Today's DailyOM Offerings...
December 15, 2014
Sleep Deep
Anando
2009
A former personal assistant and student of the revolutionary meditation teacher Osho, Anando grew up in Australia and worked as an actress, dancer, and lawyer before a visit to India and a meeting with Osho awakened her soul and sense of higher purpose. Since then she's traveled the world doing workshops, speaking on the health benefits of meditation, though you don't need to know how to meditate to use her CD Sleep Deep. All you need to be is tired, and ready to relax and take suggestions. Over the soft drone music of fellow Osho student Veet Marco, Anando fills Sleep Deep with drowsy commands to "sink lower into your comfortable bed" and let go. Ever so patiently, ever so slowly, Anando guides us to relax from our toes through to our jaw, "allowing your mouth to drop open a little so your jaw can relax even more," and upward.
"As you're lying here right now, make sure your body's really in the most comfortable position...and close your eyes, having a feeling of leaving behind all the business of the day...and just being with yourself." The distant, melting chimes of Marco's music become the colors of your hazy thoughts as worries about the day become balls of mist gone in the inner sunlight of hazy sleep, "more and more with each breath. Relaxing into however you are, right now."
The album consists of only one short track so you don't have to worry about it continuing to play on after you've gone asleep and suddenly waking you up with a burst of unfamiliar music. "Feel your eyes becoming very still and silent," Onando purrs. "You can imagine that just underneath your right eye, there's a very comfortable bed." You may not ever get to hear that far into the disc as you'll be sound asleep, but your unconscious will still be inspired, enacting her suggestions of "feeling safe" and "letting go." And as in Osho meditation, the silence that follows is all part of the meditation-as is everything that comes after if you're open to experiencing your life in a new, fresh way.
December 15, 2014
Doing More with Less
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
A need to introduce innovation into your life can come over you today, particularly if you feel bored by your usual routine. Assessing your daily duties and considering all the unexpected tasks that may need to be addressed can help you determine where your agenda can be streamlined or altered to add interest. You may be able to work through your obligations more efficiently by simply experimenting with the usual order of your mundane and goal-oriented tasks. As you experience the results of these changes firsthand, you may begin to feel less rushed and take greater pleasure in the fulfillment of your duties. Today may be the day you realize that you are ready to handle a greater degree of responsibility at home or at work.
Cultivating efficiency in our routines provides us with a means to attract success by empowering us to accomplish our goals in a shorter period of time and with less distracting upheaval. Much of what we are called upon to do interrupts the flow of our daily lives by impeding our ability to address the tasks laid out in our agendas. When we do our best to be efficient, whether we are focused on mundane objectives or more meaningful aims, we adopt a resourceful stance and endeavor to move from pursuit to pursuit smoothly. Whenever possible, we shy away from activities that represent needless usages of time and replace them with productive ones. Your efforts to introduce efficiency into your schedule today will result in your being able to consistently achieve more in less time.
December 15, 2014
The Purpose of an Altar
Intention and Intuition
by Madisyn Taylor
The purpose of having an altar in your home can be as simple as reminding you to take time for serenity each day.
If you didn’t grow up with an altar in your home, having an altar now may seem like an exotic and unattainable idea. Yet having an altar does not have to be complicated or difficult, nor does it need to be based on a religion or a set of ideas that don’t seem to relate to you. An altar can be a simple, personal expression of what you want to focus on right now. You do not have to build anything or take up a lot of space. You do not have to buy anything new or follow a complex set of instructions to create your altar. All you have to do is have a general understanding of what an altar is and the willingness to allow yourself access to this wonderful, ancient tool of transformation.
At its most essential, an altar is simply a raised structure that serves as a resting place for meaningful objects. It focuses the eye and provides a place for contemplation and, if so desired, ritual. All of these elements can be quite simple. One idea for a simple altar is a pot with a bulb planted in it, set on a box. This altar to growth can act as a reminder to you that all living things bloom in their time. A simple ritual might be to write down dreams you would like to see come to fruition on scraps of paper. You might place these scraps of paper in the box, or under the flowerpot, or in an envelope you prop against the pot. As the flower grows, so will your dreams.
If you look around your home, you may find that you have already created altarlike arrangements without even really thinking about it; this is something we humans do quite naturally. A candle, a decorative box, and a vase of flowers are just a few of the common household objects that lend themselves naturally to the creation of an altar. Simply add intention and intuition, and you have created your first altar. Remember that it isn’t necessarily about the objects you place at your altar-it is the time you spend with it daily, taking the time to be with it for your sacred time.
Sleep Deep
Anando
2009
A former personal assistant and student of the revolutionary meditation teacher Osho, Anando grew up in Australia and worked as an actress, dancer, and lawyer before a visit to India and a meeting with Osho awakened her soul and sense of higher purpose. Since then she's traveled the world doing workshops, speaking on the health benefits of meditation, though you don't need to know how to meditate to use her CD Sleep Deep. All you need to be is tired, and ready to relax and take suggestions. Over the soft drone music of fellow Osho student Veet Marco, Anando fills Sleep Deep with drowsy commands to "sink lower into your comfortable bed" and let go. Ever so patiently, ever so slowly, Anando guides us to relax from our toes through to our jaw, "allowing your mouth to drop open a little so your jaw can relax even more," and upward.
"As you're lying here right now, make sure your body's really in the most comfortable position...and close your eyes, having a feeling of leaving behind all the business of the day...and just being with yourself." The distant, melting chimes of Marco's music become the colors of your hazy thoughts as worries about the day become balls of mist gone in the inner sunlight of hazy sleep, "more and more with each breath. Relaxing into however you are, right now."
The album consists of only one short track so you don't have to worry about it continuing to play on after you've gone asleep and suddenly waking you up with a burst of unfamiliar music. "Feel your eyes becoming very still and silent," Onando purrs. "You can imagine that just underneath your right eye, there's a very comfortable bed." You may not ever get to hear that far into the disc as you'll be sound asleep, but your unconscious will still be inspired, enacting her suggestions of "feeling safe" and "letting go." And as in Osho meditation, the silence that follows is all part of the meditation-as is everything that comes after if you're open to experiencing your life in a new, fresh way.
December 15, 2014
Doing More with Less
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
A need to introduce innovation into your life can come over you today, particularly if you feel bored by your usual routine. Assessing your daily duties and considering all the unexpected tasks that may need to be addressed can help you determine where your agenda can be streamlined or altered to add interest. You may be able to work through your obligations more efficiently by simply experimenting with the usual order of your mundane and goal-oriented tasks. As you experience the results of these changes firsthand, you may begin to feel less rushed and take greater pleasure in the fulfillment of your duties. Today may be the day you realize that you are ready to handle a greater degree of responsibility at home or at work.
Cultivating efficiency in our routines provides us with a means to attract success by empowering us to accomplish our goals in a shorter period of time and with less distracting upheaval. Much of what we are called upon to do interrupts the flow of our daily lives by impeding our ability to address the tasks laid out in our agendas. When we do our best to be efficient, whether we are focused on mundane objectives or more meaningful aims, we adopt a resourceful stance and endeavor to move from pursuit to pursuit smoothly. Whenever possible, we shy away from activities that represent needless usages of time and replace them with productive ones. Your efforts to introduce efficiency into your schedule today will result in your being able to consistently achieve more in less time.
December 15, 2014
The Purpose of an Altar
Intention and Intuition
by Madisyn Taylor
The purpose of having an altar in your home can be as simple as reminding you to take time for serenity each day.
If you didn’t grow up with an altar in your home, having an altar now may seem like an exotic and unattainable idea. Yet having an altar does not have to be complicated or difficult, nor does it need to be based on a religion or a set of ideas that don’t seem to relate to you. An altar can be a simple, personal expression of what you want to focus on right now. You do not have to build anything or take up a lot of space. You do not have to buy anything new or follow a complex set of instructions to create your altar. All you have to do is have a general understanding of what an altar is and the willingness to allow yourself access to this wonderful, ancient tool of transformation.
At its most essential, an altar is simply a raised structure that serves as a resting place for meaningful objects. It focuses the eye and provides a place for contemplation and, if so desired, ritual. All of these elements can be quite simple. One idea for a simple altar is a pot with a bulb planted in it, set on a box. This altar to growth can act as a reminder to you that all living things bloom in their time. A simple ritual might be to write down dreams you would like to see come to fruition on scraps of paper. You might place these scraps of paper in the box, or under the flowerpot, or in an envelope you prop against the pot. As the flower grows, so will your dreams.
If you look around your home, you may find that you have already created altarlike arrangements without even really thinking about it; this is something we humans do quite naturally. A candle, a decorative box, and a vase of flowers are just a few of the common household objects that lend themselves naturally to the creation of an altar. Simply add intention and intuition, and you have created your first altar. Remember that it isn’t necessarily about the objects you place at your altar-it is the time you spend with it daily, taking the time to be with it for your sacred time.