Yoga Playlist : A Quiet Time
This month's playlist is lush, hushed, and beautiful. It can be used for a night time, restorative or seated practice or you can juxtaposed with your favorite vinyasa sequence. When I teach with music I try and be very intentional about it. Each song impacts "how" I teach. In what day does my voice and the pacing of my voice interact with the music, the students, and the purpose of the particular posture in relation to itself and the rest of the class. There are countless elements to teaching, let alone teaching with a soundtrack. If yoga teachers aren't careful it can be a rather disastrous mood killer. The "bhav" or feeling of a class is a way in which the teacher holds space for a personal and group experience. It is very possible to call poses or alignment cues with precision and purpose but lack that special feeling that makes a particular class memorable. There is something very special about a class that has heart, safety, playfullness, freedom, education, and facilitates and internal experience for students. This is a tough nut to crack and I by no means am successful all that frequently. However, when the stars align and we participate just enough to get out of our own way it is a magical moment. I was lucky enough to feel this while I was teaching last Tuesday evening at Yoga Union. My Tuesday class at YU is a Vinyasa level 2 class at 5:30pm. There energy of the class is always vibrant, attentive, and ready to rock. In those post-work hours students bodies are warm and their minds often need a point of focus, a relief from the stresses of the day. This class is my favorite. As a group we've cultivate something special over the last four years. I can see teaching this class for years.
Here is the playlist I used for what became a special class last Tuesday at Yoga Union. Again, using fewer artists can create a magnificient container. The repitition creates a very distinct mood and in this type of class a very strong point of focus.
