Today's DailyOM Offerings...
September 12, 2008
Imagine Our Love
Lavender Diamond
2007
Originally a character in the punk operetta Bird Songs of the Bauharoque, Lavender Diamond is the alter-ego of sweet soprano Becky Stark, who joins forces here with pianist Steve Gregoropoulos, guitarist Jeffrey Rosenberg, and drummer Ron Rege Jr. It's a match made in heaven as the boys lovingly wrap Stark’s clear-as-a-bell vocal tones in warm nests of vintage strings, '70s California-rock piano, acoustic guitar, and ubiquitous tambourine. A welcome feeling of unsinkable optimism comes across not just in the songs but in the liner notes. It's filled with Rege's line drawings (he also did the maypole dancing cover) depicting a neighborhood woken up by the unconditional love of fresh-blooming flower children. The art fits the music perfectly; song and storybook united in the drive to get the jaded listener off the couch and back into the garden where they belong.
While united by strong piano lines and Stark's swooping vocals, the songs range in mood (though all would feel comfortable on folk or rock albums made in California in the early 1970s). There's a fine sense of emotional balance here; ballads are served up sweet and sunny while the pop ebullience has a melancholy edge. For the bouncy "Open Your Heart," Stark starts off in the territory of the anxious, singing "When the streets are low / And you have to go / Where are you running to?" before the chorus of "open your heart / Tear it apart" come slowly in over cowboy-rumble guitar and ascending strings, capping the story with a burst of sunshine and rebellion. "Here Comes One" is an upbeat march with a cool Beach Boys-ish bridge. It's pulsing with summer sunshine and candy stores, and even if Stark can already see the leaves of autumn around the corner, that's no reason to cry.
The inspirational dynamics in the closer, "When You Wake for Certain," gradually intensify this realization with a slow lead up to a thundering chorus of beautiful harmonies, lovely and solid piano chords, and a final high-register vocal swoop into the upper-octave soprano heavens (think the female vocal in the original Star Trek theme). The idea that music can change people's hearts and move us all up the consciousness ladder together suffuses the album right to the end. This is a band to cherish and grow old with. Open your heart and let Lavender Diamond tear your old perceptions of the world apart. Don't be afraid of the sun's bright light-Lavender Diamond is here to salve all burns.
September 12, 2008
Focused Meditation
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
Your mind might be jumping from one idea to another today, and this could make you feel scattered. It may be that because you have so many small things to take care and pay attention to, you find it difficult to focus on one thing. This could be a good opportunity for you to practice stilling your mind through a focused form of meditation practice such as a counting meditation, which can help bring your distracted mind back to a single point of concentration. To do this meditation, simply become attuned to the rhythm of your breath. As you steady your breath, count each cycle of inhalations and exhalations, from one to ten, repeating after you get to ten. If you do this for even a short time, you can reel in your wandering mind, since you are giving it something tangible and repetitive to focus on.
Counting meditation allows us to be more attentive to the thoughts that stream through our minds and to let them go. When we are distracted, it is often because we are trying to listen to every thought that goes through our heads - our worries, plans, and emotions. Because it is truly impossible to give our full attention to everything, we then feel scattered. Counting, however, is a simple technique that lets our minds cling to something cyclical, making it easier to let go of the extraneous thoughts. By counting your breath in meditation, your mind will find a more solid and grounded place to rest today.
September 12, 2008
Walking With Awareness
Mindful Walking
Many of us take the benefits of walking for granted. Each day we limit the steps we take by driving or sitting for long periods of time. But walking even a few blocks a day has unlimited benefits - not only for our health, but our spirit as well, for as we walk, we connect with the earth.
Even when walking on concrete, the earth is still beneath us, supporting us. Walking lets our body remember simpler times, when life was less complicated. This helps us slow down to the speed of our body and take the time to integrate the natural flow of life into our cellular tissue. Instead of running from place to place or thinking about how much more we can fit into our day, walking allows us to exist in the moment.
Each step we take can lead us to becoming more mindful of ourselves and our feelings. Walking slows us down enough not only to pay attention to where we are in our body, but also to our breath. Taking time to simply notice our breath while we walk, through the length of our inhales and exhales, and becoming attuned to the way in which we breathe is taking a step towards mindfulness. When we become more mindful, we gradually increase our awareness of the environment around us and start to recognize that the normal flow of our thoughts and feelings are not always related to where we are in the present moment. Gradually we realize that the connection we have with the earth and the ground beneath our feet is all that is. By walking and practicing breathing mindfully we gain a sense of calm and tranquility -- the problems and troubles of the day slowly fade away because we are in the ‘now’.
The simplicity and ease of a walking practice allows us to create time, space and awareness of our surroundings and of the wonders that lie within. Taking a few moments to walk each day and become more aware of our breath will in turn open the door for the beauty of the world around us to filter in.
September 12, 2008
Wisdom Card Holders, The Energy of Money, Nature Escapes
Gift Of The Week
Wisdom Card Holders & Miracle Cards - Use your Miracle Cards together with this intricate, artistically designed Wisdom Card Holder. Simply draw a card from your deck and stand it upright to display the messages you receive in a very beautiful and special way. Not only will your message be easy to view throughout the day, the lavish presentation will remind you of this: Each message you choose comes from a loving universe and is meant expressly for you.
View Wisdom Card Holders & Miracle Cards
Nature Escapes: Tropical Sanctuary (CD) - A composer and pianist who creates slow, broodingly beatific piano melodies, Phillip Kanakis is the perfect presence for an ambient nature CD. He adds soothing humanist warmth that aids and enhances the tranquilizing effect created by Nature Escapes: Tropical Sanctuary. A deeply relaxing trip through the lush waterfall-and-billowing reed-filled landscape of the soul, this album is for the round-trip, inner-vacation-taking, afternoon-nap artist in us all.
Listen to Sound Clips
The Energy of Money (book) - Thousands of people worldwide have learned how to build a powerful new relationship with their money and bring their dreams to fruition through Dr. Maria Nemeth's dynamic workshops. Now you can, too. In The Energy of Money, Dr. Nemeth--who received an Audio Publishers Award for her Sounds True series on which this book is based--draws upon her more than twenty years' experience in synthesizing spiritual and practical techniques for managing yourself and your work to create a revolutionary program that can free your financial energy and use it to achieve personal life goals and financial wealth.
Read Excerpt
For more information visit DailyOM Gift Shop
Imagine Our Love
Lavender Diamond
2007
Originally a character in the punk operetta Bird Songs of the Bauharoque, Lavender Diamond is the alter-ego of sweet soprano Becky Stark, who joins forces here with pianist Steve Gregoropoulos, guitarist Jeffrey Rosenberg, and drummer Ron Rege Jr. It's a match made in heaven as the boys lovingly wrap Stark’s clear-as-a-bell vocal tones in warm nests of vintage strings, '70s California-rock piano, acoustic guitar, and ubiquitous tambourine. A welcome feeling of unsinkable optimism comes across not just in the songs but in the liner notes. It's filled with Rege's line drawings (he also did the maypole dancing cover) depicting a neighborhood woken up by the unconditional love of fresh-blooming flower children. The art fits the music perfectly; song and storybook united in the drive to get the jaded listener off the couch and back into the garden where they belong.
While united by strong piano lines and Stark's swooping vocals, the songs range in mood (though all would feel comfortable on folk or rock albums made in California in the early 1970s). There's a fine sense of emotional balance here; ballads are served up sweet and sunny while the pop ebullience has a melancholy edge. For the bouncy "Open Your Heart," Stark starts off in the territory of the anxious, singing "When the streets are low / And you have to go / Where are you running to?" before the chorus of "open your heart / Tear it apart" come slowly in over cowboy-rumble guitar and ascending strings, capping the story with a burst of sunshine and rebellion. "Here Comes One" is an upbeat march with a cool Beach Boys-ish bridge. It's pulsing with summer sunshine and candy stores, and even if Stark can already see the leaves of autumn around the corner, that's no reason to cry.
The inspirational dynamics in the closer, "When You Wake for Certain," gradually intensify this realization with a slow lead up to a thundering chorus of beautiful harmonies, lovely and solid piano chords, and a final high-register vocal swoop into the upper-octave soprano heavens (think the female vocal in the original Star Trek theme). The idea that music can change people's hearts and move us all up the consciousness ladder together suffuses the album right to the end. This is a band to cherish and grow old with. Open your heart and let Lavender Diamond tear your old perceptions of the world apart. Don't be afraid of the sun's bright light-Lavender Diamond is here to salve all burns.
September 12, 2008
Focused Meditation
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
Your mind might be jumping from one idea to another today, and this could make you feel scattered. It may be that because you have so many small things to take care and pay attention to, you find it difficult to focus on one thing. This could be a good opportunity for you to practice stilling your mind through a focused form of meditation practice such as a counting meditation, which can help bring your distracted mind back to a single point of concentration. To do this meditation, simply become attuned to the rhythm of your breath. As you steady your breath, count each cycle of inhalations and exhalations, from one to ten, repeating after you get to ten. If you do this for even a short time, you can reel in your wandering mind, since you are giving it something tangible and repetitive to focus on.
Counting meditation allows us to be more attentive to the thoughts that stream through our minds and to let them go. When we are distracted, it is often because we are trying to listen to every thought that goes through our heads - our worries, plans, and emotions. Because it is truly impossible to give our full attention to everything, we then feel scattered. Counting, however, is a simple technique that lets our minds cling to something cyclical, making it easier to let go of the extraneous thoughts. By counting your breath in meditation, your mind will find a more solid and grounded place to rest today.
September 12, 2008
Walking With Awareness
Mindful Walking
Many of us take the benefits of walking for granted. Each day we limit the steps we take by driving or sitting for long periods of time. But walking even a few blocks a day has unlimited benefits - not only for our health, but our spirit as well, for as we walk, we connect with the earth.
Even when walking on concrete, the earth is still beneath us, supporting us. Walking lets our body remember simpler times, when life was less complicated. This helps us slow down to the speed of our body and take the time to integrate the natural flow of life into our cellular tissue. Instead of running from place to place or thinking about how much more we can fit into our day, walking allows us to exist in the moment.
Each step we take can lead us to becoming more mindful of ourselves and our feelings. Walking slows us down enough not only to pay attention to where we are in our body, but also to our breath. Taking time to simply notice our breath while we walk, through the length of our inhales and exhales, and becoming attuned to the way in which we breathe is taking a step towards mindfulness. When we become more mindful, we gradually increase our awareness of the environment around us and start to recognize that the normal flow of our thoughts and feelings are not always related to where we are in the present moment. Gradually we realize that the connection we have with the earth and the ground beneath our feet is all that is. By walking and practicing breathing mindfully we gain a sense of calm and tranquility -- the problems and troubles of the day slowly fade away because we are in the ‘now’.
The simplicity and ease of a walking practice allows us to create time, space and awareness of our surroundings and of the wonders that lie within. Taking a few moments to walk each day and become more aware of our breath will in turn open the door for the beauty of the world around us to filter in.
September 12, 2008
Wisdom Card Holders, The Energy of Money, Nature Escapes
Gift Of The Week
Wisdom Card Holders & Miracle Cards - Use your Miracle Cards together with this intricate, artistically designed Wisdom Card Holder. Simply draw a card from your deck and stand it upright to display the messages you receive in a very beautiful and special way. Not only will your message be easy to view throughout the day, the lavish presentation will remind you of this: Each message you choose comes from a loving universe and is meant expressly for you.
View Wisdom Card Holders & Miracle Cards
Nature Escapes: Tropical Sanctuary (CD) - A composer and pianist who creates slow, broodingly beatific piano melodies, Phillip Kanakis is the perfect presence for an ambient nature CD. He adds soothing humanist warmth that aids and enhances the tranquilizing effect created by Nature Escapes: Tropical Sanctuary. A deeply relaxing trip through the lush waterfall-and-billowing reed-filled landscape of the soul, this album is for the round-trip, inner-vacation-taking, afternoon-nap artist in us all.
Listen to Sound Clips
The Energy of Money (book) - Thousands of people worldwide have learned how to build a powerful new relationship with their money and bring their dreams to fruition through Dr. Maria Nemeth's dynamic workshops. Now you can, too. In The Energy of Money, Dr. Nemeth--who received an Audio Publishers Award for her Sounds True series on which this book is based--draws upon her more than twenty years' experience in synthesizing spiritual and practical techniques for managing yourself and your work to create a revolutionary program that can free your financial energy and use it to achieve personal life goals and financial wealth.
Read Excerpt
For more information visit DailyOM Gift Shop