What about that playlist? by Alison King Tigges
You may have noticed when you come to a class at OTY (or zoom with us), with some exceptions, you don’t hear any music! What’s up with that? We wanted to give you a little insight into our reasons for it.
First, let me preface by saying, THIS IS NOT A BLOG BASHING PLAYING MUSIC DURING YOGA! Truly! Come hang out with me for all of 5 minutes and you will see I love music. It fills my soul. I just ditched it as part of my teaching long ago. And as a studio, we just slowly evolved over time to not really using it all that much.
Well, WHY?
1. Back in the old days (ha!) yoga asana was traditionally taught in a 1-on-1 setting. The teacher and the student. No music. Just learning poses and doing breathwork. Clearly much has changed! As you know at OTY, we love some old school! We really love to find ways to keep up with the changing yoga times (because change is good and when we know better, we can do better) but also find ways we can hold true to some of the tradition of the practice. This is one way.
2. It’s just the way we roll at OTY these days. It makes us unique! Every studio has their thing. This is one of ours! We often hear students comment on how much they enjoy the quiet time on their mat more than they thought they would. Funny how once you get used to practicing a certain way, it tends to stick around.
3. Personally, I have learned I am a better teacher without it. Early on in my teaching, I always played music. I was afraid not to! If there weren’t cool beats playing, would people like the class? Would they like me? Would they come back? What the heck would I say the whole time without music in background? One of my teachers encouraged me to just try teaching without it. I realized I used it as a crutch and without music, I was forced to use my words and my energy and really TEACH. At OTY we truly believe yoga is a vast subject, and there is SO much to say! If you come to a class you know, we have a lot to say.
4. It has the potential to be a distraction. We are so already so distracted as a society. Daily life is full of it. We have our phones/laptops/work/kids/televisions, and the list goes on—hello multi-task overload! In a yoga class you alreadyhave the teacher saying a lot and your own thoughts---plus if you are in a class with others there are always lots of additional distractions. That is a lot! Who needs one more thing? This gives you a great opportunity to listen (to the teacher and yourself) and notice your breath. Listening and noticing what comes up is a big part of yoga. When we are less distracted, it’s often easier to truly pay attention.
5. I will never forget years ago, when I was a new teacher,and I just finished teaching a class. A yoga student came up to me after and said “I just loved your playlist today! You play the best music!” Awesome, right?! But right away I asked myself if that was that what I wanted people to get out of their yoga experience. To me, the answer was no.
The good news? You get to decide! You are the teacher. Or, as a student you get to practice where you want, based on what is important to you.
In life, EVERYTHING has pros and cons. My teacher always encouraged us to know that and then make your choices based on that. Know WHY you are doing the thing. And if you have your WHY, then there is your answer! I know plenty of rocking yoga teachers who are so good at combining their music with their teaching craft. It is admirable! And like anything, if done well, it can be awesome and add to the experience. I say, do it if you love it and can dedicate the time into putting together a playlist that adds to the experience. Just don’t be afraid to teach without music!
At OTY we encourage our teachers to do their classes how they want! We encourage planning strong sequences and poses with smart themes. This often leaves little to no time for playlist creating. Which is not a bad thing! You will hear lots of amazing, alignment-based cues. You will learn poses. You will really be able to tune in to YOU in a whole new way.
So, if you are new to us and have wonder what’s up, this is the method behind the madness. Don’t let it scare you! Its pretty rad to be with your thoughts and breath for a small part of your day. Yoga is more than a workout. It is a discipline that we are so very excited to teach you more about.