The Integrative Restoration Institute

An Introduction to
iRest® Yoga Nidra Meditation
WORKBOOK

900 5th Ave, Suite 204

San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 456-3909
www.irest.us
The Integrative Restoration Institute® (IRI®) is a nonprofit,
educational and research organization dedicated to the alleviation,
resolution and prevention of suffering. Our programs promote self-
regulation, resiliency and stress reduction while restoring the body
and mind to their natural functioning.
We provide professional workshops and trainings in Integrative
Restoration® - iRest® Yoga Nidra Meditation, offer spiritual retreats,
and collaborate with public and private institutions and researchers.
iRest and the various teachings offered through IRI are evidence
based, mind-body approaches to health, healing and well-being. Our
programs, such as iRest, are the result of over forty-seven years of
observation, research and hands-on development by Dr. Richard Miller
and associates.
Research indicates that iRest effectively alleviates PTSD, anxiety,
insomnia, chronic pain, depression and chemical dependency. IRI
trained teachers have successfully delivered the iRest Program to
active duty military and combat veterans, chronic pain sufferers, the
homeless, the incarcerated, survivors of human trafficking,
healthcare providers, and other special interest groups.
Research reveals that mindfulness-based practices, such as iRest,
are analogous to neural training regimens, targeting core body, mind,
and brain skills and functionings that are important for success,
resiliency, and well-being in daily life. These practices are especially
effective as they target brain plasticity in the areas of sensory, motor,
and limbic and prefrontal cortical functioning. Thus, iRest is an ideal
intervention for reshaping neural pathways critical to fostering
emotional self-regulation, ethical decision-making, resiliency,
enhancement of cognitive and emotional skills, development of
empathy and well-being, as well as improving overall physical and
mental health.

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Steps of iRest
While resting at ease, iRest guides you through a series of inquiries inviting you to welcome
opposites of sensation, breath, emotions, beliefs, images, and memories that naturally arise
within your awareness. As you engage each experience, you proactively explore actions you
can responsively take with respect to what you are experiencing. You also experience
yourself as the observer, or witnessing awareness, that is an unchanging presence in which
your every changing experience is unfolding.

iRest Step Purpose Ask Yourself…

What would make you most comfortable
Initial Relaxation Experiencing the present moment. and at ease during this practice?
Feeling life living you while being What is it that you want more than any-
Heartfelt Desire in touch with what it is that you thing else in life? What gives your life a
truly want in life. sense of value, purpose, and meaning?
Establishing why you want to What would most help you realize
Intention practice iRest today, and your hearts deepest desire?
tomorrow.
Finding an inner felt-sense where Is there a place within your body that
you feel secure, to which you can gives you the felt sense of being
Inner Resource return at any time during iRest, or secure, safe, calm, at ease, and/or
whenever you feel the need to take relaxed? Where and how do you
a momentary time out. experience this?
Welcoming and being present Allowing attention to wander through
with what you are experiencing in your body, what physical sensations,
BodySensing your body. Learning to feel, if any, are present for you? How and
welcome, observe, and respond where do you experience them?
to sensation.
Tuning into the natural rhythm What is your breath like? Calm,
BreathSensing of the breath. Learning to deep, and relaxed, or tense, shallow,
observe and actively engage and forced?
the breath.feelings that are
Observing What feelings (hot / cold, heaviness /
Opposite Feelings present: comfort/ discomfort, lightness, etc.) are present for you?
warm/ cool, etc.
Observing and proactively en- What emotions (calm / angry, happy
gaging emotions such as fear/ / sad, etc.) are present for you? And
Opposite Emotions
courage, anger/peace, sadness/ how and where do you experience
joy, etc. them in your body?
Observing and proactively en- What beliefs (‘I am strong’ / ‘I am
Opposite Cognitions gaging thoughts, beliefs, images, weak’, etc.) are present for you? And
memories that are present. how and where do you experience
them in your body?
Can you experience the felt-sense of
Experiencing and engaging inner joy, or well-being within your
Joy & Well-Being feelings of pleasure, happiness,
body? How and where in your body do
joy, love, bliss, and well-being.
you experience this?
Witnessing Awareness: Your Inquiring: What is aware of your body,
ability to witness or observe breath, feelings, emotions, and
Awareness what’s present. Your ability to be thoughts? Can you experience an innate
unchanging witnessing presence, sense of peace and well-being, no
that is/ always in peace and ease. matter your circumstance?
Integration Integrate the tools of iRest into In this, and every moment, I remember
your daily life. and experience my innate sense of well-
being and peace.
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What Happens During iRest
During iRest, we observe, welcome, and engage various aspects of our waking existence,
starting with the most gross form, the physical body, and then moving on through more
subtle layers, such as the breath, feelings, emotions, thoughts, joy, and awareness. As we
welcome everything that is present in the body and mind, our emotions and thoughts begin
to grow calmer. In the process, we discover and connect to the aspect of ourselves that is
always peaceful and at ease.

Inner Resource Heartfelt Desire Intention Return to the Waking State

10| Integration

9| Awareness

8| Joy, Well-Being

7| Observe opposite beliefs

I am strong/I am weak

6| Observe opposite feelings

Hot/Cold, Heavy/Light
Observe opposite emotions
Happiness/Sadness, Calm/Angry

5| Breath Sensing
Observe the breath

4| Observe sensations

Initial Relaxation 1| Heartfelt Desire 2| Intention 3| Inner Resource

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Identifying Your Resolutions
Resolutions are comprised of three aspects: 1) Your deepest Heartfelt Desire, 2) Intention(s),
and 3) Inner Resource. These three, together, form clear definitive commitments, or vows,
that you are absolutely determined and committed to accomplish. They also give value,
purpose, and meaning to your life, and take you to your goal. Once put into action, nothing
can stop them. They entail full and committed determination that focuses all your mental and
energetic resources.

Identifying Your Heartfelt Desire

Your Heartfelt Desire is the feeling of life living you. It's also the spontaneous vow that arises
from life itself, that upholds and supports your deepest truth and universal law. Your Heartfelt
Desire is the highest order by which you live your life. It is based on natural law and the
natural order of things. It is your heart’s innate desire or purpose; your personal calling, life
philosophy, or value by which you live your life. It is “life” living its highest purpose through
you as its unique expression. Social harmony and human happiness require that we live in a
discerning manner appropriate to the requirements of the natural order of the universe.
Living your Heartfelt Desire leads to:
• Meaning, purpose, value, and action
• Joy, resiliency, peace, and unchanging well-being
• Freedom from suffering, fear, and anxiety
Example: "I live my life as an authentic, loving, and compassionate human being."
The View
Imagine yourself sitting in a comfortable chair years from now while reflecting upon the life
you’ve lived. Imagine special friends who love you are gathered around you.
• Looking back, what are you happy about? Consider different parts of your life, such as
experiences with friends and family, work and career, good times and bad times,
personal and spiritual development, creativity, health, self-expression, and service.
• What is the heartfelt code you’ve lived your life by?
• What have been the central guiding values and principles of your life?
• What are you glad that you stood for?
• What has been important in your life?
• What do you feel grateful for?
• What do you wish you had done differently?
• What qualities of your life make you glad that you have lived and have made you feel at
peace with yourself and the life you’ve lived?
• What are your closest friends saying to you about how you lived your life?
• Looking back, what would you say to yourself as the age you are today?
Looking back, ask yourself as to overarching themes that sum up the code by which you’ve
lived your life; i.e., authenticity, spontaneity, truthfulness, non-harming, compassion,
kindness, love, gratitude, equanimity, joy, service, psychological or spiritual integration.
During your life, is there one fundamental principle or theme that has been your guiding star?

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Find words that evoke the feeling of your Heartfelt Desire that is the basis for what your
life stands for.
Positive, present tense language is best. For example, instead of saying, "I will find love,"
say, “I am love itself, expressing itself in every moment in my every thought, action and
deed”. Instead of saying, “I will be authentic and truthful”, say, “I am authentic and truthful
in every moment.”
Positive words stimulate the approach networks of your brain. An explicit, consciously held
Heartfelt Desire is corrective to your brain’s tendency to continually scan for threats.
Affirming your intention as a present tense reality tells your brain that this is the “new
normal”, rather than an intention of "something" that's implicitly “out there,” off in the
distance and out of reach.
Your Heartfelt Desire is effective if it is deeply and emotionally felt in your body, kept
in conscious awareness, and taken seriously.
Write down your Heartfelt Desire. Find imagery for your Heartfelt Intention.
Feel your Heartfelt Desire in your body, and imagine it sinking in and down as your lived-
experience, becoming increasingly embedded at deeper levels of your body and mind.
Bring it to mind from time to time, and see how it matures over time.
Weave a renewal of commitment to your life’s Heartfelt Desire into your meditation and
other daily practices.

Identifying Your Intention

Your Heartfelt Desire is supported by your Intention(s), which are fulfilled through specific
commitments and agreements with yourself. Your Heartfelt Desire, Intention(s),
commitments, and agreements line up together to nourish positive ends that create a
virtuous, effective and happy life.
Intentions for your practice might be such things as:
• To reduce stress
• For health or healing
• To work with a specific emotion or belief
• To nourish joy in your life
• To open fully to your Essential Nature
Intentions from your practice might be for such things as:
• To practice iRest every morning, to set a tone of ease and well-being for the day
• To practice iRest every evening to enhance restful sleep and well-being
• To write down reflections daily regarding commitments with food/exercise/emotions/beliefs
• To schedule time daily for recreation, play and fun
• To feel and assert the ground of Being and well-being throughout the day
To clarify your Intentions, write a list of the major categories of your life, i.e., Health,
Spirituality, Love, Pleasure, Relationship, Childrearing, Friendships, Career, Creative
Expression, Finances, etc. Create categories that mean something to you. Consider how
important each category is to you.
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Recall the view from your chair, as you look back from old age to this present moment:
what priorities were important that gave focus and purpose to your life? Open to the
longings in your heart: what are they saying to you?
Make a list of the major areas or aims of your life, in order of greatest priority and intention.
Number them, with #1 being the most important. Ask yourself: “If I could have my highest
intentions fulfilled, which would they be?” What would a typical day be like if you really lived
according to your highest intention(s)?
Whenever you think about living this way, pay attention to the rewards you’d experience and
let them sink in, gradually nourishing your body and mind into embodying them.
Translate your Heartfelt Desire and incremental Intentions into specific commitments, or
agreements with yourself. The body-mind doesn’t process abstract ideas, so give your
intentions concrete, emotional-laden words that effectively mobilize them.
For example, if your top priority is to live in authentic and loving relationships, consider
committing to things like:
• I speak and act from love, kindness and truth; never from anger.
• I say something kind and loving each day to those most close to me.
• I engage in and express loving kindness, truth, joy, and equanimity every day.
• I am authentic and truthful in my every thought, action, and deed.
Imagine what your life would be like if you actively lived your Intention(s). Feel the rewards
that come from living your Heartfelt Desire, and Intention(s): happiness, peace of mind,
equanimity, a clear conscience, harmonious relationships, the realization of your most
important goals, psychological and spiritual well-being, health and resiliency of body and
mind, etc. Translate your desires and priorities into specific and genuine commitments. Say
"Yes" to life!
Examples of Heartfelt Desire
• I’m living my life with purpose, meaning and value.
• I express truth in every moment with love, compassion and kindness.
• I live creatively and courageously with boundless joy and enthusiasm.
• I receive clear inner guidance and express it in the world with heartfelt faith.
• I live a life of balance & harmony.
Examples of Intentions
• I set a specific time daily to acknowledge what I love in my life.
• I set daily priorities each day, so that I am organized and work effectively and efficiently.
• I determine the markers for success in my career and evaluate them regularly.
• I eat for health and energy.
• I meditate daily. My meditation enriches every aspect of my life.
• My partner and I check in regularly regarding our relationship.
• My thought, speech and actions are congruent.
• I use my iRest practice to proactively work with my challenging emotions and thoughts.
• I feel my Inner Resource of well-being throughout my day.

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Identifying Your Inner Resource
Your Inner Resource provides you with an internalized felt-sense that you can return to at
a moment’s notice—an inner sanctuary, safe-haven or internalized space of unchanging
and unbreakable well-being, restful stillness, peace, serenity, safety, security,
groundedness, relaxation, ease and equanimity. Your Inner Resource is unique and
something that you forever draw strength and solace from.
The Inner Resource is a felt-sense in your body that helps you feel relaxed and in control
of your experience. It can be evoked through multi-sensorial images, thoughts, feelings,
emotions and sensations that you experience with your entire heartfelt body and mind.
Whatever images, thoughts or sensations you associate with your Inner Resource, the
most important aspect is that it evokes the feeling of being safe, secure and at ease
throughout your body and mind.
It is important to feel your Inner Resource as your heartfelt, embodied experience. At first,
use as many sensory modalities as possible when assembling your inner resource, as this
helps create the Inner Resource as an effective tool that you can call upon at a moment’s
notice through any of your sensorial channels. For instance, if you use a visual image to
evoke the felt-sense of your Inner Resource, associate it with other sensory modalities
including sensations, feelings, emotions, thoughts, words, sounds, smells, and tastes.
Then, when you visualize the image, it should trigger a cascade of these associated
sensory experiences.
Most important to keep in mind is that the Inner Resource is a "felt-sense" in your body,
that's ultimately independent of an image. The ultimate Inner Resource is your felt-sense
of "being" and "awareness" as being and awareness are always present, no matter your
circumstance.
Take time to embody your Inner Resource at various intervals throughout your day. For
instance, pair your Inner Resource with every emotion, thought, and experience you have.
This way you ‘generalize’ your Inner Resource with every experience, and in turn, it will
naturally arise under your every situation and circumstance.
During iRest, or at any time day or night, should you begin to feel overwhelmed by an
overpowering emotion, reaction, belief or memory, return to your Inner Resource. You
rest here until you have regained a sense of calm, safety, security and confidence. You
can then continue to face and resolve life’s challenges, or residues of reaction, pain,
suffering or confusion while being established in a felt-sense of calm, security and well-
being.

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BodySensing
What is BodySensing? During BodySensing, you rotate your attention throughout your
physical body and observe physical sensations that are present. In some places, you may
feel comfort or pleasure, in other places you may feel discomfort or pain, while in other areas
of the body you may feel nothing at all. During BodySensing, as in all phases of iRest, you
aren’t trying to “change” or “fix” anything. You’re simply observing and experiencing what’s
present. If sensation is especially strong, you are learning to simply observe it, as it is. During
iRest, you learn to welcome and allow everything to arise just as it is. You have no intention
to fix, change, fight with, or “go beyond” anything that arises. Even when resistance does
arise, that too, is welcomed to be here. When you allow something to rise without resistance,
it bubbles up and dissolves, just like bubbles rising to the surface of a lake. iRest draws its
strength from the understanding that everything you welcome into and allow to arise in
awareness, you go beyond.
Why do we practice BodySensing? BodySensing is soothing to the nervous system and
helpful for focusing attention, bringing deep relaxation and the feeling of well-being to both the
body and the mind. As such, it is a form of mindfulness training. It helps develop your mind’s
ability to remain undistracted for longer and longer periods of time, which helps concentration
and one-pointedness of attention.
There are literally trillions of things occurring in our body at any given moment and yet we rarely
take time to ‘check-in’ with how we are feeling. Our body is constantly sending us
“messengers” that inform us to how we are feeling, and what we need to do. You may feel
pleasure in one area of your body while feeling pain in another area of your body. Imagine
yourself getting a shoulder massage. Your shoulders may be feeling very good while at the
same time you have pain in your knee. Pleasure and pain can be present at the same time.
Sometimes the body “turns up the volume” to get us to notice something. If you grab a hot pan
off the stove, you may quickly jerk your hand away, “Ouch, that is hot!” Our body is constantly
sending us information as messengers, many of which we miss because we haven’t taken the
time to see how our body is feeling. Eventually, it may have to shout by providing severe
physical or mental symptoms, such as chronic pain or depression.
The good news is that the practice of iRest reawakens our innate capacity for hearing even the
subtlest cues the body is sending. When we can acknowledge, and welcome the body’s subtle
cues, we will be able to respond and take appropriate action long before our body becomes
sick. This is one of the many advantages to practicing iRest.
Why do we spend more time on certain areas of the body than others? Certain parts of our
body have more nerves endings, and therefore more sensation than others. The mouth, for
example, is packed with nerves. The entire head (including the ears, nose and eyes), the hands
and the feet are all filled with nerves, so we spend more time here, than in places like the shins
or forearms, where there are fewer nerves endings. The way we rotate our attention through
the body is important too. It relates to where and how the brain perceives certain areas through
the motor and sensory cortex. There is a science behind the iRest process!
What do we have to do during BodySensing? Nothing at all! Just observe and experience
what is present without censoring or trying to change what you come upon. Consider
BodySensing as a time to ‘check in’ with your body, getting to know it in new ways. You may
be surprised what you find. There is a symphony of sensations constantly occurring when we
take the time to notice. Most of all: Enjoy!

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BreathSensing
What is BreathSensing? BreathSensing is a form of mindfulness training that helps you
become aware of how your body is breathing. BreathSensing also makes you aware of
movements of sensation and energy that are coursing through your body and sensitizes you
to the deeper “messengers” of information your body and mind are relaying to you.
During BreathSensing you learn to observe how the breath affects your body and how the
body affects your breathing. When the body is tense, the breath normally becomes short,
irregular, and shallow. When the body is relaxed, the breath becomes easy and rhythmic.
In addition, BreathSensing develops your mind’s ability to remain undistracted for longer
periods of time. The practice of BreathSensing is soothing to the nervous system,
nourishes heart rate variability and well-being, and is helpful for focusing attention. All
that it requires is that you simply notice your breathing while being aware of the
sensations you’re feeling as you breathe.
Much like BodySensing, BreathSensing helps free up tensions that are stored in the
body, especially around the area of the pelvis, abdomen, and diaphragm. This enables
you to gain access to information that will help you process and integrate feelings,
emotions, beliefs, and images from past experiences. By doing so, you can feel more
relaxed, compassionate, loving and caring towards yourself and others.

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Feelings and Emotions
Feelings and Emotions are Messengers. Feelings such as comfort, discomfort, hot, cold,
dull or sharp, as well as emotions such as anger, fear, joy, sadness, disgust, shame, and
excitement, are exquisite messengers that provide us with a rich source of information on
how we need to respond to the world around and within ourselves. If we reach out to touch
a hot stove, pain comes as a warning that we are in danger of burning our hand. If we have
an expectation that is thwarted, irritation arises to alert us that we need to reexamine the
reality of the situation. In themselves feelings and emotions are neither good nor bad, nor
right or wrong. They simply provide information.
Our first task, then, is to acknowledge and welcome the legitimacy and necessity of our
feelings and emotions as messengers. We need to welcome them and understand their
purpose if we are to be healthy, happy, and well-adjusted human beings.
Our second task is to become proficient at recognizing the variety of feelings and
emotions we may experience in life. We need to be sensitive to the entire range of
feelings and emotions, and have the attitude that they each are to be welcomed and
understood rather than repressed, denied or even, in some cases, expressed. iRest is a
process that helps us recognize, welcome, understand, work with, and move beyond our
feelings and emotions rather than becoming caught up and hopelessly mired down in
them.
Witnessing. iRest sharpens our ability to witness feelings and emotions as they arise.
Witnessing is a neutral stance wherein we place no judgments upon what we experience.
Instead, we observe what passes in front of us as a neutral witness of all that arises internally,
as feelings and emotions. Witnessing allows us to see the larger picture that so often escapes
us when we only become embroiled in emotional reaction.
As we become established in witnessing we realize that all feelings and emotions are
transitory in nature. They are constantly changing. To the degree we identify with, and
react to our emotions, we become slaves to them. As we develop the capacity to
welcome and be with all our emotions, without repressing or reactively expressing what
we feel, as if by magic emotions shift and change. Only then can we clearly recognize our
appropriate response to each situation in our life.
By our willingness to meet, greet, welcome, and experience our emotions, we go beyond
them. In fact, the word ‘experience’ means “to go through something fully, leaving no
trace behind.”

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Identifying Opposites of Feeling

To personalize your practice, fill in this worksheet before beginning iRest. Choose two feelings
and their opposites that are relevant for you.

Feeling and its Opposite

Feeling and its Opposite

Examples of Feelings and their Opposites

These are examples to help you locate feelings that are relevant and meaningful to you. There
is no need to limit yourself to just this list when you make your choices.

Alert – Sleepy Heavy – Light

Cold – Hot Lethargic – Awake
Hard – Soft Loose – Tight
Comfortable – Uncomfortable Numb – Sensitive
Constricted – Spacious Painful – Pleasurable
Deep – Superficial Prickly – Soft
Dry – Wet Relaxed – Tense
Dull – Sharp Spacious – Restricted
Floating – Sinking Thick – Thin

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Identifying Opposites of Emotion
To personalize your practice, fill in this worksheet before beginning iRest. Choose two
emotions and their opposites that are relevant for you.

Emotion and its Opposite

Emotion and its Opposite

Examples of Emotions and their Opposites

These are examples to help you locate emotions that are relevant and meaningful to you.
There is no need to limit yourself to just this list when you make your choices.

Aggressive – Passive Loving – Hateful

Approving – Disapproving Peaceful – Enraged
Assured – Perplexed Potent – Impotent
Boisterous – Mellow Powerful – Helpless
Calm – Agitated Proud – Ashamed
Composed – Worried Responsive – Apathetic
Confident – Insecure Safe – Threatened
Cooperative – Competitive Safe – Abandoned
Delighted – Disgusted Satisfied – Frustrated
Domineering – Meek Secure – Apprehensive
Empathetic – Indifferent Sensitive – Numb
Fearless – Frightened Tender – Violent
Flexible – Rigid Tolerant – Contemptuous
Generous – Resentful Trusting – Suspicious
Grateful – Ungrateful Unafraid – Anxious
Happy – Sad Unreserved – Shy
Helpful – Uncooperative Vital – Exhausted
Innocent – Guilty Vulnerable – Invulnerable
Interested – Bored

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Cognitions: Thoughts, Beliefs, Images

Welcoming Cognitions. During iRest we learn to welcome our cognitions — thoughts,

beliefs, images, and memories — as messengers that are designed to help us respond,
rather than react to our life circumstances. Thoughts are neither good or bad, right or
wrong. They simply provide information. To the degree that we react to our thoughts, we
are held hostage by them. To the degree we can witness, experience and be with them,
we are able to respond appropriately to each situation we encounter.
The Law of Opposites. When any thought arises, its converse always co-arises.
Opposites are never separate. They are complimentary polarities arising within a unified
field of our awareness. Opposites and awareness are not separate. As well, we are not
separate from anything that arises in awareness.
iRest is an approach for healing the misperception of separation, and the suffering and
conflict that ensues when we believe in separation. The power of iRest, with its focus on
transcending opposites, is based on the insight that without healing the root belief in our
being separate from all of life, suffering can never be completely dispelled.
When we experience only one-half of a pair of opposites, for instance grief versus joy, or
shame versus potency, we remain stuck in our experience. By helping us experience
opposites of our beliefs, iRest enables us to heal our mistaken beliefs, the primary one
being our belief in separation. Psychological integration takes place when we cease trying
to rid ourselves of our experience and instead open to the full experience of each
opposite we experience.
During iRest, each movement of cognition is paired with its opposite, as a way of
assisting their full disclosure into awareness. As opposites emerge, welcoming replaces
refusing, psychological integration unfolds, and well-being unfolds amidst the changing
and turbulent circumstances of life. As integration deepens we learn to sustain
equanimity even during conflict.
Pairing Opposites. During iRest we bring to light and explore negative and positive
beliefs, which divide and limit us when we refuse to listen to them as messengers. When
you locate a belief, iRest asks you to pair it with its opposite. “I’m unlovable” might be
paired with “I love and value myself.” “I’m not good enough” might be paired with, “I’m
always doing
the best that I know how.”
During iRest we intentionally bring in disquieting thoughts, memories, and images to
recover our innate capacity to be with what life brings to our table. We cannot stop the
tumultuous waves of turmoil, difficulty and confusion, but we can learn to surf them. The
practice of iRest is our surfboard, instructor and surfing lesson all rolled into one.

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Identifying Opposites of Cognition

Choose a belief that feels significant for you. You may select from the examples below if you
like. Write down the belief and its opposite, and the feeling associated with each. We will use
these in practice.

Thought or Belief:

Feeling or emotion of this thought or belief:

Opposite Thought or Belief:

Feeling or emotion of this opposite thought or belief:

Examples of Thoughts and Beliefs and their Opposites

I am safe and secure. I am always in danger.
I can stand on my own two feet. I can't support myself.
I am powerful. I am helpless.
I make good decisions for myself. I can't trust myself.
I am successful. I am a failure.
I am connected to others. I am alone.
I am good and worthy. I am bad and unworthy.
What I say is worth listening to. Nobody wants to listen to me.
I know what I want. I am confused.

I can trust my sense of reality. I can't trust my sense of reality.

I am lovable. I am unlovable.
I am creative. I am all dried up.
I follow through with my decisions. I can't bring about any change.

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Foundation Practices
Meeting, Greeting, Welcoming and Proactively Engaging
Sensations, Emotions, and Cognitions

1. Noting
a. Welcome what is arising (sensation, emotion, thought, belief, image, memory)
b. Where/how do you experience this in your body?
c. Peel off the conceptual label
d. Be with it non-verbally, non-conceptually, as sensation
e. Note if the emotion has a texture, color, age, etc. that co-arises with it
f. Interweave In your Inner Resource of unchanging well-being and Being
2. Welcome Opposites
a. If this had an opposite, what might it be,
and where/how do you experience this in your body?
b. Alternate between opposites (take your time)
c. Experience, somatically, both opposites as the same time
d. Interweave Inner Resource into each opposite
3. Take perspective
a. Be a witness to what’s arising
b. Interweave in your Inner Resource as you experience yourself as a witness
4. Anthropomorphize What’s Arising
a. What does this (sensation, emotion, belief) look like if it walked into the room?
b. Welcome it in for tea and conversation
c. Inquire: “How do I feel about “this…”’
“How does “this…” feel about me”
5. Pro-Active Engagement: Ask it:
a. What do you want?
b. What do you need?
c. What action are you asking me to take?
d. Interweave in your Inner Resource
6. Awareness
a. Allow the witness to dissolve into being witnessing
b. Allow witnessing to dissolve into Being
c. Allow Being to dissolve into Awareness
d. Interweave in your Inner Resource

Remember: Interweave in your Inner Resource at any time along the way, pairing it with
every activity, circumstance, action, emotion and thought you have, all day long, every day.

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Joy
Searching for Something. For most people joy, happiness, peace, well-being, and
equanimity are relative experiences, coming and going, depending upon the changing
conditions of life. Changing conditions may include our state of health, family, interpersonal
and professional relationships, job and other life-related circumstances. We are taught that
joy is dependent upon our possession of some object: be it money, a lover, a house,
chocolate, or...you name it. Our search for an object, circumstance, or experience that will
bring us lasting happiness always misses the mark. Ironically, it is our search for happiness
that takes us away from the inherent peace, well-being and joy that are always already
present within us.
Discovering Unchanging Inner Joy. iRest reveals that joy is always present, although
sometimes hidden behind the veil of our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. True joy
exists independent of all objects, beliefs, images, and memories. Through iRest, we can
go beyond the mind and discover the inner joy and well-being that is already ours, no
matter what is happening in our outside life. During the ‘Joy’ portion of iRest, we invite
you to elicit a feeling of joy using a spectrum of emotions. You might begin by
attempting to feel an inner smile, gradually working up through feelings of pleasure,
happiness, joy, well-being, and even bliss.
Remember, there doesn’t have to be a reason for you to feel joy. There is joy already
inside of you, waiting to be welcomed to the forefront of your awareness. If you find it
difficult to access feelings of joy, you can begin by recalling a time when you felt
pleasurable, content, or simply a sense of OK-ness. Or, you can imagine what it would
feel like to feel joyful. Eventually, it will come!
Joy is Good Medicine. We all know moments of happiness, joy, well-being, and
equanimity, even if those moments are few, fleeting, and far between. It is common
knowledge that joy raises our spirits and relieves stress. Scientific research reveals that
joy keeps us healthy and helps heal disease. So, the next time you find yourself smiling,
or even laughing, know that you are doing your body, mind, and health a tremendous
favor!
Joy, even small amounts of it, affects our entire physiology, including the respiratory
system, cardiovascular system, muscular system, central nervous system, endocrine
system, and immune system. Joy releases endorphins, serotonin, GABA, and oxytocin,
the body’s natural painkillers and "feel good" hormones, which are responsible for our
feeling of well-being.
The understanding that joy is a potent healing force is not new. In ancient Greece,
hospitals were built near amphitheaters where patients could attend comedies to
facilitate their healing. Modern medicine is now catching up. Scientific research reveals
the healing power of joy, demonstrating that joy can change the shape of the brain and
how it functions. So, experience joy within, it’s healing you and those around you!

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Witnessing, Being and Awareness

Witnessing. During this step of iRest, you are invited to step back and be a witness, or
observer, to all you experience. As a witness, you’re invited to welcome sensations in
the physical body, breath, feelings, emotions, beliefs, images, memories, joy, well-
being, and anything else that is present. There is no need to fix or change anything. You
are simply witnessing your experiences as they occur.
You might imagine that you are standing behind or above yourself, observing everything
that is present, as if it is in front of you, or below you. Or, you may imagine what you are
observing is up on a stage, and you are sitting in a chair, observing it from a distance.
What is important to remember is that there is no right or wrong way to do this. You are
simply welcoming everything that is present, remembering, “That which I am willing to
be with, I am set free from.”
Being. During iRest we also take time to experience our essential “beingness,” as a
portal that can open us to realizing unchanging peace, equanimity, well-being and
freedom from suffering. Here, you are invited to rest as the easeful felt-sense of simply
‘being,’ and notice how, as being, you feel spacious, outside of time, beyond lack and
need, and complete and whole just as you are. Residing as being brings with it a felt-
sense of unchanging peace, equanimity, well-being, joy and freedom.
Awareness. During this phase of iRest, you are invited to step back into the aspect of
yourself that is “observing” everything, including the felt-sense of being, and allow
yourself to experience Awareness, as unchanging peace and well-being that is without
opposite. When you melt into “being” Awareness, you experience the unbreakable and
unchanging aspect of yourself that is always at peace and at ease, no matter your
circumstance.
You may want to imagine Awareness as a “blank movie screen,” upon which the movie
of life is projected. Before the movie begins, the screen is blank. Once the movie
begins, images are projected upon this blank screen, and we respond or react to these
images. Depending upon the contents of each scene, we may laugh or cry, but the
blank movie screen upon which the movie is being projected remains untouched and
unchanged by the film. In the same way, Awareness allows us to experience the aspect
of ourselves that is untouched by human experience. Awareness exists in this and every
moment of life, as a state of total peace and well-being. It has always been here, and it
will always be here. iRest teaches us how to welcome in everything that is present and
changing, so that we can experience Awareness as the unchanging and naturally
occurring aspect of ourselves.
As we transition back into the waking state, we bring this understanding of Awareness
with us, imagining ourselves interacting with other people — working, sleeping, and
eating — while remaining connected to this peaceful quality of well-being. Each time
you practice iRest, you are strengthening your connection with unchanging peace and
well-being. At other times of your daily life, when you are not practicing iRest, you will
find great benefit from taking a moment to remember that the peace of well-being exists
inside of you, during every circumstance of your life. When you do this, you bring this
peace into the present moment, and to those around you. It gives you a steady,
balanced, and serene anchor that changes every aspect of your life.

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Integration
The last step of iRest emphasizes the Integration of iRest into all moments of your daily life.
While core principles of iRest are learned, and practiced during individual sessions, or at
home with an audio recording, iRest is most effective when it’s integrated into every
moment of your life. As you complete your practice, you reaffirm your Intention, Heartfelt
Desire and Inner Resource. And, if you are so inspired, you also affirm intentions that will
help to further actualize your heartfelt desire and Inner Resource during future practices, or
in your daily life.
Moment-to-moment, as you go about your day and night, the practice of iRest invites
you to affirm your Intention to feel and respond to the call of your inner self, and to
apply the various tools of iRest when you’re walking, talking, interacting, working,
playing, or resting. When you find yourself at ease, or navigating stressful situations,
dealing with cravings, or difficult emotions, thoughts, memories, persons, or
circumstances, feel yourself spontaneously remembering and practicing BodySensing
and BreathSensing, or welcoming emotions, thoughts, joy, and well-being into your
body, or stepping back into experiencing yourself as the spacious openness of
awareness. Feel how every moment — every sensation, emotion, thought, and
experience — is a foreground movement arising within your awareness. Awareness is a
constant and unchanging background of peace, stillness, and well-being.
Affirm your Intention throughout the day that your body and mind spontaneously
remember the feeling of your Inner Resource of unchanging well-being and peace that
comes from resting in and as awareness. Affirm your Intention to apply the practices of
iRest moment-to- moment throughout your life, so that your life becomes one of peace,
harmony, and well- being, whatever you are doing and with whomever you are
interacting.

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iRest Worksheet
Step One: Setting Your Intention(s)
Write down a statement that describes your intention for your practice of iRest
Meditation, or for actualizing your Heartfelt Desire. Examples: “I remain alert and
present throughout my practice,” or “I understand and work with my core belief.”
“I feel unchanging being and awareness in every moment.”

Step Two: Setting Your Heartfelt Desire

Write down a positive statement about yourself, another or the world. Write it as
a statement of fact. Rather than saying, “May I be healed,” or “May I be awake,”
state, “I am whole, healed and healthy in this and every moment,” or “I am
timeless Awareness, expressing itself in every moment.”

Step Three: Inner Resource

Describe the felt-sense in your body of feeling secure, at home, relaxed, and at peace.

Step Four and Five: BodySensing and BreathSensing

Step Six: Sheath of Feelings & Emotions

A. Feelings: Choose a feeling that holds meaning for you. Then, choose its opposite.
Feeling 1 and its opposite

Feeling 2 and its opposite

B. Emotions: Choose an emotion and its opposite.

Emotion 1 and its opposite

Emotion 2 and its opposite

Step Seven: Cognitions: Beliefs, Images, Core Aspects of Essential Nature

A. Beliefs: Choose a core belief that holds meaning for you. Then, choose its opposite.
Belief 1 and its opposite

Belief 2 and its opposite

B. Imagery: Choose an image that holds meaning for you. Then, choose its opposite.
Image 1 and its opposite

Image 2 and its opposite

C. Core Aspect of Essential Nature: Choose an expression of Essential Nature (examples:
love, compassion, kindness, joy, equanimity, potency, authenticity, etc.).
Inner Strength 1
Inner Strength 2

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In the end, we realize how simple life is when we
accept this moment and our response to this
moment, just as it is without pretending to be
other than who we are. This is grace in action and
the culmination of iRest.
- Richard Miller, PhD

Integrative Restoration Institute

900 5th Ave., Suite 204
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 456-3909
www.irest.us