MUSIC | Willy Moon : Railroad Track

PLAYLIST | YoYoYogi DETOX

MUSIC | Olafu Arnalds & Nils Frahm : Live Improvisation

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm creating a song live in front of an intimate audience at Roter Salon, Volksbühne Berlin on July 26, 2011 as part of Ólafur's solo tour.

ROGER WRITES | Creating a story

Last week Doug and I went to see David Byrne & St. Vincent at the newly restored Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall here in Portland.  I want to admit right upfront that I had moderate to low expectations.  I love David Byrne just fine, and I like St. Vincent, though I didn't know much about her.  We entered the beautiful theater and took our seats.  They were pretty good seats.  As soon as we sat down, Doug got up to get us drinks.  Literally 30 seconds after he left, a couple took their seats behind us.  The woman, whose seat was directly behind Doug's, said to the man she was with, "I hope some tall asshole doesn't sit in front of me."

Doug is 6'3".

I immediately started to create a hypotheical story about what could happen when Doug returned.  I won't go into the entire story, but it ended up with the four of us in a huge screaming argument that would have ended with physical violence had I not caught myself.  I immediately brought myself back into the theater, which was filled with sounds and people and lights and anticipation.

During the time that I was creating the story I was no longer experiencing my environment.  I no longer heard the sounds around me.  I was no longer present.  I laughed at myself.  When Doug returned to his seat nothing was said.  No argument happened.  We did not get into a fist fight with the couple behind us.

I would ask if you can relate to this kind of story making, but I already know the truth:  it's part of our human experience to create stories-- true or untrue.  Since then, I've been aware more and more of when that happens-- walking down the street, in the grocery store, riding my bike.  Spontaneous stories start being told.  What I've noticed is that in those moments my body and breath are reacting as if the story in my head were actually true.

Here is the invitation:  Notice when you check out from the present moment and start creating stories-- ones where you relive the past, twist the present, or predict the future.  When you notice this phenomenon, very simply and gently bring yourself back to the present moment by noticing your environment, connecting to your breath, and listening to the sounds around you.  Then continue with what you were doing, embodying a state of being that more completely matches the present moment.

Omar Khayyam says, "Be happy for this moment.  This moment is your life."  I like to modify this quote slightly because I don't think it's always possible to be happy, but I do think that it's possible to be present.  So.  Be present for this moment. This moment is your life.

TED | Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident -- can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

Amy Cuddy’s research on body language reveals that we can change other people’s perceptions — and even our own body chemistry — simply by changing body positions.

MUSIC | David Byrne & St. Vincent : Who

artist: David Byrne & St. Vincent
song: Who
album: Love This Giant

MUSIC | Chelsea Wolfe : The Way We Used To

We were first introduced to Chelsea Wolfe just by chance. It was October of last year during CMJ in NYC and after spending the day checking out the Occupy Wall Street movement, we decided to head to a BrooklynVegan day-party at Public Assembly in Williamsburg. Her set was sandwiched between J Mascis and A Place To Bury Strangers. For us, she stole the show.

Several months went by and we didn't see her again until SXSW, where one of us met up with her to shoot a portrait for a SXSW series. She promised she would let us know whenever she would be in Philadelphia.

Sure enough, Chelsea dropped us a line letting us know she'd be in Philly in mid-August for a show at Union Transfer. With that, we decided to seek out the perfect location for the shoot. After an unsuccessful attempt to get into an abandoned church, we decided on Underground Arts, which was right around the corner from the venue she was set to play.

POETRY | David Wagoner : Lost

Lost

David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

MUSIC | alt-J : Tessellate [Video Remix]

artist: Alt-J
song: Tessellate
album: An Awesome Wave

MUSIC | alt-J : Fitzpleasure

artist: alt-J
song: Fitzpleasure

MUSIC | Davie Byne & Brian Eno : Regiment

TED | The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves ...

The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) electrify the TED2010 stage with an emerging global street-dance culture, revved up by the Internet. In a preview of Jon Chu’s upcoming Web series, this astonishing troupe show off their superpowers.

The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) are building an interactive web series that represents the next evolution of dance.

POETRY | David Whyte : Everything is Waiting For You

Everything is Waiting for You
-David Whyte

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

POETRY | David Whyte : What to Remember When Waking

WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN WAKING
-David Whyte

In that first
hardly noticed
moment

to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.

To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.

To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.

You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.

Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?

THE SPANDANANDA SHOW | Yoga Sequence to Open The Heart

Join me in this 10 minute guided yoga and pranayam exercise, where we explore movements and breath in order to open up to what is.  Courage is taking the action towards what we want in our lives despite our thoughts.  Laugh and flow with me on this wholehearted journey!

ROGER WRITES | Havest Time

When I moved to Portland last spring, I quickly became part of a community garden just down the street from where I live.  It's just one large empty lot between two beautiful houses, but it's home to dozens of small plots maintained by local folks who don't have a yard to have their own garden.  It's a stunning menagerie of plants, flowers, vegetables and fruits.  In my plot, I planted tomatoes, kale, fennel, peppers, lavender and about a dozen different herbs-- even stevia! All summer long I watered and pruned and weeded and watched the little plants grow, sprout leaves, blossom and ripen.  Over the past month I've been harvesting all the ripe veggies and herbs, and I've been cooking with them.  It got me to thinking about a lecture I recently listened to by David Whyte where he says: "There’s a harvest which comes cyclically in your life," and if you don't harvest yourself you will simply rot on the vine.  Everything has a season, everything ripens, and we must take time to harvest.Like most people, you are probably closer to your goals than you imagine, and also like most people you probably have a gremlin voice that tells you otherwise.   There are things in your life right now that are ripe and ready to be harvested.  Take time to enjoy the fruits of all your hard work, dedication and commitment.  There are also things that still need watering.  The voices of negativity and discouragement are poison to your life's garden.  Water your seeds with love, with kindness, with discipline and with forgiveness,  and then, when it's time to harvest, you will be in abundance.

MUSIC | Honey and The Bees Bank : Psychedelic Woman

MUSIC | Solid Space : 10th Planet

POETRY | Mark Nepo : God's Wounds

God's Wounds
-Mark Nepo

Through the great pain of stretching
beyond all that pain has taught me,
the soft well at the base
has opened, and life
touching me there
has turned me into a flower
that prays for rain. Now
I understand: to blossom
is to pray, to wilt and shed
is to pray, to turn to mulch
is to pray, to stretch in the dark
is to pray, to break surface
after great months of ice
is to pray, and to squeeze love
up the stalky center toward the sky
with only dreams of color
is to pray, and finally to unfold
again as if never before
is to be the prayer.

TED | John Styn : Gratitude, Gifting and Grandpa

John Halcyon Styn frequently speaks to audiences about Gratitude but he has been exploring the edges of online expression for over 17 years. Today, while still flamboyant and addicted to over-sharing, Halcyon's path has gone towards self-growth and spirituality. His second Webby award came in 2007 for the video podcast "Hug Nation," originally co-hosted with his grandfather, Rev. Caleb Shikles. HugNation.com is in its 10th year of weekly live broadcasts and archived "Love on Demand."

THE SPANDANANDA SHOW : Return to Love

The Spandananda Show : Season 2 : Episode 2 : Return to Love

With the practice of ahimsa (non-violence) and anjali mudra (prayer pose), we simply and profoundly return to love.  This week's episode encourages you to start with yourself by shifting your perspective from the typical, defeating banter to knowing what you want and embracing the fact that you are fully capable of achieving it.

ROGER WRITES | Yesterday Was Gandhi's Birthday

Albert Einstein said, I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.

Yesterday was Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.  He was present in my thoughts throughout the day, and I was reminded of my own personal journey of yoga and self-awakening that he inspired.

When I was 21, I went to see a free showing of the movie Gandhi at the University of Delaware where I was enrolled.  I didn't know who Gandhi was.  I had never heard of yoga or civil disobedience or non-violence.  I went to see the movie because it was free and a friend didn't want to go alone.  I didn't know that it would be the single most important and pivotal moment in my life.

After the movie, the action of Gandhi bringing his palms together in front of his heart played itself over and over again in an entrancing loop. I had seen this same gesture many times in church, but seeing this powerful man bow so humbly awakened in me my own longing to feel connected in that way.  I went home and cried.  I couldn't stop crying because I recognized my own life's calling in that moment even though at the time I had no idea what form it would take.

Much later I learned about anjali mudra (prayer gesture).  Anjali is a sanskrit word meaning "to honor," or in some instances "to offer."  This joining together of the palms has been used by all spiritual practices throughout time.  It's a representative symbol of all energies coming together at our heart's center.  This mudra awakens our sacredness, where profound wisdom lies.  In recognizing our own heart, our own wisdom and our own divine nature, we can then honor that same quality in others; we can then offer our heart to the world around us.  Like Gandhi.

The movie inspired me to read his autobiography, which then led me to read everything that he was reading: Tolstoy, Thoreau and Emerson.  That propelled me to take my first yoga class, after which I walked out feeling, as many of you have also felt, inspired, calm, energized, connected and alive.  I knew instantly and without a doubt that this was my path.

What I know now is that every one of us has something we are passionate about, something that calls to us "like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -- over and over announcing your place in the family of things." (Mary Oliver)  That calling oftentimes scares us.  We resist it.  There are voices inside and outside of us that chant: You can't do that, you're not good enough, that's not for me, I'll look stupid, I'm not smart enough, pretty enough, wealthy enough, skilled enough, etc., etc., etc...

Your work in life is to connect with your calling, and then no matter what, dedicate your life to it without worrying about outcome, the possibility of failure or success, what others will think, or even death.  Annie Dillard sums it up beautifully in the closing paragraph from her short story Living Like Weasels:

"I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you.  Then even death, where you're going no matter how you live, cannot you part.  Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, til your eyes burn out and drop; let your musky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles."

POETRY | Mary Oliver : When I AM Among The Trees

When I Am Among the Trees
-Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."

MUSIC | Bombay Dub Orchestra : Monsoon Malabar (Remix)

MUSIC | Alanis Morissette : Utopia

Utopia
Alanis Morissette

We'd gather around
All in a room
Fasten our belts
Engage in dialog

We'd all slow down
Rest without guilt
Not lie without fear
Disagree sans judgment

We would stay and respond and expand and include
And allow and forgive and enjoy and evolve and discern
And inquire and accept and admit
And divulge and open and reach out and speak up

This is utopia
This is my utopia
This is my ideal
My end in sight

Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate

We'd open our arms
We'd all jump in
We'd all coast down
Into safety nets

We would share and listen and support and welcome
Be propelled by passion, not invest in outcomes
We would breathe and be charmed and amused by difference
Be gentle and make room for every emotion

This is utopia
This is my utopia
This is my ideal
My end in sight

Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate

We'd provide forums
We'd all speak out
We'd all be heard
We'd all feel seen

We'd rise post-obstacle, more defined, more grateful
We would heal, be humbled, and be unstoppable
We'd hold close and let go and know when to do which
We'd release and disarm and stand up and feel safe

This is utopia
This is my utopia
This is my ideal
My end in sight

Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana

TED | Louie Schwartzberg : Gratitude

TED | Louie Schwartzberg : Gratitude

Please take time to watch this inspirational TED video. Allow your heart to open to all the uncountable blessings we are given every day.

Wishing everyone a day of peace.

Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director, and producer whose notable career spans more than three decades providing breathtaking imagery for feature films, television shows, documentaries and commercials.

This piece includes his short film on Gratitude and Happiness. Brother David Steindl-Rast's spoken words, Gary Malkin's musical compositions and Louie's cinematography make this a stunningly beautiful piece, reminding us of the precious gift of life, and the beauty all around us.

VIDEO | News Anchor's On-Air Response to Viewer Calling Her Fat

WKBT anchor Jennifer Livingston took a moment during Tuesday's morning newscast (Oct. 2, 2012) to directly address a recent email she received from a viewer complaining about her weight.

"To the person who wrote me that letter — do you think I don't know that? That your cruel words are pointing out something that I don't see?" Livingston asked in response. "You don't know me. You are not a friend of mine. You are not a part of my family. And you have admitted that you don't watch this show. So you know nothing about me but what you see on the outside. And I am much more than a number on the scale."

Livingston went on to say that October is National Anti Bullying Month, and that she hopes her response to the email will serve to raise awareness of bullying behavior, which is "passed down from people like the man who wrote me that email."

"If you are at home and talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat," Livingston said.

Livingston thanked friends, family and colleagues, saying, "I will never be able to thank you enough for your words of support, and for taking a stand against this bully. We are better than that email. We are better than the bullies that will try to take us down."