Breathe In, Breathe Out...Tied to the Wheel

Machinehead by Bush

Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in, Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in

Tied to a wheel, my fingers got to feel
Bleeding through a tourniquet smile
I spin on a whim, I slide to the right
I felt you like electric light
For our love, for our fear
For our rise against the years, and years, and years

Got a machinehead
It's better than the rest
Green to red, machinehead
Got a machinehead
It's better than the rest
Green to red

I walk from my machine
I walk from my machine

Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in

Deaf, dumb and thirty, starting to deserve this
Leaning on my conscience wall
Blood is like wine, unconscious all the time
If I had it all again I'd change it all


Here’s the song of the day, as chosen by my radio suggesting it as I drive along. I heard this not once, but twice* today. Interesting because my yoga training session this weekend focused on Pranayama, you know, the practice of breath.

Apparently, in classic yoga studies, breath work comes only after a good understanding of both social and personal ethics and physical poses. Yes, first Yamas, Niyamas, and Asanas. Then you get to breathe.

My teacher was dead serious when he informed us that the texts warn against doing advanced breathing without adequate preparation. They list the side effects of breath study as sweating, cold flashes, or, death. That’s right, death. He hit that one hard.

So now I’m a bit afraid to breathe or to teach others how to breathe. Maybe we should just figure that everybody gets to be responsible for their own body’s well being.

Or maybe the yogis were having a bit of a joke and pointing out that apana (exhalation, without breath) could lead to death.

Anyway, I like this song and it reminds me to breathe!

Sorry I can’t give you the video. Embedding was disabled by the band’s request. Here’s the link to get to youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er1bwzZCik0




* I also heard DCFC’s I Will Possess Your Heart – which I adore - twice today. It was my day for repeat songs. Hmmm.

Flashback to the Eighties

From time to time, I just have to post music that I like. I know it's not particularly literary or yoga-based, but, hey, I like it.

I heard this song on the radio yesterday. (E, do you remember this one??)Now I know the words:

Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy

I find you in the morning... after dreams of distant signs
You pour yourself over me like the sun through the blinds
You lift me up and get me out
Keep me walking but never shout
"Hold the secret close", I hear you say

You know the way it twists and turns
Changing colour, spinning yarns
You know the way it leaves you dry
It cuts you up, it takes you high
You know the way it's painted gold
Is it honey? Is it cold?
You know the way it throws about.

Yeah on and on it goes, calling like a distant wind
Through the zero hour we'll walk...we’ll cut the thick and break the thin
No sound to break, no moment clear
When all the doubts are crystal clear
Crashing hard into the secret wind

You know the way it throws about.
It takes you in and spits you out
It spits you out when you desire
To conquer it, to feel you're higher
To follow it you must be clean,
With mistakes that you do mean
Move the heart, switch the pace
Look for what seems out of place

It spits you out when you desire
To conquer it, to feel you're higher
To follow it you must be clean,
With mistakes that you do mean
Move the heart, switch the pace
Look for what seems out of place

And now I find the special kind
You, yourself, like sun through blinds
You lift me up and get me out
Keep me walking but never shout
It's okay... it goes this way
The line is thin, it twists away
Cuts you up, It throws about
Keep you walking, but never shout.

Maybe I’m Learning Why the Sea on the Tide

Originally posted 9-19-08 on Bliss

There's a lot to like in Roxy Music's More Than This. Of course, it reminds me of high school, but in a generalized, comforting way. Unlike so many nostalgic songs, it's not tied to any particular moments or associations for me.

Then there's the mellow sound, very flowing and relaxing.

But, best of all, thanks to my helpful friend Google, I now know what the actual words are saying. Instead of just humming general phonemes, I have meaning.

And I like those lyrics very much indeed, although I still only understand them in an organic way, like a poem, rather than in a concrete way. Which is all the better I think.

v

I Pull Back the Curtains, Let the Sun Shine Into My Eyes

Embedded below is the video for “This is the Day” by The The – a song that has stuck in my mind since high school. It has that air of bitter hopefulness that appeals to me.