music to listen to while you are pretending to be dead.

To me Savasana (corpse pose) is the hardest pose in yoga. For the last sixty-plus minutes I have been weaving breath and movement, creating a moving meditation and now I have to let all of that go? I have to let everything go? I have to still my mind? No problem. I will just lie here and relax. Here I am, relaxing. Hmmmm, what time was I supposed to pick up the kids? No wait- screw that- I'm relaxing.....right now. Yes, relaxation is good. After I pick them up I'm going to have to figure out dinner, what does everyone want? What does anyone what? What do I want? I would like ice cream- that salted caramel flavor we had the other night...did they add the caramel in at the....WAIT I'm not supposed to be thinking about anything. Okay, clear the mind, or at least deep thoughts.....deep thoughts...like on Saturday Night Live....with Jack Handy....who was Jack Handy? STOP THINKING. I bet that woman next to me has a clear head, she's a teacher too, she's probably better at clearing her head, because I obviously can't seem to....ok....stop...really...NOW I'm going to relax....I REALLY need to do laundry....

The above is a sample of an internal conversation I might be having with myself during savasana.

So what does this have to do with music?

One of my students, Miss Suzie Q- loves a song I play in savasana sometimes. The first time I played it she came up to me after class and wanted to know what the song was. I asked her if she liked it. "Liked it? I was running through a field with my kids! It was joyous!" It transported her somewhere. Out of her head and away from her laundry lists.

Some yogis want silence in savasana. And I don't always play music, sometimes silence is golden. But when I do like to play music in rest pose- here are some of my favorites:

With this Love- Peter Gabriel

Memory Gospel- Moby

First Light- Adam Hurst

Devi Prayer- Craig Pruess and Ananda

Hallelujah- Jeff Buckley

Quartet in C-Sharp Minor- Michael Kamen

An Ending- Brian Eno

Building the Barn-Maurice Jarre (Suzy's song)

Resolution- Windy and Carl

A Light Change- Grouper

balloons- Todd Banks

Spiegel im Spiegel- Alexander Malter

These are just a few of the songs I sometimes play while people are resting in savasana. These songs also happen to be the ones most asked about after class. Enjoy.

Post number one....

Well, I get requests for my playlists in class all of the time. One woman was secretly shazam-ing songs in the back row. For some people, music and asana don't go together. To that I say- um, ok..... well, I play music. I spend hours making mixes for classes on my computer, just as I spent hours making mixed tapes for friends WAY back when. When I started practicing yoga I usually HATED music that was played in class. Serious chanting, lutes, mountain streams (made me want to pee...) etc.. So I came up with my own mixes. I hope you enjoy it. Most songs are available on iTunes, if not, email me.

xxoo- courtney

To Build a Home- The Cinematic Orchestra
Myth- Beach House
Hanna's Theme (with vocals)- The Chemical Brothers
Into the Wild- LP
Disparate Youth-Santigold
Wood 9-27 Rostam
ooh la la- Faces
You've Got to Hide your Love away- Beatles
Grapevine Fires- Death Cab for Cutie
Beautiful Clam Driving- Sia
Caught by the Light- The Boxer Rebellion
Ladder Song- Bright Eyes
Memory Gospel- Moby
Hallelujah- Jeff Buckley
Speigel im Speigel: 2- Alexander Malter
First Light- Adam Hurst

Enjoy