Rock, Roll, and Zen
An essay about rock and roll.
Sitting in yoga teacher training studying neurology and basic affects of the mind.
A person listening to "peaceful" music, and a person listening to hard rock.
I probably laughed a little inside and wondered, who in the hell is this frazzled person, anyway?
Mind you, my mother married my father, a drummer in rock and roll bands.
Long before, during, and after my conception, I have been surrounded by loud music throbbing from the basement of my home.
When your dad is the drummer, it's easiest to host in your own home.
For hours and hours and hours several days a week I was raised around musicians.
And now as a yoga teacher and adult, I am thrilled to be a certified Spinning Instructor at two athletic clubs with a wide array of students who enjoy hard rock and more intense music to use as an energizing force to barrel up hills in a way that is somehow fun.
So though some of my music is rather explicit and to some, perceived as being angry or inappropriate or the complete opposite of what one would imagine from a website promoting peace, my argument lies in that these people professing anger, rage, or intense rhythm and tones have the same inner turmoil to transfer to reach a place of feeling better. We are all the same. It is all the same. Classical music. Rock music. Rap music. All of it is intricate, beautiful and brilliant in its own way, and serves a purpose as a piece of the grand puzzle.
Share a ton of playlists:
In a recent Methodology workshop I attended for 500 Hour Teacher Training, a group of yogis and I discussed the use of music in classes.
I learned that many teachers are uncomfortable with and/or LOATHE the idea of playing music while they teach.
Traditionally in Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga, music is not used alongside practice.
I can't think of many times I've been called "traditional."
Fortunately for my specialty in Vinyasa Yoga, playlists are often encouraged.
As for my high-intensity cycling and strength training classes, you can have no doubt that our bodies are matching the beat and drive of our music.
I am unabashedly emotionally driven, not a huge fan of anxious/awkward silence, and LOVE to find alignment with intuitive rhythm and melody.
As the only child of an amazing drummer, I have been surrounded by the reverberations of live (and LOUD) rock and roll since my embryonic upbringing.
Not surprisingly, I too grew up to find my passion in percussion—to strike, in tempo, with precision—to mark time.
I grew up adoring my dad, my greatest hero:
An ultra-responsible owner of an insurance agency by day and a BADASS hard rock drummer by night.
Growing up, my home was the hub of many weekly band practices, and as a little girl, I would sit at the steps of our basement and watch him play.
I loved the reverberations of the bass drum, the way the music literally moved my heart, the pulse of felt rhythm beating within and around me.
Consequently, I grew up as a girl who wanted to be just as cool as my dad.
So as a tomboy and dorky kid, I too became a drummer brought up on rock and roll—songs with intense emotion.
From fifth grade on, I was the first chair percussionist in our school's notorious Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Marching Band, and Orchestra.
A minority in the field: a girl bossing around mostly boys. (Quite possibly my favorite pastime. LOL. 😜)
I started taking piano lessons my freshmen year of high school and eventually achieved my then-biggest dream of being Head Drummer my senior year.
I was a total and archetypal band geek who eventually even won the Semper Fidelis Award for Musical Excellence when I graduated.
(Gratitude tangent: I attribute my successes to the overwhelming amount of enthusiasm, humor, wisdom, encouragement, and time spent by my father intensely teaching me everything he knew about everything he knew.
My father is one of the most brilliant men I know, and forever I work hard in an effort to continually make him [and all of my family, friends, and people] proud.
Thanks, Dad. Love ya. ❤️️)
So, essentially, music is a large part of my makeup and I long to share it in efforts to assist in transforming suffering into joy when applicable.
In my mind, I first associate as a musician, then as an artist, and then as a yoga teacher and fitness instructor.
Music has great capacity to be instantly FELT and directly EXPERIENCED.
No BS, no words, no descriptions are necessary to allow music to melt into your emotional state and shift you to feeling something sweet, vulnerable, and memorable—or pumped UP and energized.
As a meditation teacher now, I remember sitting in 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training years ago, learning a meditation module that displayed pictures of the brain when listening to classical music compared to rock.
I had to laugh and wonder who the test subject was that was so frazzled by this type of music.
Though I play classical piano and adore crafting serene and calming classes, I ultimately was raised in the nineties on Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Godsmack, The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana.
I could also envision some of the most surreal and magical nights of my nerdy golden days in marching band: forty percussionists beneath bleachers, drumming mega-amplified cadences in unison, back and forth, calls and responses, echoing—the rolling of sticks on metal, the booming of bass drums, the ear-piercing CRACK of each rim shot, the hundreds of feet stomping above us, masses of people cheering and clapping wildly.
A FELT sense of vibration!
Community aligned in intricate and intentional patterns of movement!
Even then, unbeknownst yoga.
Or even taps, for example.
The control, the catharsis, the consistent inner rhythm of being the lone snare drummer leading an alignment of 300 - 400 people:
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Step, step, step.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Step, step, step.
Yoga in non-yoga.
No separation.
Rhythm influences everything we do.
For me, it drives the entirety of my workouts and practices.
Yes, sure, I could practice and teach in silence (and sometimes I do) but why ever would I want to?
My greatest joy, my greatest gift is music.
For me, music is a helpful tool and congruent enhancement to bring ENERGY and HARMONY into what I'm already doing (teaching classes with the intention of either unwinding and relaxing or BRINGING. THE. HEAT.)
I do not see the benefit of suppressing the small passions and skills I possess in the name of ancient traditions or one person/culture's ideology of what works for them.
To each, their own.
Thus, I don't necessarily believe that calm and slow and silent is the only approach to bring peace to the people.
Sometimes you have bad days.
Sometimes you are full of rage or anger or sadness and you are looking to transform that intense energy into a soothing release.
I teach a wide variety of classes, and truly believe that all forms of fitness can lead to mental, physical, and spiritual calm—there is no separation!
I experience euphoric highs at the end of both lullaby yoga and intense-as-hell cycling.
As long as the elements of self-love, lightheartedness, and awareness are incorporated, I believe just about any feeling or emotion can eventually alchemize to peace and wellness.
From a fitness perspective, I think well-chosen music and articulate rhythm are crucial to teaching motivating and cleansing classes.
Or for me at least, all of my class plans are guided by an arc of songs that I craft for each class and its intended theme/frequency.
As a yoga teacher, cycling and barre instructor, one of my greatest assets is likely my dedication to crafting TONS of new emotionally charged playlists.
I offer these playlists primarily for fitness professionals looking for a resource of pre-collaged songs in a logical arc of intensity to add some pizzazz to your workouts and classes.
To the non-fitness professionals looking for new music to jam or workout to, shoutout to you too!
PLAYLISTS, PLAYLISTS, AND MORE PLAYLISTS.
ENJOY!
(Disclaimer: Some of my playlists exist purely to entertain—to encourage you and your students to lighten up a little and have fun with your workouts.
Others are INTENSE. Some are most certainly for your personal enjoyment and not the most appropriate for public classes. 😉)
The point? I listen to a lot of different music, and want to clarify that not everything I post is necessarily 100% "peaceful" on Peace to the People.
In other words, though my grandmother would not approve of all these playlists, I still believe that peace can be born by tapping into the intensity of great music in all forms.
When I drop some 2 Chainz and Rage Against the Machine on my website promoting peace, I frequently think of my dear hero Walt Whitman who once wrote:
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself; I am large, I contain multitudes.”
😜Over and out.
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