Yoga Class Music

I come from a tradition that uses background music in yoga classes. We didn't always have music, but most of the time we did. Some classes never have music (like Bikram) and some do at the beginning and the end but not during certain parts. Some students love the music with words, even if they can't understand the words, whereas others find music with words playing during a class distracting and prefer instrumental music. Depending on the space I'm teaching in and the number of students in the class, I find music can help create some privacy, it can encourage relaxation at the end of class depending on what's being played.

I used to bring CDs to class but they got scratched and I'd make new ones and the odd mixed CD but the machines I was playing them on became increasingly unreliable. I decided that I'd update my music player and I looked around at different options.

A couple of years ago I bought an mp3 player (it's not bad and even has a microphone and an fm radio built in) to use during class but it had limited battery life and I didn't like changing batteries mid-class. I was looking around considering the ipod option, but after having the battery thing happen I was a bit leery about having an appliance that couldn't be plugged in to a/c if I needed to on the spot. At the time ipods were around $300 so I thought if I was going to spend the money on that, I might as well get a new laptop computer and then I could be portable and burn my yoga DVDs on it and everything.

I got my new computer (I'm even typing on it now) and purposely got one that was smaller than the average so I could carry it with me everywhere. And I did. And if you've been to my classes, you know I bring it to class and use it to play music.

Then the battery died. Something happened to my power cord and it fried my battery. So I've been bringing the computer around still, but it's limping. I have to boot it up and power it off each time, not such a big deal, however, if I bump it and the cord loosens, it just shuts off. Then I have to reboot to get the music back up. And it just isn't that convenient.

So I looked into replacing the battery for the computer. Well, it's going to cost about $200 for a new battery. Hmm. That's about how much an ipod Nano is. Maybe rather than fixing the computer, which I don't need as much anymore because I get my email on my Blackberry, I should just get an ipod, join the club, participate in my culture. Now I have a black 8 gig ipod Nano thanks to Costco.

I'm still figuring it out. And yesterday, I brought the ipod to my Sunday morning class at Rama Lotus in my purse, not bringing my whole portable office with me any longer, and wouldn't you know it, the battery was dead and I couldn't plug it into anything seeing as how I had come to class without the backpack. So I had to find a CD to play.

Go figure.

I guess I'll have to look at what batteries represent in my life and see what's up with that! Maybe it's time to recharge my own batteries (and I'm still doing my cleansing diet so that ought to help).

The good news is, I really love my gadgets. I love technology and the shininess and portability and the creativity that went into inventing these things and designing them and just the fun that has been had in the process. I know it doesn't make a difference in my classes. I just enjoy these things.