I was chatting with my brother this weekend about yoga who said: “doing yoga is boring enough, without music… impossible.” My bro is into bodybuilding and kickboxing so slowing down to do yoga is quite a chellenge for him. When I taught him a few years ago he was rather restless and when I put him in warrior two he asked: ”What is this doing? Can you put the music back on?” He then got up and pressed play on his I-pod and we did the rest of the session listening to Goldfinger, DMX and Bonnie Tyler.

I can empathize with him. When I first started yoga 5 years ago, I was exactly the same and also found it boring and definitely needed music to make me feel that I was either a) being spiritual or b) to relax me when my incredibly tight body was in agony as it was being stretched and opened up. Like my brother, I would not have been able to get through a yoga session without music. It was a tool to take my mind out of the pain and boredom in the first months when any form of stretching was incredibly painful. It was a good tool to get me into it, but as time went by I started to realize that if I wanted to develop a good, deep, mindful practice it might be better to leave the music aid behind.
Most of the time I find music to be a distraction. It is hard enough to follow breath, get into the body and let go, physically, mentally and emotionally without any distractions let alone having a tune you might start humming along to. I tend to find my most rewarding the practices are the ones with no music, where I can hear and feel the subtle nature of the breath, I can concentrate more fully on the feeling of the body, where it’s tight and where I can let go, and not get distracted by songs that please me (I can after all take time to chill and listen to music another time). I find without music I am encouraged to face the stillness and quiet, and my own body and mind in relation to the stillness, without distraction by the music; which does make the practice often more painful and challenging but ultimately also more rewarding.

However as my Grandmother says: “A little bit of everything doesn’t hurt” and I feel that a combination of practicing with no music for a while and then practicing with it (but using it as a tool to aid your practice and not to distract you) is an excellent way of practicing. I feel that if music is used to get further into your body, or into the spirit of letting go and enjoying yourself, then it can be incredibly effective. I feel it to be a bit like the argument as to whether it’s better to ‘flow’ or ’not to flow’ in practice – probably a good idea to mix it up and see how you are in relation to flowing vs non flowing, practicing in silence vs practicing with well chosen music.  In short I feel for myself mixing it up is for me the best way, as it prevents me from getting stuck or two hard headed and keeps me fresh and open with a good balance of seriousness with play, stillness with movement.