Restorative Yoga, Yoga Nidra & Chair Yoga
with Jennifer Harvey and Andrea Fotopoulos
A Weekend Immersion for Yoga Teachers and Interested Students
January 9-10, 2027
This in-depth weekend immersion explores the art of accessible stillness and adaptive movement. Designed for teachers and students looking to expand their therapeutic toolkit, it bridges deep relaxation with functional accessibility, offering practical tools you can bring directly into specialized classes across diverse settings: yoga studios, gyms, hospitals, corporate offices, and senior centers.
Attend the full weekend for 15 Yoga Alliance CPU hours, or choose the session that calls to you
Saturday 12:00-7:00 pm
Sunday 9:00-6:00 pm
Cost: $150 per day/ $295 for the weekend
Saturday, January 9 ~ Chair Yoga & Adaptive Practices
Expand your teaching toolkit with this one-day Chair Yoga Training. Designed for yoga teachers, healthcare professionals, and interested students, this course transforms the chair into a versatile tool for accessibility — one that serves every body, at every level of practice.
You will learn to lead well-balanced Chair Yoga classes for seniors, office professionals, and those with limited mobility. Additionally, you will explore how to use the chair to refine alignment in traditional mat classes, safely deepen more advanced postures, and support a rich restorative practice.
Leave equipped with the skills to sequence inclusive, stable, and empowering classes for every student who walks through your door.
• What is Chair Yoga – History, Theory and Practice
• Universal Accessibility: Explore a variety of levels of chair yoga—from entirely seated
flows into using the chair as a balance tool to advance your practice.
• Support Specialized Populations: Gain practical strategies for teaching seniors, office
workers, and those with health concerns and chronic conditions (such as arthritis,
osteoporosis, joint replacements, injuries).
• Functional Integration & Sequencing: Learn to weave chair modifications into
standard mat-based classes to make your general offerings inclusive for all mobility
levels.
Sunday, January 10 ~ Restorative Yoga & Yoga Nidra
The modern world is full of stressors — and our nervous systems are asking for relief. In this one-day training, we explore the art, science, and teaching methodology of Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra: practices that slow us down, turn us inward, and create the conditions for genuine rest.
Learning to relax intentionally — to soothe the nervous system and make space for stillness — can have a profound impact on both physical and mental well-being. Through the use of props to release deep tension and guided meditation to cultivate a sense of spacious inner presence, we find our way back to ease.
You will leave with practical skills to support your own nervous system and those of your students — through postures, trauma-informed language, and imagery that invite release in a safe and held environment.
• What is Restorative Yoga – History, Theory and Practice
• What is Yoga Nidra – History, Theory and Practice
• Nervous System Regulation: Explore the science of the parasympathetic nervous
system to facilitate deep relaxation for stress and burnout.
• Precision Prop Placement: Learn the “art of the prop” of using bolsters, blankets,
straps, and blocks to provide total skeletal support, ensuring every body type finds
genuine comfort.
• Therapeutic Sequencing: Develop the skills to design” arcs of rest” for specialized
needs, including stress management, burnout recovery, and trauma-informed healing.
• Trauma-Informed Language: Refine your verbal cueing to be choice-based and non-
disruptive, fostering a safe environment for deep introspection and rest.
• Subtle Body Tools: Integrate Pranayama (breathwork) and Yoga Nidra specifically
adapted for restorative and chair settings.
In Restorative Yoga, with the use of props such as blankets, blocks, and bolsters, the body is completely supported to promote the relaxation response, and reduce stress.
Yoga Nidra is a form of guided meditation that takes one into deep relaxation for healing and restoration.
Jennifer Harvey, RYT 200, has been sharing her love of yoga for over 35 years. In her classes, she provide a space for self-discovery, where students can connect to the voice of their hearts, the optimal strength and suppleness of their bodies, the gift of life and the creativity of the moment.
Prior to opening Laughing Dog Yoga, Jen was a full time body/mind psychotherapist. Currently she is a facilitator for TIMBo (trauma-informed mind/body) program, and part of a team that offers trainings and workshops nationally and internationally.
Jennifer has owned Laughing Dog Yoga in Wellesley for 15 years, which offers over 50 classes a week in yoga, movement, and other healing arts. Visit Jen at www.laughingdogyoga.com
Andrea Fotopoulos, RYT 200, has been practicing asana since 1996 and teaching since 2004. Known for her skill, clarity and authenticity, Andrea’s teaching style is a blend of functional alignment, dynamic movement and inspiration that creates a bridge between the hard work on the mat and off.
Dedicated to making yoga accessible for everybody by making the difficult doable and the doable difficult, Andrea’s personal practice and teaching style are heavily shaped by the Anusara yoga methodology, Tantric yoga philosophy and her ongoing studies with her highly skilled and deeply inspiring teachers: Christina Sell, Desiree Rumbaugh, Darren Rhodes, Noah Maze, Douglas Brooks and all of their teachers and their teachers’ teachers. Visit Jen at www.andreafotopoulos.com