Yoga Nidra and Small Kindnesses

Today, I am excited to tell you about my next live Yoga Nidra teacher training, Restore Yoga workshop, as well as offer you this incredible poem …

I heard Helena Bonham Carter read this poem and it stopped me in my tracks. Granted, she could read the IRS filing instructions and it would sound inspiring and poetic. 

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Small Kindnesses

By Danusha Lameris

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”

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I love the notion of “these fleeting temples we make together” the container of love made by a simple gesture, a kind word, a smile. 

To me, this poem epitomizes that fascinating intersection I like to play at and study, that crossroads between our humanness and our beingness. Here, we can celebrate the messiness of being human, knowing that behind the hot mess that is being human, there is a foundation of goodness, and compassion. 

We are Source and Source is love. 

I love practicing our ability to compassionately respond to life’s ups and downs instead of reacting to them. Practicing this essential skill through Yoga Nidra is like learning to become a ninja of life, except of course that instead of mastering nunchucks and throwing stars, you get to lie down and practice napping your way to enlightenment while drifting on clouds of bliss. When you get done, you get to go back out into the world and show up as your best, most responsive self.

To help us all practice this essential life skill, I invite you to join me for  my Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra workshop and my live, in-person and online Yoga Nidra training. 

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Live Yoga Nidra Teacher Training:

May 11–12; 18–19, Salt Lake City and via Zoom

Yoga Nidra is far more than guided visualization—it's a profound pathway to personal transformation and even spiritual awakening. In this comprehensive 30-hour training, you'll become an expert in harnessing the life-changing potential of Yoga Nidra. I’ll guide you to gain a mastery of this ancient practice. You’ll emerge with the skills to guide your students into deep states of conscious relaxation, facilitating lasting shifts in their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Whether you're a yoga teacher, coach, or therapist, adding Yoga Nidra to your repertoire will allow you to profoundly impact the lives of those you serve.

Stand Apart as a Truly Transformative Teacher: Facilitating Transformation with the Yoga of Sleep

In today's crowded wellness landscape, becoming a Yoga Nidra expert is your key to standing out. This training goes far beyond teaching you rote scripts—you'll learn the overarching principles and roadmaps that allow you to teach from the wisdom of your authentic voice. Gain the ability to dynamically craft experiences tailored to your students' unique needs. People are yearning for the powerful transformation only you can provide through the ancient art of Yoga Nidra. Seize this opportunity to become a master guide on the journey of self-discovery and radical growth.

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Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra Workshop:

Sunday, May 5th 12–2 pm at Be-ing Community

Normally this is held at Mosaic Yoga but there is an event at Mosaic on the 1st Sunday of May. So, on May 5th I’ll be hosting this workshop at a different venue:

Be-ing Community 355 N 300 W. Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

$39.

In this class we will dip into the timeless with resting poses, poetry, and a decadent Yoga Nidra practice. This 2-hour class will incorporate supported and resting postures using yoga props (provided if you don’t have them). I try to use minimal words to allow for a generous and open spaciousness. You can also expect poetry and music to help connect your soul with timeless presence.

Also available via Zoom. Please email me in advance to tell me you’ll be Zooming in.

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May we all bend over to pick up the lemons that spill out of a stranger’s grocery bag.

May we all learn to access our highest good by exploring the depth that exists in the dance between our humanness and our beingness.

And may it begin with a simple gesture of kindness, a word like … YES!

Lament Over Daylight Saving Time

Today I want to discuss some of the benefits of Yoga Nidra, how rest and napping help rejuvenate you, and how crazy Daylight Saving Time is.

It’s Daylight Saving Time.

You know what’s weird? Time. 

Yes, time. 

What’s also weird is that a helpful student chimed in to let me know that it’s not “Daylight Savings Time” but rather Daylight Saving (no s) Time. Good to know. Thanks!

Today is one of the worst “time events” that happens twice a year. 

That’s right. Today the U.S. switches to Daylight Saving Time. Well, everyone but Arizona and Hawaii. It’s nice to know that some states have kept their sanity. 

Why Daylight Saving Time?! 

Every organism on this planet has some sort of a rhythm and sleep cycle that is dependent upon the circadian rhythm, the natural rhythm of the daylight hours as dictated by the seasons. This rhythm directs cycles from when to sleep, when to eat, when to migrate, etc. It makes sense. 

What doesn’t make sense to me is the fact that as humans we are advanced enough to send Gobots to Mars 203 MILLION miles away and have them send pics back to us in real time as it rolls around collecting specimens and amusing itself yet we don’t have the smarts to keep to the natural rhythm that all organisms on this planet have been following since, oh, the beginning of life on this planet. Instead humans create a rhythm of life based not on the seasons or the natural impulses of our bodies, impulses that have been ingrained into our very DNA, but rather an artificial rhythm set to a clock that is designed to make us more productive and earn more money. 

If that were not bad enough, then every 6 months we have to mess it up with adding or taking away Daylight Saving Time. 

I don’t need to have an opinion about it … but apparently I do. 

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Putting Daylight Saving To Rest

Luckily I’m not alone here. Thankfully some really smart people like Kenneth P. Wright Jr. Ph.D at the Sleep and Chronobiology lab at the University of Colorado Boulder thinks that for optimal physical, mental, and emotional health we should do away with Daylight Saving Time and stick with one standard time, for crying out loud. (If you care about a reference for Write’s work, whether or not I’m not making this up, you can click here.)

But until we all come to our senses and ditch Daylight Saving, those of us who are in the US are waking up an hour earlier today (except Arizona and Hawaii—starkly different places but who at least share a modicum of sanity). 

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Solutions For Fatigue

So, here’s what I propose. 

More napping. 

Yes, more napping. I mean, I’m about a third the way into Scott Carney’s book about Dreams and I love how he is exploring the fact that throughout history and cultures, before the industrial revolution and electricity (light bulbs meant people could work longer), people would follow a more natural pattern of sleeping and sleep about 9 hours a night and would also take a siesta in the afternoon which follows the natural rhythms of a person’s body. 

This is both sane and healthy. 

You know, sleeping a solid 7–9 hours is normal and healthy. Then, it’s natural to start to wane mentally and energetically after about 8 hours of being awake, after lunch time, usually. This is the PERFECT time to take a bit of a nap. It’s not being lazy. It’s being healthy. 

You don’t need to nap for long. In fact, 20–30 minutes will do absolute wonders for your overall wellness. Plus, you don’t even have to fall all the way asleep. You can just rest. It’s a revolution!

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More Productive with Yoga Nidra

But what about being productive and all that? 

Well, turns out that when you follow this more natural cycle of sleep and allow yourself a sanctioned nap in the middle of the day, your brain functions even better, your emotions are more regulated and for those who care … YOU’RE EVEN MORE PRODUCTIVE.  

To boot, you have better ideas, tend to think out of the box more often, and are generally more creative and able to learn. In fact, many of the outliers of art and industry— math and science geniuses, tech gurus, writers and artists—are ardent nappers. 

Yep.

And guess what? Listening to a Yoga Nidra recording serves this need for a mid-day nap PERFECTLY. 

So as a way of compassionately responding to this insane biannual change to/from Daylight Savings, I’m offering you a free Yoga Nidra for deep relaxation. 

You’re welcome. 

And if you’d like to make this resting and napping a regular part of your life, please join me for my weekly live, online Yoga Nidra class, happening at 9 am MDT. You can participate from the comfort of your own home (hell, your own bed). We’ll breath, move, talk a little, but then the main event will be me leading you through a luxurious Yoga Nidra practice where you get practice waking up to your True Being through the process of engineering that liminal state between waking and sleeping. That’s the Nidra state. 

Truly we are waking up with the yoga of sleep. 

Even if you can’t make it live, by registering, you’ll get the replay so you can do this Yoga Nidra practice any time you want, as often as you want. 

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So next week, as your dragging your butt around the office, sluggish and tired from the time change, tell your boss that at about 2 pm every day, you’ll have to excuse yourself, that you have an urgent 30 minute appointment which involves you lying down, closing your eyes, and napping your way to enlightenment. 

Your boss will thank you later. 

If you need a note from your yoga teacher for permission, let me know.  

I’ll send one. Or better yet, just print this one =>

Hope to see you at the Live Online Yoga Nidra class and enjoy this free Yoga Nidra recording for Deep Relaxation. 

Together, we can get through this nightmare that is Daylight Saving!

Live Yoga Nidra & Worst-Case Scenario

Today, just a quick note and fun read. 

I hope you’re having an amazing week. I hope you’re opening your eyes to majesty which is around us all the time, the miraculous in the mundane, the beauty in the boring. 

I have been nursing an achilles heel injury for many months but finally was able to get out onto the trails above Salt Lake City today for an incredible run. It was like heaven!

Live Yoga Nidra Class Tonight, August 30th.  

When: 6–7:15 pm MDT 

Where: Integrative Health, 1174 East Graystone Way #15. 

No need to pre-register, just grab your bestie and head on over. 

Suggested donation is $15. I take cash or Venmo  or original, signed, and authenticated copies of John Coltrane’s 1957 album, Blue Train.

Bring a yoga mat, a blanket, and an eye mask. We’ll move a little, breath, talk a bit, but mostly get into our very relaxing Yoga Nidra practice. 

In-Person Asana Classes

When: Friday September 1st
Where: Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City (map).
All Mosaic classes are by donation. I accept cash, Venmo, (or John Coltrane records) 

Power Hour 6–7 am MDT:
An all-levels hour of wake-up yoga with an easy warm-up including Sun Salutations and full-body mobilizations, followed by standing, balance, and grounding poses.

Mindfulness 7:15–8:15 am MDT:
This is an opportunity to sit and meditate with a group of other mindfulness practitioners in a welcoming environment. It’s perfect whether you are a new or experienced meditator. 

Power 1 8:45–10 am MDT:
This 75-minute class weaves a spiritual or conscious theme into a Wanderlust format of poses which alternate between short flowing and static sequences to arrive at a therapeutic, cohesive, and well-rounded yoga experience. This class will feature warmups, sun salutations, standing poses, approachable standing and arm balances, core work, hips, and a solid cool down and savasana. I’ll be bringing the clarinet!

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Finally, the other day we were walking through the mall and as any self-respecting father would, I bought my 8-year-old a copy of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival handbook, cuz you know… you never know, and I was pleased to see him so enthralled by it. Here he is walking through the mall glued to the entry about how to deliver a baby in the back seat of a car. #proudparent. 

Well, come to find out that this book was actually written by our pediatrician’s son. Small world. Brilliant world, but small world. 

I was originally introduced to this book many years ago (so I’m happy that the family has an updated version) and as a throwback, today, I wanted to share with you a piece I wrote called The Yoga Worst-Case Scenario Survivors Handbook. Just like yoga, though it’s a little dated it’s still relevant. Also, I originally wrote it about surviving yoga in the arid climate of the Utah deserts so if you don’t understand the arid air reference, now you will. 

I hope you’ll enjoy the article and I hope to see you in class. I’ll be leaving  back for France early next week. 

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One of my favorite and most useful books in my library is one called The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

Its bright yellow hard-backed cover makes it durable so I can take it with me everywhere, and easy to find when I’m in a pinch. This Survival Handbook contains a lot of information; you know, practical and essential know-how for things like giving your cat the Heimlich Maneuver, how to escape your car when it has been completely submerged in water, and how to escape from killer bees.

Live Yoga Nidra, Live Yoga Classes, Yoga Retreat Tuscany, Mountain Biking

We’ve had a great time visiting the US and I’m heading home to Nice in only about 10 days!

I have a few more classes I’m teaching before I leave and I’d love to see you before I go. 

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In-Person Asana Classes
Friday, September 1, 2023
Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City (map).

All Mosaic classes are by donation. I accept cash, Venmo, or original, signed, and authenticated copies of John Coltrane’s 1957 album, Blue Train. Thank you.

Power Hour 6–7 am MDT:
An all-levels hour of wake-up yoga with an easy warm-up including Sun Salutations and full-body mobilizations, followed by standing, balance, and grounding poses.

Mindfulness 7:15–8:15 am MDT:
This is an opportunity to sit and meditate with a group of other mindfulness practitioners in a welcoming environment. It’s perfect whether you are a new or experienced meditator. 

Power 1 8:45–10 am MDT:
This 75-minute class weaves a spiritual or conscious theme into a Wanderlust format of poses which alternate between short flowing and static sequences to arrive at a therapeutic, cohesive, and well-rounded yoga experience. This class will feature warmups, sun salutations, standing poses, approachable standing and arm balances, core work, hips, and a solid cool down and savasana. I’ll be bringing the clarinet!

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Live, In-Person Yoga Nidra Class

Wednesday, August 30th 6–7:15 pm
Integrated Wellness 1174 East Graystone Way #15, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106

This class will feature opening to sacred space with some shared breath, a discussion about the benefits of Yoga Nidra, some pre-Nidra breathing & mindfulness practices, then a 30-minute Yoga Nidra practice, followed by some brief integration practices.

Bring a yoga mat, blanket, bolster (or extra blanket) and an eye mask or pillow.

Price $15 ($10 if you’re a subscribing member to Sunday’s class). No need to register or pay in advance. Just show up and you can pay in cash or with Venmo.

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Plus, I had the really, really cool opportunity to be interviewed by two amazing women, Danielle LeCourt and Jamie Bangerter, on their amazing podcast called The Art of Mountain Biking. 

We discussed how rest is an often underemphasized skill that supports, everything we do including sports such as mountain biking, but also the full-contact sport of every-day life. As with any skill, we need a systematized way of approaching it. I loved where our discussion went and I hope you’ll take a moment to enjoy it too. 

Listen by clicking here or click here to listen on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Last but not least, I’ve been brushing up on my Renaissance history because in about 6 weeks, I’ll be in Tuscany offering a retreat with an optional pre-treat—walking tours through Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. We have a few spots left both in the retreat as well as the pre-treat (I say “we” because I’ll be hosting the retreat with Kim Dastrup). Please grab your bestie and join us for this incredible adventure. 

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!

Starting Over

One thing I teach in my online Yoga Nidra training is the value of starting over. Tell me if you relate to this story.

I attended college back in the era of “floppy disks” and one day I got a hard lesson on just how "floppy" these disks were.

One evening, after a grueling day of wrestling with an essay I'd been writing for weeks, what was to be my pièce de la résistance, my magnum opus, and intended to be both my senior thesis AND my entry into a prestigious essay contest, I sat down at my desk to print off my essay so I could submit it the following day and as I clicked the floppy disk into my computer and looked at the contents to find the file to print … nothing. Nada. Rien.

Floppy. 

 Everything on that disk had been mysteriously obliterated.

So, what did I do? What could I do?

Sitting there at my desk, I simply started over. 

The words were fresh; I’d practically memorized the thing. 

But this time instead of wrestling with the words and ideas, they tumbled out of my brain and danced through my fingers onto the keyboard fast and fluid. This time it formed more clearly with ideas I hadn’t even thought of the first time. This time, it had soul. 

I finished the essay (again).

I graduated with my degree.

I took 1st place in the essay contest. 

Starting over can be a gift. 

Regardless of how many times you have to come back to your presence in meditation, it doesn't matter, starting over is a gift.

Even if you've let your meditation or yoga practice go, it doesn't matter, starting over is a gift. 

No matter whatever we've lost, tried, and failed at, no matter what didn’t take the first time (or several times), starting over is a gift. 

May we all celebrate the opportunity to come back to presence and start over again and again and again. 

This time could make all the difference.

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Online Yoga Nidra Training

I’m absolutely passionate about Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra has taught me more about myself, the Universe, and my purpose in the world than any other practice and I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned with you.

If you’ve ever thought about teaching Yoga Nidra, now is the time—the world needs it more than ever. Also, the world needs more qualified Yoga Nidra teachers, and this course is designed to teach you to become a Yoga Nidra expert, delivering this healing practice in the power of your own voice— because there’s no one who can teach like you can.

One of the things I’ve learned about Yoga Nidra is that even though practicing it is very easy and can lead to profound transformation, being an effective Yoga Nidra facilitator can be very difficult. This is why I’ve created Facilitating Transformation with the Yoga of Sleep, an enlightening, engaging, and enjoyable online Yoga Nidra teacher training where you will learn the art and science of teaching Yoga Nidra using the power of your own voice. You’ll also learn how to apply your expertise to acquire and create excellent teaching opportunities through live or online group classes, workshops, courses, private sessions, and even how to lead yoga retreats and other paid events. I’ll even teach you how to create digital products to sell and share your teaching gifts with the world. In short, you’ll learn how to make a massive impact while making a great living doing what you love.

Waking Up to Truth and Absurdity

photo cred: https://www.ville-imperiale.com/napoleon/nice/la-place-garibaldi/

Over the weekend, Elio and I went to the park and played a rousing game of Zombie Hide And Seek. This is a game that Elio invented where the zombie (me) chases the cute little boy (Elio) and if the zombie catches the cute little boy, then the zombie must carry said cute little boy off to his zombie cave and put him down to wait to be eaten, but not immediately because the zombie needs to take a little nap after all that work of catching a little boy. So, before taking his lunch, and to savor what will surely be a fine meal cuz it’s not every day that you get to eat the delicacy of a cute little boy, the zombie falls asleep whereupon the cute little boy inevitably escapes from the zombie’s cave (again) and the zombie must therefore find the little boy anew if he wishes to have his lunch. 

After 90 minutes of this zombie not eating his lunch business, both zombie and cute little boy had become quite famished and decided to abandon this morbid game of deprivation and actually seek some more reliable calories. 

We ventured to one of our favorite outdoor cafes located at Place Garibaldi—a square honoring the birthplace of the Italian revolutionary, general, and patriot, Giuseppe Garibaldi. In case you need a history refresher, this is the guy who is credited as Italy’s greatest national hero, a guy who united Italy to what we know of as Italy today, and a true master of strategic advantage. 

Elio and I decided to go to this particular café in Place Garibaldi partly because it was close to the park but also because they serve very good sourdough pizzas and, dare I say, the best burger in town. It’s the kind of burger that you can’t put down, both because it’s so delicious that you can’t stop eating it, but more urgently because it’s so messy that it becomes “strategically advantageous” to just keep it nestled in your hands until you have enjoyed every last morsel. 

After eating this burger, one is left in desperate need to wash their hands (and perhaps entire face … and maybe shirt). No, a simple dinner napkin won’t do. In fact, 5 dinner napkins won’t do. And if after one has finished Nice’s finest burger and is in dire need to freshen up but the café bathroom is occupied, one may be forced to venture instead to the nearby fountain that circles the formidable statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi leaning on his sword in triumph, so that as one washes the grease from their face, he may look down upon you, reveling in a worthy burger victory, won by strategic advantage no less, and nod his silent approval, probably while thinking, “Yes, this my legacy to celebrate such a victory.”

Though Elio and I shared some pizza and fries, we noticed a guy at the table next to us who was tackling the infamous burger. We are always working on good restaurant manners with Elio so when Elio saw the guy next to us wrestling with his burger, he commented on the grease dripping down his chin and mentioned how he lacked resto manners. Having personally eaten this burger, I offered a little compassion as I mentioned how difficult it was to keep this meal polite. 

As we were leaving the cafe and walking under the approving but stoney gaze of Giuseppe “Strategic Advantage” Garibaldi, Elio announced that he’d like to see something really incredible that day. At the risk of being a little didactic, I told him that if he had the eyes to see it, he would surely witness something extraordinary, that we are continually surrounded by the miraculous, the sublime, and the unbelievable, it’s just that often we don’t take the time to notice. 

Later that night as I was putting him to bed—the lights off, our list of gratitudes recited— there was a moment of quiet where I could sense that Elio’s brain was whirring. Soon his little voice broke the pregnant silence.

“Papa, I didn’t see anything amazing today.”  

“If you have the eyes to see them, there are incredible things happening all the time. With the right kind of vision, everything is amazing.”

“Whaddya mean, Papa?”

So, perfectly poised for a bedtime story, I retold an abbreviated version of the Shiva Shakti story I love to tell …

In the beginning, even before the Universe began, there was only Shiva and only Shakti. Shiva was all consciousness and spirit and Shakti was all movement and matter. She was the dancer and he was the watcher. 

All Shiva wanted was to continually watch his beloved Shakti with his lidless 3rd eye positioned in the middle of his forehead. All Shakti wanted to do was to dance for her beloved, continually moving and enticing his awareness. 

Well, their love grew and grew until they felt that they were on the verge of transforming in some incredible way but didn’t know exactly how until one day, Shakti decided to dance around behind Shiva and place her hands over his eternally open 3rd eye. 

Boom! Never had the balance between consciousness and energy been so one-sided and suddenly, everything exploded in a massive ball of unfettered energy. Shakti was reeling through space but eventually found terra firma on earth but was devastated when she couldn’t see her beloved Shiva. As she roamed the earth, she thought she heard his voice in the babbling of the brook and in the rustling of the trees, but each time she looked and called out to him, she saw nothing and this made her increasingly very, very sad. 

One day, she was walking and everything on the earth was so alive and beautiful: the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the bugs were creeping (read: 6-year-old audience) and everything seemed so perfectly perfect. Then, she heard it again, the sound of Shiva’s voice but this time, Shakti decided that she would do something different. This time, instead of calling and looking outward for Shiva, she sat down, closed her eyes, and went inside. 

Soon, she heard the sound of her beloved again and the more she listened, the louder it became. Eventually, she could hear the unmistakable and steady voice of her beloved Shiva, “Shakti! Babe! Shakti!”

Elio: “Did he REALLY say that?!”

Me: “Shh! It’s MY story, I can tell it how I want to.”

Shiva continued, “Babe, I’m right here. I’ve never left. Nothing in the Universe can exist without me the same way nothing can exist without you.” Then after a long pause, Shiva said, “Look what we made with our love.” At this, Shakti opened her eyes again and she no longer saw ordinary birds and bugs and sunshine but rather saw herself and shiva dancing in the miraculous form of every object in the Universe. Suddenly, every object in the entire Universe was amazing. 

“What?! You mean the birds are God?” Elio said with incredulity 

“Yep.”

“Bugs are God?!”

“Yep, and guess what else is God.”

“What.”

“The guy at the restaurant eating the sloppy cheeseburger with grease dripping off his face is God.”

With this image in our brains, the darkness exploded with unrestrained laughter and for several minutes we were both seized with the spasm of hilarity, tears streaking our faces, our hands clutching our stomachs as if to control this bucking bull of truth meets absurdity. 

It took several minutes before we could calm down enough for Elio to fall asleep. And as I lay next to Elio listening to his soft breathing deepen into sleep, I silently prayed that he’d wake up the next day, rub the sleep from his eyes, and see a little better the miraculousness of each dawning day.

May we all learn to see the Divine in everything we encounter, first within ourselves and then in short order everyone else. And may we learn to love and laugh as our own story of waking up unfolds, invariably steeped in both truth and absurdity.