Today's DailyOM Offerings...
January 25, 2008
Feet in the Soil
James Asher
2002
Here's a man who-as the freaky cover of his album indicates-has a dancing story to tell. Australia's James Asher is best known for his mastery of the low, rumbling didgeridoo but for Feet in the Soil, he wants to groove you with an array of percussion, all of it rumbling deep down at the root chakras and gradually drumming its way up to your lotus crown. This is music for when you want to get deeply rooted, whatever, wherever. This is music for channeling sex, power, hatred, love, and whatever else is bothering you, transforming it all into pure energy and releasing it in the liberating trance of movement. Not everything you hear will be easy and light, but the dark clouds are no big deal if they're just moving on through to funky bass, chilly synths, and an array of sinewy percussion. Abide and watch them pass. There's even a narrative to go along with the instrumental dance journey. Asher titles songs after historical and mythic events in the colonization of Austral! ia and the disputes with English settlers and Aboriginals.
"Pemulwuy Returns" celebrates the hero Pemulwuy, "the Rainbow Warrior" who led Aborigine raids and rebellions against the invading British Army around the end of the 18th century. He was killed and his head was sent to Britain in a jar, but Asher brings him back with a cycling beat and irresistible repeating didge line. "Heathaze" starts on an intriguingly simple synth-bass riff, which gradually elaborates from funky to mad funky to incredibly funky to downright insane in its off-the-chain funkiness, all while maintaining a deep-rooted mystic connection "to the soil." Even when alien squiggles of synthesizer are pluming up in all directions, Asher keeps his children safe-you can still see the comforting shadows of your fellow dancers in the mist no matter how smoky things get. In between the more spirited numbers, Asher takes time to explore the terrain. Old holy men chant in the distance; faraway cries and flowing rivers, volcanic surrealism and bucolic greenery combine, en! twine, and then slither on their merry, endless ways.
By the time you get down to "Return to Egypt," Asher's palette has expanded to include flutes, synthesized strings, orchestral crescendos, horns, and guitars. Evoking the magisterial courts and pyramids of Northern Africa, "Egypt” is a cool little hustle through the shifting sands of time, as is the whole album. You might be dancing in place in your living room, but Asher is showing you the world unfurling in front of, around, and behind you. The idea of standing still is just a gravitational illusion anyway; you're really constantly spinning around one of many stars in an ever accelerating universe. By traveling backward the James Asher way, you just might learn to find real stillness within yourself and your relation to the funky spinning of our strange blue planet.
January 25, 2008
Balancing Physical And Spiritual
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may find yourself feeling amazed and astonished by the world around you today. Perhaps you are marveling over spiritual insights, or your intuition is awakening in powerful ways and turning mundane experiences into moments of rapture. While this heightened awareness can be pleasurable, it might also be disruptive when you need to concentrate on the physical aspects of your responsibilities today. If you find that your mind keeps floating off into the clouds when it really needs to focus on your tasks, you might try grounding yourself physically. Simply stand barefooted outside or in your home, planting your feet solidly where you stand. Imagine excess energy in your body shooting down your legs and out the soles of your feet, returning back to the earth and bringing your awareness more fully into your physical surroundings.
Grounding ourselves physically can help us release excess energy, strengthen the connection to our physical bodies, and clear away mental cobwebs. While most of us spend a fair amount of time wishing we had more energy, we occasionally realize that having too much energy is just as distracting as not having enough. By grounding ourselves to release excess energy, we are able to clear our minds and strengthen the connection to our physical selves. As we strive to keep a healthy balance between physical presence and spiritual awareness, we find we are able to work more effectively in both realms. You can bring your mind down out of the clouds today by grounding yourself more solidly in your physical surroundings.
January 25, 2008
Gathering Our Straying Thoughts
Centering Ourselves
When our thoughts are scattered in several directions at once and we are no longer conscious of what we are doing or why, it is time to center ourselves. When we center ourselves, we begin by acknowledging that we have become spread too thin and we are no longer unified inside. Our thoughts might be out of sync with our feelings, and our actions may be out of sync with both. The main signs that we need to center ourselves are scattered thoughts and a feeling of disconnection or numbness, as if we are no longer able to take anything in. In addition, we may feel unfocused and not present in our bodies. Centering ourselves is a way of coming to terms with all the different energies within us and drawing them back into ourselves.
Centering yourself means that you are working from or being aware of the core of your being in the solar plexus area of your body. At first it may not make sense, but as you progress you will understand what this feels like. We naturally know how to center ourselves when we take a deep breath, for example, before making a big announcement or doing something big. Another way to center ourselves is to sit down and engage in breath meditation. We can start by simply getting into a comfortable upright position and noticing as our breath enters and leaves our bodies. Our breath flows into our center and out from our center, and this process can serve as a template for all of our interactions in the world. In conversations, we can take what our friends are saying into the center of our beings and respond from the center. Our whole lives mirror this ebb and flow of energy that begins and ends at the center of ourselves. If we follow this ebb and flow, we are in harmony with the universe, and when we find we are out of harmony, we can always come back into balance by sitting down and observing our breath.
When we sit down to center ourselves we can imagine that we are gathering our straying thoughts and energies back into ourselves, the way a mother duck gathers her babies around her. We can also visualize ourselves casting a net and pulling all the disparate parts of ourselves back to the center of our being, creating a sense of fluid integration. From this place of centeredness, we can begin again, directing ourselves outward in a more intentional way.
January 25, 2008
Reusable Shopping Bags, Guided Meditation, You Are The Answer
Gift Of The Week
Reusable shopping Bags - We all know that bringing our own reusable bags to the grocery store saves millions of trees each year. Until now, most bags have been made from basic canvas fabrics that don't allow for your personality to come through. These reusable shopping bags are available in bright colors and patterns which make it a little more fun and a little more fashionable to make the trip to the grocery store or any other shopping. Each bag comes packaged in a pouch so you can roll up your bag and tuck it in your purse very easily, or fit it in your glove compartment. The price is right on these so you can purchase more than one if you like, and perhaps keep one in your car, or at the offic! e so you always have your bag ready for shopping. Using a reusable shopping bag is a great way to make a positive impact on our beautiful mother earth. View Reusable Shopping Bags
Guided Meditation Vol 1 (CD) - Author of "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry" and many other books, Jack Kornfield is a Westerner who was trained in Thailand as a Buddhist monk and has been working to bring meditation to Western minds ever since. Guided Meditations Vol. 1 is a double-CD set that provides an invaluable opportunity to meditate with a master who understands Western mental resistance to the teachings of the East and can help you overcome those resistances. The first disc features a range of introductory meditations as essential for the beginner as they are for the seasoned practitioner. His voice effortlessly synchronized to lull and hypnotize with its drowsy rhythm and comforting to! nalities, Kornfield brings fathomless Buddhist patience to the Western practice of meditation CD recording. It's the perfect departure point for inner journeying. Listen to Sound Clips
You Are The Answer(book) - Written in a storytelling style that captures the very essence of divine wisdom, this inspiring book is dedicated to the spiritual empowerment of all human beings. Through a masterful blend of real-life stories and sacred teachings, you are guided on a journey of self-awareness as master teacher Michael Tamura shares his spiritual knowledge for discovering your soul's purpose. As you build a temple for your soul, you'll learn to recognize the truth, create miracles in your own life, and find your purpose for living. Also included are exercises for developing your awareness and intuition and a section on the chakras (energy centers of your body) and how to energize them. This boo! k is so full of useful information you will find yourself referring back to it again and again. Read Excerpt
For more information visit DailyOM Gift Shop
Feet in the Soil
James Asher
2002
Here's a man who-as the freaky cover of his album indicates-has a dancing story to tell. Australia's James Asher is best known for his mastery of the low, rumbling didgeridoo but for Feet in the Soil, he wants to groove you with an array of percussion, all of it rumbling deep down at the root chakras and gradually drumming its way up to your lotus crown. This is music for when you want to get deeply rooted, whatever, wherever. This is music for channeling sex, power, hatred, love, and whatever else is bothering you, transforming it all into pure energy and releasing it in the liberating trance of movement. Not everything you hear will be easy and light, but the dark clouds are no big deal if they're just moving on through to funky bass, chilly synths, and an array of sinewy percussion. Abide and watch them pass. There's even a narrative to go along with the instrumental dance journey. Asher titles songs after historical and mythic events in the colonization of Austral! ia and the disputes with English settlers and Aboriginals.
"Pemulwuy Returns" celebrates the hero Pemulwuy, "the Rainbow Warrior" who led Aborigine raids and rebellions against the invading British Army around the end of the 18th century. He was killed and his head was sent to Britain in a jar, but Asher brings him back with a cycling beat and irresistible repeating didge line. "Heathaze" starts on an intriguingly simple synth-bass riff, which gradually elaborates from funky to mad funky to incredibly funky to downright insane in its off-the-chain funkiness, all while maintaining a deep-rooted mystic connection "to the soil." Even when alien squiggles of synthesizer are pluming up in all directions, Asher keeps his children safe-you can still see the comforting shadows of your fellow dancers in the mist no matter how smoky things get. In between the more spirited numbers, Asher takes time to explore the terrain. Old holy men chant in the distance; faraway cries and flowing rivers, volcanic surrealism and bucolic greenery combine, en! twine, and then slither on their merry, endless ways.
By the time you get down to "Return to Egypt," Asher's palette has expanded to include flutes, synthesized strings, orchestral crescendos, horns, and guitars. Evoking the magisterial courts and pyramids of Northern Africa, "Egypt” is a cool little hustle through the shifting sands of time, as is the whole album. You might be dancing in place in your living room, but Asher is showing you the world unfurling in front of, around, and behind you. The idea of standing still is just a gravitational illusion anyway; you're really constantly spinning around one of many stars in an ever accelerating universe. By traveling backward the James Asher way, you just might learn to find real stillness within yourself and your relation to the funky spinning of our strange blue planet.
January 25, 2008
Balancing Physical And Spiritual
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may find yourself feeling amazed and astonished by the world around you today. Perhaps you are marveling over spiritual insights, or your intuition is awakening in powerful ways and turning mundane experiences into moments of rapture. While this heightened awareness can be pleasurable, it might also be disruptive when you need to concentrate on the physical aspects of your responsibilities today. If you find that your mind keeps floating off into the clouds when it really needs to focus on your tasks, you might try grounding yourself physically. Simply stand barefooted outside or in your home, planting your feet solidly where you stand. Imagine excess energy in your body shooting down your legs and out the soles of your feet, returning back to the earth and bringing your awareness more fully into your physical surroundings.
Grounding ourselves physically can help us release excess energy, strengthen the connection to our physical bodies, and clear away mental cobwebs. While most of us spend a fair amount of time wishing we had more energy, we occasionally realize that having too much energy is just as distracting as not having enough. By grounding ourselves to release excess energy, we are able to clear our minds and strengthen the connection to our physical selves. As we strive to keep a healthy balance between physical presence and spiritual awareness, we find we are able to work more effectively in both realms. You can bring your mind down out of the clouds today by grounding yourself more solidly in your physical surroundings.
January 25, 2008
Gathering Our Straying Thoughts
Centering Ourselves
When our thoughts are scattered in several directions at once and we are no longer conscious of what we are doing or why, it is time to center ourselves. When we center ourselves, we begin by acknowledging that we have become spread too thin and we are no longer unified inside. Our thoughts might be out of sync with our feelings, and our actions may be out of sync with both. The main signs that we need to center ourselves are scattered thoughts and a feeling of disconnection or numbness, as if we are no longer able to take anything in. In addition, we may feel unfocused and not present in our bodies. Centering ourselves is a way of coming to terms with all the different energies within us and drawing them back into ourselves.
Centering yourself means that you are working from or being aware of the core of your being in the solar plexus area of your body. At first it may not make sense, but as you progress you will understand what this feels like. We naturally know how to center ourselves when we take a deep breath, for example, before making a big announcement or doing something big. Another way to center ourselves is to sit down and engage in breath meditation. We can start by simply getting into a comfortable upright position and noticing as our breath enters and leaves our bodies. Our breath flows into our center and out from our center, and this process can serve as a template for all of our interactions in the world. In conversations, we can take what our friends are saying into the center of our beings and respond from the center. Our whole lives mirror this ebb and flow of energy that begins and ends at the center of ourselves. If we follow this ebb and flow, we are in harmony with the universe, and when we find we are out of harmony, we can always come back into balance by sitting down and observing our breath.
When we sit down to center ourselves we can imagine that we are gathering our straying thoughts and energies back into ourselves, the way a mother duck gathers her babies around her. We can also visualize ourselves casting a net and pulling all the disparate parts of ourselves back to the center of our being, creating a sense of fluid integration. From this place of centeredness, we can begin again, directing ourselves outward in a more intentional way.
January 25, 2008
Reusable Shopping Bags, Guided Meditation, You Are The Answer
Gift Of The Week
Reusable shopping Bags - We all know that bringing our own reusable bags to the grocery store saves millions of trees each year. Until now, most bags have been made from basic canvas fabrics that don't allow for your personality to come through. These reusable shopping bags are available in bright colors and patterns which make it a little more fun and a little more fashionable to make the trip to the grocery store or any other shopping. Each bag comes packaged in a pouch so you can roll up your bag and tuck it in your purse very easily, or fit it in your glove compartment. The price is right on these so you can purchase more than one if you like, and perhaps keep one in your car, or at the offic! e so you always have your bag ready for shopping. Using a reusable shopping bag is a great way to make a positive impact on our beautiful mother earth. View Reusable Shopping Bags
Guided Meditation Vol 1 (CD) - Author of "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry" and many other books, Jack Kornfield is a Westerner who was trained in Thailand as a Buddhist monk and has been working to bring meditation to Western minds ever since. Guided Meditations Vol. 1 is a double-CD set that provides an invaluable opportunity to meditate with a master who understands Western mental resistance to the teachings of the East and can help you overcome those resistances. The first disc features a range of introductory meditations as essential for the beginner as they are for the seasoned practitioner. His voice effortlessly synchronized to lull and hypnotize with its drowsy rhythm and comforting to! nalities, Kornfield brings fathomless Buddhist patience to the Western practice of meditation CD recording. It's the perfect departure point for inner journeying. Listen to Sound Clips
You Are The Answer(book) - Written in a storytelling style that captures the very essence of divine wisdom, this inspiring book is dedicated to the spiritual empowerment of all human beings. Through a masterful blend of real-life stories and sacred teachings, you are guided on a journey of self-awareness as master teacher Michael Tamura shares his spiritual knowledge for discovering your soul's purpose. As you build a temple for your soul, you'll learn to recognize the truth, create miracles in your own life, and find your purpose for living. Also included are exercises for developing your awareness and intuition and a section on the chakras (energy centers of your body) and how to energize them. This boo! k is so full of useful information you will find yourself referring back to it again and again. Read Excerpt
For more information visit DailyOM Gift Shop