SeanFromCanada's Blog

I got into hot yoga in 2011.  I tried the activity a couple years earlier, and enjoyed how hard and challenging it was, but I was just a tourist entering someone else’s world.  Hot yoga didn’t ‘stick’ in earnest for me until I decided that if I was serious about my physical fitness, the single most important activity I needed to be doing was stretching.  More weight on the bench press wasn’t going to give me any additional health benefits…

So, in January of 2011, I humbly entered the realm of yoga.  It was about half a year before I bought my first pair of yoga pants (I believe this is an official stage in a student’s yogic development) and I finished 2011 with 63 hot yoga classes under my belt.  I love it and I’m continuing to invest in my education and abilities.  Frankly, I’d do it more than twice a week if I could keep my weight and hydration up to acceptable levels…but it’s not easy, this is a very challenging activity!

One of the things I love about the studio I attend (http://hotyogaon17th.com/), is that they play music through the classes.  The 6:00 am instructors are pretty ‘hip and with it’ gals, and for me, the music they choose adds greatly to the experience.

Those who know me know I love music.  I am purposeful about what I listen to and when I listen to it.  I thought I’d look through my iTunes and put together a yoga music mix to honor the yoga theme.  (I love making play lists and having a specific theme such as this only makes it more interesting and fun).  In choosing the songs (not yet the order), I’ve been purposeful about the following:

• Pace:  Nothing too fast or overtly distracting…the mind needs to connect with the music, but not be distracted by it.
• Energy:  Positive, uplifting, but also patient, understanding and calming.
• Rhythms:  Songs with repeating and consistent rhythms that are able to support a more trance like, peaceful state.
• Words:  Being familiar with all of the music I own, I know some of the songs I chose have messages that are consistent with the yoga principals I’m learning.
• Positive:  Some of the songs on this are songs I have positive relationships with from my past.  I find them continually uplifting and immediately feel positive when I hear them.

After the first pass through my music collection, I ended up with 49 songs (4 hours).  I’ve decided not to do a bunch of editing and order placing, but rather to simply throw these songs on shuffle and see where things go from there.  Consistent with yoga principles, I’ll simply trust that each song show up, when and as I need them…(or I’ll fast forward them!).

Here’s the list.