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!