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.
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:
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
