Black feminist wisdom.
She facilitates profoundly nurturing group environments informed by core values of compassion, integrity, social, racial and earth justice. She shares yoga nidra with unrestrained appreciation for the Bihar lineage and her teachers Jana Roemer and Tanis Fishman who let her in on this transformative practice.
Kiko Pace will return to Ireland to assist in this training. Kiko creates portals for deep listening through installation, meditation, and restorative practices. They compose and facilitate immersive sound experiences that guide listeners into the soft liminality between waking and dreaming, a realm of expanded consciousness, heightened imagination, and vibrational recalibration.
Kiko has extensively studied the healing arts of sound, music, meditation, yoga, psychotherapy, plant medicine and practical magic, and they continue to deepen their learning through immersive practice with elders and teachers. In the wisdom tradition of passing forward what has been received, Kiko offers sound meditation trainings, workshops and deep listening retreats, and continues to expand their offerings globally. Kiko is also the creator of Kikospace, a sound studio, gallery and instrument shop located in the Roncesvalles area of Toronto.
Kiko is deeply devoted to listening, learning and honoring nature and her cycles. All begins with acknowledging the privilege of getting to practice on this land, the necessity of care and the responsibility we have to ourselves, the earth and each other. They currently reside on Turtle Island, between Tkaronto (the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation) and Saskatoon (colonially known as Treaty Six Land, the traditional homeland of many First Nations including Cree, Dene, Plains Cree, Nakota, Saulteaux, Ojibwe, and Metis).
For more information, please visit kikosounds.com and kikospace.ca
THe SCHEDULE
We will begin with lunch at 2pm on Friday July 4th and end after a final group brunch at 1pm on Wednesday July 9th
This will be an adaptive and flexible container in which the schedule will be both fixed and emergent. Our extra-curricular activities will be invitations to co-shape with land, river, weather and the collective energy of the group.
FOOD
Lunch will be provided from Friday to Tuesday by a local award-winning eatery. Please make us aware of any dietary requirements.
On Wednesday, we’ll close our time together with community-cooked brunch.
THE GROUP
The circle for this immersion will be kept very small in size for comfort, intimacy and peace. We will eat, learn, practice and rest in community and will be visited throughout the week by family, friends, expert local guides, musicians and magicians. Space and silence for solitary integration with the land and the season will be offered daily.
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home studio
Tucked away in the fertile lowlands between Naas & Newbridge close to the Curragh Plains and the grassy banks of the Grand Canal. The space is encircled by a sacred site, native woodland and acres of regenerated land. Gathering at our home studio offers a commutable option from Dublin and surrounding counties and gives us cosiness, space and comfort for our time together.
Accommodation
Comfortable, spacious rooms are available for participants at a reasonable rate in a clean, self-catering house just a short walk from the studio. These are limited and must be booked in advance- please get in touch promptly if you're interested.
COST
The early bird rate is €950 (including shared meals). After June 4th, the full price will be €1,150.
A €500 deposit secures your place. Payment plans and flexible timelines are warmly welcomed- just pop a note in your application.
PLEASE NOTE:
*Guides will be required to submit an original Yoga Nidra script, a recorded Yoga Nidra meditation and a short video or written assignment. The training retreat is open to experienced practitioners who wish to deepen their practice and explore their unfolding relationship with the land and their ancestors. Participants who may not intend to guide others will learn to create a unique Yoga Nidra for their own personal practice and will not be obliged to submit script, recording or assignment.
WHAT PREVIOUS yoga nidra training participants HAVE SAID:
“Cathy weaves together the power of yoga nidra, connection with the land and ancestors so seamlessly and poetically. Her tender and attentive way as both a guide of the practice and of those who seek to guide it, offers such a spacious and loving entrance to explore its depth, breadth and capacity for both communal and self-knowing & transformation.”
- BREANNA MORANDI
“Learning yoga nidra from Cathy French is such a gift. She combines a grounded, energetic connection with the land and life around us with hands-on and practical assistance and encouragement for becoming a better guide. I savored every drop of wisdom she shared with me.”
- MICHELLE URBICK
“Cathy’s guidance restores and enriches the connection between ancestral roots, weaving together land, love and ancient wisdom.”
- SHERIE SHIELDS
“Absolute perfection. So rich. I felt like I got to experience all the magic of Ireland in a short time and felt balance and harmony with the Yoga and Nidra”
- JENNIFER DUVALL