Let the Music Play!

Toward the end of "It Might Get Loud" The Edge says: "When you go past unmanaged forests you see a mass of tree trunks, and then you begin to see they are all lined up in perfect rows. Clarity of vision. You begin to see things in a way that you couldn't see from that other angle." I want to know how to get there. I see yoga teachers with integrity making a very decent living doing what they love. It CAN be done, without the yogic prudes and snobs screwing with you by trying to convince you how yoga must be done a certain way and only. There is truth in learning the breathtaking groundwork upon which yoga rests, but if teaching yoga and doing yoga are not a living, 'breathing' process, then I don't care how much you've read of the Upanishads or the Hatha Yoga Pradapika, or how long you've taught Ashtanga, or whatever, if it's not alive, it's dead.

Last night I poured my heart and soul into teaching Yin and Beginners, after teaching in the morning too. I watched what the students were doing as they came in and they moved through the poses. Moving into poses I never intended to teach. When the last class began, I asked what their favorite poses were...I got 'Legs Up the Wall', so that's where we started with the mats against the wall, facing in toward each other. We moved to Sun Breaths, Warrior I & II, Prasarita Padottanasana, Uttanasana at the front of the mat, at the wall, Tree Pose at the wall and together in a circle. Cloud Salutations for balance and proprioception. Downward Dog to Baddha Konasana, side twists and Shavasana.

And all this opening tempered by the breath. Breath is life. Life is breath. If you are breathing you are alive. But not just oxygen. Prana. Praanpathi. A worship and honoring of the breath that breathes us. Praanpathi Namo Namo. An honoring of Sound, and if that sound includes music...well then it does. Music heals the soul, and anyone who thinks that an instructor who teaches with music is insecure, is well...clueless. Not even the old guard. Just missing the point. Entirely. The point is to honor the breath. Whatever works.

So tonight, we are doing yoga in Granite City to Led Zeppelin. I think. We'll see if it flows. If not, then Wah! Or Gaura Vani, Manish Vyas, maybe Bjork. Maybe a CD of tabla drums. Let the Music Play!