As a yoga teacher, I’m always trying to find ways to not only inspire my students, but to inspire my teaching. After teaching 3, sometimes 4, classes in a day, you wonder if you can say, “Frame the foot, push back downward dog, float over your wrists into plank pose…” one more time! So I tend to seek out different studios and creative teachers who will take my practice to the next level. Well, I took a class last night in Park Slope, Brooklyn with an amazing teacher, Beth. Her class is part Anusara, part Iyengar, and then just part Beth. She pulled out a raagini which produces the crazy, hypnotic drone sounds of classical Indian music. The musical tones immediately took us from beta to alpha state. And then, ever the challenging teacher, while this sound was infiltrating the studio, she started calling out some of the more challenging yoga poses: peacock, flying crow, etc.   Without even realizing it, students were hitting these poses for minutes at a time – not seconds and falling out frustrated. I believe this music totally allowed us to go so deep within all we could do is focus on the pose and the beauty of the moment. See even if a basic flow class feels more connected with traditional Indian music.  Let me know if you’ve had interesting musical moments in your practice.

Namaste,

Michelle