Dear {{first_name|beloved movers and shakers}},

We hope this letter reaches you in a moment where you are taking a pause, whether that be in silence or while listening to your favorite tunes. 

As you may have already seen and heard, we are expecting our second baby this year and are thrilled to be adding another wolf cub to the family. Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments and messages, we feel so blessed to have such a caring and supportive community. Those of you coming to the live Community Gathering today, we’ll see you there with the new bump and more updates!

Today we are deciding once and for all whether you should play music while you are on the mat…just kidding. Playing music during the asana (movement) part of a practice really does divide opinion and some yogis strongly dislike music while they flow. We’re going to look at how and when to use music to enhance your practice, when to turn it off, and sharing how we create our yoga playlists. We will also be sharing some sweet musical offerings we know you’ll love, for whatever occasion it is! 😉

At live events, we love to play music to accompany classes and play instruments in post-meditation kirtan sessions or in singing circles and satsangs. We don’t often play music in our online classes because it’s a bit challenging for us to sing solo but we noticed that after sharing exclusive, longer videos like Bre’s 80 minute Mandala practice, we received so many lovely comments about her ukulele playing at the end that it prompted us to consider the value of live music in our online offerings to really give a taste of our teaching style to the Wolfpack family. ♥️ Later this year, we will be filming about a dozen songs that we sing around the fire and after yoga classes so keep your eyes peeled for those!

Let’s read on to learn about balancing music and silence, how music is connected to humans, our favorite ways to celebrate live music, where to find some incredible playlists, AND how to build your own!

Music has always played a significant role in yoga. From the ancient Vedic chants, to mantra yoga, the Bhakti movement and Kirtan, to modern yoga classes that incorporate diverse musical genres. It serves as a powerful tool to enhance the meditative and spiritual aspects of yoga, creating a deeper and more holistic practice.

For us, music holds a profound place in our yoga lifestyle. We see our yoga movement like a dance and it’s such an innate human behavior to dance and move our bodies. We are often asked the question ‘should I practice with music?’ Like many things in yoga, it depends: on your mood, your environment, the type of practice you’re doing and what your intention is for that class. The most important thing is to find your very own groove.

For many moons, humans have gathered around a fire and there has been music, singing and dancing. To move our bodies to sound is as natural as breathing and the rhythm of our own heartbeat. Communities use music and sound to celebrate, warn, build identity, protest, and to connect with and learn from one another. Music transcends language, evoking all ranges of emotions, enabling us to connect on a deeper level with others and with the planet in ways that words alone cannot.

The universe has it’s own musical score. If you have ever walked through a valley and felt it’s echoes, or stood in a forest amidst the layers of buzzing insects and singing birds or been at the beach and enjoyed the sound of crashing waves hitting the shore then you’ll know that music emanates from the very earth beneath our feet and in the natural world around us. Even our bodies have their own music. Consider every sound your body makes in one day. Your breath is the metronome of your existence, the life force keeping you steady, sustaining you; consistent and nourishing.  

Music has the power to elevate our bodily experiences, guiding us deeper into the present moment and enhancing our connection to body, breath, and spirit. Music can create a sacred space for exploration and expression on and off the mat, just head to an ecstatic dance and see how powerful and freeing this can be. During our retreats, the beat of the drum and voices of the guides pull you through difficult moments of breathwork, cold exposure, sweat lodges, or plant medicine and draw out your emotions, bringing you back to peace. Music is medicine.

Just like in a musical composition, silence plays a crucial role in yoga. The pauses between the notes are necessary in order to create the rhythm and melody. It is the same in life - we need the pauses in order to highlight the notes and create the rhythm.

When practicing, listen to your body and the energy around you. Sometimes music may enhance your flow, while at other times, silence may provide the deep clarity needed to connect with yourself.

We’ve got your beatz covered on and off the mat. If you’re already part of our Wolfpack, you’ll have noticed that we love to use music to accompany our flows and have a huge range of playlists on our Spotify to choose from while you are flowing through your class. We enjoy curating them for our classes and for ourselves and love to share them with you, accompanying you through your practice, through your life. So, whether you want to melt into the mat for savasana, shimmy in the kitchen with your morning coffee, express yourself at a conscious dance or soundtrack your morning vinyasa flow, there are over 60 playlists for you to choose from with a brand new one added each month. There’s even some country vibes inspired by Bre’s hometown of Montana and some of our Burning Man faves! If you want something really authentic for your classes or event, we have a Plant Medicine playlist and also love the music created by some of our beautiful medicine family in Ecuador which you can find here.

Our movement classes on the Wolfpack platform are filmed mostly without music to optimize audio and to give you the option of having music or not. But our Spotify is always linked so you can easily click to listen along with a Breathe and Flow playlist while you are on the mat. 👌

We’ve had a few requests for a newsletter to talk about mantras and chanting to use in your yoga practice and we’re working on a special edition on this so keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming newsletter issue with a free guide to our fave mantras and why to choose them. If you want something devotional and beautiful for right now, check out our kirtan playlist here.

We usually create our yang flow playlists for hour long classes so that you can be sure that you will have a good balance of build up and then calm down throughout the class, following a bell curve of sound.

Sidenote: one of our favorite ways to experience music is around the fire at one of our retreats but we also love to attend concerts and music festivals. We’re planning on attending the yoga and transformative music festival called Lightning in a Bottle in May 2025. Bre has been going to that one on and off for 14 years and it was Ailo’s first festival this year - an absolute blast. If you’re planning to attend, we’ll see you there to celebrate Bre’s 40th Birthday!

Whether you choose to practice yoga in silence or with music, remember that yoga is a journey of self-discovery and self-expression. Ultimately, we think the answer lies in the intention behind the practice and honoring what you need in that moment. Listen to your body and your heart and follow that.

Know that we are with you for the high notes and the low notes, as well as those essential pauses in-between. 

With love and harmony,

Om shanti, shanti, shanti (peace, peace, peace)

How will you use the pauses in between the notes of your song today? Explore these spaces and invite a little more stillness…and when the music is on, close your eyes, free your inner spirit and dance! 🪩