Like Patanjali’s beard? 

So does Ke$sha. 

Welcome to another in-depth look (see Part 1) at the insight of our favorite pop stars.

Ke$ha recently hit the ego-self on the head with her masterpiece We R Who We R:

Tonight we’re going har-har-h-h-h hard
Just like the world is our-our-ah-ah-ah ours!
We’re tearing it apar-par-par-pa-pa-pa part
You know we’re superstars
We R who we R

I love this Ke$ha.  “We do this, we do that, we experience life, we can even label (superstars)…but really, we just R.”  It is as simple as that. 

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali say, “Egoism is the identification, as it were, of the power of the Seer [Self] with that of the instrument of seeing [body-mind.]” (II-6)

Could Ke$ha be vocalizing her recognition of egoism and her journey through the depths of egoism into Self-realization?  Has her practice of Yoga torn down the walls of r [ego], and shone the light on R [Self]?

Iconic, always interesting, and often inspiring is Madonna.  In 1990, she released the still popular todayVogue.

Come on, vogue
Let your body move to the music [move to the music] Hey, hey, hey
Come on, vogue
Let your body go with the flow [go with the flow] You know you can do it

In the first part of the chorus, Madge seems to be laying a metaphorical foundation for the Yoga concept of vinyasa (an organized course of Yoga practice.)  According to T.K.V. Desikachar, “The concept of vinyasa karma tells us that it is not enough to simply take a step; that step needs to take us in the right direction and be made in the right way.”  So how do we know what step to take?  Desikachar teaches, “The starting point for this practice is the condition of our entire being at that present moment.”  So, the direction we take is the one we look toward in the present moment, going with the flow.

All you need is your own imagination
So use it that’s what it’s for [that’s what it’s for] Go inside, for your finest inspiration
Your dreams will open the door [open up the door]

How can we connect to the present moment?  Aside from letting our body move to the music (of breath, life, the radio…) Madonna suggests tapping into our imagination and intuition, or in Chakra talk, the Vishuddha (Throat) and the Ajna (Third Eye) energy centers.  Allowing our creative drives to deepen and our insights to inspire can draw us toward the door opening our Sahasrara (Crown) chakra.

But what if we just. can’t. dance? (Read: there’s hope for you, husband!)  Be patient through the suffering, inspired by our final cameo, again, by Katy Perry, Firework.

Maybe you’re reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road.

Of course, it’s all really semantics, and though these might seem like silly examples, they are examples nonetheless of how we can find Yoga in our everyday.  The proverbial chicken/egg analysis might ask, “Did my own Yoga awareness simply shine reflections into these words, or did the ingrained language of Yoga permeate the hearts of these songstresses and their subsequent synthesizing?”  I’m not sure, but either way, I say there’s Yoga here, ‘cuz if there is no meaning behind the art of auto-tune…I don’t know where it is!

TGIF friends.  (Or whenever you read this.)