Worthy Causes

Worthy causes

that can use your support

The following organizations serve a broad spectrum of civilian and military populations by offering workshops, retreats, and specialized training events. Trauma-informed and mindfulness-oriented meditation and/or yogo are key modalities of their respective programs. iRestinHim.org fully supports these causes.


It is particularly noteworthy that each of these organizations also offer scholarships for active duty, military retirees, veterans, and others. My direct involvement in each of these organizations has left me with a profound sense of respect and admiration for their respective offerings to the world.  I especially value their many efforts to provide critical assistance to our military service personnel (and their families). For this, I salute them and strongly encourage your support.


Links (for donating or inquiries) are included below for your convenience.


iRest institute

iRest Institute provides events, teacher trainings, and educational content based on the ancient teachings of Yoga Nidra but presented in a distinct form made accessible for modern-day living. Dr. Richard Miller, founder of the iRest Institute, recontextualized these ancient teachings and renamed his unique meditation practice model: Integrative Restoration (iRest), aka iRest Yoga Nidra. 


"iRest is now practiced and taught by thousands of people worldwide in a wide range of settings, including health centers, schools, community centers, yoga studios, correctional facilities, and within military and veteran communities. iRest has historically been endorsed by the U.S. Army Surgeon General and recognized by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury as a form of complementary and alternative medicine (aka integrative medicine)."


Research on the efficacy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress and mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) has demonstrated its effectiveness for conditions such as chronic pain, sleep problems, depression and anxiety, PTSD and mTBI.

*Info from the

iRest Institute website.

Donate Here

Warriors at ease

"For the past 11 years, over 1,700 yoga and meditation instructors, healthcare workers, and community service providers around the world have taken a Warriors at Ease Training. Once they’ve completed Warriors at Ease training, these individuals work directly with the military community in clinical and non-clinical settings such as VA facilities, on military installations, at Vet Centers, for the Steven A. Cohen Veterans Network, Wounded Warrior Project, the Travis Mills Foundation, Semper Fi Odyssey, PB Abbate, in behavioral health and substance abuse facilities, at yoga studios, and more.

 

Warriors at Ease-trained teachers live in 11 countries and all 50 states, and 70% of them are service members, veterans, or military spouses themselves. Collectively they have touched the lives of over 185,000 service members, veterans, and family members.


The practices of yoga and meditation have been proven to down-regulate the nervous system, reduce stress and symptoms of PTSD, increase range of motion, reduce chronic pain, reduce insomnia, increase attention span, and more.


However, service members often turn to the highly accessible, low-cost, side-effect-free practices of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness as a last resort.

We’re here to help integrate these practices into the lives of the military community earlier and help pave a new path forward for those who feel like it’s too late. "

* Info from the

WAE website.


Donate Here

Mindfulness institute for emerging adults (MIEA)

"The Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults is dedicated to training individuals at colleges and universities to teach mindfulness to the emerging adults they serve, using MIEA’s evidence-based curriculum."*


"MIEA’s curriculum, developed by psychiatrists Dr. Holly Rogers and Dr. Margaret Maytan, emerged from their extensive experience at Duke University’s student counseling center. Through trial and refinement, and by focusing on accessibility, practicality, and immediate results, they created a class specifically designed for students and emerging adults that quickly gained popularity."*


"In 2013, Dr. Holly Rogers and Libby Webb founded the Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults, originally known as “The Center for Koru Mindfulness,” to provide training to teach MIEA’s transformative curriculum."*

*Info from the MIEA website.

Inquire Here

 COURAGEOUS HOSPITALITY


Whenever I touch with

mercy, love, and compassion,

that which I previously touched

with fear, hatred, and aversion, I am becoming

authentically mindful.

(paraphrased)


Mindfulness programs (including their respective instructors and participants) can benefit by intentionally seeking to authentically demonstrate courageous hospitality towards all participants (past, present, and prospective) including, for example, those from the Judeo-Christian community. Such hospitality represents an intentional, dynamic, continuously transformative, and holistic process.


Transforming Mindfulness: iRest in Him was written to respectfully meet this challenge and seeks to invite mindfulness program developers, gatekeepers, and others ~ including Christians, in particular, ~ to cultivate a broader awareness, join a compassionate discussion, and enter into a whole-hearted unfettered participation in mindfulness programs. Cultivate, join, and participate, without compulsion, coercion, conflict, compromise, or hesitation.


Authentic hospitality will always unfold from the heart of authentic mindfulness. You'll know it whenever you experience it ~ when you touch it or are touched by it (in thought, word, or deed) ~ because unsheathed hearts resonate with an inherent fidelity to unveiled truth.

But only if you are committed to authentic mindfulness.


Although such hospitality may be expressed unilaterally, it is best whenever mutually experienced.

The two become one.  The dualistic dissolves into the non-dual.

The parts mature into the whole. Fear, hatred, and aversion dissolve. This, too, is part of what has Judeo-Christian sages refer to as the  original blessing. ☧

iRestinHim.org

ancient meditation for a new generation



iRestinHim.org resources are respectfully offered to facilitate well-being via individual or group practice, as a stand-alone holistic exercise modality.


The resources are also offered as adjuncts to other mindfulness-oriented organizations and programs, including those listed above, to encourage mutual dialogue and facilitate a more informed understanding of the unique historical and contemporary Judeo-Christian contributions to mindfulness-oriented meditation theory and practice.


One of the unique contributions of iRestinHim.org is its compendium of complementary resources carefully retrieved from classical Judeo-Christian archives. This vast literature establishes a centuries-old record of the rich array of Judeo-Christian thought and practice in the areas of mindfulness-oriented meditation. This historical record bears witness to the rightful place Judeo-Christian voices have at the table of contemporary mindfulness-oriented conversation.


A mindful awareness of these voices can help eliminate certain unintended cultural and religious barriers to care currently present in some mindfulness programs. An enhanced cultural awareness, in turn, leads to greater participation by the community at large.


Whenever contemporary mindfulness program developers and gatekeepers encourage and authentically model cultural awareness, teacher understanding and effectiveness in relating to the broader array of students is optimized. Effective teachers, counselors, academicians, and other professional practitioners, are prepared to appropriately recommend adjunct readings and complementary resources that can enhance their students' personal and professional growth.


Working together we can also welcome a broader range of voices to the discussion table. With your support, we can achieve our mutual goals of introducing others to the perennial power and holistic benefits of mindfulness practice.


If you would like to support iRestinHim.org initiatives in getting Judeo-Christian informed resources into various mindfulness-based programs and workshops, and into an array of settings, including but not limited to military communities, prisons, hospitals, college campuses, retreat settings, counselor training events, or other religious and secular settings, please contact the author regarding your feedback, requests, questions, recommendations, invitations to speak, or for donation options.


Contact the Author
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