mind, body and life skills for at-risk youth

The Balance - lyrics of Aceyalone19 May 2009

MBA Project peoples in NYC, Decon Media, recently rereleased Aceyalone’s Book of Human Launguage The lyrics are tight and definitely on a day-to-day meditation tip. You can also listen to it at get the mp3 via itunesor read the lyrics below.
____________________________________________
Intro:
Mr. Mix Mr. DJ play that beat.
Won’t you play if for me. In the mix mister hop
forward hop back. Hop, hop hop.

Verse 1:
The second somebody dies somebody else is born
People are celebrating while other people mourn
Home may be home to you but to me it’s foreign
Even the matador don’t pull the bull by the horns
One man’s enemy is another man’s friend
One man’s poisons is another man’s medicine
So let us stand, let us sit and let us view
The changing of the guard oh it’s so hard to keep it true
It’s the balance of the scales it can’t be challenged or expelled
Soon as somebody lost somebody else prevails
Some someone is quiet at the same time someone yells
Half full or half empty water in the well
It’s the Half and Half Hypothesis the 50/50 theory
Eerie as it may seem check your balance beam
It’s the Half and Half Hypothesis the 50/50 theory
Eerie as it may seem check your balance beam
Now check your Balance Beamer with a feather and a rock
Wheath or not you find the answer is really not the plot
See it’s like Love and Hate (love…and hate)
The same emotion different weight
People Love to Hate so I know you know just how this all relates
It’s the posa and the nega tive
Mini and mega live
Arm a leg a leg an arm headed by a nigga
Like big and small
Short and tall
Night and day and so on
Some people are bashfull
Some people just love to get their flow on (they flow on)
So here goes one to grow on
I’m a go on and on and on till the principles are laid out
The scales of justice weighed out
Till your memory starts to fade out and your game of life is played out
Got to balance out the power don’t we?
Balance your emotions
Push and pull positions like the moon pulls on the ocean
Balance on one foot that’s equilibrium
Opposites attract and retract that’s a fact
I’m a Libra y’all!
180 degrees but not that hot
So whether or not you find the answer is really not the plot (really not the
plot)
Because giving is recieving (and) and seeing is believing (and)
And the solar system rotes so harmonious and even
It’s perfectly balanced

Verse 2:
Some people say life is about taking chances choices and decisions
Voices and opinions, politics and religion
Clues the past and cash and keys to the future
It’s a possibility and probability on who’s gonna execute yo ass
Some slow and analytical
Some quick fast on the dash
Like heads or tails but the head usually leads the tail
So I tell my tales from the head
Cause they’re embedded inside my cells
Real quick let me tell you about a fact I know things will even out
You can disbelieve or doubt or even shout or leave it in your mouth
Cause how you gone reason wit grand Mother Nature
Running mother Earth controlled by Father Time who’s the chaser
It’s living and dying homey
Laughing and crying dude
Trying or lying my brother
Walking or flying fool
Now half of you are gone find the time to shine
The other half gone find crime, money weed wine
Till it’s to late in a disillusion state of mind
I just found my peace of mind
Now they want a piece of mine
To late in a disillusion of mind
The orthodox is the unorthodox they just got you on the names
The insane and the sane are the same
It’s a damn shame so many people’s aim is so lame
And their gain is so minimal
Caught up in the subliminal
It’s pleasure and pain, water for the flames, the wild and the tame
The style still remains if you use the right side of your brain
Instead of going against the grain
You can penetrate the vein to the point where what remains is a stain
Of this universal thang
That we call Balance balance..

The Guru's Of Hip Hop19 May 2006

This article appeared in Yoga Journal a while back. It’s one of the hottest articles ever on the subject, featuring Wu Tang, Russel Simmons, Heirogliphics, Afu Ra and more… You can download or read it here.

Vinny Ferraro on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a powerfull way to get on with our life and let go of any bad fealings we have about things we did, or things that were done to us, in the past. Here you can download a 30 minute guided meditation and 44 minute talk by Vinny Ferraro on the subject.
Download: meditation.mp3
Download: talk.mp3

Here’s a little about Vinny:
Vinny is from a big Italian family on the East Coast, and at 17 his uncle Gigi taught him how to do drywall. Gigi taught him that the real tough guys get up and go to work. So by day he would put walls up, and by night he would take walls down. Starting in 1987, Vinny began speaking in drug rehabs and prisons, making him realize how much he loved to work with people. He says it is the one thing in his life that makes him feel human. By the late 80’s, he began speaking at schools and conventions as well. In 1993, he started working with street artists, acquiring “legal walls” for kids’ graffiti murals. He also started leading men’s groups and teaching meditation, which he continues to this day. In 1998, he spent a year sitting bedside with the dying through the Zen Center Hospice Program in San Francisco, as well as experiencing A Year to Live Practice. He has studied with several renowned spiritual teachers, the Dalai Lama among them. In 2001, Vinny trained to lead Challenge Days, and since then he has become an integral part of the organization and the work of Challenge Day. Vinny is also in the Community Dharma Leaders program at Spirit Rock meditation Center and he co-teaches meditation retreat at Spirit Rock with Noah Levine.

The Meditation Manual Vol. 1

Download the first edition of The Meditation Manual HERE.
The Meditation Manual is a little book to help people learn about meditation. This is for both people who want an introduction to meditation, and for those who want to deepen their understanding of what they already know. It’s a very simple booklet, and we feel it covers the basics:
-‘what is meditation?’
-‘how to get started’.
-two stories of teens who learned meditation while they were locked up.
-lyrics from KRS-One’s “Ocean Within
-and more…
Also, the artwork is by the bigtime MBA supporter,Mike Giant, so check him out if you’re into it.
Also, send us feedback for our second edition, we want to hear from you!

Noah Levine on Getting Down With Concentration

Here is a 30 minute mp3 from Noah on concentration and focus. Download it for free!