Yoga Nidra Teacher Training with Uma Dinsmore Tuli

This is a 60-hour Yoga Nidra teacher training with Uma Dinsmore Tuli, held at Tara Nature Retreat near Todi in Umbria, Italy. It is a yoga nidra teacher training for yoga teachers and for others who want to teach and facilitate yoga nidra with confidence in classes, one-to-one sessions and therapeutic settings. The approach is Total Yoga Nidra, which is inclusive and non-dogmatic, and which explores a range of methods and levels of experience rather than a single fixed form.

What to Expect

The in-person training runs nine full days. Sessions go from 8am to 9pm, with two hours of rest in the afternoon, a one-hour lunch break, an hour for dinner, and time set aside for tea, comfort and integration. Days combine practice, theory and learning, with partner sessions for your first practices and tutoring from Uma or Timothy Patey during the retreat.

The content covers the structure and function of Total Yoga Nidra, models of best practice and techniques to avoid, the philosophy and psychology of yoga, and the history of yoga nidra across different lineages. You will also learn restorative asanas suited to yoga nidra, safety guidelines, and how to share the practice with sensitivity to the emotional and spiritual experiences of those receiving it. At least two workshops are led by Timothy Patey.

After the retreat, you complete a case study, supported by a structured system for self-learning and three optional online Total Yoga Nidra circles held in early 2027. Two personal tutorials with Uma are included, one during the training and one online afterwards. The course is approved for professional development and continuing education by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). On completion you receive a graduation certificate, access to an online graduate space, and a listing in the Total Yoga Nidra teachers directory.

About Uma Dinsmore Tuli

Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, PhD, has practiced yoga since early childhood and has taught since 1994. She is a yoga therapist with special expertise in yoga therapy for women's health, and the author of four books on yoga for women, including Yoni Shakti and two books on yoga nidra, among them Yoga Nidra Made Easy. She is co-founder of the Yoga Nidra Network and has developed Total Yoga Nidra, Wild Nidra and Nidra Shakti. The training was designed with Nirlipta Tuli, and together they bring over forty years of experience teaching and working therapeutically with yoga nidra.

About Timothy Patey

Timothy is co-founder and Steward of the Land at Tara Nature Retreat. He has completed over 500 hours of Hatha Yoga and Yoga Nidra certified trainings and teaches yoga and the natural sciences. His guidance draws on psychology, non-violent communication and Buddhist philosophy, and his path began with time in India in 2003.

The Setting

Tara Nature Retreat sits near Todi in Umbria. Practice takes place on an outdoor yoga deck surrounded by oak forest, and the retreat has a pool. All meals are included: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Accommodation comes in three forms:

- Shared Room (Moon, Water, Earth and Spirit): twin beds in a spacious guesthouse room with a shared bathroom.
- Private Room (Sun, Air and Fire): a double bed in a cosy guesthouse room with a shared bathroom.
- Private Glamping: a mattress and frame in the garden, with a shared bathroom in the guesthouse.

Before You Go

The training is taught in English and is open to yoga teachers and others who wish to facilitate yoga nidra. No specific level of prior experience is listed. A self-paced online course, the Total Yoga Nidra Immersion Experience, is mandatory. It is best completed before the training, and it must be finished in any case to receive certification.

The set text, Nidrā Shakti: The Power of Rest, is not included. Please buy a copy beforehand and bring it. The fee covers tuition, all meals, a complete training manual, access to the Yoga Nidra Network online sanctuary, downloadable practices and recordings of the live sessions. Travel and insurance are not included.