Finding the best yoga playlist for your needs can be tricky, you may think you’ve found the perfect yoga playlist for relaxation, and then your concentration is shattered by an impromptu electronic number. Or you are in the middle of an upbeat yoga flow class, only to be interrupted by Mozart or Bach.
Thankfully, Spotify is one of the easiest places to find popular yoga music playlists to suit all taste preferences. So, whether you are looking for music suitable for your class, or for an upbeat workout booster, Soham Yoga has you covered with our list of the following playlist variations.
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The Benefits of Listening to Music While Doing Yoga
Studies have shown that when music is synchronised with exercise routines, it can have positive effects on both your psychology and physiology. Yoga music in particular has been shown to promote active meditation, by bringing your mind to focus and towards the present.
As this music plays your brain lights up in many areas, especially in the language and motor center; essentially you’re exercising your brain and body at the same time.
Another way in which yoga music benefits your practice is through the brain’s relationship with the body. As the music plays during exercise, the brain has also been known to react by secreting natural endorphins, which in turn reduces any strenuous pain caused by the poses and stretches.
Whatsmore, music has been known to reduce the anxiety and stress surrounding exercise. This is incredibly beneficial for yoga in particular, as it puts the participants in a relaxed state and helps them to gain better control over their breath.
How To Find The Right Yoga Playlist
Finding a good yoga music playlist that caters exactly to your preferences can be a challenge, let alone trying to come up with your own one!
The most common variations of yoga music you expect to find within these playlists are instrumental, often encompassing a wide range of Indian and Western instruments, with sounds of nature commonly being mixed into the score. Lounge or ambient music are also popular choices due to their steady beat patterns, and relaxing tone.
When searching for a playlist, the first thing you need to consider is what sort of session you want to have. Do you want a modern yoga music playlist to go with an upbeat intensely physical session, or are you looking for a yoga music relaxation playlist for a calmer, more mindful session?
However, creating a playlist is not always about mood and atmosphere, sometimes you have to take the class’s participants into consideration too. For example, the best yoga music playlist for prenatal yoga would consist of soothing music as it has been found to reduce back pain, nausea, headaches and shortness of breath.
Regardless of what you’re looking for, Spotify has hundreds of free yoga playlists for you to choose from, making this playlist decision easier than ever.
So, without any further ado, let’s jump into the best free yoga music playlists of 2021, for the added benefit of all yogis we have separated this list into multiple categories.
Best Vinyasa Yoga Playlists
#1 – Yoga Girl: Playlist Of The Month
Great For – A session focused on relaxation and meditation
This popular yoga music playlist has been handpicked to help listeners ease the body and mind into a relaxing session of vinyasa yoga. With a mixture of instrumental and indie sounds, including music from the likes of HIAM and Ben Howard, the Yoga Girl: Playlist of the Month is an excellent example of a yoga playlist designed to benefit your practice and integrate popular music.
Yoga Girl, aka Rachel Brathen, boasts an impressive 2 million followers across social media and receives more than 85k monthly listeners on her Spotify page. Rachel has built a name for herself online, which means she is one of the go-to places for yoga content and instruction.
Rachel’s career as Yoga Girl took off in 2010, after she moved to Aruba and began teaching yoga full time. Her classes are centered on vinyasa flows, but she also incorporates holistic therapies such as active listening and journaling in order to encourage heart healing. Rachel’s classes aim to deepen the connection to not only ourselves but to the people around us as well.
The Yoga Girl ‘Playlist Of The Month’ currently has over 250k likes and is updated regularly each month, while all her previous free yoga music playlists are available on Spotify at all times for you to peruse.
If you’re after a popular yoga music playlist for your soothing group or personalised session, you simply must check out this playlist using the link above. Alternatively, visit Rachel’s Instagram for further information relating to her practices.
#2 – Mathieu Boldron: Yinyasa
Great For – An upbeat session, dedicated to pushing limits and endurance levels.
For those of you looking for an upbeat yoga music playlist, we can highly recommend Mathieu Boldron’s – Yinyasa.
This yoga playlist is great for those of you who like to take part in endurance sessions, with a focus on electronic and house dance music. Let the beat of the sound hype you up for the session ahead, we promise there will be no slacking once you’ve hit play.
If you want to learn more about the man behind this upbeat yoga music playlist, Mathieu Boldron is a traveling yogi who teaches his workshops around the world. He currently has more than 40k followers on Instagram and has an impressive 28k views on his YouTube channel.
His website boasts ‘on demand’ yoga sessions which contain online classes ranging from 30 minutes to 1 hour. The sessions featured on this site are suitable for both beginners and experts, perfect for those of you looking to train with friends.
Mathieu has a passion for yoga that is infectious, so if you’re struggling to get started or feel like you’re in a rut, he’s a teacher to go to! One of the core beliefs at the center of Mathieu’s yoga is that yoga can help you process painful experiences, be they physical or emotional.
Mathieu wants to help people reach a higher level of sensitivity and consciousness, and his upbeat yoga music playlist is just the tip of his teaching iceberg. If you’re interested in learning more about the ‘Yinyasa’ process, click here to visit Mathieu’s Instagram.
#3 – James Rafael: JRYVinyasa June
Great For – Feeling strong and empowered for a sculpting session
James Rafael’s JRYVinyasa is an example of a yoga sculpt playlist, which encourages listeners to connect their bodies through the sound. Shut out the world and all distractions, and let the music gently guide you from pose to pose.
Many of James’ teachings surround the idea of alignment and effortless flow, this is reflected in a whimsically instrumental focused sound, with elements of Indian culture woven in. If you’re after a yoga sculpt playlist, there is arguably none better than James Rafel’s JRYVinyasa.
As a yoga instructor, James Rafael is based in London, England, has over 10k followers on Instagram and over 126k views on his YouTube channel. Each month he uploads 3 playlists to Spotify, dedicated to a different form of yoga (qigong, vinyasa and hatha) – however, the most popular of these are undoubtedly his yoga sculpt playlist.
James typically teaches fluid sequences, which focus on the link between breath and attention. As an alignment-focused teacher, there is more focus on staying in poses for longer, breathing deeply and finding optimal healthy alignment.
For an example of James’ teaching style, we can look at individuals with ‘type-A’ personalities, who may be drawn to stronger athletic practices. His teachings believe that yoga is the most beneficial practice for these people, as it is restorative and seeks to balance an already wired nervous system.
Likewise, a person feeling unmotivated or stagnant would benefit most from a stronger physical practice. Therefore, if you fall into this category perhaps a more upbeat yoga music playlist will be better suited to you, for this we can recommend James’ ‘intense’ playlists.
If you’d like to learn more about the which style is better for you vinyasa yoga style vs Hatha yoga style.
Best Hatha Yoga Playlists
#4 – Sol Rising: Yoga Playlist Of The Month
Great For – Gentle beginning and end, more energetic in the middle.
Sol Rising’s Yoga Playlist of the month is the perfect modern playlist, for those of you who are looking to be gently soothed into your session. With gentle instrumental sounds, these frequency-inspired tracks will take you to emotional highs and lows, as you alter your positions.
Many of the tracks to feature within this playlist come from Sol Risings’ own instrumental album ‘Gratitude’, which accompanies work from other artists to perfect this layered modern yoga playlist.
On it’s own the album Gratitude can act as the perfect yoga music relaxation playlist, with incredible ensembles which include strings, flutes, mandolins and pianos, melding together to produce lo-fi style beats.
The man behind the playlist is Sol Rising, a music producer and DJ who specializes in creating yoga music, with his signature chilled-techno sound. His soundscapes are designed to inspire and relax, mixing ambient, lo-fi, and mid-tempo beats to invoke a feeling of bliss, perfect for yoga practice and sessions of prolonged meditation.
Many of Sol’s most popular songs and albums have been hyped by the yoga community, he has released an impressive collection of 16 albums and boasts well over 42 million streams. If you’re on the search for yoga class music playlists with a mainstream appeal, then check out Sol Rising’s Yoga Playlist of the Month.
If you want some yoga class music playlists, check out his profile! Sol can be found on Instagram.
#5 – Marcela Marin: Hatha Yoga Indian style
Great For – 45-minute traditional hatha practice.
The next free yoga music playlist to appear on our list comes from Marcela Marin and is heavily inspired by Indian culture. Containing everything from instrumentals to soothing ballads, this playlist is perfect for those of you looking to practice with Hatha yoga.
Hatha yoga is all a soothing practice centered around gently moving from one pose to another, which is reflected in this gentle modern yoga playlist.
Marcela Marin herself is a yoga instructor based in Campinas, Brazil, with over 10 years of practice in Ashtanga, flow, restorative, and yin yoga. Marcela currently has more than 1k followers on Instagram, where she frequently posts about yoga, pilates and her journey as a new mother.
Additionally, her website offers on-demand and live classes for yoga, barre, and mindfulness. Each of which differs from the other and contains themes centered around the elements, Earth, Water, Fire and Air using the ‘Fringe . Yoga’ method.
If you’re interested in the best yoga music playlist for Hatha yoga classes, click on the link above and give Marcela Marin’s a listen. However, if this particular one doesn’t interest you, Marcela has 18 other yoga playlists to choose from, so you’re sure to find one that’s right for you.
