Music can be a powerful tool for yoga teachers, helping to deepen meditation and enhance the practice of yoga. It is important to choose the right music for your yoga class, as playing the wrong music at the wrong volume can be distracting. For older people, it is best to avoid songs with lyrics, as they can be difficult to distinguish from the teacher's voice. Young Ho Kim explains that music can be used to reach the hearts of those who practice yoga, making it a powerful tool for yoga teachers.
Combining yoga and music can have many benefits, such as creating a general playlist for use during yoga and choosing specific songs for specific series of asanas, meditations or yoga nidras. Patanjali, one of the founding fathers of the philosophy of yoga, defines yoga as “Yogas chitta vritti nirodha”. This means that yoga is about controlling the fluctuations of the mind. Fast, upbeat music can help to achieve this goal by providing a distraction from the noise of everyday life.
During savasana or other periods of meditation, instrumental songs or singing can help students withdraw their senses and deepen their meditation.
