Let The Music Play

I finally created enough free time to sit down and read the June issue of Yoga Journal magazine. I was especially interested in the cover story, Move to the Music. The piece explores the role music is playing in the modern western interpretation of yoga. As a teacher that selects her playlist as carefully as she selects her sequences I was intrigued by the notion that it is this coming together of music and the yoga asana that could eventually serve as the foundation of what we know as yoga here in the west. While there are some teachers who prefer to teach without music and I imagine a number of students who find music distracting, there are more than a few that love the combination. Anthropologist define culture as, the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classify and represent their experiences, and act creatively. For many the creative spirit manifests itself musically. I believe music has the power to transport the listener to another plane, higher or lower, depending on the message. When you combine music with yoga what you cultivate is a sacred space for the student to blossom into their full expression of self, at least for that four mintutes and twenty seconds.

Speaking of music, I've been working on the playlists for my free community class at Joe's Movement Emporium. I just took possession of a stack of yummy international tunes from my days as program director of XM's World Music channel. I'm looking to add some new stuff to the repertoire so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments box.
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Namaste!