New Blog (pt. 2)

Hi friends! I've started a new dedicated yoga blog today, it's at www.jaifive.blogspot.com I'm going to start that one out by simply re-posting the majority of my yoga related posts from here onto there. As I start to create new material I'll make sure to crosspost it here as well, I just wanted something that was a little more focused on the mechanics of yoga and playlists without the personal stuff and weirdness that I welcome here.

Jai!

Yoga Playlists (Part Seven)

I went through a period of using pretty up-tempo techno as the bulk of my playlists. I've never posted one of these before, so without further ado, here it is yo:

ka-ba vinyasa 26

1. Galaxy "La casa de Can Raco" from Science of Ecstasy

2. Markus Schulz "Traveling Light" from Without You Near

3. Alex Gaudino "Watch Out (Extended Mix)" from Watch Out

4. Art of Trance "Madagascar (Domi Nation Remix)" from Madagascar Remixes

5. Morgan Page "The Longest Road" from Elevate

6. Deep Theory "Do It (Miguel Migs Large Dub)" from Summer Night Sessions

7. Mimic "Re-Solve" from Afterhours Ibiza

8. OceanLab "On A Good Day" from Sirens of the Sea

9. Ratnabali "Spiritual Trance" from Shiva Lounge

10. Bonobo "Transmission 94 (Parts 1 & 2)" from Days to Come

11. Legion of Green Men "Constellation (Adam Shaikh Remix)" from Polymorphic Convolutions

12. Galaxy "Meet the Buddha" from Science of Ecstasy

Bonobo, OceanLab and Morgan Page are all great for yoga playlists and can easily work in playlists not so techno oriented. I went through a period where one of the three were on just about every playlist I made. Mimic is the "break after inversions" track and it's a great one for that. The intro track is a little beat heavy, I keep meaning to switch it out. "Meet the Buddha" is a pretty cool closer though. The Art of Trance track reminds me of 1999 and Oakenfold's classic Tranceport mix.

This is the sort of playlist I can only really use for specific, high energy sorts of classes - it's just too much otherwise. These days I'll use my techno playlists (I've got three of them) maybe on average once a month. If I use them on the right days the reaction from the class is great but on the wrong days they hit like a lead balloon.

Yoga and Dancing and Living the Good Life

Mark Farina was a great show made even better by the fact that everyone I went out dancing with actually stayed boogying on the dance almost all night long! Usually I dance more than others when I go with a group and having everyone boogie down made it a truly excellent dance experience.

Speaking of truly excellent experiences, I just got back from Hot Yoga with Sanj and it was the best Hot Yoga class I've taken. I have now truly found the deep resonant love for the Bikram/Hot practice which I enjoyed before but didn't truly "get". What made it so great, outside of great teaching, was that tonight I could really hear my mind start to throw crap at me, and I had the ability to get in deep with my breath and instead of just allowing the mind to distract me, I sent my breath in to the areas where I was resistant. In my shoulders, with claustrophobia, fear of pushing further, etc - I just kept sending the breath through and letting the emotions and thoughts fully rise up without resisting them. Having the full minute in poses means that the practice can be a lot more confrontational than a more flowing practice and that confrontation was just what I needed tonight.

Hurray for yoga and hurray for life!

I'll Be Managing Huntington Beach

So the news I vaguely alluded to yesterday is now been officially released - I'll be managing the Huntington Beach CorePower Yoga! I'm quite excited for this, I love the studio and feel like I can do a great job here. I'm very happy that Kat will still be around at the studio, because not only can she help continue to do an awesome job with programming but she is also a great person and friend and I'm happy to still see her regularly!

Yoga Playlists (part six)

OK, another week another yoga playlist. This one was made in '09 and I've come back to it quite a bit. Anyone used to my MN classes may remember this one too. Most should be up on iTunes and I'll look into podcasting this week!

ka-ba vinyasa 31

1. Phil Western "Fair Oaks" from 4am

2. The Fireman "Sing the Changes" from Electric Arguments

3. The Republic Tigers "Buildings & Mountains" from Buildings & Mountains

4. Feist "I Feel It All (Britt Daniel Remix)" from I Feel It All E.P.

5. Cut Copy "Unforgettable Season" from In Ghost Colours

6. The Asteroids Galaxy "Around the Bend (Radio Edit)" from Around the Bend E.P.

7. The Sea and Cake "On a Letter" from Car Alarm

8. The Go Find "Over the Edge" from Miami

9. Electric President "All the Bones" from Sleep Well

10. Steve Reich "Electric Counterpoint - 2 Slow" from Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint

11. OceanLab "Breaking Ties (Flow Mix)" from Sirens of the Sea

12. Goldfrapp "Road to Somewhere (acoustic mix)" from Happiness E.P.

13. Asobi Seksu "Breathe Into Glass" from Me & Mary/Breathe Into Glass

14. Husky Rescue "New Light of Tomorrow (Bonobo Remix)" from Other Worlds: Remixes & Rarities

15. Mazzy Star "Into Dust" from So Tonight That I Might See

16. M83 "Midnight Souls Still Remain" from Saturdays = Youth

The playlist clocks in at 1 hour 17 minutes. Phil Western makes really nice integration music, Steve Reich is a favorite for the midway rest and of course I posted the same M83 track last week. The Mazzy Star song can be a little heavy so it gets skipped unless I feel the class is ready for it. Not a ton of hard boppin' core music in this one. Asteroid Galaxy is the one, with Cut Copy as sort of a lead-in. Sometimes I double play the Asteroid Galaxy track, it's one of those tracks by a band I have nothing else by that I really dig, creates a fun mood.

What makes me keep coming back to this playlist is that it flows great, every track leads into the next, musically, tempo-wise and emotionally. In my opinion, it's one of the strongest playlists I've done.

Enjoy!

Yoga Playlists (part five)

OK, I've made a lot of yoga playlists in the 2 1/2 years since I posted part four of this series. Since I mentioned that I'm hungry to make more, I thought I could get a little of that energy out by posting one of my most recent ones here. This is a nice happy playlist, it's peppy without being over-powering. It includes a lot of 2010 music as well.

ka-ba vinyasa 39

1. Cocteau Twins "Lazy Calm" from Stars and Topsoil - a collection

2. Coldplay "Life in Technicolor" from Viva La Vida

3. Lali Puna "Remember" from Our Inventions

4. Dan Black "Symphonies" from UN

5. Delorean "Endless Sunset" from Subiza

6. Primal Scream "The Glory of Love" from Beautiful Future

7. the xx "Stars (Dave Wrangler Remix) unofficial remix from Under The Influence

8. Massive Attack "Pray For Rain (Tim Goldsworthy Remix)" from Heligoland (Deluxe Edition)

9. Frightened Rabbit "Swim Until You Can't See Land" from The Winter of Mixed Drinks

10. Broken Bells "The High Road" from Broken Bells

11. Four Tet "Plastic People" from There is Love In You

12. Donna De Lory "Govinda Jaya Jaya" from The Lover and the Beloved

13. Gorillaz "Cloud of Unknowing" from Plastic Beach

14. Uh Huh Her "Dreamer" from Common Reaction

15. Goldfrapp "Voicething" from Head First

16. Burial "In McDonalds" from Untrue

17. M83 "Midnight Souls Still Remain" from Saturdays = Youth

This playlist deviates slightly from my "four pillars" method of construction in that the Four Tet song (which is the post inversion cool down track) rocks a little harder and lasts a lot longer than a track in that slot usually would, but it is still chill enough to serve the cool down in child's pose vibe but also vibrant enough to get into the whole triangle/balancing series vibe too.

The playlist runs almost an hour and a half so lots of it gets skipped. Uh Huh Her is rarely heard and the three last tracks can all serve as savasana tracks depending on the mood I want to create (light & floaty, use Goldfrapp; short & mysterious use Burial; gone to the world use M83).

I've been using that Cocteau Twins track for both the beginning and end of classes, it works a charm. Of course Burial and M83 are standard closers for me. I feel the Dan Black song will become a staple of many upbeat vinyasa classes, it is perfect for a little flow. The Coldplay song is short and so works well to create that "first motion of Sun A" feeling. It's rather like Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset" for that purpose. The Donna De Lory track is an old yoga classic and brings back pleasant memories of taking Jaina's C2s back in MN.

One note, I won't be uploading these to iTunes anymore, it's simply too much of a pain and most the songs disappear after a few months anyways. I think the only thing not available on iTunes here is the xx remix which I linked to the track. As mentioned elsewhere today I do plan on podcasting some playlists sooner rather than later.

If you enjoy this playlists feature, comment and let me know. If there's any demand I'll bring it back as a weekly feature! =)

Jai!

Hard Drive Cord

My hard drive cord first died and then got lost so I have no access to the majority of my music. Right now, my Nano is my best source for music. I have a new cord on order and once that arrives I can make some new yoga playlists which I've been heartily craving to do for a while now.

The other thing I want to get into is creating podcasts. Podcasts both of yoga playlists and also for a series of industrial music comps I've put together. Hopefully it's not too hard to put together a podcast. It sounds like fun and once I get my "Jai Five" website up and running, it will be cool to link the site to playlists.

Moving out West

I'm moving to California! The announcement has been made officially through work so I can talk about it, though I choose to do so here rather than on my higher profile Facebook page.

I'll be working with CorePower still (hurray!) and helping out at the Huntington Beach studio. I've been wanting to move to CA for years and it's great to see it finally coming together. Jan. 1 is the move dates. Noel's going to move out later so I'll be able to get a lay of the land and such. This will be the longest we've been apart but after 16+ years of marriage, I think it's safe to say a little long distance relationship time won't change anything.

Yoga and sun and beaches and the ocean and palm trees and all sorts of other good stuff - here I come! Does this mean I need to change the name of this blog?? ;)

It's Been A While

Hi! It's been a while since I've been here. Hope life is going good! I've got Yogi Training starting this weekend, so that's exciting. I'm over on Facebook quite a bit the past week (I go through phases of spending time on Facebook and then disappearing for months on end, I'm in a "spend time" phase right now.

I bought the YACHT album today. I'd read about them on Pitchfork and kind of avoided the album as the clips didn't do it for me. On first few spins, I'm rather enjoying it. You can hear the LCD Soundsystem sound for sure, but the lyrics are more fun and not as self-referentially ironic, which I like.

New Job

Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted - life's been very busy and very good.

Big news: Friday is my last day at the law firm, as of next week I'll be making my living as a yoga studio manager! Yep, my friends, you read that right!

Minnetonka will be getting a brand-spanking new Corepower Yoga late June / early July and I'll be captain-ing the vessel! I'll have more info later, but I wanted to let everyone know now why I've fallen off the face of the planet!

Also, I'm doing sound/music for a 10 minute play, it debuts Wednesday at the Bedlam. More info on that during the day today.

Be well,

David

Where Did Mr. Mississippi Go?

Hey, sorry I've been away for most the past week. I've been training in a dude at reception so I don't have time to post then and I've been very busy the rest of the day at work and in the evening with yoga. I'm sure I'll get better engaged right quick.

I'll be leading a yoga "transitions from C1 to C2" workshop in Eden Prairie this Sunday, so that's exciting! Also, I don't recall if I mentioned it or not but I'm going to Mexico for a week in mid-April to do an advanced Teacher Training with esteemed teacher Lisa Richards. Very stoked about that! My major aim in life these days is to get better better better at the practice and teaching of yoga. It's a lot of fun!

Also, we'll be laying the last round of vocals on "Coolio Julio" this Saturday which will complete the first St. Anthony Falls single. I've also got some neat Ka-baalim stuff in the works. Definitely busy and good life.

Now I've got to leave for an hour and a half restorative yoga class.

Very best,

DND

Yoga Playlists (part four)

It's Sunday so you know what that means, a new yoga playlist. This one has a really nice, mellow yet not lethargic flow to it, hope you enjoy.

Ka-ba Vinyasa 10

Wehrmut by Cluster & Eno from "Cluster & Eno"
Alive (Mantra) by Sa Dingding (薩頂頂) from "Alive"
Chest In the Attic by Daniela Stickroth from "Stories from the Attic"
Life's A Beach! (Todd Terje Beach House Mix) by Studio from "Life's A Beach!"
Mickey Finn by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
FM (Tensnake Remix) by Junior Boys from "The Dead Horse - EP"
Flutter by Bonobo from "Dial 'M' for Monkey"
Electric Counterpoint - 2. Slow by Steve Reich from "Reich: Different Trains, Electric Counterpoint"
Doris Dub by Tosca from "Suzuki"
Breakfast In Heaven (ARPs Worn Cassette Version) by Lindstrøm from "Breakfast In Heaven (Remixed) - EP"
Rise (original short size) by Sugar Plant from "Ping Pong (ピンポン オリジナル・サウンドトラック)"
In McDonalds by Burial from "Untrue"
Aguirre III by Popol Vuh from "Aguirre (Original Soundtrack)"

Lots of international music in this one. The "Ping Pong" soundtrack that I use on here gets a bit of play on other playlists. It's a pain to get a hold though, as it's a Japanese import but it's well worth it. Lots of great indie Japanese electronic music. Also, if you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

Cluster & Eno start things off, a little minimalist classical (in the form of Steve Reich) forms the mid-section and Popol Vuh close it out. It's rare that "Flutter" gets played but I have it there in case the opening section is going long. I also have a 75 minute version of this, which I'll post one of these days.

For once, I got the playlist submitted to iTunes before my initial posting. It's available here

They don't have the opening Cluster & Eno track (which is a crime because that album is a classic and should always be available) so I used another much longer track. That means you may need to skip into Sa Dingding after your intro. They also don't have the Sugar Plant track from "Ping Pong" so I substituted a Neu! track, though I'd considered using Massive Attack instead.

Please pop by and rate it high!

Very best,

DND

Ka-ba Vinyasa 7 now on iTunes

Ka-ba Vinyasa 7 is now available from the iTunes store, right here

Please listen, enjoy and rate high!

Very best,

DND

Ka-ba Yoga Vinyasa 14 Now Available from iTunes

Details of the playlist posted on Sunday. It is now available here. Please enjoy and rate it high!

Yoga Playlists (part two)

It's Sunday so that means that it's time for another yoga playlist. This one is pretty recent and I used it as a chance to throw in more contemporary "indie" music. This one played very well in the Uptown studio. I've only used it for C2s but I don't see why it wouldn't work for C1s as well (speaking in Corepower terms)

Ka-ba Vinyasa 14

1. Over The Horizon Radar by Boards Of Canada from "Geogaddi"
2. Fair Oaks by Phil Western from "4am"
3. Kids by MGMT from "Time to Pretend - EP"
4. Soldier Jane by Beck from "The Information"
5. L.E.S. Artistes by Santogold from "Creator / L.E.S. Artistes - Single"
6. M79 by Vampire Weekend from "Vampire Weekend (North American Edition)"
7. Ghostwriter (Remix) by RJD2 from "The Horror"
8. Hallogallo by Neu! from "Neu 1"
9. Kodac Moments by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
10. Fish Beach by Michael Nyman from "Drowning By Numbers"
11. Thank You by Angie Mattson from "Given to Sudden Panic and Noisy Retreat"
12. Silencio by Ely Guerra from "Lotofire"
13. Seymour Stein by Belle & Sebastian from "The Boy With The Arab Strap"
14. Ferris Wheel by Donovan from "Sunshine Superman"
15. Le soleil est près de moi by AIR from "Le soleil est près de moi - EP"
16. Aguirre III by Popol Vuh from "Aguirre (Original Soundtrack)"

Notes: You may already notice that I use certain artists and even certain albums repeatedly. I usually end my playlists with Popol Vuhs "Aguirre III" because it works really well and I love the track (it's what I want played at my funeral). Ely Guerra appears a lot as do Air, Neu!, Harmonia, Boards of Canada and the Modernist. I recommend that everyone putting together playlists have a small pool of artists that they pepper a good chunk of their playlists with. This will give your class "sound" a consistency and it will also let you experiment by bringing newer sounds in while still maintaining that core consistency.

Everything here is available from iTunes (this is rare so enjoy!). I've submitted it and should have a link for the page soon.

In this playlist Boards start things off, Nyman comes in for the post inversion childs and Aguirre is the savasana track.

Yoga Playlists (part one)

I've had some people ask me about the playlists that I use for yoga classes so I've decided to start posting some of the better ones here. This is Ka-Ba Vinyasa 6 and it works great for C1 classes or a mellower C2. This is one of my favorite playlists.

Ka-ba Vinyasa 6

1. Corsair by Boards Of Canada from the album "Geogaddi"
2. Playground Love by Air from the "Virgin Suicides Soundtrack"
3. Kit Wolveen by Øony from "Jazzflora, Vol. 2 (iTunes Version) - EP"
4. Silicon Minor by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
5. La Esquina (Nickodemus Remix) by Federico Aubele from "La Esquina - EP"
6. Jarat Fil Hub: The Chalice Remix by DJ Cheb I Sabbah from "La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixed"
7. Nikita by Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band from "Indian Grooves: Dhol, Bhangra And Beyond..."
8. Morning Glory by Deuter from "Aum"
9. Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez from "Veneer"
10. Tengo frio by Ely Guerra from "Lotofire"
11. Flim by Aphex Twin from "Come To Daddy [EP]"
12. Rushing by Moby from "Play"
13. Walky-Talky by Harmonia from "Deluxe"
14. layer tone by Bunk data - unreleased
15. Aguirre III by Popol Vuh from "Aguirre (Original Soundtrack)"

Notes: Most of these tracks are available from iTunes. I don't think "Walky-Talky" is though. A good long track by Neu! would do in its place (something like "Hallo Gallo" would be perfect). "Layer Tone" was done by my friend Nathan as core material for the "Insomniati" collaboration we did so it is unavailable. There shouldn't be a problem with skipping track 14 altogether.

Track 8 is what I put on after the class has finished with crow. I also always switch to 14/15 when things move into savasana. I like to have more tracks than needed on hand so that I can flow with different class timings.

Life Updates from the Weekend of DND

Hi!

A few life updates from the weekend. Noel and I went to Joseph from Magus' birthday party last Friday and had an excellent time. I hadn't seen his and Mela's new place but it is fantastic! Lots of fun people to talk to and one of the first parties where I didn't miss drinking. Good times!

Not so good is that Noel's gone to Duluth to visit her parents and Grandma. We don't spend a lot of time away from each other and I definitely get a bit lonely and have a tough time getting to sleep when she's not around. I wish I could have gone along.

I hung out at Sawatdee (sp?) with Elizabeth to look over the photos from the photo session (was it just last week). I got a great shot of me in full lotus headstand and a really cool variation of the same shot where it looks like I'm doing it in the middle of either a psychedelic whirlwind or a snow cavern. I'll be scanning and posting these on Myspace soon.

Yesterday in yoga I think I pinched something in my neck as I had a terrible headache when I came home. I laid in the bathtub until I had to puke and then fell into a deep nap. Felt much better when I woke up but I always hate feeling poorly.

Nick and Cindy are in town house hunting (they're moving back from L.A. - hurray!) so when all hung out for hot chocolate at Common Roots (my new favorite coffee shop and they have great veggie food too). Had an excellent time talking various projects with Nick. He's been working on an amazing secret video project lately that I think is one of the best things he's done (and he's done some great stuff, witness the "Western Angels" video I posted a few days back).

Tonight I'm heading over to Todd's to listen over to what is probably the final mix of the first Saint Anthony Falls track "Nihali". I am really excited to hear it! We'll also be talking about stuff related to the project and the b-side track.

Krisnamacharya

Playing with Mantra

The concept I've been playing with put in as simple of terms as I can muster:

Completely engagement of the ego self while at the same time identifying solely with the transcendent self.

The mantra I use to keep this idea present:

Atman David

I use mantras a good deal in my yoga practice. After engaging rhythmic breathing I follow this formula

First inhale: AT
First exhale: MAN
Second inhale: DA
Second exhale: VID

Atman is the Hindu term for the transcendent self or the "self behind the self" and David is the name I was born into. I only started using this last week but it's interesting how charged the use of my own name is. It can open a trance state pretty quickly, I suspose it's the vast degree of connection.

Whether or not mantra "sends out energy" or "taps me into the universal self" is beside the point. A good mantra can very easily create a very steady and solid rhythm for your breath and it can also help the mind to relax into a trance or semi-trance state. Practicing yoga from this state is great as the postures are usually deeper and the mind less concerned with what is happening outside of the mat.

108

Happy New Year everyone. I've got a few minutes before I teach a class out here at Corepower Eden Prairie so I thought I'd pop by and set down a few words.

Had a nice night last night. Noel wasn't feeling well so we stayed in. Watched the Doctor Who episode "Girl in the Fireplace" which is especially good. Great script by Moffat. Also watched the first episode of Big Love season two. Then hung out and talked about the '07 recapping the highs and lows. It's sad that Noel has the crud (right after I got over it) but other than that it was an especially nice night.

Taught a class in the a.m. then went to St. Paul and did the 108 Sun Salutations (on 1/08 even), an old yogic tradition. Definitely the most physically challenging thing I've done in a while but it was amazing as well. Sarah led and did an amazing job. You wouldn't think such a simple series of postures would get so difficult after a while but they certainly do. I locked onto a mantra for a chunk of the class which helped but the last 27 were mind meltingly intense. Felt extremely blissy afterwards. I love yoga. Union.

Went home and watched "Adrenaline Drive" with Noel. A Japanese movie from 2000 that felt a lot like a more sparsely paced mid-80s John Hughes movie (maybe starring a young Tom Cruise and Mary Stewart Masterson. It was fine afternoon fare though not as good as a lot of the Asian movies we've seen lately.

OK, gotta get to it students should be arriving soon.

Be well,

DND