07.20.11 Rock The Mat!—Tips for creating a kick-ass yoga playlist.

Hey Yogis!


Last week I wrote about some things that really chap my asana, and one of them was when teachers have lame music (or no music) going on during class. I totally promised that I would share my own personal playlist. Okay, I've actually made quite a lot of them depending on theme/genre/mood...but, today, you guys get just one. Don't worry, I'll be sharing more in the future, you'll just have to keep checking back for more ;)


I know it's not possible (unless you have unlimited free-time) to create a unique playlist to cater to every yoga class/theme, as a teacher. There aren't enough hours in the day and even if there were it's just not practical. I just like to create playlists when I have the chance if I'm feeling really strongly about an intention or if I'm really in a mood to get myself into some other mood through the music. When I'm not using one of my kick-ass playlists, I have another playlist with about a hundred or so songs in no order that I know I like to hear while I'm practicing (be it "regular" music or "yoga" music like Jai Uttal, etc.), and I just put that on random.


I'm going to break down the playlist in 3 parts...Warm Up, Peak, and Cool-down. I'm actually making this playlist as I write this so it's more updated to my current mood (and I can use it later yaayy!) Again, this is my personal playlist, as a teacher I don't think I would ever play "Closer" by NIN in class...unless I was having a class with people that I knew would be into it. However, yesterday I was in an anti-gravity yoga class and the teacher was playing club music (like the kind that the Jersey Shore kids pump their fists to), and he didn't seem to think twice about it. I found that really strange, and I think if it had been a regular vinyasa class I would've been hyper-fixated on how bad the music was. But, I was able to tune it out because the novelty of doing yoga in a hammock was occupying my mind more than anything else. Also if you haven't tried anti-gravity yoga (and you don't have glaucoma and are not pregnant or trying to get pregnant), RUN, don't walk, to Om Factory as soon as possible.


Anyhow lets get to it!


WARM UP
Elevator Music - Beck
Working for Vacation - Cibo Matto
Heartbeats - The Knife
W.F.L. - Happy Mondays
Closer - Nine Inch Nails


PEAK
Close To Me - The Cure (the kick ass mix, though, the one with the horns, yeah! Love love LOVE!)
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
Sound and Vision - David Bowie (by the way, one of my favorite songs, and yes, I wonder about sound and vision ALL THE TIME)
Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
Some Velvet Morning - Primal Scream
Girls & Boys - Blur
Give it to Me - Rick James
Jungle Lion - Lee "Scratch" Perry & The Upsetters
Revolution Rock - The Clash
Monkey Ska - Derrick Harriot


COOL-DOWN
Dreadlock Holiday - 10cc
Above the Clouds -Gang Starr
Redemption Song - Toots and The Maytals
World of Two - Cake
Pets - Porno for Pyros
Frosti - Björk


Warm-up
Here you'll want to pick songs that kind of have a driving, inciting beat, and start off with something that makes you feel like "Okay, here we go!". I started off this one with Elevator Music, great lyrics, my favorite being "No dead flower's gonna grow til the dirt gets wet"...plus it starts off with a "One...Two...you know what to do!", it's got everything you need for your first yoga playlist track! I like the songs to follow to build to a more faster, upbeat/funky tempo as each song passes, to bring you seamlessly into the "peak" part of your session.


Peak
At this point in the practice I want to hear songs that make me feel uplifted, motivated, happy, excited, empowered, whatever-I-need, so that when I'm holding Down Dog for 5 breaths after a challenging sequence, I don't feel compelled to collapse on my mat. Toward the end of the "peak" section I go with more chilled-out songs, (I lean toward Reggae at this point in the playlist usually) to lead into the "cool-down". I also like to put in more light-hearted songs toward the end of my "peak", as that's when I get into my inversion practice, where I like to keep an open mind and not get all frusty when I can't get into handstand (which is why "Monkey Ska" is at the end of this one, if that song doesn't make you smile, nothing will).


Cool-down
It's pretty self-explanatory, here I pick songs that help me to feel more calm and quiet. But this is subjective and of course, some people would be perplexed, and not calmed, if they had to hear some Gang Starr while they were cooling down during yoga, even if the song is really subdue in comparison to other songs by them. But you want to pick songs that soothe you and don't take your mind into a state of heightened emotion, negative or positive.




I'll have to post another playlist that's a bit more class-friendly; without songs that are really an indulgence for me and probably very distracting for most (For example I think I'd take out Happy Mondays, NIN and possibly Primal Scream and/or Rick James...I don't know if I need to explain why, do I?).


Everybody is different, and when you're picking songs for a class, it's probably best to go with what you like personally, but just editing tracks that may be somewhat offensive lyrically or sonically to other people (in this case, I would take out NIN, Happy Mondays and Gang Starr, I think most people wouldn't be into that in a yoga class). You can always show your playlist to some fellow teachers, or students you have a relationship with, and get their feedback. Remember, you can't please all the people all the time so, don't take these opinions as the direction you should go in, it's just good to hear from your audience and then edit from there without totally compromising yourself.


So with that, I hope you found this helpful, and if you feel compelled to make your own playlist, please share it! I would love to see what you've come up with for yourself, and it would give other readers ideas for their own playlist, too :)


Namasté!