“Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Plato

Music is a universal language. It is healing and inspiring; music has the power to elevate our mood.  Music is certainly divine in its ability to transcend individual experience and to draw our consciousness inwards.

Yoga is a universal practice.  The practice of yoga, unites our breath with our movement, in turn creating balance, healing, and peace from within.  It is certainly divine in its ability to awaken consciousness and draw awareness inward.

Woah.

Now think of the two together. It’s a pretty beautiful pairing, right? From my personal experience, music and yoga are my two greatest loves in life.  To me my yoga practice set to music can be the most incredible combination.  However, it is such a highly personal topic and really a matter of preference. There are factors which could make it magical, and factors which could make it unfortunate.

What we’re trying to accomplish in yoga is a stilling of the fluctuations of the mind through breath and body awareness.  We practice a series of physical poses to distract our thoughts from the daily buzz. We then can focus our thoughts on the simplicity of only one physical movement at a time. If a student steps on their mat with that very intention, and the teacher begins to play music that they do not like, well, then their practice could be mediocre at best.

The music and the lyrics, and perhaps the volume could all have a negative effect. It could in fact speed up a student’s mind thought distractions.  The reality is if a person regularly practices in a quiet space, there is a very high probability that this will happen to them.

However, to build mental strength on and off their mat, they can accept their challenge for that particular class.  By tuning awareness inward their breath can act as an anchor and turns an obstacle into an opportunity to strengthen mental focus.  There is always noise around us, and being a bit of a metaphor for life, yoga teaches us to be at peace no matter what is happening outside of our bodies.

The effects of yoga can truly be magnified if the music that is being played is timed right, at the appropriate volume, and if you like it.  In your practice music can keep you rooted in the moment. It can pull your attention away from a busy mind and into the melody. Music can add grace and ease when poses become challenging.

The power of yoga combined with the power of music can really help elevate our experience in a yoga class therefore tuning us back into ourselves allowing for introspection.

I’ve been carried away by music.  I’ve been moved to tears on my mat as a song plays at just the right time, in just the right pose, at just the right time in my life.

It’s not always that way and music can add an unanticipated layer of effort to our practice sometimes.  But when the moment is right and the music strikes the right nerve, it’s simply magical.

Love,

Anna xo