At The Crossroads: Pt 2 Magic At The Crossroads

After my Riviera retreat, my family and I headed to one of the European cities we love the most, Florence, Italy where I’m sitting now, processing and writing as I look out the window listening to songbirds flit through a dusty Tuscan sunset as it glows upon the gardens and statuary of this stately, old growth neighborhood just outside of the Porta Romana. 

My journey to both France and Italy has taught me about different angles of the pilgrim’s journey to the crossroads so I’m going to share both angles both in this message and my next. 

In my last message, I wrote about the magic that comes at the crossroads of giving and receiving heart-felt service. Today, I want to explore how retreats are more than just nice things to do—they are transformational when you're on a pilgrim’s journey at a crossroads of life.

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Disruption At The Junction

Over the course of many years, the themes of crossroads and pilgrims have woven their way into my personal spiritual evolution. Naturally, the theme of the crossroads has found their way into my writing and teaching, including my most recent retreat to the French Riviera.

And let’s get real—we are all at a crossroads in one way or another, be that a transition of stage of life, of our spiritual practice, of relationships, work, or myriad other things. At a crossroads, we are often not sure where to go next, what direction to turn, or even how we got to where we are in the first place. Often, it’s hard to be at a crossroads because it means change, transformation, metamorphosis. 

And generally, people don’t like change. 

Yes, when life is changing, it can often feel disruptive but I believe that’s exactly the point. Being at a crossroads is a catalyst for transformation precisely because it means stepping away from what’s familiar—familiar yet often broken. The process of being at a crossroads launches us headlong into the unknown, setting off on a pilgrim’s journey with a head full of questions and a heart full of faith. 

Magic At The Crossroads

Though being at a transition point in life is often uncomfortable, both life and yoga have taught me something indispensable—magic always happens at the crossroads. 

A truly beautiful way of engaging with whatever magic is at whatever turning point you might be at, is to come on a retreat.

What Is A Pilgrim?

It’s true, yoga retreats are a lot of fun, but they are also a lot more than that.

“You’re not tourists, you’re pilgrims,” Nórín said.

Last year while hosting a yoga retreat in Ireland (I know, rough life) we were treated to a day with poet, author, singer and storyteller, Nórín Ní Riain and her son, singer, poet, and performer Moley Ó Súilleabháin. Her declaration about being pilgrims rather than tourists articulated something I’d been chewing on for a while, something essential: I’ve been leading retreats for over 2 decades and know how transformational they can be—more than just a vacation with yoga sprinkled in. 

With her words, it finally dawned on me that these retreats are pilgrimages. 

A pilgrim is often someone who finds themselves at a transition—sometimes chosen, sometimes not—and is either willing or compelled to leave the comfort of their routine to find some illumination on a journey that becomes holy.

A pilgrim is willing to search, to search with a question, one that may start the journey or perhaps a question that is illuminated or clarified en route. 

A Pilgrim has faith in the unknown and wields weapon-grade curiosity and humility to greet whatever comes around the next corner. 

A pilgrim evolves from a state of searching to one of constant arriving, often within the same foot step. 

To the pilgrim, every stone is sacred along the path.

Why Retreat?

Perspective 

So why must a pilgrim retreat? Can’t transformation be done at home? I mean it would save a helluva lot of time and energy and money.

Quite simply, one of the biggest things a retreat does for you is to help you get out of your routine. Getting out of your routine is essential for discovery and transformation because, like Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same state of mind that created it.”

To change your circumstances, you must first change your state of mind and one of the most effective ways of doing that is to get outta Dodge. 

Getting away gives us perspective. I’m not alone here—Hemingway understood this. Get this: Hemingway couldn’t write A Moveable Feast his book about living in Paris while in Paris. He needed to retreat to Cuba (so Hemingway) and Ketchum, Idaho (random, love it!, and also so Hemingway) in order to gain both clarity and perspective about what to write.

Do you resonate with this? Have you ever found clarity on an issue by simply getting some space from your routine?

I mean, I’m currently working on a piece that I’ve been trying to write for about, oh … 15 years! As I started to write it, I just kept getting blocked over and over until I had to leave it alone until just recently.

Now I understand that at the time, I just didn’t have enough space from and perspective of the events I was trying to write about. How can you write about something that hasn’t finished yet—you don’t know the ending, what it all means, or even when to pause, take a breath, and say, “Yo, can you even believe how crazy this is?!” 

A retreat gives us clarity by helping us get out of our old routine precisely to gain perspective. It’s almost like sitting in the airplane and looking out the window gives us the perspective to see our life from 10,000 feet.

Presence

Another thing that a yoga or meditation retreat does so well is to anchor you to presence, the part of yourself that has all the answers. You gain presence not only through the many yoga and meditation practices, but also, and perhaps especially, because being out of your comfort zone—in a different country, language, cultures, climate, etc.,—stimulates your senses and activates the wisdom of your presence.

And speaking of accessing our most vital sense, in classic novella, The Little Prince, the wise fox drops this truth bomb when he says: “One only sees well with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.” 

At a retreat, when we are no longer anesthetized by the every-day, our senses and hearts tend to open causing our vision to dilate with a keen presence and take in what’s really essential. 

So, being on a retreat stimulates presence, a crossroads where past and future meet. And like I said, there’s magic at the crossroads. 

Body, Mind, And Spirit

Another magical crossroads you can find at a retreat is that of body, mind, and spirit. For millennia, yogis have understood the power of this crossroads as an effective driver for our spiritual evolution as well as a reliable resource to keep us healthy, manage life’s curveballs, and navigate the predictable shit-show of the every-day. 

A retreat is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself at the nexus of body, mind, and spirit, perspective, and presence. 

As all the magic of these divergent elements converge, it illuminates the truth of your hero’s journey: the answers you were looking for were already inside of you but sometimes you need to go halfway around the world to discover them.

Stepping Off The Mat

Each morning at the retreat we met at the ocean’s edge to greet the dawn with sun salutations, to breathe and meditate. One morning, as the sun lifted out of the ocean, coloring the landscape with warm hues of peach and gold, we discussed how the practice of yoga isn’t limited to what happens on our yoga mats. 

One retreat attendee chimed in and admitted that now, she finally understood what one of her yoga teachers said about how the practice begins the moment you step off the mat. She said her off-the-mat practice began the moment she said yes to this retreat. 

She discovered my Riviera retreat literally on the day it began. I was sitting at the airport waiting for my guests and our drivers to arrive when I got her email telling me that she lived in Belgium and that this retreat sounded so perfect, exactly what she needed, but I wished she would have discovered it a week ago. “I fear I’m too late!” 

I invited her to do something bold—jump on the next train, take a leap of faith, and join us!

And she did. 

This retreat became a veritable pilgrim’s journey for her. It was a journey of faith, having never met me before, yes, but more importantly it was a journey of reconciling and encountering many crossroads she was experiencing at that moment in her life. 

She came to the Riviera to get on her mat so that she could perform all of the yoga that needed to happen off the mat. 

Poet, author, and speaker David Whyte is a master of speaking to the pilgrim’s journey. In his poem “The True Love” he speaks to that catalytic moment when all the bullshit is burned away and there’s nothing left but to say “YES!” in the face of what you know you need to do. 

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Check out this excerpt from his poem “The True Love”: 

. . . we are all

preparing for that

abrupt waking,

and that calling,

and that moment

we have to say yes

A yoga retreat reminds us that we don’t live on our yoga mat or meditation cushion and that the true practice begins when we connect to our heart and step off the mat and into the world, one where we must keep our center, find our balance, and breathe through both life’s joys and discomforts. 

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Bringing It Home

In a retreat setting we will undoubtedly have a chance to practice responding rather than reacting to life's events, like collecting ourselves the first time we are addressed in a language we don’t understand, get lost, or encounter a new custom. 

A great way of learning to do this is with a very simple yet profound practice is what I call the WRW(R) model: Welcome, Recognize, and Witness (Respond optional). 

For example, when leading a Yoga Nidra practice, I invite students to relax while practicing the following: 

• Welcoming simple and benign objects (anything you can be aware of)—like the sound of my voice or the sensation of body—into their awareness 

• Recognizing it objectively for exactly what it is—no more, no less

• Witnessing the object, just observing it.

• Responding. Sometimes, a person may choose to then respond to the object like respond the object of body discomfort by changing positions of their body or scratching an itch or something but responding is fundamentally different than reacting. Responding is mindful. Reacting is mindless.

By practicing the WRW(R) method with relatively benign objects in the controlled environment of a Yoga Nidra practice, we prepare to do this with the circumstances of every-day life. Even and especially when those objects feel much less benign—like almost getting run over by a cyclist or missing your flight. No matter the object, we can also practice welcoming, recognizing, and witnessing—sometimes responding to— that object. Note that responding to an object is light years away from reacting to it. 

By learning to WRW(R) both the objects in Yoga Nidra and life, it wakes us up to two great truths. First, that we are not defined by the events that happen to us. And second, we may learn to respond to them from the foundation of our innate abundance and compassion rather than react to them from the loose sands of scarcity and fear. Learning to be the witness and therefore respond to life helps us wake up from the dream of identifying as life’s victims and wake up to the truth of being agents—truly the Divine itself, living a human life full of passion, perspective, and purpose. 

After all, the greatest practice is life itself. 

Like Louis Armstrong said, “What we play is life.”

Perhaps the greatest magic that happens along the pilgrim’s journey through the crossroads is that you come back home to your own self with expanded self knowledge (swadhyaya is the yogic term). 

A Remembering Not An Escape

Therefore, the point of a retreat is not to escape. It’s to retreat a while, regroup and remember ourselves—our True Selves—so that we can bring this all with us back home and apply it to our families, our work, and community. We come home from retreats with stories, new lifelong friendships, and a deeper perspective of life. 

We come back home feeling more like ourselves. 

Our family and colleagues will be so happy with the rejuvenated person that comes home from the retreat that they’ll start a fund so that they can send you away EVERY year.

May we all find the magic at whatever crossroads we may be facing in life. May you take the opportunity to retreat on your own pilgrim’s journey to find the wise inner teacher inside that distance, perspective, and presence offers. And as the airplane hits terra firma, having gained that 10,000-foot view, may we see home with new eyes, clear in the truth that the answers already lay inside of us but that sometimes we need the journey to illuminate them. 

Stay tuned because in my next message I want to talk about how the seemingly impossible challenges life throws at us can help act as a renaissance to do the impossible. 

P.S. And if you’re itching to book your next adventure, please join me for my next retreat!

At The Crossroads: Pt 1 The Spiritual Practice of Giving And Receiving

I recently finished a magical retreat in the French Riviera. 

Loved it! Couldn’t be happier with it. 

The yoga—transformational. 

Our group—was close, adventurous, and flexible both on and off the mat. 

Weather—flawless.

Beaches—pristine. We rented some beach chairs and spent the day soaking up the sun, swimming in the azure waters, and relaxed and laughed together. 

Food—Don’t even get me started with the food. 

I had the sometimes daunting task of making reservations at restaurants for 17 people for this retreat. This required that I often met the owners and/or head waiter and chef of many of the restaurants. To a person, they were kind, gracious, and passionate, not only about food they made, but also about the care and grace with which they served it. 

They even printed special menus for us, almost always in English and French, treating us like Riviera royalty so that we would experience their restaurant, food, and ambiance to the fullest for a truly exquisite and unique experience. 

The food and care we received on the retreat was no small detail. In fact, it’s exactly what I want to talk about today: the spiritual practice of giving and receiving service. 

The Art of Service

Tourists often complain about the rude service in France yet I say “Mais, non! Ou contraire!” I became aware of France’s superpower of service for the first time more than 12 years ago. When Seneca and I were dating, we traveled to Paris together and fell deeper in love with each other while also falling in love with this city. It was the perfect ménage à trois.

Paris was just so charming. Each little café or bistro we visited was staffed by a small elite team of the waiters and bartenders, dressed elegantly in their starched white shirts, pressed black pants, and crisp aprons. Also, perfectly groomed and coiffed. 

Truly they made service into an art.The server would memorize our order as if our choice for food was so interesting that it consumed their complete attention. No notebook needed. A few minutes later they would present our cafés and omelets with the most keen attention to detail—placing a napkin, refreshing the bread in the basket, graciously replacing a fallen fork as if it never occurred.

Once, as one waiter stretch his arm in to place our meal before us, I noticed a mostly-concealed tattoo receding up his sleeve that said, “w8er,” the 8 turned sideways to make an infinity sign suggesting that he was both identified with and took great pride and dignity in this work of being a server and planned on doing it for the rest of days. 

At my recent Riviera retreat, even as large of a group as we were, we were nonetheless still treated to absolutely exquisite service from everyone from our hotel concierge, to restaurant and wine tasting staff and owners, and our drivers were. 

At The Intersection of Service and Love

Some of these people and places I had met and discovered when our family lived in the French Riviera. Part of the advantage of leading a retreat somewhere that has become a second home to me is that I had a few years to discover a collection of great restaurants and wine caves and the great people who own them.

Others I met on this trip. 

But our principal driver, Farida, I met a few years ago when we were living in France. One cold, drizzly morning, Elio and I were trudging through the elements on our way to school. As the ice-cold wind and rain whipped at our faces and bent our umbrellas into unholy shapes, we arrived at the bus stop only to realize that the buses were on strike. 

Ok, so maybe there’s an exception to excellent French service once in a while but usually that’s when it involves sticking it to The Man. And really, there’s truly nothing more French than a good old workers strike. You just gotta roll with it. 

Either way, on this gray morning, we were wet and cold and miserable and getting more so by the second. So I called an Uber. 

A few minutes pass and who shows up but Farida, our Uber driver. She was courteous and professional, her car was warm and immaculate, and from the second my dripping butt landed on those pristine seats, I knew I was going to like this woman. 

Sorry about the wet seats. 

As she drove us to school, I began making polite conversation and learned that she used to work for Air France in customer service but was laid off during Covid. 

Worst mistake Air France ever made. 

Farida only wanted to continue to serve people so she bought a stately brand new Renault and started to Uber. She delivered us safe and warm to school and before leaving her car I got her number and from that moment forward, I never called Uber again. I only called Farida.

If you ever meet her, and I hope you do, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say that from the second you meet her, it’s clear that her mission is to offer not just good service but truly supreme service. 

The Art of Receiving

Have you ever known anyone like that? Have you ever been that for other people?

So, as I planned my Riviera retreat, I wanted to spoil my attendees so naturally, I called Farida to arrange personal and professional transportation for my guests to and from the airport. 

Farida and another driver met us at the airport, dressed in suits and on time—early, actually. My guests arrived on time or early so not wanting to stick around at the airport, I called and asked if there was any way that she and the other driver could come early. “No problem, Scott. We are on our way.” God bless you, Farida!

Once at the airport, she greeted me with a warm hug and kisses on both cheeks. On the ride from the airport to our hotel, I made a point to sit next to her in the passenger seat so we could catch up. As we drove along the idyllic coastline of the French Riviera, immediately comfortable in her presence, I commented again on how much I recognize and appreciate her truly excellent service toward me and my group and thanked her. She said that in truth, it gives her great pleasure to offer service, especially when it is received with such warmth.

We began to discuss how we both work in domains where we get immense pleasure from offering what we hope is top-notch service and what a joy it is to serve people, especially when it’s received so warmly. 

As we rolled past the Riviera villas, I was also very happy to learn that her dedication to excellent service has rewarded her well. Since her early days with Uber, now she has a small fleet of elegant, expensive, black cars and a retinue of sharply-dressed drivers to transport everyone from ambassadors to the kings and queens of my yoga retreat guests. Truly she treats each person as royalty.

When the retreat was over, she met our group at the hotel to take them back to the airport. After loading everyone’s luggage and escorted them into their seats, she closed the doors and gave me hugs, kisses on both cheeks, and a very nice bottle of Bordeaux (Médoc 2018, a very good year for this wine). 

If you’re ever heading to the Riviera, please let me know and I’ll connect you with Farida so you too can receive the excellent service of Farida. Nothing would give me greater pleasure. Or Frida. And you, I hope. 

I can’t promise you that she’ll send you off with kisses and a bottle of wine, but I can promise you that you’ll be treated to service that you won’t forget.

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Now, giving excellent service is only half of the equation. The other half is learning how to be on the receiving end of service. 

Do you know anyone like this—they absolutely LIVE to serve and give but have the most difficult time receiving? 

Come on, are YOU like this sometimes? 

I know I am, though I’m getting much better at receiving.

Remember that receiving is the other half of the magic of great service. 

Receiving and giving. Giving and receiving. It’s the reciprocity that makes the world go round. It’s the alchemy that allows us to transform our gifts, talents, as well as our needs, into a catalyst that helps both giver and receiver evolve in love into their highest being. 

It’s true. 

The benefit is much more than the money exchanged, the service rendered. The benefit is magic.

There’s always magic at the crossroads and this is true of the intersection of giving and receiving. When heart-felt giving is met with heart-felt receiving it conjures a magic that creates a new, third thing. 

What is it: Is it love? Growth? Happiness?

Larger Than The Sum Of Their Parts

I’ve experienced this my entire career. Whether I’m teaching a yoga class or working with a mentor on building their business, I often feel like I’m the one who is receiving all the benefits, the love, the insight, the energy. 

But in truth we are both receiving the maximum benefit and that’s why it feels so good. It’s a true collaboration. And that’s why the benefits go so much deeper than flexible hips or a functional web site and a mission statement. 

Both are giving. Both are receiving. Both are growing.

Fruits At The Crossroads

I recently finished a mentor package with a fellow Yoga Nidra teacher. Together, we figured out first who she is in this domain of Yoga Nidra, exactly who her clients are, and then crafted her message, look, and products to marry her skills and passions to her clients needs. It was a beautiful collaboration and I’m really proud of all the work she did. It was an honor to add my 25+ years of expertise to apply to her business but more than that, to be a guiding light of encouragement and to remind her that the most important answers are always inside of her. 

As we were building the mechanism for her to create the giving and receiving magic with her own clients, we were simultaneously experiencing that same mentor/student magic ourselves. 

Always a beautiful thing and I will NEVER tire of working on this deeply personal and direct level with clients. 

So, in the spirit of giving and receiving, it’s with the utmost pleasure that I introduce you to the wonder that is Amy DiSanto and Nidra Babes. You gotta check out her website. It’s a work of art and she deserves all the credit for it. You can sign up to become a Nidra Babe and find the rest and resources for you to be your best in this busy world. 

She recently sent me a letter of appreciate which I would love to share with you:

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A Letter of Reverence: Rest, Mentorship, and the Birth of Nidra Babes

by Amy DiSanto

There are people who shape your life so deeply, words never seem quite enough.

This is a letter of reverence for one of those people: Scott Moore—poet, jazz lover, Yoga Nidra teacher, and heart-led mentor. Scott didn’t just teach me how to rest. He held space for me to become. To unravel. To rebuild. To create something extraordinary from the raw material of my own authenticity.

When I joined his mentorship program, I was a woman on the edge of massive transition. I had ideas—lots of them—and also doubts. I worried about being too much. Too emotional. Too nonlinear. Too sensitive. Too "off-task." But Scott? He never flinched.

Instead, he welcomed all of me. Every session felt like a nourishing exhale. His presence wasn’t performative—it was permission-giving. He didn’t coach from a pedestal. He mentored from beside me. Gently. Steadily. With unwavering belief in my gifts. He saw my “mad skills,” as he put it. He made me feel celebrated, not just tolerated.

And somehow, he made business strategy feel sacred. Every recap email he sent after our sessions? Not your average follow-up. They read like poetic jam sessions—filled with insights, encouragement, humor, and clarity. Honestly, they were like sacred scrolls.

Scott Moore didn’t give me confidence. He gave me something better: a mirror. A reminder. A remembering. The gift of seeing myself clearly—unfiltered, real, whole. And that changed everything.

There are some experiences that shift the entire trajectory of your life—not through force or formulas, but through presence. Through poetry. Through being seen.

Working one-on-one with Scott Moore was one of those experiences.

It wasn’t a business coaching program. It was a portal—into expansion, authenticity, and ease. A sacred container for who I was becoming. And a mirror for the self I hadn’t yet fully met.

Scott isn’t just a mentor. He’s a poet. A jazz lover. A Yoga Nidra teacher with soul-deep wisdom. He brings his entire heart into mentorship—his reverence, rhythm, and radical capacity to hold space without agenda.

One of the things Scott says often is: “Everything is yes and everything is love.”

And he lives it. Every emotion I brought to our sessions—fear, grief, brilliance, joy, doubt, divine downloads—was met with exactly that energy. Yes, and love.

He didn’t fix or redirect me. He invited me to feel into the moment without succumbing to people-pleasing, pressure, or performance. He modeled how to pause without apology.

And just when I thought I was spiraling, he’d deliver a jaw-dropping truth bomb—poetic, precise, and with cosmic humor.

That’s why I call him Mic Drop Scott. Because working with him is a mic drop every time. 

We quickly created a bond built on trust and shared reverence for Yoga Nidra. It was a connection that felt ancient, familiar, and sometimes otherworldly.

His guidance wasn’t just cerebral—it came from a deeper knowing, stirred by presence, that allowed doubt to dissolve and clarity to blossom.

He celebrated my “mad skills” (his words) and never let me forget them—even when I did.

One of the greatest gifts I revisit again and again is what comes after our sessions: The follow-up emails. Not average check-ins, but poetic recaps, energetic integrations, and loving nudges infused with insight and celebration.

They captured our session’s essence with clarity, humor, and that signature Scott cadence that made the impossible feel inevitable: They made me feel capable. They reminded me I didn’t have to do it alone. And even when the next steps felt daunting, the message was always: you’ve got this, and I see you.

Those emails alone could’ve been a masterclass in mentorship.

It’s that blend—deep listening, real business strategy, spiritual presence, poetic impact—that makes Scott more than a mentor.

And at one point—(in what I imagined would be our last call) without hesitation or condition—he said:

“You have a biz wingman for life.”

That gift was everything. It wasn’t just the mentorship—it was the certainty I wasn’t walking this path alone. That someone with wisdom, humility, and real tools was in my corner. That kind of steady belief rewires your nervous system. It reconfigures self-trust. It grounded everything I’ve built since.

In those six months (and beyond, because yes—Scott is my “biz wingman for life”), something else was quietly, powerfully being born: Nidra Babes & Lil’ Nidra Babes.

This mentorship journey cracked open a new rhythm in me. A rhythm of rest. Of alignment. Of deeply trusting that what I’m here to do begins with slowing down, not speeding up.

Nidra Babes isn’t simply a business. It’s the embodiment of everything I learned through rest, through witnessing, through the beautiful discomfort of growing in sacred space. It's the invitation I now extend to other women who lead—moms, CEOs, healers, educators, creators—to pause, recalibrate, and reconnect with their inner knowing.

And Lil’ Nidra Babes? That’s the extension of this sacred rest into the next generation. A playful, heart-centered way to introduce school-aged children to the power of stillness, imagination, and nervous system regulation—through Yoga Nidra audio bundles and Creative Calm fill-in-the-blank stories. (You can find those here, if you’re curious.)

Scott taught me that when you mentor from a place of “everything is yes and everything is love,” you unlock more than potential—you unlock power. Real, gentle, unstoppable power.

He always reminded me that my authenticity was my secret sauce—that showing up as me is the wind in the sails of my business. That simple truth, offered with such reverence, became the foundation for all I now share through Nidra Babes.

So here’s to the people who remind us who we are. Here’s to rest as a strategy. Here’s to choosing alignment over urgency. Here’s to the mentors who don’t just teach us how to build—but how to be.

And if you’ve ever wondered what’s possible when you pause long enough to hear your soul whisper… Come rest with me.

Visit NidraBabes.com—a space born from rest, rooted in authenticity.

And Scott—thank you. For modeling soulful strategy. For honoring emotions as messengers. For proving that mentorship can feel like music.

Thank you for whispering truth in moments I wanted to run. For walking with me through the birth of this vision. And for reminding me that the path of rest, creativity, and authenticity is not just valid—it’s visionary.

— Amy DiSanto

Mille-Feuille: The Truest French Pastry

Free Yoga Nidra for Stress Recording and Script

12 years ago, Seneca and I were newly in love and visiting Paris for the first time together. 

We stayed in an apartment that was so tiny that the bed was suspended on the ceiling above the coffee table and when it was time to sleep, a system of pulleys lowered the bed down which engulfed the entire living room. 

One day we strolled about on an errand to buy some fruit. We stopped at a produce shop where you stand at the entrance to tell the grocer—the Pelé of produce, really—what you want. He might ask you for clarification about exactly when you plan on eating this fruit, immediately, this afternoon, or tomorrow, before carefully selecting the absolute PERFECT piece of fruit to sell to you.

He does not allow amateurs to squeeze his fruits or choose something that isn’t ripe, non, non!

Photo by Seneca Moore

We told him we wanted strawberries—to eat immediately. He returned with a basket of strawberries that were so beautiful, so idyllic, so bursting with color that I was hesitant to eat them.

When I popped one in my mouth, I almost wept. I was overcome with how delicious they were. 

But then it made me angry.  

For the previous 37 years of my life I’d been eating sour, pale, and crunchy strawberry— imposters—when I could have been eating these!

In addition to the best strawberries ever grown on God's green earth, while in Paris we also found the greatest crêpe stand in all of Paris. Like the produce guy, this dude’s genius was making crêpes. It was an art just to watch him do his thing, pouring the batter, turning the crêpe at the perfect moment, dressing it with Nutella or sugar and lemon or whipped cream.

Also on that same trip, one evening we sat down for an organ concert in Notre Dame cathedral and as the organist leaned into the keyboard, the entire building shook to its foundation.

Neither of us are catholic but both of us appreciate the beautiful spirit that often can be found in all religions and especially in a cathedral. But on this day, for some reason, the spirit hanging in the air was very heavy for Seneca. She said it felt like generational guilt, oppression, stiflement. We left for lighter air. 

A few years later, we were back in Paris, but this time, Sen and I were married and pushing our 3-year-old around the sidewalks and cobblestone streets in the stroller we had bought in Paris.

I have a pic of Seneca from this trip standing in the crisp early spring air, bundled up with a scarf with Notre Dame looming behind her. Little did we know that only weeks later the cathedral would catch fire and nearly be reduced to rubble. 

Mille-feuille: The Finest French Pastry

We are in Paris again as a prelude to my French Riviera retreat and so Seneca could attend a conference. We are enjoying perhaps our favorite city in the world, revisiting some of our favorite haunts and also discovering new ones. 

We ate strawberries—just as good. 

We saw the renovated Notre Dame and oh, what a revelation! Mon dieu, they’ve done such a beautiful job cleaning and restoring it. Truly a feat of human tenacity and ingenuity. Bravo!

Sen didn’t feel any heaviness in Notre Dame. Quite the opposite. We had the pleasure of visiting as they were offering Sunday mass and as we strolled around the holy structure, now the color of crème pâtissière (the stuff inside cream puffs and eclairs), Seneca had tears in her eyes as a feeling of lightness and spirit filled her soul. She’s a very sensitive soul.

I felt it too, though perhaps slightly less because our kid, now almost 10, was less enthused to be visiting a cathedral so I agreed to wrangle him. Nonetheless the feeling of beauty, purity, and spirit permeated everything. Truly magical.

Seneca even went back again for another visit a few days later. 

Sadly, our crêpe guy is no longer there with no clue as to where he is.

Paris has layers. Same Paris but it’s different every time we come, different layers. 

There’s even a french pastry called mille-feuille which means a thousand layers. Fitting.

I believe that many things in life occur in layers. Not linearly. We’ve been to Paris dozens of times now—I mean, we lived in Nice, France for 3 years and zipping up to Paris on a train was no big deal—but each time we come to Paris, it feels different.

I do suppose it’s a practice to experience something like Paris over and over again but try to see it anew each time. Even though we have our Paris favorites, each time we come we try to search for something new—like a new crêpe stand! 

It’s serious but happy work. 

I’m up for the task.

But regarding layers, I think that life works like this. So often it feels like we come back over and over to the same damn thing—the same feelings, the same situations, the same kinds of relationships—and yet it’s not the same. We are different. The event, feeling, or person has changed. 

Same Damn Apartment

I love to tell the story about one of my guy friends who fell in love with another friend of mine and so he moved out of his apartment to move into her house with her. After 3 years, they broke up. He needed a new place to stay so moved back into his old apartment building—same floor, same apartment layout, just across the hall. 

He called me up one day, lamenting, “Dude! I’m in the same damn apartment, just across the hall.” 

“But don’t you see (young padawan) … you’re across the hall.”

Yes, it was the same apartment but also completely different. He was different, his situation was different. He was now experiencing the bookend of his previous relationship and where he was at that moment was leagues apart than where he began.

Of course, this takes perspective to see life like this and again, it’s a daily practice to learn to see something like stages of your life or events with a level of newness and even to learn to appreciate the many layers of life. 

Live Yoga Nidra Class: Layers

This week, I’ve decided to explore the theme of layers in my online Yoga Nidra class. I’ll be hosting my yoga retreat in the French Riviera so I’ve pre-recorded this session. You can register for this class like normal except at the time of class you will get the recordings. Same thing except you won’t see the other participants. Oh, the layers! Brilliant!

Class will be live the following week, but I’ll be Zooming in from Florence, Italy. Mama mia!

This week’s practice on Layers is a relaxing and illuminating practice that allows us the chance to practice seeing the many layers of life. You don’t need to know anything about yoga or meditation or Yoga Nidra to do this class. I share a few excellent poems that speak to our theme, we do some gentle poses (optional but nice), we breathe together. Then I invite you to get super relaxed and lie down as we settle into a long and relaxing Yoga Nidra practice. In this practice you’ll have the chance to explore having “first sight” and noticing the layers of the events and circumstances of our lives.

Please join me!

I’d love to hear about the layers of your life. How have you noticed life’s many layers?

Respond with a comment and let me know. 

In the meantime, here’s a poem about layers that is as delicious as real Parisian strawberries. 

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The Layers

BY STANLEY KUNITZ

I have walked through many lives,

some of them my own,

and I am not who I was,

though some principle of being

abides, from which I struggle

not to stray.

When I look behind,

as I am compelled to look

before I can gather strength

to proceed on my journey,

I see the milestones dwindling

toward the horizon

and the slow fires trailing

from the abandoned camp-sites,

over which scavenger angels

wheel on heavy wings.

Oh, I have made myself a tribe

out of my true affections,

and my tribe is scattered!

How shall the heart be reconciled

to its feast of losses?

In a rising wind

the manic dust of my friends,

those who fell along the way,

bitterly stings my face.

Yet I turn, I turn,

exulting somewhat,

with my will intact to go

wherever I need to go,

and every stone on the road

precious to me.

In my darkest night,

when the moon was covered

and I roamed through wreckage,

a nimbus-clouded voice

directed me:

“Live in the layers,

not on the litter.”

Though I lack the art

to decipher it,

no doubt the next chapter

in my book of transformations

is already written.

I am not done with my changes.

Find Your Authentic Voice: Transform Your Yoga Nidra Teaching & Your Life

From Script Follower to Master Facilitator: My Journey to Teaching Authenticity in Yoga Nidra

I'm passionate about Yoga Nidra. Since 2008, I've facilitated thousands of hours of sessions and taught hundreds of teachers. Through this journey of practicing and teaching Yoga Nidra as well as developing my Yoga Nidra teacher training program, I've discovered what truly works, what doesn't, and most importantly—why.

What makes my approach revolutionary? While other training programs want to "own" the practice and insist you teach like them, I empower you to find your own authentic voice and create transformative experiences that are uniquely yours.

My Yoga Nidra Journey: From Frustrated Teacher to Global Educator

In full honesty, I initially sought Yoga Nidra training mostly to expand my teaching toolkit. Nothing wrong with that. I just never imagined how it would completely transform my life and career.

Early in my journey, I experienced profound emotional and spiritual healing through Yoga Nidra. It gave me insights about myself and the universe unlike any other practice. But here’s the deal: when I tried to teach using my training's scripts, it felt wrong. Even my students could sense it. The problem was that I was being a rote version of my teacher and not an authentic version of  myself.

This realization changed everything.

So, I took a year off from teaching Yoga Nidra to dismantle Yoga Nidra facilitation and rebuild my own system from the ground up. This time away from facilitating helped me to discover the essence and diversity of the practice. Plus, I discovered tools for facilitating Yoga Nidra in a way that enabled me to meet my student’s diverse needs and do it in a way that was completely authentic to me.

The results were immediate:

• My classes became the most popular at my studio, often with 50+ students

• Other teachers constantly asked for my secrets

• What began as simple workshops evolved into comprehensive trainings

• My online programs attracted students from Iceland to Ireland, Mecca to Montana

What was the difference? 

Authenticity. 

Instead of relying on rote scripts only, I gave people tools to find their own voice—a crucial element missing from most programs.

What Makes My Yoga Nidra Teacher Training Different

1. Tools for Authentic Facilitation, Not Just Scripts

Most programs give you scripts to memorize. I give you the many principles and tools to create your own powerful Yoga Nidra experiences such as:

• The Yoga Nidra Roadmap: A flexible formula you can adapt to any situation or client need

• Welcoming/Recognizing/Witnessing: Techniques to create psychological safety

• Radical Permissions: Methods to disarm resistance and deepen practice

• Kosha Navigation: Learn to use these consciousness layers strategically, not mechanically

With these tools and many, many more, you'll never be limited by someone else's script again.

2. Personal Practice Development

Something else I discovered is that your most profound insights will come from your own practice, not from my teachings. That's why the first half of my training focuses on deepening your personal relationship with Yoga Nidra through multiple lenses:

• History and philosophy

• Psychology and neuroscience

• Myth and storytelling

• Practical application and experimentation

When you teach from authentic experience rather than memorized concepts, you will truly share something of you with your students and they will feel the difference.

3. The Adopt, Adapt, Innovate Methodology

My training follows a natural progression that honors where you are while building toward mastery:

• Adopt: Begin with over 100 pages of specialized scripts demonstrating effective tools and principles of Yoga Nidra facilitation

• Adapt: Learn to modify these approaches to reflect your unique voice and style

• Innovate: Develop the confidence to create your own scripts or facilitate completely improvisationally

This approach makes it so you'll sound 100% like YOU while meeting the unique and specific needs of your clients.

What Students Experience in My Level 1 Training

Beyond the core frameworks mentioned above, you'll learn essential facilitation skills such as:

• Creating an effective teaching container through mindful set and setting

• Honoring each person's unique experience without forcing outcomes

• Finding your authentic facilitation voice that resonates with your specific audience

• Building specialized practices for diverse client needs

Ready to transform your teaching? [LINK TO LEVEL 1 PROGRAM]

Advanced Skills: Level 2 Training

Once you've mastered the fundamentals, my advanced training takes you deeper:

Yoga Nidra Dyads

Learn the art of facilitating awareness-based conversations where practitioners verbalize their experience while in deep relaxation—invaluable for therapeutic settings.

Expanded Facilitation Toolkit

Master advanced techniques including:

• Voice modulation for deeper impact

• Strategic use of music and sound

• Anchoring and layering koshas

• Visualization and positive programming techniques for maximum efficacy

Recording and Sharing Professional-Quality Sessions

Learn to create studio-quality recordings using equipment you already own and build your global audience through platforms like Insight Timer and YouTube.

Creating Specialized Classes

Develop customized practices for specific populations or purposes—from trauma healing to performance enhancement.

Ready to become a master facilitator?

---

What My Students Are Saying

“Scott’s Yoga Nidra Teacher Training was exceptional! I had been hoping to expand my yoga teaching practice and was looking for just the right thing. The program which Scott has carefully crafted far exceeded my expectations and has left me with a passion for Yoga Nidra. I also walk away with a wealth of resources and some newfound confidence in leading this powerful type of yoga. Scott exhibits mastery of the art and conveys a lot of good information with richness and ease. Participating in the program was itself transformative; well worth it”

— Ian Napper, RYT 200, Mindful Outdoor Guide

“Yoga Nidra teacher training with Scott Moore was like looking behind the curtain of a magic show and discovering that the magic is real - no tricks, no illusions!  When I started the course, I could not envision myself as a Nidra facilitator, and in fact found the practice quite intimidating. Little by little, as Scott’s training progressed, I was not only able to experience the magic of the Yoga of Sleep, but discover my own power. Scott does an amazing job breaking down the spiritual and practical aspects of Yoga Nidra, while also relating them to common experiences like trail running or music. A word of warning, this training requires a lot of introspection, which isn’t easy. It kept me humble, sometimes made me vulnerable, inquisitive, emotional - but ultimately, it was a source of comfort and empowerment.”

— Cat Gavriusova

“I recently completed Scott’s 4-day Yoga Nidra Immersion and Teacher Training held in Salt Lake City, Utah. I found the training personally and professionally valuable and definitely worth my time and money. I was impressed not only with the training but also with the teacher, Scott Moore. He was well-prepared and effective in his delivery. The training included both complex ideas as well as practical tools that I can use in my coaching and therapy practice. The practice of Yoga Nidra helps me be more present amidst the stress in today’s world and with my clients. The training gave me deep and rich tools that I started using in my coaching and therapy practice Immediately following the training. My clients have reported feeling centered and calm after I have facilitated a short Yoga Nidra practice. I have known Scott for many years as we were both part of the yoga community in Salt Lake City. I have great respect for him. He is an exceptional human being with the purpose of helping humans heal and grow!”

— Evelyn Skon, MBA, MA, LMFT Psychotherapist and Coach

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Your Invitation to Transformation

Over nearly 20 years of practicing, facilitating, and teaching Yoga Nidra, I've discovered that this practice is as transformational as it is accessible. The key to being an effective facilitator lies in skillful authenticity—and it's my passion to help you find your unique voice.

You owe it to yourself and your students to become the best Yoga Nidra facilitator you can be. Join me on this journey.

Level 1 Training: 

Enroll now with my my self-paced online Yoga Nidra teacher Training (50 hours)

Enroll in my next live in-person training: Salt Lake City, Utah July 31–August 3, 2025 (30 hour)

Advanced Yoga Nidra Teacher Training:

Advanced Yoga Nidra Teacher Training: April 26–27, May 3–4, 2025 (once a year only 30 hours)

Both Trainings

If you’re interested in both the level 1 and advanced trainings, reach out for a package deal.

P.S. Interested in learning how to create successful online courses like mine? Book a free discovery Zoom call regarding my mentorship program.

Become a Leader In Your Field: Teach Yoga Nidra

Who Should Teach Yoga Nidra?

Want to stand out as a yoga or meditation teacher? 
Teach Yoga Nidra.

Want to be an extraordinary therapist with a powerful resource that can access ANY client’s deepest needs? 
Teach Yoga Nidra. 

Want to be the kind of school teacher who can meet, welcome, then and neutralize stress and anxiety of your students? 
Teach Yoga Nidra. 

Want to learn how to guide a team to unheard of levels of performance? 
Teach Yoga Nidra.

Want to help yourself and others resource their next-level creativity?
Teach Yoga Nidra. 

Want to learn how to make lasting changes in relationships for yourself and others?
Teach Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra is an efficient and effective catalyst for massive personal and group growth. 

Truly, anybody can do it. 

That said, learning to be a skillful facilitator, one who can speak from the power of their own voice to meet the individual needs of their clients, is rare indeed. 

My passion is not only to teach you about what Yoga Nidra is and why it’s so crucial for today’s world, but more importantly how to uncover the incredible facilitator that is already inside of you, the one who knows how to make a massive and positive impact on your audience in ONLY the way you know how. 

Yoga Nidra Teacher Training

My live, in-person Yoga Nidra training runs August 17–20, 2023 in Salt Lake City. Please, walk, run, fly, or teleport to Salt Lake City and join us. It will be such an honor to work with you.

If you’re not close to SLC (or your teleport machine is in the shop), now’s the time to join my pre-recorded online Yoga Nidra teacher training program. 

I’d love to have you join me in this conversation of understanding ourselves and making a powerful and positive impact on the world by learning to facilitate Yoga Nidra and learning to Wake Up with the Yoga of Sleep. 

Please reach out with any questions. 

Scott Moore (E-RYT 500, YACEP, RYS) is an American-born international yoga and Yoga Nidra teacher, mentor, and author. He’s been a career yoga teacher since 2003 and has logged over 25,000 teaching and training hours. He is the founder of Waking Up with the Yoga of Sleep, a method of Yoga Nidra instruction and teacher training which celebrates students and teachers in 43 countries. He is the author of three books, Practical Yoga Nidra, 5-Minute Manifesting Journal, and 20 Yoga Nidra Scripts Vol. 1. Scott teaches trainings, classes, and retreats in the US, Europe, and Asia and is currently living in Southern France. When he’s not practicing or teaching yoga, he loves to play the sax and clarinet, trail run, and travel with his family. 

Best Online Yoga Nidra Training YET!

How are you?

You’re receiving this email because you’ve either registered or shown interest in my Yoga Nidra teacher training.

Whether you would like to learn to teach Yoga Nidra like an expert or have previously registered for my training and would like to dive deeper or have support to finish this in-depth training, I’ve built a course just for you. 

When: June 10–11; 17–18, 2023

8 am to 12 pm MDT or 4–8 pm CET

This is a 20-hour live and online course designed to support anyone who is going trough my Yoga Nidra teacher training, Facilitating Transformation with the Yoga of Sleep. 

My Yoga Nidra teacher training is rated among the best online Yoga Nidra teacher trainings in the world. This course allows you to go deeper into the vast and fascinating subject of Yoga Nidra than you could with just the online course alone.

It gives you the motivation and encouragement to finish the course so you’re ready to teach when it’s done. It also provides you with opportunities to teach to a wonderful cohort and gives you personalized attention about how you can make a unique impact on your students with Yoga Nidra

Returning Students

If you have already purchased my online Yoga Nidra training, this course will support you to complete the course, offer you a wonderful opportunity to work with a cohort to practice teaching, and will allow you to receive personalized attention about your UNIQUE perspective and need for Yoga Nidra.

New Students

If you are a new teacher, you will also purchase and watch the online course in tandem with attention this live support course. This allows you to have the best Yoga Nidra leaning experience possible. It gives you a wonderful cohort of like-minded people, allows you to ask live questions, gives you the opportunity to practice teaching with other students, and gives you individualized attention to your comments, questions, and how YOU will make a difference by teaching Yoga Nidra. 

Let me (re)introduce myself or reintroduce myself. 

I’m scott Moore, senior yoga and mindfulness teacher, author and creator of Waking Up with the Yoga of Sleep, a celebrated and revolutionary style of Yoga Nidra, rated among the top 2 online Yoga Nidra teacher trainings in the world. I’ve been teaching yoga since 2003 and Yoga Nidra distance 2008. I’m also a registered school of yoga and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider. My books include: Practical Yoga Nidra, 20 Yoga Nidra Scripts Vol. 1 (included in this course), and 5-MInute Manifesting Journal. 

I’ve spent the past 20 years studying, practicing, and teaching yoga , Yoga Nidra and meditation. I’ve been teaching and mentoring other teachers for over 15 years and I’ve discovered that EACH TEACHER is unique and powerful in their ability to reach  certain people better than anybody else. 

It’s my passion to help you find your voice as a teacher and to show you how to find those students who are waiting for you. 

This course is designed to give you the personalized attention you need to maximize your impact as a Yoga Nidra facilitator. 

How this course works:

On your own timeline, you will review the contents of the pre-recorded online training and then we meet for 4 5-hour live, online Zoom sessions to go deeper, expand the concepts, ask questions and offer comments, and especially to practice teaching each other Yoga Nidra.

Pre-recorded online portion

The online portion is a robust course with:

• Engaging video lectures where we study both the what and why of Yoga Nidra as well as how to become an extraordinary facilitator that makes a difference in the lives of your students. We explore stories and myths, science and psychology.

• Specialized Yoga Nidra practices designed to help you become an extraordinary Yoga Nidra facilitator (cool!)

• PDF with breathing and mindfulness practices that you can use for yourself and print off to give to your students

• Sections about how to become a successful Yoga Nidra instructor, meaning how to incorporate your Yoga Nidra skills into an existing class, create a stand-alone Yoga Nidra class, create workshops, courses, retreats, etc and market yourself to get paid what you’re worth to offer this amazing skill to the world. 

20-Hour Live Zoom Portion

Then when we come together online, we can go deeper into the subject and practice teaching. I understand that every teacher brings something unique to the mix and I want to help you discover or optimize what your gifts are. 

When you’ve completed the course, you’ll receive a certificate of completion as well as continuing education hours for Yoga Alliance if you are registered with them. 

Included in this course is:

• 160+ page detailed manual

• Lifetime access to the complete 50-hour online training

• Lifetime access to the full audio and video recordings of the live online training

• A library of dozens of Yoga Nidra recordings

• Over 100 pages of Yoga Nidra scripts so you can start teaching right away

• A course of profound relaxation (think how much your family members and coworkers are going to love you!)

• A deeper understanding of Self through the practice of Yoga Nidra

• Certificate of completion

I believe in the principle of adopting, adapting, then innovating. Like I mentioned, you get my booklet of Yoga Nidra scripts so you can adopt the principles right away and teach quality and specialized Yoga Nidra classes such as:

• Yoga Nidra for Grief

• Yoga Nidra for Goals

• Yoga Nidra for Healing

• Yoga Nidra for Sleep

• Yoga Nidra for Stress

• Yoga Nidra for Relaxed Alertness

• And more

You’ll begin to adapt those scripts to sound more and more like you. Then using the principles you learn in the training, you’ll be able to innovate by creating your own style of Yoga Nidra done in only the way you can do it, and more importantly made for the people who are going to receive this practice from you better than anybody else. 

If you’ve been thinking of becoming a Yoga Nidra teacher this is really the opportunity to maximize your training and truly become the best Yoga Nidra facilitator possible. 

If you’ve already taken some version of my training and would like to get a refresher or some support to finish the course, this is both the opportunity to have the most support possible as well as to get the most up-to-date information. 

I’m so confident that you’ll love this training that I’ll offer you a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Please join me!