Meet our Advisory Committee

Richard Miller

Richard C. Miller, PhD is the founder 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 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.

Peter Baumann

Peter Baumann was born on Jan. 29th 1953 in Berlin, Germany. After joining the musical group Tangerine Dream in 1971, he toured with the band worldwide and recorded multiple Gold records until 1981. Mr. Baumann moved to New York in 1982 and founded the record company, Private Music. He served as CEO of Private Music until 1994 when the company was sold to RCA.

Peter has been happily married for 39 years and is father to three grown children. He resides in San Francisco, California and serves as director of several privately held real estate and natural resource companies. For many years, he has focused on the exploration of well-being and quality of life from a philosophical, conceptual and experiential perspective. Peter co-authored EGO: The Fall of the Twin Towers and the Rise of an Enlightened Humanity with Michael Taft. He served on the board of CIISand Noetic Siences and is a Fellow at the Mind & Life Institute.

Peter on Being Human: "I find human beings fascinating, especially our more or less endearing behavior. Bit by bit I’ve come to see us human beings not as autonomous agents in conscious control of our lives, but as incredibly complex biological beings embedded in the process of our evolving culture and Universe. We created the Being Human conferences in 2012 and 2013 to foster exploration and conversation about the science and mystery of the human experience."

Annette Logan Parker

Annette Logan Parker is the Founder and CEO of Cure 4 The Kids Foundation (C4K), Nevada’s first and only tax-exempt childhood cancer treatment center. She leads and oversees the strategic direction for the Las Vegas-based, $40+ million dollar non-profit. She is known for pioneering and directing her efforts to transform the way children with cancer and other rare diseases in Nevada receive healthcare by creating the original mission and vision of C4K in 2006.

Having worked in healthcare in a variety of capacities since she was young, Annette has nursing and business degrees from the University of Maryland, European Division in West Germany. She is the mother of two boys and grandmother to three amazing grandchildren. She considers herself to be a true patient advocate and a “volunteer junkie”.

Annette was introduced to iRest in 2014 by her husband and has been a supporter ever since. In addition to being an advisor to iRest Institute’s Board of Directors, she holds an appointed position by the Governor of Nevada in Nevada’s Rare Disease Advisory Council (RDAC) and serves as a volunteer advisor to many local and national healthcare and community service focused non-profit organizations.

Bruce Fetzer

Bruce engages individuals and organizations to integrate inner practices in business, science and philanthropy to accelerate impact. Outcomes of his service deepen purpose, connection, and compassionate action.

Bruce's skills include promoting best practices for philanthropy, including: institutional investment management, finance, program development and administration.

You can learn more about Bruce here.

Emily Smith

Emily has spent the past decade exploring the rich traditions of yoga and meditation. She had the pleasure of acting as Executive Producer at Yoga International, a digital yoga and meditation platform, and functioning as the director of video content there for the past eight years. Her work centered around guiding yoga and meditation experts and organizations in how to craft their teachings to be digestible for remote, at-home learners, and executing those projects from concept to launch.

Emily is passionate about mission driven work in the yoga field and loves problem solving while undertaking large creative projects. During Emily's tenure at Yoga International, she was honored to produce the iRest Level 1 Teacher Training and experience the magic of iRest both first hand and through the testimony of countless students.

Yvonne Unrau

Yvonne Unrau enjoys a life and career path that is dedicated to therapeutic healing for youth and adults whose lives have been impacted by trauma. Yvonne started her professional career working as a social worker in the child welfare system. After earning a Ph.D. in Social Work, Yvonne became a university professor and studied modalities of healing not only for the children and families whose lives were touched by child welfare programs, but also the professionals serving them. Yvonne’s passion for learning and quest for accessible healing approaches led her to study a variety of modalities over the years including yoga, meditation, coaching, biofeedback, traditional “talk” and somatic psychotherapies, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and, of course, iRest. As a licensed clinical social worker, Yvonne specializes in somatic clinical psychotherapy approaches to healing trauma.

As a university professor, Yvonne has engaged in the pursuit of improving clinical and non-clinical services to better support individuals living with active trauma stressors. In 2007, Yvonne was part of a university team that sought to create a campus-based support program for college students who aged out of foster care. She led the effort to create a model student support service program, which quickly grew to be one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the country. Her efforts expanded to create a statewide network to aid other college campuses in the start-up of similar programs. Additionally, Yvonne and her team created a life coaching model to support the success of college students with foster care histories. Since 2013, the Fostering Success Coaching model has trained higher education and child welfare professionals across the United States.

Yvonne is a Certified iRest teacher who regularly enjoys assisting iRest training and events. You can learn more about Yvonne here.

Tracee Stanley

Tracee Stanley is the author of the bestselling book Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity and the forthcoming The Luminous Self: Sacred Yogic Practices & Rituals to Remember Who You Are - Oct 2023 by Shambhala Publications. Tracee is the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than 25 years of studentship in Sri Vidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. As a post-lineage teacher, Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. Tracee is gifted in illuminating the magic and power found in liminal space and weaving devotion and practice into daily life. Find out more about Tracee.