Today's DailyOM Offerings...
January 13, 2009
Gea
Mia Doi Todd
2008
Upon the release of her sixth studio album, 2008’s Gea, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Mia Doi Todd could already claim a career stretching back more than a decade. A classically trained vocalist, Todd’s songs often feature only her acoustic guitar for accompaniment, but no matter: Her operatic vocals take charge like few instruments can, transfixing listeners with a pointed delivery and somehow slightly skewed perspective. What makes Gea stand out among her releases, however, is that Todd performs here with a small but sympathetic backing band. The carefully chosen arrangements of guitar, bass, harmonium, cello, flute, and French horn house Todd’s elegant folk compositions in lovely, airy structures, making Gea the finest album of her impressive career.
By all appearances, Todd pays serious attention to her songwriting. Her compositions display maturity, sophistication, and mystery in their folds and corners. The album opens with the epic medley "River of Life / The Yes Song," which floats in on hand percussion and looping acoustic guitar. Todd’s vocals, repeating the word "river" in a hypnotic call, take on the rolling rhythm of water flowing down rocky shores. The song sounds ancient, equally inspired by Celtic folk and Eastern music traditions. In its final stretch it rises into an acoustic reverie, a gentle psychedelic amble.
Other songs take a more succinct, but equally evocative, tack. "Big Bad Wolf & Black Widow Spider" features harmonium and French horn trading spooky, detuned phrases before Todd’s vocals enter in clipped and affected lines. The feeling is off-kilter, haunted, and strangely moving. "In the End," the album’s penultimate number, seems to be one of Todd’s most personal compositions. Strikingly simple and direct, all the more so for the cryptic and elusive company it keeps, the song details the feelings and travails of a troubled relationship: "My inhibition / Your indifference / Almost finished / I wait until the end." While she has an undeniable way with songs that pull from fairytale imagery and age-old melodic structures, Todd proves just as able with the plainspoken and immediate. With her remarkable vocal abilities and songwriting skills to match, Todd has finally arrived, with Gea, as one of the finest singer-songwriters of her generation.
January 13, 2009
Energized Motivation
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may be feeling motivated and energized to be productive in your business affairs today. This extra energy could find you branching out beyond the normal activities to be more enterprising. Harnessing this energy to make the most of it may require a time of planning before you leap. We may have found in the past that we expend our energy on the first thing we see, and then have none left for the things that we had hoped to tackle. Prioritizing your projects could help you do what is most important first, giving you a true sense of accomplishment. Today, by utilizing your energy wisely, you make great strides toward accomplishing your highest personal goals.
This may also be a good day to set things in motion while you have the momentum going, so you can benefit from the forward motion in the days to come. Even if you just leave messages for people, you’ve made the first step toward connection. When they return your call, you can continue moving forward without much additional effort. Doing this is like throwing several boomerangs out into the world. All you need to do is to watch for their return. Days when you feel motivated but no one else seems to be on the same wavelength can be frustrating, but you can use our time and energy to prepare yourself for the moment when everything falls into place. Today you can make the most of your energy to create a bright future.
January 13, 2009
Clarity of Soul
Chakra Clearing Exercise
Just as the physical spaces we inhabit require that we clear them periodically of clutter, the energetic fields that are a vital part of our being must also be cleared of old thoughts, energy, and emotions. Clearing your chakras and your aura restores and strengthens your connection to yourself and your divine inner wisdom. Unfettered by energetic baggage masquerading as fear, pain, and self-hatred, your consciousness is once again free to grow. If you find the thought of clearing your energy fields disconcerting, simply think of it as cleansing the energy that surrounds you and releasing any stagnancy. You may not be able to see the results of your efforts, but you will experience a lightness of being and clarity of mind.
You can begin by sitting or lying down on a comfortable surface. Take a series of deep breaths and allow your soul to connect with Mother Earth and the vast expanse of the Universe. Visualize your first chakra, situated near the tailbone, and imagine if you will, a valve opening there, much like a faucet. Imagine a cord dropping from your tailbone deep into Mother Earth and let everything that is stagnant within you flow through it. Let go of old energy, inactive thoughts, and anything else that no longer serves you. Ask the earth to accept what you are offering by turning this old energy into light. Continue to let old energy drain out of you until you feel like you’ve released all your energetic baggage. When you are done, imagine the valve closing. Before moving on to clear your next chakra, let vibrant terra cotta light travel upward from the earth and through the cord into your first chakra. Repeat this process with all seven of the body’s chakras. The second chakra i! s orange, the third is yellow, the fourth is green, the fifth is blue, the sixth is indigo and the 7th is violet. Afterward, visualize your crown chakra and draw beautiful, golden-white light from the universe flowing down through the top of your head. Release any worries or fears that you have been holding on to. Draw this light into your aura and enjoy the resultant feeling of peace.
To finish clearing your energy and ensure that you have rid yourself of the last vestiges of clutter, take a bath infused with one cup apple cider vinegar, one cup Epsom salt, and one cup sea salt. After completing this exercise, be sure to thank Mother Earth and the universe for their help.
Gea
Mia Doi Todd
2008
Upon the release of her sixth studio album, 2008’s Gea, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Mia Doi Todd could already claim a career stretching back more than a decade. A classically trained vocalist, Todd’s songs often feature only her acoustic guitar for accompaniment, but no matter: Her operatic vocals take charge like few instruments can, transfixing listeners with a pointed delivery and somehow slightly skewed perspective. What makes Gea stand out among her releases, however, is that Todd performs here with a small but sympathetic backing band. The carefully chosen arrangements of guitar, bass, harmonium, cello, flute, and French horn house Todd’s elegant folk compositions in lovely, airy structures, making Gea the finest album of her impressive career.
By all appearances, Todd pays serious attention to her songwriting. Her compositions display maturity, sophistication, and mystery in their folds and corners. The album opens with the epic medley "River of Life / The Yes Song," which floats in on hand percussion and looping acoustic guitar. Todd’s vocals, repeating the word "river" in a hypnotic call, take on the rolling rhythm of water flowing down rocky shores. The song sounds ancient, equally inspired by Celtic folk and Eastern music traditions. In its final stretch it rises into an acoustic reverie, a gentle psychedelic amble.
Other songs take a more succinct, but equally evocative, tack. "Big Bad Wolf & Black Widow Spider" features harmonium and French horn trading spooky, detuned phrases before Todd’s vocals enter in clipped and affected lines. The feeling is off-kilter, haunted, and strangely moving. "In the End," the album’s penultimate number, seems to be one of Todd’s most personal compositions. Strikingly simple and direct, all the more so for the cryptic and elusive company it keeps, the song details the feelings and travails of a troubled relationship: "My inhibition / Your indifference / Almost finished / I wait until the end." While she has an undeniable way with songs that pull from fairytale imagery and age-old melodic structures, Todd proves just as able with the plainspoken and immediate. With her remarkable vocal abilities and songwriting skills to match, Todd has finally arrived, with Gea, as one of the finest singer-songwriters of her generation.
January 13, 2009
Energized Motivation
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may be feeling motivated and energized to be productive in your business affairs today. This extra energy could find you branching out beyond the normal activities to be more enterprising. Harnessing this energy to make the most of it may require a time of planning before you leap. We may have found in the past that we expend our energy on the first thing we see, and then have none left for the things that we had hoped to tackle. Prioritizing your projects could help you do what is most important first, giving you a true sense of accomplishment. Today, by utilizing your energy wisely, you make great strides toward accomplishing your highest personal goals.
This may also be a good day to set things in motion while you have the momentum going, so you can benefit from the forward motion in the days to come. Even if you just leave messages for people, you’ve made the first step toward connection. When they return your call, you can continue moving forward without much additional effort. Doing this is like throwing several boomerangs out into the world. All you need to do is to watch for their return. Days when you feel motivated but no one else seems to be on the same wavelength can be frustrating, but you can use our time and energy to prepare yourself for the moment when everything falls into place. Today you can make the most of your energy to create a bright future.
January 13, 2009
Clarity of Soul
Chakra Clearing Exercise
Just as the physical spaces we inhabit require that we clear them periodically of clutter, the energetic fields that are a vital part of our being must also be cleared of old thoughts, energy, and emotions. Clearing your chakras and your aura restores and strengthens your connection to yourself and your divine inner wisdom. Unfettered by energetic baggage masquerading as fear, pain, and self-hatred, your consciousness is once again free to grow. If you find the thought of clearing your energy fields disconcerting, simply think of it as cleansing the energy that surrounds you and releasing any stagnancy. You may not be able to see the results of your efforts, but you will experience a lightness of being and clarity of mind.
You can begin by sitting or lying down on a comfortable surface. Take a series of deep breaths and allow your soul to connect with Mother Earth and the vast expanse of the Universe. Visualize your first chakra, situated near the tailbone, and imagine if you will, a valve opening there, much like a faucet. Imagine a cord dropping from your tailbone deep into Mother Earth and let everything that is stagnant within you flow through it. Let go of old energy, inactive thoughts, and anything else that no longer serves you. Ask the earth to accept what you are offering by turning this old energy into light. Continue to let old energy drain out of you until you feel like you’ve released all your energetic baggage. When you are done, imagine the valve closing. Before moving on to clear your next chakra, let vibrant terra cotta light travel upward from the earth and through the cord into your first chakra. Repeat this process with all seven of the body’s chakras. The second chakra i! s orange, the third is yellow, the fourth is green, the fifth is blue, the sixth is indigo and the 7th is violet. Afterward, visualize your crown chakra and draw beautiful, golden-white light from the universe flowing down through the top of your head. Release any worries or fears that you have been holding on to. Draw this light into your aura and enjoy the resultant feeling of peace.
To finish clearing your energy and ensure that you have rid yourself of the last vestiges of clutter, take a bath infused with one cup apple cider vinegar, one cup Epsom salt, and one cup sea salt. After completing this exercise, be sure to thank Mother Earth and the universe for their help.