http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWrLZK9y2UY I’ve been listening (rather obsessively) to Björk’s new single, Crystalline, and have been enjoying yoga-infused inspirations and visions from the lyrics—probably because I’m really into yoga. If I was a rock-collector, or something, I might hear the song very differently, but as it is the song takes me on a magical yogic journey that goes deep into our bodies, and gets exploded out into the stars.

And maybe it’s not so strange that I might be inspired in this way since I consider reading poetry to be a part of my practice and teaching (even though I do not always read a poem for every class or personal practice). This song is music and word poetry. When I read poetry I allow my mind to create, and I never think I have the “right” interpretation. It’s just where the words have taken me today. I recognize and honor that the same words key into other people differently depending on where individuals are within themselves at the time of reading or listening, and poems will reveal different things to me depending on the state of myself when I am reading, too. So I hope this will be fun! …no right or wrong interpretations! I invite you to share yours in the comments, if you want to. (The indented quotations are song lyrics from Crystalline by Björk, and the photos below are mine.)

Underneath our feet
Crystals grow like plants
(listen how they grow)

In standing poses it is fairly common to use the imagination to get a sense of feeling grounded, or stabilized and deeply connected to the earth. Sometimes the image of roots growing from the bottom of the feet to the center of the earth is used to attain this, and it can really work. So I like how Bjork starts out the song by helping us to get grounded by connecting from our feet to crystals deep in the earth.

I’m blinded by the lights
(listen how they grow)
In the core of the earth
(listen how they grow)

I see the body as a part of the earth, so what is conjured in my mind when I hear “I’m blinded by the lights in the core of the earth” is the strong power of looking into someone’s eyes, touching skin, or sometimes smells can be extraordinarily stimulating. Or it could also be my own body, and the depths I find in my yoga practice also bring forth a glow from inside the body—the core of earth for me. And birth—the vibrancy that shows up in children, so bright!

I find it super-interesting that the bones themselves are crystalline in structure. In the book, Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet, Gabrial Cousens … “points out that our bones are the only solid crystalline substance in our bodies and that scientists have actually been able to measure the magnetic fields that bones receive and send to our organs: meridians, blood cells and nerves.” … “It is the solidity of the bones that makes them such stable transmitters of the deep, rhythmic pulsating energy that biologically connects our smallest atoms to the primordial rhythms of the stars” ~Bone Marrow Nei Kung: Taoist Techniques for Rejuvenating the Blood and Bone, By Mantak Chia

Crystalline
Internal Nebula
(Crystalline)
Rocks growing slowmo
(Crystalline)
I conquer claustrophobia
(Crystalline)
And demand the light

Considering that “93% of the mass in our body is stardust.” the concept of an “internal nebula” is somewhat true, while remaining completely evocative.

A definition of “nebula” from my computer’s dictionary is “a cloud of gas and dust in outer space, visible in the night sky either as an indistinct bright patch or as a dark patch against other luminous matter.” I think of the image from the song like a weather-pattern in the vastness of the inner realm. It might light things up or obscure something.

And I see the “claustrophobia” as a cramped mental space, and we can “conquer” this mental tightness by opening ourselves up to seeing something new. (And practicing yoga is a great way to clear out the cobwebs to see more clearly!)

We mimic the openness
Of the warmth we love
Doth till our generosity
equalize the flow
With our hearts
We kiss all quartz
To reach love

According to Wikipedia, “By volume and weight the largest concentrations of crystals in the earth are part of the Earth’s solid bedrock.” So when I hear “with our hearts we kiss all quartz” I think of a connection deep within earth that provides a foundation for love.

Octagon, polygon
Pipes up an organ
Sonic branches
Murmuring drone
Crystallizing galaxies
Spread out like my fingers

Considering galaxies at the scale of fingers is so humbling, yet all we have is the perceptive faculties of our personal bodies to see the vastness of experience.

…It’s the sparkle you become
When you conquer anxiety
~Crystalline, by Björk

The music in the song struck me as a bit discordant at first, but I like it. And it might present the right tone to represent the difficulties of the path to light, namely, anxiety and fear.