Music for Asana Practice

ByElizabeth

Yesterday the mysterious beeping was beeping again in Studio 1B.  I have all sorts of approaches to teaching with the beeping.  One of them is to switch the attention of the ears to music.  We flowed to Now by Bhagavan Das (because it was already in the CD player and I like it well enough) and listened to selections from Love Reigns by Diana Rogers during final relaxation.  Monty asked me after class to give a list of some good music for home practice.  Here are some of my favorite “yoga” cds in no particular order:

Krishna Das — Live on Earth; Faith of the Heart

Wah! — Hidden in the Name; Jai, Jai, Jai

Jai Uttal — Kirtan (this double CD also has a useful spoken background piece on what is kirtan)

Deva Premal — Love is Space; The Embrace

Ragani — Best of Both Worlds

Dave Stringer — Mala; Japa; Divas and Devis

Shantala — Sri; The Love Window

Many of these are available at the Willow Street Yoga Center shops.  Most should be available on-line directly from the artists.  Dave Stringer also has other music available for download.  The rest can be obtained from Amazon.  Also great listening is Invocation, which was put together by Ty Burhow.  It is a collection of different artists offering versions of the Anusara invocation.  Willow Street work studies are raving about MC Yogi’s Elephant Power, which is rap music telling the stories of various deities — funny and delightful.

Mostly, I prefer to teach and practice without music, but I was a dancer and find music helps to lead me into heart and body simultaneously.  I find bringing music into a practice session especially helpful when I am having trouble getting settled on my mat.   I do not just play “yoga” music, but play whatever gets me into the spirit of play or relaxation and contemplation as I am moved.  My bias is towards chamber music (especially Bach) and Indian classical music for a late evening quiet practice and for an upbeat daytime practice anything that would go with being outside on a grassy field on a bright sunny day with frisbee players around.  Alice Coltrane is also wonderful if you haven’t discovered yet her discography.

Play what enhances rather than what distracts.  Also, check out the artists when they come to town:  Wah!, Dave Stringer, and Shantala (Heather and Benji Wertheimer) all come to town.  Enjoy!

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    Prasad (and Opening to Grace)

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    Coming to yoga class or doing our own practice (asana or meditation) should be, I think, like preparing to receive prasad.  What is primary in the practice of Anusara yoga is being open to grace, but we can no more force openings or enlightenment (grace and insight always elude grasping),  than forcing any particular physical posture or goal really yoga practice.  The point of effort in yoga to improve and expand alignment and knowledge is to enable the practitioner to receive more fully all the potential gifts and grace of practice, and then in turn make fuller and more complete offerings to others.

    Below:  offerings at the Chelsea Farmers’ Market

One Comment

  1. Thank you so much for introducing me to MC Yogi! I love the interplay of his rap and Jai Uttal’s voice.

    I would also recommend Zoe Keating (www.zoekeating.com). She is a cellist who uses computer looping to create an amazing layered sound. She doesn’t just bow the strings, she plucks them, hits them, plays with the back of the bow, taps and bows the body, etc.

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