Designed for a 75 minute vinyasa class, "Bliss Flow" will guide you through a meditative warm-up, gently drawing you inward and back to your light. As the tempo rises, step into the flow and let the music take you into a fluid, blissful, vinyasa practice. The playlist closes with a 15 minute track which is perfect for gentle movement, meditation and a long, blissed-out savasana.
Known for her “contagious joy”, Jeanelle Boyer is a yoga instructor, adventure athlete and lover of all life. Within every person is an eternal well of bliss and love, and Jeanelle desires nothing more than to lead people through uplifting yoga experiences that guide each person back to their light within. As people connect back to that love within, fear melts away and compassion for all beings naturally arises.
Ultimae Records and Swedish DJ/taste maker Mizoo have delivered a delicious selection of ambient electronica. We're big fans of both Ultimae Records and Mizoo and hope you find this various artists collection to be a doorway into another world.
Grammy award winning Chris Berry has spent the last 25 years broadcasting the message of unity and acceptance for all people around the world. Through music, dance and cultural education, Chris continues to share his conscious message with a highly energetic style.
Chris Berry is a master of both mbira (thumb piano) and the ngoma drum, from the Shona people of Southern Africa. He has earned the title of gwenyambira (“one whose music calls the spirits”), a distinction reserved only for those who have achieved the highest fusion of the technical and the magical in Shona music. His record sales have reached platinum album sales in Zimbabwe and Mozambique for his work with the band Panjea.
If you haven't already checked out MC Yogi's latest album, Pilgrimage, do it ASAP. Elizabeth wrote a review some weeks back on his new album, you can check that out here.
You know how sometimes a song gets stuck in your head for way much longer than you'd like it to be? Well, I've been listening to this album on loop for the past few days and ALL night Saturday I had the song Shiva stuck in my head. Sunday morning when I awoke, it was still there and remained drumming through my mind for the rest of the day. I was going crazy. I tried singing other songs to get it out, I tried listening to other songs to drown it out...nothing worked.
There is tremendous devotion and dedication heard on Breath of Rama, as well as a deep understanding of the practice of Kirtan. A beautiful chorus of noted singers includes Diana Rogers, Larisa Stow and Uma Reed. Featured throughout is Manose who is known for his work with Deva Premal playing incredible Bansuri flute.
Geoffrey has played tabla and sang alongside Ram Dass, Krishna Das, Jai Uttal and Bhagavan Das in many events beginning in the 1970's. Geoffrey has been working in the music business since the early 1970's and shares his spirit as a concert performer, music teacher, producer, studio session player, in the orchestra pit On Broadway and the on the great concert stages of the world. Geoffrey has worked with Walela, Robbie Robertson, Shiva Rea, David Torn, Elliot Goldenthal, Julie Taymor, Carter Burwell, Tulku and many others. He worked with Jai Uttal playing tabla, percussion and singing in kirtans, workshops, and concerts for over a dozen years. Geoffrey performed and recorded on all the Pagan Love Orchestra tours and CDs including Monkey, Beggars and Saints, Shiva Station, Spirit Room, Nectar and the Grammy nominated Mondo Rama.
For all you Power Moms out there. You know who you are...
In 1996, Janet Stone traveled to India, the birthplace of her grandfather, where she met a powerful yogi and became dedicated to a conscious evolution through yoga. As one of San Francisco’s premiere yoga instructors, Janet blends a wealth of knowledge and yoga experience to create a unique, vigorous-yet-sumptuous approach to Vinyasa yoga that effortlessly melds awareness with movement and breath. She is the creator of Strong Mom Yoga and Five Elements Yoga Teacher Training. Her teaching is accompanied by the vibration of music ranging from hip hop, electronica, rock and world beats to live drumming, didgeridoo, kirtan and DJ's. Janet is known for her powerful acoustic chant offerings. She currently follows the teachings of her two young daughters, India and Lilianna, who shed the light on all things profound and wondrous.
I originally designed this playlist for a juicy full moon hip opening vinyasa flow. The intention is to enjoy the experience of flowing with breath.
My intention is to help people experience more joy in their every day lives. I do this through my passion for sound (especially in the form of gongs) and yoga. I hold sound baths which are concerts with planetary gongs and crystal singing bowls and also combine it with yoga and other healing modalities. I also do private sound healing sessions with gongs, bowls, tuning forks, and voice. I have been doing healing work professionally since 2004 and love every minute of it! I learn more and more every day and am always experimenting and learning new ways that sound can assist in the healing process. I am positive that sound and yoga can help almost everyone live a more joyful, balanced, and peaceful life.
Bhagavan Das could just be the Tom Waits of chanting… as with Waits, his style of singing is an acquired taste that grows on you with time. Surrender to it’s oddities and you never know where your mind will end up.
The medicinal grooves on this compilation will accompany you for your practice as perfectly as it will join you on a drive, or keep you inspired as your soundtrack on the subway.
Certified Anusara® yoga teacher, founder and co-owner of Virayoga, and Jonah’s mama, Elena's been teaching for 14+ years. She is respected and beloved globally for her powerful teaching, compelling students to integrate yoga practice into the realities of daily life. Elena is also the quintessential multi-hypehnate: teacher, designer, coach, journalist, producer, philanthropist, blogger and entrepreneur. From the Museum of Modern Art to the Great Lawn at Central Park, from the playa at Burning Man to the lawn at the Eiffel Tower, Elena is honoured to offer larger-scale experiences of yoga, but her true service is in shifting awareness within the smallest interactions; one family, one household at a time.She’s been featured in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, the Element Yoga for Beginners DVD series, FitYoga, ABC News, NBC News, and is one of the original teachers on Yogaglo.
I guess at this point can we all say a big ‘RIP’ to one of the biggest casualties of consumer capitalism in the music world - HipHop. Lost in the superficial haze of money, ego and women hating, the most badass political movement of the last 30 years got eaten up by the consumerist machine and spat out as corporate sponsored cultural advertisements for brands who don’t give a toss about the music or its culture…. and then rappers make tunes about how this is the case… and we buy them. Is it just me that thinks this is weird? It seems Eminem, Jay-Z, Dre and Fiddy agree with me:
In my first blog for YogiTunes, I wrote about how it is possible that music is able to quiet the chatter of mind, although this seems like a paradox on the surface. In the second I explored one widely held theory, that certain frequencies of sound put us in touch with a deeper level of consciousness in and of themselves. Both these posts are still up on the site if readers would like to check them out. In this post I would like to look at a couple of more ideas about how it is music helps us to be mindful in yoga class and elsewhere.
Another answer I like a lot is that the source of awakening comes from within highly developed musicians, who have established themselves deeply in spiritual practice. Through various methods such as meditating, listening to the words of master teachers, studying texts, hatha yoga, etc. these individuals have transformed themselves into clear, pure instruments. They have become very present and have become grounded in source, to use different words to say the same thing. Then when they play music, they communicate or transmit this same connectedness to their listeners. An artist like this might well be able to improvise, as the energy from their deep sense of connectedness is inspiring them in the moment they play, and that deeper creativity might even be said to be playing through the artist. In this case the mind is quiet and has no thoughts about what is being played or that there is even a player or listener.
This playlist begins softly with the beautiful a cappella voice of Deva Premal slowly and richly chanting a famous verse from the Heart Sutra: Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. This mantra within the Heart Sutra is said to relate to the Buddha’s experience of enlightenment. It translates roughly as: Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Completely Beyond, Hail this great Awakening! It sets an excellent meditative tone for the beginning of a class. By "Gone Beyond" is meant turning the attention away from the distractions of everyday mind and entering into the sacred space that is always available when we go beyond discursive thought.
A slightly more up tempo rhythmic beat from Gabrielle Roth follows, a piece called Prairie Ruin from her album Ritual. Roth composed music for the five tempos of her groundbreaking sacred movement practice she called Sweat Your Prayers. I personally attended these religiously in Portland for quite a while, and probably a million other people as well danced themselves into emptiness of a Sunday morning listening to her songs. The beat of the music and even the title of the album Ritual hint at the possibility of being seized by some archetypal force.
This unique recording of World Music perfectly captures the uplifting and energetic atmosphere in which As Kindred Spirits crafts their music. Ancient Indian songs of devotion, with rich ethnic melodies are infused with fresh, Western grooves and modalities, creating tracks that are both hip and inspired.
The music of Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits is like a lotus growing from the mud of American materialism. We are the honeybees swarming to drink the nectar of this flower.
Ball of Waxx is a small underground label based out of Los Angeles. Old school friends of the YogiTunes co-founders, they hail from the Moontribe collective. A mysterious tribal force that is a key part of where YogiTunes comes from...
Dub is a blend of chillout and reggae. Perfect for those who like to play Bob Marley in class, and want to explore the genre furtner. This release features remixes from a wide array of dub-a-fied producers. A great way to get turned on to many talented artists at once.
Reminding us that we all have that beautiful illumination within us. And once we move and breathe, it comes alive and to the surface.
Dana Damara is a dynamic, inspirational woman who embodies the balance between strength and grace. Combining her life experiences with a dedicated yoga practice, she owns and operates a welcoming yoga studio, facilitates transformative workshops and leads her yoga teacher training/spiritual development program. Author of Oms from the Mat; Dana takes yogic philosophies and translates them so that everyone reading her book can benefit from the power of yoga; whether they practice or not.
