​​​​​​​Cheryl Fenner Brown C-IAYT​, E-RYT 500, YACEP

Yoga Nidra: Guided Meditation for Busy Minds

OLLI, Fall 2025

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Yoga Nidra is a form of guided meditation that guides practitioners through a first-person experience of their body, breath, emotions, and imagination in a completely non-judgmental and compassionate manner. It serves as an antidote to the everyday suffering we all face—a brief escape from the internal voices insisting you need to do more and be more. Yoga Nidra reveals the ultimate truth...that you are already enough. In this 10-week course, we will explore the science behind Yoga Nidra and its effects on the brain. Each week, we will focus on one aspect of Yoga Nidra to understand its significance to the whole, and you will engage in guided mindfulness practices to enhance your understanding.
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PLEASE NOTE: This will be a practice-focused course; all participants must safely move from standing to kneeling to lying on the floor. 
​SUPPLIES REQUIRED: a yoga mat, two 4” yoga blocks, a blanket, an 8” yoga strap, and a chair.   
Download Lecture Slides
WEEK 1: What is Yoga Nidra?
Monday, September 8, 2025
HOMEWORK: BODY SCAN & SHORT YOGA NIDRA
  1. Listen to Body Scan and Short Yoga Nidra at least twice before our next class (not on the same day).
  2. Try listening at different times of day and notice when it helps you the most.
WEEK 2: Setting an Intention
Monday, September 15, 2025
HOMEWORK: CREATING A PERSONAL MANTRA
  1. Take a look at Setting Your Sankalpa Technique and Mudras, then listen to the audio meditation to guide you through the process of setting your Sankalpa.
  2. Write it down, say it out loud and to yourself, and feel how it resonates with you.
  3. Email your sankalpa to Cheryl ([email protected]) and she will help you create a Sanskrit mantra with the same meaning.​
  4. Listen to the Pratipaksha Bhavana Yoga Nidra meditation and see how it might relate to your Sankalpa.
WEEK 3: Yoga Nidra and the Brain​
Monday, September 22, 2025
HOMEWORK: INSOMNIA & LONG YOGA NIDRA
  1. Listen to Insomnia Yoga Nidra in bed at least one night before you go to sleep. The difference here is that you will not be brought back up to sitting at the end. Just listen and feel free to fall asleep at any point during the meditation.
WEEK 4: The Body Scan
Monday, September 29, 2025  
HOMEWORK: JOINT-FREEING SERIES & BODY SCAN
  1. Do the Joint Freeing Series several times this week. First thing in the morning or right before bed are perfect times, but you can also do this anytime you are feeling achy. Try combining the Joint Freeing Series and then listen to the Body Scan. 
  2. Download Body Scan PDF if you would like to have a printed copy of the body scan order.
  3. BONUS: Listen to Long Yoga Nidra at least once this week. 
WEEK 5: Breath Awareness
Monday, October 6, 2025
HOMEWORK: PRACTICE ONE BREATH AWARENESS EXERCISE EVERY DAY
1. Choose one of the langhana (relaxing) breath practices and practice for minutes every day
​2. These are perfect before bed!
WEEK 6: Dualities
Monday, October 13, 2025 
HOMEWORK: OCEAN YOGA NIDRA
  1. Listen to Ocean Yoga Nidra once or twice this week.
WEEK 7: Rapid Image Visualization
Monday, October 20, 2025
HOMEWORK: FOREST YOGA NIDRA
  1. Listen to Forest Yoga Nidra once or twice this week.
WEEK 8: The Mindscreen
Monday, October 27, 2025
HOMEWORK: GARDEN YOGA NIDRA
  1. Listen to Garden Yoga Nidra once or twice this week.
WEEK 9: The Guided Journey
Monday, November 2, 2025
HOMEWORK: MOUNTAIN YOGA NIDRA
  1. Listen to Mountain Yoga Nidra once or twice this week.
WEEK 10: Wrap-Up
Monday, November 11, 2025 

Cheryl Fenner Brown, C-IAYT

See Press for more information.
I began my yoga teaching journey in 2004 with a 740-hr training with Hatha teachers at Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, California, followed by an 800-hr Integrative Yoga Therapy training at Kripalu in 2015. I am certified as an E-RYT 500 and continuing education provider through Yoga Alliance. In 2016, I was among the first teachers certified through the International Association of Yoga Therapists as a C-IAYT. I have taught over 9,300 hours of public classes and workshops and love teaching how posture, breath, and attention can completely transform how they feel in their bodies and about themselves. Students appreciate my deeply educational approach to yoga; I weave anatomy, philosophy, asana, mudra, chanting, pranayama, and yoga nidra together for a well-rounded experience delivered with compassion and humor. Encouraging each student to honor where they are in their bodies every time they step onto the mat enables profound self-awareness. I specialize in helping people in midlife (and beyond), those with structural injuries, and cancer patients thrive.

​I began my yoga teaching journey in 2004 with a 740-hr training with Hatha teachers at Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, California, followed by an 800-hr Integrative Yoga Therapy training at Kripalu in 2015. I am certified as an E-RYT 500 and continuing education provider through Yoga Alliance. In 2016, I was among the first teachers certified through the International Association of Yoga Therapists as a C-IAYT. I have taught over 9,300 hours of public classes and workshops and love teaching how posture, breath, and attention can completely transform how they feel in their bodies and about themselves. Students appreciate my deeply educational approach to yoga; I weave anatomy, philosophy, asana, mudra, chanting, pranayama, and yoga nidra together for a well-rounded experience delivered with compassion and humor. Encouraging each student to honor where they are in their bodies every time they step onto the mat enables profound self-awareness. I specialize in helping people in midlife (and beyond), those with structural injuries, and cancer patients thrive.