Comments on: Yoga and Music: To Crank Up or Mellow Out

By: Wilmington De

Wilmington De — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:52:14 +0000

Well I found this on Digg, and I like it so I dugg it!

By: Rachel Glowacki

Rachel Glowacki — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:14:17 +0000

Megan, I love your passionate and encouraging response! It is true each student will receive what they need to receive, music or not. That is why there are so many different styles and classes,it is what makes yoga accessible to all beings. To each his own, wise saying from the grandma. : )

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:54:29 +0000

We get out of yoga exactly what we choose to get out of it… not always what the teacher is trying to teach. For me, some days I need silence, other days I need wild music even in savasana. If your classes are full then you’re obviously doing somthing right Harry. If you have students who love your music selection because they can’t find it in other classes then you are probably connecting with them in a special way. Forget about that one person who doesn’t like it- he/she can find hundreds of other yoga classes to try that will fit him/her better. I think if you are getting just a few more people off their butts into a yoga class (that otherwise might have just stayed on the couch with chips watching trash tv and feeling sad) then rock on! Thumbs up from me!

By: Mark Knowles

Mark Knowles — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:57:02 +0000

Hi Harry
According to the haṭhayogapradīpikā हठयोगप्रदीपिका
“Concentrate on the natural breath and feel the body becoming looser and lighter with each exhalation. Keep the awareness on the breath and the physical body.”
Therefore anything which detracts from the way the posture is practiced is not in accordance with this Scripture.
Yet there are times when we may make a departure, providing we have the experience, knowledge, and the service of the students at heart. This isn’t very easy to do. Personally, I don’t use music with profanity(Michael Franti uses an F bomb every now and then, and his message is positive)or offensive no matter what the message is. I’ve found with all the things you mentioned occuring during the asana practice, the student may not hear what I hear when I play the music at home, with a mind focused on a class theme which I have. Many times it just doesn’t line up that way, so why risk it?
In the Jivamukti method we use music to reinforce the teachings in relation to the focus of the month, I don’t believe in doing things arbitrarily or “spur of the moment”, nature and the whole world don’t operate that way.
There were 2 great articles last month in Yoga Journal about this.
Great article Harry, keep ‘em coming!
Mark

By: Lisa McQuade, E-RYT 500, Kripalu

Lisa McQuade, E-RYT 500, Kripalu — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:27:38 +0000

Music has the power to move enrgy and spirit. The choices we make as teachers speaks loudly of where we are at personally in our own practice.
Shavasana isn’t a place to get a message across with the words of a song. It is a space where healing occurs, a safe space to cultivate the witness to the body, mind, spirit. If the music is distracting from this, the healing doesn’t happen. Look at the research on relaxation response the links to music and healing. This may help you. Sometimes God puts a “student” in the “teacher” role for a reason. Be open to suggestion, rather than digging your heals into having to be right.