Singled Out: MC Yogi's Give Love

I originally wrote "Give Love" for an organization called Yoga Aid, which galvanizes the yoga community to do good in the world. Yoga Aid was founded by Clive Mayhew and Eriko Kinos***a from Sydney Australia. I first met Clive and Eriko at the Hong Kong Yoga Conference, and after watching our concert, he asked if I'd be willing to write a song to help shine a light on the great work the yogis were doing around the globe.

I asked myself what do all these yogis raising money and charities have in common? I realized they were giving something incredibly important above and beyond money. They give themselves, their time, their energy and above all their Love. That's when the words started to pour out, Love is the answer Love is the Key Love is the glue between you and me. It seems so simple right? But is really one of the most challenging things and takes the most courage and strength to do sometimes. It became a mantra for me. I'd keep repeating it to myself as a reminder, when in doubt, Give Love, Give Love, Give Love. As a teenager because of certain trauma's I experienced growing up I'd become cold and numb, turning to drugs and all kinds of rebelliousness as a way to try and relieve the suffering. Yoga helped me to open and melt the frozen parts of my heart that were holding onto the past.

In the yoga tradition selfless service is considered a path to freedom, unhooking us from the mental chaos that tends to wreak havoc on ourselves and the people around us. The moment we do something for someone else it frees us up, from all that noise on the surface. It creates a subtle shift so that we can channel that energy toward something productive, something that uplifts others and ultimately ourselves.

Initially, I wasn't going to release "Give Love" on my new album Pilgrimage because the album in my mind was more of a travel log. A journal entry from my time in India. My wife Amanda kept encouraging me to include it on the record. The more I thought about it the more I realized that, the entire journey, and Pilgrimage was about Giving Love. So we decided to make it the first single on the album.