Episode 53: The Healing Power of Yoga Nidra – Featuring Kamini Desai

Michelle: Welcome to the “In Flow” podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Bosch. In today’s episode, we are going to be talking about transformational sleep or yoga nidra. And my guest today is Kamini Desai. I am so excited to share this episode with you guys.

Hi, I’m Michelle Bosch, real estate investor, mom, wife, and host of the “In Flow” podcast. And I’m passionate about helping women invest in land and apartments. Join me each and every week for real estate investing strategies and interviews with thought leaders that will leave you inspired and ready to step into flow, for inflows of cash, inflows of ease, and inflows of grace in your life. Now, here on YouTube are the video versions of my podcasts. And in order for you to get my latest information, please go ahead and subscribe. And now, let’s go.

Welcome back to the “In Flow” podcast. In today’s show, I have an amazing woman with me today that I met back in 2011 at my yoga studio back then when I was doing teacher training. Her name is Kamini Desai, and she is an expert in this transformational sleep, you know. She is a Ph.D. and Executive Director of the Amrit Yoga Institute. She is an expert in yoga nidra meditation, in relaxation, in yoga therapy, in artful living. And her practical and accessible teaching style, you know, back then was incredibly profound for me. It really touched me, and I know it has done that for countless others. In 2012, she was awarded the title of Yogeshwari. Am I pronouncing this correctly?

Kamini: Yogeshwari.

Michelle: That. Woman of yogic mastery for her keen ability to bring ancient elimination to the genuine challenges of the human experience. Her clients have included, you know, companies such as Sony, Kellogg’s, KPN Telecom, Mars Confectionary, the Department of Corrections, and departments of the Netherlands government. Kamini, welcome so much, you know, to “In Flow.” I’m so excited to have you here.

Kamini: Thank you. Pleasure to be here.

Michelle: Yes. I have been looking forward to it because as I was telling you before we started, you know, our recording, this podcast is not just about making money. Yes, there is this element of real estate, you know, that is my background that I bring, but I want the podcast also to be a bridge between the spiritual or the tangible and the not so tangible. And, you know, all entrepreneurs deal with stress. And because we can’t see it, because it’s not something that we put into our bank account or take out of our bank account, you know, it’s not as tangible, but it affects us all on a daily basis. And I know that, for me, you know, having tools to manage my stress, such as meditation or yoga nidra, have been incredibly instrumental and have singlehandedly helped me manage my stress, have helped me manage physical illnesses, the roller coaster of the highs and lows of an investment. I am right now purchasing 158-apartment building, and I’m, you know, trying to put financing together, and working with lenders is like a game of whack-a-mole. Every two seconds, another mole comes up and you have to whack it and, like, your nervous system is in constant fight or flight mode. And so, I’m excited to talk about this because it is something so easy, so portable that even if your mind has been so squirrely in the past and you have been a person that says no, you know, to meditation, this is a tool that it is so easy to do. I mean, you lay down, for goodness sake, you sleep. And so, without further ado, Kamini, tell us a little bit about how did you start…first of all, how did you stumble into yoga and into this ancient technology, to begin with? Because, you know, yoga is not just about yoga nidra. There’s so much more to it.

Kamini: Absolutely. I actually grew up as the daughter of a yoga master. He was one of the original second wave of yoga teachers to bring yoga to the West back in the ’60s. The first wave was even earlier than that. And so, I really learned all these practices from he and my mom at a young age. But right around the age of 18, you know, teenagers, I was like, “I know better. I’m gonna go find my own way in the world,” and wanted to become a diplomat. Found myself in Switzerland interning and wanting to work in the UN, and found that the world of peace is very political, and started getting depressed. And it was really then that I picked up the practices of yoga nidra again and really rebalanced my mental and emotional state and my state of stress. I was isolated, I didn’t know anyone, and this is the practice that really brought me that mental, emotional balance that I was looking for. And people in my apartment building started asking me to help them. And, eventually, I realized, “You know what? Outer peace begins with inner peace.” And since then, that was 30 years ago, this is what I do. I’m a diplomat in a way, but a diplomat of inner peace.

Michelle: That is beautiful. That is incredible, to come to this realization, like you said, that peace is very political, but if we can, you know, start with our own selves and transforming one person at a time that that is just as effective as trying to do it from the top down, from down up is just as doable.

Kamini: Exactly.

Michelle: Yeah. So, let’s talk about what is yoga nidra and how is it different from a regular meditation?

Kamini: So, you kinda mentioned it already. To me, yoga nidra is meditation made easy. So, if you’ve heard you’re supposed to be meditating, if you’re stressed out, the beauty of yoga nidra is it’s done lying down. It follows the same brainwaves down into sleep because, as we fall asleep, our thoughts naturally move further away from us. So, we’re really using the biology of the body to enter a natural state of meditation. And, really, what we’re doing is we’re following the brainwaves down towards sleep. And right at that point, that twilight zone between waking and sleeping, there’s a middle point where our thoughts are there but we’re resting in that gap between us and our thoughts. And that’s what we’re doing in yoga nidra.

Michelle: When you say resting in that gap of our thoughts, can you explain what you mean by that?

Kamini: Yeah. So, normally, you know, when we’re asked to meditate, we’re asked to observe our thoughts. And it feels like, you know, “Okay, I’ve been observing, I’ve been observing. And now what time is it?” So, it feels like effort to observe the thoughts. But as we go down into sleep, if you’re gonna fall asleep, the brainwaves naturally take you to a place where your thoughts actually move further away from you. And it’s in that gap between us and our thoughts that we fall down into sleep. It’s just a biological process. So, the only thing that we are doing is right at that sweet spot instead of allowing ourselves to fall asleep, we’re just kind of hovering in that place where our thoughts have distanced themselves from us naturally rather than trying or efforting to observe our thoughts.

Michelle: Yeah, exactly. Either using a mantra, which is either a sound or your breath or, you know, to bring awareness. So, it’s not really concentrating or focusing on one specific thing, but it’s more of a letting go and getting to that point where you’re right before, you know, falling asleep but still aware that you’re there.

Kamini: Exactly.

Michelle: Yeah. Now, what does it do to the parasympathetic and sympathetic system, you know, nervous system? And perhaps you explain a little bit about the mechanics of both of those and how they work.

Kamini: Sure. So, sympathetic is where most of us live when we’re stressed out. That’s the fight or flight. And, you know, there’s really no problem with being fully engaged in life. And I think of it as a fist, right? But our body was designed to work through a perfect balance of tension and relaxation. So, think of your heart. Your heart works because it’s perfectly tensed and it’s perfectly relaxed. But most of us, in our modern day, we have lots of sympathetic, we have the tension, but we don’t have enough relaxation to balance out the amount of tension we’re building up during the day. And so, what happens is day by day, week by week, year by year, we’re always having this little bit of excess backlog of tension that’s not fully released by the amount of rest, sleep, relaxation that we’re getting. And that’s what eventually becomes stress-related symptoms.

Michelle: Yeah. And when you’re becoming, you know, relaxed and you’re in that state, what is happening, you know, from a brain’s perspective? Let’s bring a little bit of, like, the science into it.

Kamini: Okay.

Michelle: So, what would the technique look like? Or perhaps, you know, how does it look like? So, you lay down, and then what happens?

Kamini: Okay. So, typically, in a regular meditation, you would do one technique, like you mentioned, you do a breathing technique or something like that, but this actually consists of a series of techniques. It’s a series of mindfulness techniques. So, breath, body, awareness techniques, progressively working from the gross to the subtle. So, we might do some physical stretches or tension and relaxation. Then, we have you close your eyes, we have you do some breathing. After that, we have you just pay attention like toe to head or to different areas of the body. And, really, what we’re doing is we’re progressively quieting the nervous system down and we’re really inducing a parasympathetic relaxation response. So, if our body has all that excess accumulated tension, really, what we’re doing is we’re releasing that backlog of excess tension by inducing a very profound relaxation response. And it’s actually said that 45 minutes of yoga nidra is as restorative as three hours of sleep, so it really gives that body the restoration, the rebalancing effect that it needs in our busy lives.

Michelle: Absolutely. Now, for me, as I was sharing earlier, you know, I’ve been practicing now yoga nidra since 2011 when I was first introduced to it. And I started by, you know, going to my yoga studio. Once a week, you know, I would go there and pretty much have my subscription at some point to just go there and lay down and relax. And then, you know, progressively, I started seeing the benefits, which I have to say that the benefits start by being very physical, you know, by you noticing, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve walked around all day with my jaws clenched. I’ve walked all day with my shoulders like this. I’ve walked all day, you know, with my eyebrows like this.” And you’re really noticing, you know, the physical transformation that it produces. Then, I started doing this three times a week. And now, I’m almost to the point where it goes hand in hand with my pranayama, with my meditation, and I try to do it every day of the week now, especially before I go and pick up my daughter. You know? I don’t wanna bring the stress of work and my day to pick her up. And I am a much better human, nicer person to be around, nicer tutor to do homework with, you know? And my meditation really anchors me for the day, you know, with my breathing techniques so that I am also the best leader I can be within my company, you know, the best provider of services to my clients and just my team members, in general.

So, the benefits have come, originally, you know, physically where there are areas of my body that had been holding tension for years. They continue to hold tension that I’m able to kinda release faster now than before, let’s say that way. And, eventually, that has moved into an incredible source of self-love, self-care, self-appreciation, you know, for myself and recognizing, “Oh, my God, you know, I am so scrambled, so disintegrated that I wanna do this not just for me but now also in extension for my loved ones so that I can be a better tutor, a better mom, a better friend.” And, eventually, it has also helped me kinda like peel back layers of trauma, of psychological issues that I notice now come up and that I am able to, “Okay, process that. Because it’s come up, it must be coming up for a reason.” And I’ve been able to process it and see it in a much more detached way as a witness. Like you said, you know, we’re witnessing our thoughts versus being our thoughts, being…the loss, for example, of having lost my father when I was very young, when I was nine months old, you know, that loss has been as big as the sky for me. And until I discovered, you know, yoga nidra, I don’t think I had really processed it entirely. Like, yes, you process it, you know that there was a figure that was never there, not physically, in spirit, of course, always there, providing for us, you know? But that, yeah, it started with the physical aspect. It moved on to more psychological, mental, you know, issues, emotional issues.

And then, it has evolved over the years now into also something that has allowed me to kind of, like, start ridding myself of those layers and those things so that I can really think even about, you know, “What is my purpose? What I’m here for? How am I here to best serve?” In a mind, or a person, an organism in constant state of stress and in panic mode, in fight and flight, you know, how can you thrive if you’re just, you know, trying to survive the day? You know what I mean? And so, it has evolved this practice into helping me find…as a result of getting rid of a lot of stuff, and I continue to get rid of stuff, it’s a work in process, find that I am, you know, stepping into new visions, into new things, into new ways, you know, to be of service to others. And so, it has been a progression of benefits that are not just for me but for everyone that I touch. You know what I mean? For everyone that comes in contact with me. And that will probably even be…you know, I wanna say this bravely and courageously, even the reason or the cornerstone of a legacy of generations to come that I might not even, you know, know really the ripple effect that it might have, this one single tool. So, what is happening at a cellular or energetic level that this technique is so profound?

Kamini: Well, there’s a whole lot of levels that it’s working on, and I think you named a lot of them. But, you know, let’s just start biochemical, and then we’ll go yogic a little bit. So, during yoga nidra, of course, there’s that deep relaxation response, and there’s all kinds of hormones, neurotransmitters that are released during that time. So, for example, one of them are endorphins. Your body actually releases as many endorphins during yoga nidra as it does when you’re running.

Michelle: Oh, wow.

Kamini: Yeah. I mean, that’s a huge…I mean, those are the happy hormones that gives you an intense feeling of happiness, and peace, and ease, and contentment. They’re also powerful anti-cancer to release endorphins into your system. It gives you that feeling…it also releases serotonin, which is a mood regulator. It releases the body’s version of Valium, which, you know, just calms the system. GABA, it’s called. So, it’s really releasing everything that you described. It gives you more a balanced state of mind, more of peace.

Michelle: When I feel like a cold is coming on, I do a couple of yoga nidras day. And that, you know, induced state of relaxation, the next day, I’m like as if nothing was coming, you know?

Kamini: Yeah. Well, and that’s because it boosts your immune system, right? So, yeah, all of these kinds of effects. And then, from the more energetic…I mean, there’s so many things that yoga nidra does. But one of the things that reminded me of what you were talking about is it’s very powerful for clearing what we call the mental body, the mind. Just like a dream does, but think of it like a dream on steroids. So, dreams are designed to clear, you know, all the impressions, all the emotions, all the stimuli of the day. And yoga nidra does this on a very profound level because it keeps you in these brainwave states for longer periods of time. And so, you know, all that stuff that we’ve accumulated during the day, it’s all cleared out. So, then, when you’re with your kids, when you’re with your employees, you’ve got that clear, balanced mind that’s not full of all kinds of other stuff. Your mental fire, your capacity to concentrate and be emotionally, mentally balanced, that all comes from the yogic point of view because it’s really clearing out your psyche, but also from the biochemical point of view, it literally is measurable and it’s creating measurable changes in your body and in your brain.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. And, like I said, you start by noticing that because it’s like the grass level, like the more physical and tangible. But over the years, you know, if you continue the practice, it has evolved into something really truly magical. My husband who’s like…like, anything new to him, he’s like, “Okay, you go test it out first and see. If nothing happens to you, I’ll go for it too.” And, you know, he does now yoga nidra almost daily as well. And it has been an incredible tool for him, you know, to really use it as a… Jack is really good at managing stress and I have no doubt it helps him, but also, like, of being able for himself to create, like, this vortex and reservoir of energy, you know, he’s like a complete generator from the moment he wakes up. Like, I’m a slow starter, but Jack, from the moment, you know, he wakes up, he’s a complete generator. But there are dips during the day, you know, and he’s like, “Okay, I need this now.” And he is 100% at full force, you know, after doing just a 20-minute thing. If somebody wanted to start doing yoga nidra and they wanted to start, you know, working with this at home, what are some resources that you could share that, places to go, or things, or where to go find it? Like, I discovered it at a yoga studio. And depending on the yoga studio, you may or may not find yoga nidra. Where could people go?

Kamini: Yeah. Well, a great place to start, I have a YouTube page, Amrit Yoga Institute where there are some free yoga nidras on YouTube there. I have an app which will be in your iPhone or Android app store. You just search “Kamini Desai,” my name, or “I am yoga nidra.” And there’s like three or four on there that you can try. It’s for anybody, whether you have experience with it or not. And those are great. There’s one that’s just a 20-minute in and out, you know, you’re tired in the middle of the day. Yoga nidra’s really great for balancing your blood sugar. So, just do it instead of a nap. You know, you’ve got the regeneration of your body, regeneration of your mind. It’s good for you, plus you had a nap. So, you’ve got everything in one. I also have a book, “Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep, “which if you’re interested in a lot more of the details and the science behind it or the yoga side behind it, that’s a great resource. But I would say, you know, just start with a free yoga nidra on YouTube. Try it out, see what effects it has for you. Because for most people, they will find themselves going very deep from the very first time. And that’s the other big benefit of it. Typically, with meditation, it takes a while to get the benefits. With yoga nidra, people come out and they’re like, “What just happened?” You know, they don’t even know where they went. That’s how deep the restoration is.

Michelle: Absolutely. Now, I know that, Kamini, you also have another book. There was “Love Lessons,” which I think the very first book that I read from you. Can you tell me a little bit about that book and what was the journey of that book? You know, how did you give birth to that book? Why? Tell us.

Kamini: Yeah. So, that book, that’s when you and I met. It was my first book. It’s really taking the principles of yoga, which are not just about doing poses on a mat. It’s really about a way to live life that’s more calm, that’s more peaceful, that makes us more happy from the inside out, regardless of circumstances. I kinda use the story of my life and story of the lessons of my life through love to demonstrate how to use these principles in life. So, you got some dirt on me. But really about how to practically apply these principles in the big place that most of us find it challenging, which is relationships. So, it goes a lot into, you know, how to use relationships as a way to learn about yourself and the other, how to know when it’s time to leave a relationship, you know, all those kinds of things. How can you use it in the best way. So, it’s very personal. But a lot of people tell me they find themselves in it, which was the whole purpose of it, was to, “Let’s tell the truth, people, here about what relationships are like and what we’re like inside.”

Michelle: Now, since we’re talking about relationships and basically using, you know, a tool such as, say, yoga nidra, or meditation, or the whole spectrum of tools in the tool bank of yoga to get to know yourself better, how was your relationship, you know, growing up, for example, with your parents? You said you are the daughter of a guru. How was that? And, yeah, tell me.

Kamini: Yeah. I mean, I think now I look back and I’m very grateful for everything that I got from my parents. And I think anybody, regardless if their dad or mom is a guru or not, it doesn’t really matter, you’ve gotta go through your own stuff. You know, and the subtitle of the book is, “Knowledge is only half the journey.” So, you can have all the right knowledge and the right experiences, but until we’ve lived the life and that knowledge becomes wisdom, it’s of very little use. So, I would say, you know, my parents were pretty much like probably anybody else’s parents. They had their strengths, they had their weaknesses. And even if we have the most perfect parents, it’s not what they do, it’s what we do with what they did. You know, it’s what we made out of it, what we interpreted from it. And that’s the big takeaway, you know, it’s the things that affect us in our life is not necessarily what happened, but how did we choose to take it. Because you could have two people, same exact circumstances, one takes it in a positive way, one takes it in a negative way. But who did that? We chose that, right? So, that gives us the power.

Michelle: Yeah, yeah. Now, the second, I think, relationship that I wanna ask is love relationships, you know, in general. And, for me, I think on the outside and material world and on the inside interior world, my relationship and my partnership of almost 22 years now, you know, with my husband has been the foundation, that collaboration has been the foundation of everything that we’ve been able to create on the outside, you know? And so, how has yoga been instrumental for you? Because I kinda stumbled into it, like I said, in 2011, and it’s helped, you know, us understand each other so much more, or me understand myself so much more in the context, you know, of this relationship. But what are some practical things, for example, where you’ve said, “Oh, my God, this has been the one thing that has helped me in this relationship with my husband or with a love that didn’t turn out,” or, like you said, “to help me realize that it’s time for me to let go of this and release this?” Kinda like how you release stress when you’re going through yoga nidra, you know? Can you bring some parallels there?

Kamini: Sure. Well, one of the things that comes to mind is…and this is a place where yoga nidra is actually really powerful, is…you know, we all come with our baggage, we all come with our incomplete past. And one of the things that we all have to remember…we know it, but it’s about remembering in the moment when it’s happening…is that we’re often not interacting with each other as we are now, we’re interacting with each other’s incomplete past. So, one person says to another person, you know, “Can you do the laundry?” And the other person says, “It feels like you’re trying to dominate me.” But that may be a reaction from, you know, how they felt when they were five years old. And then, you don’t do the laundry, and then the other person feels like, “You don’t respect me,” but that doesn’t have to do with now, that has to do with when they didn’t feel respected in the past. And so, we’re both constantly triggering each other, whether it’s a love relationship, it could be boss, employee, it doesn’t matter, you know? And it’s to take the opportunity, to not lose the opportunity to see, “Okay, what is this telling me about myself? What is in here that’s incomplete that’s being triggered?” And it’s not to say that, you know, they’re blameless, but I’m just saying don’t lose the opportunity because they’re showing us something about ourselves that we otherwise could not have seen. And what’s said…I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard this, is, “Groups of souls come in together to do this for each other.” And that sounds really romantic, but it doesn’t always feel beautiful…

Michelle: I know.

Kamini: …does it? Yeah. But it’s a huge opportunity. And I’m sure, after 22 years of being together, you’ve got that one down.

Michelle: No. It’s a work in progress.

Kamini: Yeah, yeah, I got it. Yeah.

Michelle: That’s a work in progress. There’s always new things, you know, or new flavors of it, of the lesson being repeated. I’m like, “Okay, I guess I still haven’t sorted that one out,” you know? [inaudible 00:29:57].

Kamini: Yeah. People will say to me like, “Well, I’m not done. I mean, I thought it was gonna be over,” but, you know, on the other hand, what else would we be doing? So, that’s…

Michelle: Yeah. Which reminds me…and this…I’m gonna pull in a little bit of yoga nidra again here, you know, because, right now, as I was saying, the lesson is coming back in a different flavor, I may have not gotten the lesson. Can you explain a little bit about why that could be? Why could we, in the context of specifically samskaras, why could the lesson be coming back again and why do we experience that sometimes? Yeah.

Kamini: Yeah. So, samskaras, thing of them, in English terms, think of it as core beliefs or core impressions that we picked up. And they actually sit at the core of our consciousness, and they act, very often, outside of our conscious awareness, but they have us keep reacting to the present moment as if from the past. So, we keep trying to…you know, our parents could’ve passed away, and we’re still trying to prove to them that we’re good enough. So, that’s what a samskara or this impression will do. It works at the core of our consciousness and it kinda has us on autopilot in certain ways where we’re still acting the same way, that same repetitive way from the past without necessarily questioning like, “Is this actually working for me?” So, the main benefit of yoga nidra, the one unique benefit of yoga nidra is it actually has the ability to reach into the core of our consciousness and shift things from there. So, it’s like what you said, you’ve noticed the shifts in you. You’re still you, but a calmer, more balanced, better version of you. Yeah.

Michelle: Yeah. A more patient me, for sure, is what I notice. Yeah, I had completely missed that point, you know, the samskaras. It’s like habitual patterns that we fall into, you know, that they’re so habitual, that we don’t even, like you said, we don’t notice it anymore, and it’s unconscious, and then it takes a little bit of distance to be able to even notice them. And it’s reprogramming, like you said, at the core. How is that doing it? I mean, is this in, like, our reptilian parts of our brain that it’s doing this when you said at the core, or where is it, you know, going in and kinda like short-circuiting that process?

Kamini: Well, one of the big areas that it’s working with is the prefrontal cortex, which is what calms the amygdala. Exactly. So, it’s allowing us to have a little bit more distance and to act from the adult rather than the wounded child who’s still on that old circuit. So, a strong prefrontal cortex, which is what the yoga nidra builds, allows us to have a different ability to go, “Okay, that was the way I used to act. Is that what is most skillful in this moment? Is that how I wanna behave right now?” So, it just gives us more choice.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. Talking about choice. So, what are you choosing to be excited about these days? What is Kamini excited? I know you, you know, work with big companies, you’ve taught so many people across the globe, the ancient practices and tools of yoga, in general, and yoga nidra. What are you excited about? What’s the next big project? What does your heart rejoice for these days?

Kamini: Well, you know, the thing that I’m seeing, whether it’s corporate, whether it’s with the app or the book, I’m seeing people, all kinds of people who normally never would have been interested in this stuff, asking these questions, you know, “How can I be more relaxed? How can I be more happy? I know that it’s not just about having the wealth from the outside. I know it’s about having connection and peace inside.” And people are getting that, you know, across the board, all kinds of countries, I teach all over. And, to me, that’s the awesome news, is that we’re all starting to get it.

Michelle: At a collective level, yes.

Kamini: Exactly.

Michelle: That’s absolutely correct. So, is the app already out?

Kamini: Yes.

Michelle: Is that something that we can go to right now?

Kamini: Absolutely, yeah. Search Kamini Desai, my name, and you’ll find it. Yeah.

Michelle: Perfect, awesome. Now, how have these tools helped you? And I know we’ve talked about relationships. But in prosperity specifically, when it comes to moeny, how have these tools shaped your ability to manifest prosperity into your life?

Kamini: Yeah. So, you know, one of the things that yoga and yoga nidra talks about is that our core consciousness, whatever we have repeatedly thought, whatever we have repeatedly done, basically creates a frequency. And that frequency attracts to us, you know…think of…and even physics will say the same thing, this quantum field. Whatever frequency we hold, that’s telling the quantum field what to manifest. So, if we’re holding a frequency of a fear of betrayal, what we will tend to manifest is the fear of betrayal. If we’re holding the frequency, “The universe wants to support me in every single way,” that’s what we will tend to manifest. But it can’t just be a frequency that we kind of superficially put on deeper underlying fears, it needs to be that shift from the core consciousness where, truly, we are embodying that frequency, from the top of our head to the tip of our toes, from the inside out. And when we truly carry that frequency, that’s when stuff just…we’ve all had it, when stuff just starts to manifest.

Michelle: Yeah, synchronicities, like things aligning. Yeah, yeah, I totally get it. And even, like, right now, as you spoke, you know, so many cultural also samskaras or habitual ways of thinking and being that are unconscious, for me, coming at it from the business perspective…you know, my husband’s originally from Germany, an incredibly safe society, very, I would say, honest society. Even though nobody checks whether you bought a ticket for the train, everyone buys a freaking ticket for the train. Try to do that in South America, you know, Central America, where I’m from, nobody would buy, you know? And so, I remember when we first started building our businesses, I was always coming from the point of view of like, “You need to earn my trust. I distrust you because I know that you’re trying to take advantage of me in one way, shape, or the other. And Jack always came to it with this like, “Oh, my gosh. We’re here together, we’re gonna work together. And unless you give me a reason to distrust you, I have no reason to distrust you.” You know what I mean? And the moment that there was this shift for me of, you know, being able to extend that trust first, business got easier, faster, so much easier from just that aspect and not really manifesting people that are trying to take advantage, but on the other side, you know, really attracting those people. And it’s been like a self-fulfilling prophecy of what I like to call, like, the extension of faith. I think that why I was sometimes distrusting others is also because there’s, at some level, you know, a distrust in yourself also. You know what I mean? And, at some point, you know, that deep trust started to take root and you are able to extend that trust or that faith not just in yourself to say, “Oh, my God. I have faith in the goodness of others.” And because I’m also having faith in the goodness of others, it’s almost like saying, “I’m having faith in the unknown as well.” You wanna extend it one layer out, you know? And so, it starts with you, the goodness of others, and then the unknown or the world in general out there. And that outlook from the core perspective has, like you said, been able, allowed us also to manifest things quicker, things that should’ve been unsurmountable, you know, the right relationships, the right ideas, the right connections. Yeah. I get what you’re saying, Kamini…

Kamini: Yeah. Nice.

Michelle: …with the frequency and you basically putting it out there. Yeah, absolutely.

Kamini: Exactly.

Michelle: Now, walk us through your day. How do you bring inflows of faith like ease, grace into your life, personally?

Kamini: Well, a really nice way that I do…because I feel like my day is still full of stuff. And so, one of the things that I do is I give myself permission to not have my practice have to look a particular way. But every day, I do something, you know, whether it’s something that clears my mind, that clears my slate before stuff comes into it so I’ve already set that foundation of peace. It could be a yoga nidra to start my day, it could be a walk, it could just be sitting quietly, it could be pranayama, it could be some yoga poses. I give myself that permission. But it’s something to just reconnect me with that peace and the silence. That’s my foundation. Then, stuff comes in through the day. If I get tired in the afternoon, I will do a yoga nidra in the afternoon. That’s my usual time because it does rebalance the blood sugar, it helps keep me from going to chocolate and whatever else to keep my energy up. So, it keeps me out of the bad habits.

Michelle: Like caffeine, yeah.

Kamini: Yeah, exactly. And, you know, it does prepare you for the rest of your day, like after work so that you’re ready. And, you know, there’s like two parts of our lives. There’s the business part, there’s the family part. And to be refreshed and ready to give our family, our kids, our friends our 100% attention and energy. So, that afternoon practice is really important for me. And it’s just 20 minutes. You know, it doesn’t have to be anything big. My feeling is it’s more frequency than amount of time. So, if I’m giving myself, you know, two times a day…just a little bit, it can be 20 minutes, it could be an hour if I have it, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s just something every day. That’s what keeps me in that same frequency. And if I feel like if I hold that, if I keep the energy clear, if I keep my mind clear, stuff just keeps working. When I get thrown off, everything seems to fall apart.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. What are your top three pieces of advice for women out there? Because, you know, a lot of my audience is primarily women, either entrepreneurs or investors. And so, what are your top three pieces of advice for women out there?

Kamini: Well, I think, as women, one of the things that we have is we’re constantly striving for perfection and can be highly self-critical, harder on ourselves than anybody else would be, and constantly pushing ourselves to live up to an ideal that we ourselves have made up. And that can take an enormous toll on our health. And so, I think that there comes a time when we have to do our best and say, “Did I do my best?” And then, let it go. Rather than going back and saying, “I should’ve done this, I should’ve done that,” self-criticizing and keep mulling it over. It’s done. It’s over. You did your best. Move on.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. Now, I know that…you know, do you work right now with clients? What is the best way for people to reach you if they wanted to work on a deeper level with you? Where can people go and find out more about you, Kamini?

Kamini: Yeah. I don’t offer one-on-one sessions, but I do offer workshops and trainings in yoga nidra. So, you can go to my website, kaminidesai.com or amrityoga.org. Either one of those, you can find workshops with myself. We have an institute in Salt Springs, Florida. You can come, take an R&R, a rest and relaxation, take a welcome weekend, get some wellness treatments, stay on the lake, do some yoga and yoga nidra, get yourself restored and rebalanced. So, that’s a great way to kind of reset yourself.

Michelle: But you are in Iceland, right?

Kamini: I am currently in Iceland, yes. So, I travel a lot all over. Yeah, I’m in Iceland right now.

Michelle: Is that home or temp, or?

Kamini: My husband is Icelandic, so I’m here part of the year and then we’re in the States part of the year.

Michelle: Makes sense. Perfect. Well, it has been a pleasure, Kamini. Thank you so much for, you know, taking the time to educate us and sharing your knowledge. And I will check out the app right away. I’m looking forward to it. And thank you again. I’d love to bring you on, you know, because there’s this misconception of yoga, of it being the physical postures or perhaps it being just this one tool of yoga nidra or meditation. There are so many, you know, other avenues that you can really use, or tools in your toolkit that you can really use to kinda like cultivate your mind, you know? We all cultivate our muscles, we cultivate our mind in terms of like how do we can, you know, find new techniques to either flip more real estate, make more money. There’s always a cultivation going on of some sort, you know? But seldom do we look at cultivating the mind from the perspective of creating peace within ourselves first. And there’s so many tools, you know, out there. And so, thank you so much. And I would love to have you if you’d like to come back in another one. And we can do another one in other specific technique, you know, that you would think would be incredibly helpful for the audience.

Kamini: Sounds great. I would love to. Thank you so much for having me.

Michelle: Thank you.

I hope this episode left you feeling inspired and ready to get inflows of cash, inflows of light, and inflows of faith in your life. I welcome your reviews on iTunes. Please leave me a review and help me create an amazing community of women in flow. Thank you as always for sharing your voice by going to michellebosch.com and joining the conversation about this show. And while you’re there, grab a copy of my “10 Commandments to Living a Life In Flow.” You can also follow me on Facebook at Michelle Bosch, and on Instagram at Michelle Bosch Official. Thank you very much, and until the next one.