Our Ethics

At iRest Institute, we are dedicated to creating a space of healing, safety, and well-being for our entire community of practitioners, iRest trainers, supervisors, teachers, and staff members.

We are committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical behavior with regards to both professional and personal conduct through the education of our iRest teachers and the way we engage with the iRest community as a whole.

As our organization continues to grow and evolve, we will continue to listen to our community's feedback and review our policies and practices so that they remain as relevant, inclusive, and supportive as possible.

Below you will find the ethics-related resources and policies by which we operate. These documents will provide you with easy access to clear and useful information about our ethics criteria, how we maintain them, and how you can contact us should you wish to.

Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Policy

The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Policy outlines the ethical commitments to the client/student, public, and iRest teaching profession that an iRest teacher must agree to in order to be given, and to maintain, iRest teaching privileges.

Scope of Practice

The Scope of Practice outlines the scope of practice of a Certified iRest Teacher.

Ethics Committee Mandate

The Ethics Committee Mandate outlines the functioning of the Ethics Committee and the members' roles. We're sharing it here to inform and be transparent.

Grievance Procedure

The Grievance Procedure outlines the entire process of submission, review, and decision-making regarding any ethics-related grievances submitted to iRest Institute. It supports transparency of the internal process of reviewing grievances and acts as a manual for steps to take to submit a grievance to iRest Institute and what to expect in the process.

Grievance Form

Please use the Grievance Form to submit a grievance to iRest Institute. Please review all instructions and complete all necessary steps at the top of the form prior to submission.

Grievance Against the Executive Director Form

Grievances involving the Executive Director of iRest Institute follow a different procedure of review to ensure objectivity. Please only use the Grievance Against the Executive Director form if you have a grievance that specifically involves the Executive Director and please review all instructions and complete all necessary steps at the top of the form prior to submission.

If you have any questions for the iRest Institute Ethics Committee outside of the realm of a grievance, feel free to send any questions to ethics@irest.org. To submit a grievance, please refer back to the policy documents and grievance form above.

Meet our Ethics Committee

John Scott

John Scott is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with over 25 years of experience in Texas health and human services. He has state-level policy and project experience related to children with special healthcare needs, children's mental health, Medicaid home-and community-based services, privacy of healthcare information, public health, and healthcare quality and innovation.

He holds a master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and is also a Certified iRest Meditation Teacher and hatha yoga teacher with over 10 years of experience teaching yoga and meditation.

Tash Connew

Tash Connew is an iRest Level 2 instructor, Yoga Therapist, and currently serving as a military officer in the Royal Australian Navy. With over 20 years of military service, Tash has been deployed to several multinational operational and peacekeeping missions. She is stationed in Hawaii where she acts as a liaison between the Australian and US Navies.

Tash is dedicated to making the resilience-developing practice of yoga accessible to military personnel and their families. She shares the teachings and practices of yoga and yoga nidra in ways that help to overcome accessibility issues associated with military service. She offers online programs and teaching to active duty units. She is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys skiing, hiking, stand up paddle boarding, and swimming.

Kathleen Knipp

Kathleen is an iRest® Certified Senior Teacher, Supervisor, and Mentor. She shares her love of Pathless Yoga body and breath sensing, the texts of Kashmir Shaivism and iRest® Yoga Nidra in Montreal and elsewhere in Canada and in the US. Having assisted in the development of the iRest® Yoga Nidra teacher training curriculum, she acts as a supervisor for its certification candidates and maintains a private practice blending her background in developmental psychology with iRest to offer dyadic yoga nidra.

A former resident of Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, an E-RYT 500 yoga teacher and co-founder and former director of Global Yoga Journeys, Kathleen has been fully absorbed in the study and practice of yoga for most of her adult life. She pursues her bliss by chanting, hiking and back-packing.

Karen Soltes

Karen Soltes is an iRest Certified Teacher and Senior iRest Trainer currently living in Durango, CO. She brings to the Ethics Committee a breadth of experience and education, including a Masters Degrees in both Clinical Social Work and Education. She has worked in a variety of therapeutic and educational settings over the past 40 years and has served as the Director of the Therapeutic Yoga Program at Circle Yoga in Washington, DC.

Karen began her experience as an iRest teacher over 15 years ago at the Washington DC VA Hospital as part of their Integrated Health and Wellness Program and is a founding partner of Warriors at Ease, an organization whose mission is to train yoga and meditation teachers to work in military communities. Karen is committed to upholding standards of ethical behavior as yoga and meditation become increasingly integral parts of health care. She has been on the iRest Institute Ethics Committee for 9 years.

Harry Dudley

Harry is a Certified iRest Teacher who holds a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) degree from Yeshiva University. Harry's career has included practicing in the fields of pediatric neuropsychology, clinical psychology, and forensic psychology. He has maintained a private practice since 1993 and currently focuses on nondual and somatic psychotherapy. He has delivered iRest Yoga Nidra and trauma informed yoga at yoga studios, correctional facilities, and substance use disorder treatment programs. In his psychotherapy practice Harry integrates the teachings of nondual traditions and iRest with aligned somatic and contemplative approaches and focuses on the treatment of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Harry has provided continuing education, supervison, and expert witness testimony on ethics and standards of practice in a variety of contexts.