Power Yoga Playlist Edit

Photo Credit: Paula @ ThirteenThoughts

I finally had time to sit down and make a new playlist for the power vinyasa class I teach.  Honestly, it wasn't so much that I "had time" as it was that I was fairly certain if I played it one more time in my Tuesday night class my students would go insane.  Or maybe think I didn't care about them or was lazy or one of many other insecurities that can arise in regard to teaching yoga.  There is a reason I play this Power Yoga Playlist so often, though.  It was the first playlist I made, and it was made specially for the first class I ever taught.  When I created it, I assumed (I was wrong, you know what they say about people who assume, oops!) that I would probably make a new one every week and it would get easier with time because it wouldn't feel so incredibly important.  I spent hours, days really, selecting the perfect songs and then arranging and re-arranging them into what I hoped would be a playlist that both followed and inspired my students through the arc of the class.  I tried it on and practiced the sequence to make sure it was just right.  There were some tears involved. 

There are two schools of thought when it comes to playing music in yoga classes.  Some purists believe that silence is necessary to experience the full process of moving inward on the yoga mat and that the addition of music is a Western distraction from the more spiritual aspects of the practice.  I don't entirely disagree.  However, isn't learning to go inward in a world full of noise and distractions also one of the many benefits of a yoga practice?  I believe in meeting your students where they are and leading a class that is genuinely authentic to you.  So I play music.  I find it both motivating and relish the feeling of a favorite song coming on while flowing to the beat of the music and my own breathing.  It doesn't resonate with me to pretend to be someone I'm not just because I'm a yoga teacher.  Personally, my skin crawls when I am in a yoga class and out of nowhere the young, midwestern teacher is leading us to "om/aum" in loud unision.  Not to be judgmental, but I find it hard to believe that I am the only person sitting in a yoga class in eastern North Carolina who could do without another "om" for my entire life.  And I don't even want to get myself started on kirtan (the repetitive chanting music that never ends. Ironically, a friend of mine who is also a yoga teacher posted a video of "The Song That Never Ends" from the kids show Lambchop this morning and that is the only thing I heard in my head all morning, including during a yoga class).  I know yoga teachers aren't supposed to say this, but I hate it and if I ever knew when it would in fact end, then I would probably have walked out of a few classes.  It is only the hope that I am overreacting and it will be done soon that has ever kept my ass firmly glued to my mat.  You will never hear any of that in one of my classes.  What you will hear is precise language as you're guided through a power vinyasa flow, gentle alignment cues, and on more days than not - this playlist that I love listening to more than anything.  I love it so much I listen to it not only in yoga class, but when I go running and on the rare occasion I make it to the gym to lift.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!  Comment below and let me know your favorite songs.  I can't wait to hear them!