yoga and music - a very difficult topic...
there is such a lot of "yoga-music" out there, and then of course the "world-music", and not to forget the "western-music", and god knows what else...
different teachers using different music during their classes... you can have loud music, or the music is very quiet, you almost don't hear it...
my question always...is it for the students or the teacher? or the spirit??
originally there is no music played during a yoga class...I usually don't play music while I practice at home...
I have one teacher friend who's classes I usually go to, she plays her music very quiet. I would say it's western music and I like it. as it is always the same music and usually in the same order, to me it's comforting. once I enter the room I feel home (not only because it's the room I also teach my classes in and I really do feel comfortable there). but that's how I feel, what about the rest of the class?
other teachers switch music, and I have to admit, also I did in the beginning. that means one class with spiritual music and another time playing western music or even a mixture of different styles... I have to say, that does not always work for me. it's not very bad, but sometimes just not fitting the practice for me. when I teach, it resembles the mood I am in that day. but why project it on so many different people coming to my class? coming to do their practice, for very different reasons that day...
maybe I am just very sensitive to it, because music always is connected with feelings for me. I hear a certain song and, snap, feeling is here. either from the past, as it is a song connected to a certain period and feeling, or from just that very moment...
your asana practice, even when you come to class, should be your personal practice that day. you should be able to feel inside, feel, what your body needs today, where it is today, where it wants to go or not. that's what I tell my students at the beginning of every class and then I put music on...music that might distract some people, doesn't get them deeper, probably is just completely "wrong" to what this person would need that day!
here's the resolution I came up with... I want my students to be able to meditate through their asana practice, or not, I want them to feel inside, or not, but I do not want them to be distracted or guided into a certain direction or feeling, by the music I play during class.
I love to play some spiritual music before class and I'll keep doing that for sure...and I am not saying I will never ever teach a class with music anymore... maybe I just didn't find the right music yet ;-)
here is my very personal playlist :-)
you might ask yourself now why I come up with a playlist, after telling you my reasons for not having music in class...
well, when I do my personal asana practice at home, once in a while I need exactly that music. mainly it's on days when I need to calm down. but you'll be surprised it's not only calm, meditative songs. for me a good mixture, getting all negativity out of me, calming me and tuning me into a positive direction again... getting me ready for a quiet savasana. because that is the moment I definitely turn any music off - in class and for myself. letting go completely...
now finally, that's it:
"sit down" - Flunk
"let love live" - Cirque du Soleil
"fear and love" - Morcheeba
"yeha-noha: wishes of happiness" - Native American chant
"was dein herz dir sagt" - Sportfreunde Stiller
"everything will flow" - Suede
"the next life" - Suede
"at my most beautiful" - R.E.M.
"fall on me" - R.E.M.
"blattl im wind" - Aurora
"certamente" - Madreblu
"nothingman" - Pearl Jam
"let me fall" - Cirque du Soleil
"kumbalawe" - Cirque du Soleil
"done drifting" - Heather Nova
"paper cup" - Heather Nova
shuffle ;-)
