Meet the Team
These are the talented people who work hard each day to make things run smoothly behind the scenes. If you wish to contact anyone, you may contact us here.
Marketing
Samantha Feller | Marketing Strategist & Consultant
Samantha is the Marketing Strategist & Consultant at iRest Institute. She became involved with iRest in 2018 while working at Yoga International and facilitated the launch of the level 1 training on their platform. She also moderated the live question and answer sessions with Richard Miller and Stephanie Lopez for level 1 students participating in the training on Yoga International.
Samantha has been working in the yoga and mediation industry for more than six years and the communication industry for more than eight years. She is a 200-hour yoga teacher and has extensive experience in marketing, journalism, public relations, project management, and sales.
In her free time, Samantha loves exploring the Rocky Mountains near her home in the Denver Colorado area, by hiking and rock climbing. She also practices, teaches, and studies yoga and meditation (including iRest!), and enjoys dancing.
Operations
Tim Langlamet | Systems Administrator and Bookkeeper
Tim Langlamet has built more than a decade of experience supporting nonprofits with all things technological, including desktops, peripherals, databases, mobile devices, networks, and operating systems (i.e., Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome). He holds an associate degree in information technology and is certified in CompTIA A+ in both hardware and software. Tim has worn many hats for iRest Institute, contributing to special projects that involve website maintenance, accounting, copyediting, and more. As he leverages technology to create greater organizational efficiency, Tim lives by the motto: Work smarter, not harder.
An avid yogi, Tim completed a 500-hour Somatic Yoga Therapy Teacher Training with Janice Gates in 2015. And is also an iRest Level 2 Teacher in Training. In line with the teachings of the Yoga Sutras, Tim maintains a commitment to his personal practice every morning.
Programming
Francisco Lopez | Event Coordination Manager
Extensive experience in corporate training and event coordination, along with a fine attention to detail, make Francisco Lopez well-suited to help iRest events run successfully. He not only minds the nuts and bolts of workshops, trainings, and courses; he develops procedures that improve organizational efficiency and guest experience.
Originally from Chicago, Francisco now makes his home in the delightfully warmer climes of California. He is a marathon runner, Bikram Yoga devotee, and longtime meditator. With a background in neuroscience and philosophy, Francisco enjoys spending evenings engaging in consciousness studies, exploring the relationship between the brain and mind.
Kerryn Story | Head of Military and Veteran Programs
Following a 21-year military career, Kerryn joined the iRest Team in 2019 as the Head of Military and Veteran Programs. In this capacity, she works collaboratively with the team to bring the practice of iRest to Military and Veteran communities across the U.S. and abroad.
In addition to being a Certified iRest Teacher, she is a 500-hour Yoga Teacher, and a Registered Dietitian. She strongly believes in a holistic approach to health and healing, using healthy foods, yoga, meditation and mindfulness, and physical activity.
The spouse of an active duty service member, Kerryn continues to serve the military community and shares the practice of iRest where ever she lands.
In her free time, you can find her out for a run, on a hike with her family, or mountain biking the trails near her current “home” in the Southern California desert, hanging out with her kids at the pool to stay cool, or out exploring and discovering everything new and exciting about each place the Army sends her family.
Denie Shae Martinez | Event Staffing Manager
Denie Shae Martinez supports the iRest Institute as Event Staffing Manager and Production Specialist. Prior to stepping into these ever-changing roles, Denie Shae found the teachings of iRest Yoga Nidra in 2014 and has since completed her certification, assisted in L1 and L2 trainings, and offered the iRest teachings to groups and individuals both in person and online.
She is a compassionate advocate for wholistic health, dedicated to nurturing the connection between body and mind. She has focused on cultivating inner harmony as the creator of Giving Tree Essentials. With certifications in Ayurveda, iRest® Yoga Nidra, Yoga, Massage Therapy and Aromatic Botanical Medicine along with a deep respect and curiosity for Somatics and Polyvagal Theory, she empower others to reclaim their sense of self, dignity and wellbeing through sharing resources and support that build resiliency and enhance one’s quality of life. You will find her most often walking in nature, in the kitchen cooking, cuddling up with my pups on the sofa reading or watching a comedy with my husband.
Content Creation & Teachings
Richard C. Miller, PhD, C-IAYT, ERYT-500 is the Founder, Chairman, and Executive Director of iRest Institute, Co-Founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and Founding Member and past President of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology.
He is a clinical psychologist, author, researcher, yogic scholar, and spiritual teacher who, for over 50 years, has devoted his life to integrating western psychology and neuroscience with the ancient nondual wisdom teachings of Yoga, Tantra, Advaita, Taoism, and Buddhism.
Author of Yoga Nidra, The iRest Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing, iRest Meditation: Restorative Practices for Health, Healing and Well Being, The iRest Program for Healing PTSD, and Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga, Richard serves as a research consultant studying the nondual somatic-based meditation protocol he’s developed —iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation— researching its efficacy on health, healing, and well-being with diverse populations and issues. Grounded in 35+ research studies, the US Army Surgeon General and the Defense Centers of Excellence have recognized iRest as a Complimentary Program for healing chronic pain and PTSD. Richard leads international trainings and meditation retreats on the integration of enlightened living into daily life.
"You are love itself." —Nisargadatta
Please read the interview with Richard: http://www.sutrajournal.com/interview-with-dr-richard-miller
Check out Richard’s teachings on Yoga International: https://yogainternational.com/profile/richard-miller
Check out Richard’s teachings on Insight Timer:
Stephanie Lopez | Senior Advisor of Philosophy and Learning
Stephanie Lopez, LISW, C-IAYT, is the Senior Advisor of Philosophy and Learning and a Senior iRest Trainer for iRest Institute. With a deeply embodied understanding of meditation informed by nearly 30 years of immersion in the nondual teachings of yoga, she leads retreats and trainings internationally with a focus on living an authentic and awakened life. As a Gestalt therapist, meditation teacher, and certified yoga therapist she bridges eastern wisdom with western psychology and neuroscience to support healing and transformation. Stephanie also serves as Vice-Chair on the Certification Committee for IAYT helping to promote standards and credentialing for the yoga therapy field. She has presented meditation at Google, Spotify, and UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. She is a contributing author of “Yoga Nidra Meditations” and “Practice: Wisdom from the Downward Dog.”
International
James Reeves | Director of iRest Europe
James is an iRest Senior Trainer, the Founder of Restful Being, and is one of the UK’s leading Yoga Nidra experts. He has studied extensively with the iRest protocol’s Founder, Richard C. Miller, PhD.
James has been a practicing yoga teacher since 2005 and was qualified as a Structural Yoga Therapist after completing his training with Mukunda Stiles in 2006. From his clinic in Oxford, James works with clients who are recovering from birth trauma, PTSD, sexual abuse and depression, as well as injury and other physical ailments.
He teaches Yoga Nidra at TriYoga London and regularly guest-teaches elsewhere — such as at the Khiron House Traume Centre. He also runs his own regular yoga classes, workshops, and retreats. His work is focused on helping us to live the essence of our true nature: welcoming, open, spacious and free from judgment and conditioning.
Fuyuko Sawamura-Toyota | Director of iRest Australasia
Fuyuko is an iRest Senior Trainer, Retreat Leader, Certification Supervisor, and Mentor. She is also a senior registered teacher with Yoga Australia and a member of the Association of Meditation Australia.
For the past 20 years, she has been deeply committed to Awakening. She discovered iRest in 2006, and upon meeting Richard Miller in 2007, she recognised him as her true teacher. Her Dharma of living in Stillness has since become a reality. She currently serves as Director of iRest Australasia, with the aim of spreading iRest in the wider community of South East Asia, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Fuyuko lives in the spirit of Pronoia: the contagious joy and delight from Loving all and serving all. She is Japanese, lives with her Canadian husband Brian, three French Bichon Frises, and a cat named Tim Tam on the sunny Gold Coast of Australia.
Certification
Julie Bohonos | Director of iRest Teacher Certification
In addition to joyfully leading the iRest Teacher Certification program, Julie Bohonos serves as an iRest Supervisor and an IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist. Julie is also a faculty member of the Trauma Informed Yoga Psychology School, offering IAYT Certified Yoga Therapy training.
iRest meditative inquiry is foundational in Julie’s work, and in her personal life. Julie values the accessibility, gentleness and efficacy of iRest for her clients, and for herself as it integrates discoveries from her martial arts, yoga, and Vipassana practices. Julie works, lives, and plays in Canmore, Alberta, Canada on Treaty 7 Territory.