Teaching Yoga to Music
by Malia Scott Y
ogiTunes brings the experience of 3 top yoga DJ/producers to enhance the in-
class soundscapes...
Malia Scott, Austin yoga teacher, sits down with YogiTunes co-founder Rara Avis (Six Degrees recording artist and member of both Desert Dwellers & Shaman’s Dream) to talk about his experiences of teaching to music.
Q: Rara, what’s your overall perspective on the relationship in class between music and yoga?
A: I find it to be a conversation between the music and the instruction. When I sing the blues, my band knows not to play lead lines and solos when I’m singing - and vice versa. That being said, they’re not static either… they constantly respond by supporting what I’m singing. Teaching to music is very much the same.
Q: How much should a yoga teacher talk when there’s music playing?
A: From time to time allowing the music to become the lead creates a wonderful ebb and flow for the class. It can inspire a student to breathe in and out from focusing on you to their own inner rhythms. When I play live in class I do my best to not get in the way of the instructor, but that has to reciprocate. My teacher had the most amazing way of saying something then allowing us time to experience the effects. It really gave me an appreciation for “less is more.”
Q: What’s the best order to put songs in?
A: I always start ambient and meditative to reflect the opening mood of any class. I build slowly from there and have peak songs for when the energy hits max. Try to find elements of nature and very simple songs for parts of class where people need to rest and recoup. Crickets are often great for child’s pose... but also it’s nice to have those peak songs where you can literally tear the roof off when you need to.
YogiTunes has designed their music selection just
this way. They have hand-picked the best opening, building, peak, cool-down and savasana songs. By spending less time ‘mining for gold’ teachers spend more time on making awesome playlists! Be sure to check out their website
www.yogitunes.com.
Critics vs.
Critical Thinkers
By Chinook Wusdhu
merica is great because we not only allow but encourage people to express themselves wholeheartedly. Freedom of speech is a valuable constitutional right.
A
The fact that our conscientious objectors can voice their beliefs makes us truly humane and just. Great inventors, artists, and entrepreneurs have a non-conformist renegade mindset. Without the freedom to disagree, there would be no vaccines, no variety in architecture or music, no women’s lib, no civil rights, no Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell.
There are two main types of critics. The first (a true yogi) is the Critical Thinker. These constructive critics look you in the eye (no text, e-mail, tweet, blog or third party), express their concerns, and suggest alternative solutions. They have you and your best interests at heart. If direct communication fails and no positive action can be agreed upon, they take action themselves. They do not relent or waver on the ultimate goal.
The second is the Perennial Critic - chronic faultfinders, gossips, and blame mongers who fixate on character assassinations of highly visible, high profile, popular, successful, and active individuals. These negative critics do not have your best interest at heart and only wish your downfall. Obsessed with finding fault they rarely offer positive solutions or engage in a genuine dialogue – only pretense. Like sports critics who have never played on an elite level or coached a championship team, these chronic complainers criticize to excess but do not get in the ring, court, field or arena themselves.
Theodore Roosevelt said,
“It is not the Critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong [person] stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the [person] who is actually in the arena, whose
face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends [themselves] in a worthy cause; who, if he [she] wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he [she] fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his [her] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
As a sacred activist and yogi, my question would be to ask these perennial critics to show us a better way, to demonstrate the courage required to stand up and practice what they preach. I admire the brave souls willing to expose themselves to judgments of both protagonists and antagonists.
Critical thinkers are necessary to prevent society
from becoming a mono-yogastic
industrial complex - ensuring that yogis get ongoing access to poly-yogic teaching so that we can continue to evolve. As yogis, we never want to become stale, soulless, snobby, mechanistic, chauvinistic or militaristic. Freedom of speech is diversity of voice. This is what I love about the mission of Origin: Conscious Lifestyle Magazine.
May we all work for the common good.
For more info on Chinook, creator of Yogua Dao, visit
www.tsadayogadallas.com.
September/October 2011
OriginMagazine.com 49
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