Gifting: Music for a Living Planet

Gifting

Tips on great music is one of my favorite gifts to receive. And you know what they say about giving and receiving. That so, below are a couple of playlists I've made for yoga classes over the past couple of months. If you like them please let me know and I'll post more!

Gratitude

Gratitude India.Arie Voyage To India [UK]
Amazing Grace The Swan Silvertones Lifted: Songs Of The Spirit
Amazing Grace Caledonian Heritage Pipes and Drums Amazing Grace
Sun Again Kinnie Starr Sun Again
Lively Up Yourself Bob Marley & The Wailers One Love
Bonito Jarabe de Palo Bonito
Aguas De Marco Elís Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim Nova Bossa: Red Hot On Verve
Let It Be The Beatles Let It Be
Sweet Thing Van Morrison Astral Weeks
You've Got A Friend Carole King Tapestry
Grandma's Hands Bill Withers Bill Withers Greatest Hits
You Are the Best Thing Ray LaMontagne Gossip In the Grain
Whenever Beth Orton Trailer Park
You Are The Only One (Jazz Version) INUSAX Global Player
Your Tender Loving Care Jon Hyde Hear Music: Sweetheart Love Songs
Gold to Me Ben Harper Fight for Your Mind
Gracias a La Vida Mercedes Sosa Trance Planet-Volume One
Grace Jeff Buckley Grace
Blackbird The Beatles The Beatles [White Album] (Disc 1)
Goodnight To The Mountains Paul Winter Consort A Celebration Of The World Of Crestone

M’aidez

Steppin' Out Joe Jackson Joe Jackson: Live 1980 - 1986
Air Play Outback Baka
The Wonder The Golden Palominos This Is How It Feels
These Days The Golden Palominos This Is How It Feels
Air India Dum Dum Project Desi Vibes
Eu Sou Meu Guia Lenine Na Pressão
Kid A Radiohead Kid A
Aguas De Marco Elís Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim Nova Bossa: Red Hot On Verve
The Air That I Breathe The Hollies Have A Nice Decade (Disc 4)
Lilac Wine Nina Simone Verve Unmixed 3
Oh What A World Rufus Wainwright Want One
The Sky Is Crying Elmore James The Blues Collection (Disc 3)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot Christy The Blues
Wandering Saint L. Subramaniam Baraka


Morning Devotion

Gaayatri Ravi Shankar Chants Of India
Om Namah Shivaya Wade Imre Morissette Sagram Scales of Music
You Are We Am I: Blue Mix Tj Rehmi Shakti Rhythms With Shiva Rea
Cairo Bar Caravana Digital Bled
Ganesh Vandana Kakoli Indian Room
Walking Through Kaya Project Stoned Asia presents World Peace (mixed by Pathaan)
Wa Winjigo Ero Ayub Ogada En Mana Kuoyo
Nathdvara Shyamdas Beloved Chants
zaman8sani A Six Degrees Collection Emerging Artist Sampler – digital
Teardrop Massive Attack Mezzanine
Take Me Coco Zap Mama Adventures in Afropea, Vol. 1
Namaste Maneesh De Moor Sadhana
Tiny Birds Yo La Tengo Summer Sun
How To make A Baby Elephant Float Yo La Tengo Summer Sun
Shiva - The Third Eye Tony Scott Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys
Shiva Various Artists - Music Brokers New Age Series: Yoga Alternative
Hare Krishna Wade Imre Morissette Sagram Scales of Music
Shiva Gopika Poornima, J.P. Sai & Party, Kasinath Brothers & N.S. Prakash Rao 108 Vibrations of the Almighty

Mental Diet on a Down Day

This time of the year can be really beautiful with the reminder to reflect, connect, smell the flowers. But even as we embrace beauty, our minds have such power to cast a different hue.

Many deaths in my family have taken place this time of the year and even though consciously I feel completely whole in relation to these transitions, the power of the subconscious has a strong tug towards melancholy. Add on to this subconscious low of a boatload of travel last week, the energy required by being “on” much of it, missed connections due to airline misdirects, and then passing a holiday alone in a hotel room with horrible hot water flow and only intermittently flushing toilet, a dog attacking and scratching up my car, well, by yesterday morning despite the great weather my glass was feeling pretty empty. Knowing that no matter what I endeavored to do, my starting point would skew my perspective, I opted to spend time alone – not in withdrawal or to lament or lick wounds, but to regain the equilibrium of a neutral state by doing things that give me that.

I got up around 6AM and meditated, then grabbed a latte and headed to a nearby park for as much sweat, silence and fresh air as I could find. I let myself stay as long as I needed – no commitments. I topped that with a leisurely breakfast (huevos rancheros), and gave myself as much time as I wanted to read the paper. Returning home, I took as much time as needed, making sure not to rush any movement and be present to the light, the temperature, all the interactions no matter how transactional. When I got home I took a long bath, put on clothing I love, even took another walk with my dog around my neighborhood. Net net: by late afternoon I was still in a complete FUNK. DOWN. It happens.

I wasn’t sure what to try next to right my mood – I had tried movement, nature, self care, bonding with my little dog, and even nourishment to remind myself of my own wellbeing and nothing had really worked. So knowing I had a life change workshop to facilitate today, I gave up and took a dive into youtube looking for relevant, well-told stories on overcoming difficulty, getting THROUGH our challenges rather than just managing them. After all, when in doubt, always come from your truth.

You can imagine that in my negative state of mind, these images didn’t go over so well. Navigating through clip after clip, I discarded one after another for this reason or that – this one has sappy music, that one only features male examples, that other one feels preachy, I’ve seen that one a million times. Even with all that imperfection, something interesting happened: my mood shifted. By the time my eyes were tired from looking and my belly was grumbling for dinner, in 30 minutes of immersion in ideas of YES, I was completely reminded of the quality of our lives as being determined by HOW we respond to whatever stimulus we experience – internal or external. Focusing on inspiration for my class participants, on finding the right story about getting through difficulty resulted in a shift in my own state of mind. Imperfect as each of those clips might have been, by the end of my little research project I was in a completely empowered mood.

It reminded me: choose your mental diet. Don’t let perfection get in the way of a healthy dish.