Strengthening the Spirit (and the abs)

I decided that while my sort-of lackadaisical hatha practice was doing wonders for my spirit, it wasn't as awesome for my body. Plus, the studio is a sort-of wasteful ten-minute drive or twenty-five minute walk away, and it's just that distance where I feel like a scumbag for not going to more classes, but it seems SO far. Add to the mix that we've been encouraged to try out different studios in the area to more fully form our own style of teaching. So I decided to try a new member special at Samara Yoga, a studio about five minutes away in Davis Square. I love the walk down there- it's full of tree-lined streets and pretty houses. Plus, the classes at Samara are vinyasa flow classes, which I've been really missing since I left Michigan (vinyasa was my first introduction to yoga, and I think I'll always have a soft spot for the mind-clearing flowiness of it).

The first class started with so much ab work that my entire front half was cramping up by the time the teacher finally let us collapse to the ground. The next day (yesterday), I could feel my abs probably better than I've been able to in years. Today they just hurt! The class yesterday was a lunch-hour flow class, and the instructor played music all the way through. At my usual studio, the only music is usually just a never-ending om in the background... but this music was like Thom Yorke and Coldplay and all my favorites. She actually used Sigur Ros for savasana, and I was in heaven.

It made me think a lot about the use of music in yoga, and how it can strengthen or detract from a practice. When I first joined my studio in East Lansing, I found the use of pop music really distracting from my focus, but I guess I got more used to it as time went on. I remember one really fantastic class that we had right after MJ died- we were doing sun salutations to "Smooth Criminal" and it was awesome. I think it takes a special touch to make a playlist that inspires the students with every track, however... I'm not sure this is a touch that I possess yet, but the instructor yesterday definitely had it. She didn't have to adjust the music or look for a new track at all.

That having been said, my first instinct is to stick to "authentically" Indian music- Ravi Shankar, Jagjit Singh, and so forth... but the context in which I teach (with what I'm assuming will be young, American-born students for the most part) might beg music with which they're familiar once in a while. Music from outside their sphere might serve to increase the mysticism of the practice, but I wonder if it would also alienate the student when I want them to feel at home. I feel like the stakes are high: for me at least, the right music can elevate me onto a new plane where I feel more inspired and more clear-minded. The wrong music can distract me and actually physically disrupt my balance. Really. I've fallen out of balance poses before because of the music. I want the music to strengthen the spirit of the class, and maybe the abs too.

I'm sure that, like everything else, the answer will be in some sort of balance between the two. But it's still something I have to do some thinking about.