Just made up a couple playlist for my co-trainees' classes this weekend, since I seem to be the resident music expert in the group. Haven't even thought of my own yet, though I probably should soon...

Anyhow, here's one (45 minute mixed level class):

• He Ma Durga - Donna De Lory
• Govinda Jaya Jaya - Donna De Lory
• Sita Ram - Girish
• Hanuman - Girish
• Gobinday - Mantra Girl
• Hara Hara Mahadeva - Tina Malia & Shimshai
• Gayatri Mantra - Tina Malia & Shimshai

And here's the other, for a family yoga class (also 45 minutes):

• We Are Family - Sister Sledge
• Gayatri [lucious chill mix] - Wah!
• He Ma Durga - Donna De Lory
• Happy Thoughts - Wah!
• Salt Water Sound - Zero 7
• Indra - Thievery Corporation
• Just A Ride - Jem
• Alone - Dum Dum Project
• Shine - Tina Malia & Shimshai
• Mul Mantra - GuruGanesha Singh (to fade out after 5 minute instrumental intro, since the track is 31 minutes long)

I'm guessing my playlist will include some Mantra Girl, some Dave Stringer, some Sada Sat Kaur, probably some Girish... maybe I'll just put my iPod on shuffle and see where it leads me.

Go to spiritvoyage.com and click a bunch of samples. Lots of chanting a la Krishna Das (he's too mainstream for me, heh) and kundalini mantra from the artists I mentioned. All except for Jem, Thievery Corporation and Zero 7, though. Those artists are considered electronica, or acid jazz, very cool stuff.

Yeah, I tried to convince my friend not to include the Sister Sledge song, but she insisted, saying since it's a family yoga class, what better way to open the class? OK, fine, but it's DISCO.... ew.....

If I threw the names Jai Uttal or Deva Premal at you, would you know them? How about Snatam Kaur? We do a lot of chanting at my studio and I've really enjoyed the effect it's had on me this past year in my training. I now go running with Krishna Das playing in my headphones instead of Nine Inch Nails. Makes for a better disposition all around, I think, running to mantra instead of nihilistic angst.

OK, finally got my playlist together for tomorrow's [gulp!] class:

• Ganapati Om - Donna De Lory
• Ajai Alai - Sada Sat Kaur
• Hanuman 2 - Girish
• Anand (Bliss) - Snatam Kaur
• Sarva Mangala - Tina Malia & Shimshai
• Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu - Mantra Girl

44.9 minutes of music for a 45 minute class, can't get better than that! Actually, I'll probably not end up using all of it, since I'll start the music after the dharma talk, pranayama and om, and will fade out at the onset of savasana. Still, it's good to have a plan!

Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh!

My biggest fear is not that I run over my time and have to stop abruptly for savasana, but that no one shows up for it. My family isn't coming because they're not "into yoga"; that's "my" thing according to them. Which is fine, really, but it would be nice if they at least recognized that this is my final in this nine months of study.

My friends aren't coming either, but it's odd, since they're really not my friends anymore, the people I called my friends before this training started. My co-trainees are my friends now, and all the people I see but don't know by name at the studio, and we all never miss an opportunity to smile at each other when we pass each other in the hall, these are my friends now. Our teacher did say at the beginning of training how we'd make a shift over the course of the year, moving away from certain relationships toward new ones. It's not that I'm sad that my old friends aren't there for me now; it's more that I'm sad that they don't know to be there for themselves.

Thanks Mish and Jonnie for the kind words of encouragement. We had the first two presentations last night, and they were both fabulous.

Every month during our training, our teacher had a theme for us to contemplate. One of my favorites was "Sudden occurs after a whole lot of gradual". That was the month (March) when we all presented our first full length classes. On our written test in April, we were asked to define what that theme meant. I wrote "You prepare and you prepare and you prepare... and all of a sudden you know. In the midst of learning how to be a student, you have become a teacher."

I'm totally amazed how we've all arrived to this point, and really, we all have arrived.

But yeah, I'm nervous, you bet!

jonnie - 2007-05-05 9:21 AM Man, another play list of artists I've never heard of.... Jonathon

Actually, that's not true. Mish has the same Donna De Lory song on her list as I have on mine.