I love music. It is the soundtrack to the most important events in my life. There are certain songs that wrap up moments in time so that I can unwrap that moment simply by pressing play. My time in Costa Rica was no exception. And so here is my playlist. This will hopefully be mildly entertaining even if you weren’t there with me.
1.Big Jet Plane—Angus and Julia Stone
This has quickly become my new 2nd favorite band (the band holding this title may change weekly but never displaces my most favorite band The National). ‘Big Jet Plane’ was played during the first student solo class and then it just kept popping up on the yoga deck. We had an awesome sound system that blasted music onto the deck and into the jungle and this song probably came on about once a day. When I boarded the ‘big jet plane’ taking me back to the states, I closed my eyes, listened to this song and could almost feel the warmth of the Costa Rican air staying with me.
2. Slow and Steady – Of Monsters and Men
So this was my 2nd favorite band until the previous band came along. I woke up a few mornings in Costa Rica with this song playing in my head. I would sing it to myself while getting dressed and then I would walk up to watch the sunrise, plug my ipod into my ears, play this song, write in my journal and just feel like life couldn’t possibly get much better than that present moment. Plus, it’s an awesome song to yoga to.
3. We are Never Ever Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift
So sue me. I love this song. I started singing it one morning before 7am practice and before you could say ‘Jake Gyllenhal’ I was playing it to a roomfull of half-asleep yogis who all started singing with me. And then it became a favorite for the Gaia House Girls’ Underwear Dance Party (don’t ask…when you live with four other girls and suffer through cold showers, sometimes you need a dance party to warm up.) So of course, we had it playing in the class that we taught as a group.
4. Hallejuah — the Justin Timberlake version
I wandered into the main house on the last night at Anamaya to find four of my friends lying on the floor, legs up against the tall stools at the kitchen counter. I joined them in this state of repose at the one empty stool. By request, this song was piped over the speakers and we listened in silence. We watched the geckos that ran around on the ceiling. There was a butterfly that kept landing just out of reach of this one gecko and they continued this constant game of chase…almost caught..fly away…land again to begin the game anew. It was this amazing thing to observe and it would never have been seen if we hadn’t taken the time to just recline on the floor and look up in silence.
5. Paradise—Coldplay
I wasn’t crazy about this song before my trip to Costa Rica and then things changed. Because we were in paradise after all….and when this song came on I just felt the need to pinch myself and grin like an idiot.
6. Starships—Nikki Minaj
My fabulous friend Lissa is returning to Florida to teach yoga to children and so for her solo class, she asked us all to pretend that we were 5-8 years old. Easy breezy. She taught a deliciously fun class in which we did yoga poses but were fooled into thinking we were birds. We grew our wings, broke out of our shells and looked out of our nest for the very first time. To test our wings, we flapped around the yoga deck to this song. Being able to dance in a yoga class makes me happy like a 5-year-old.
7. Gangham Style
I never promised that these songs had to be profound. But this one is good for dancing.
8. Big Red Machine—Justin Vernon and Aaron Dressner
This was the opening song for my first ever solo class. It was such an amazing feeling to be in front of a roomful of friends, guiding them through opening meditations. I have begun a new movie of my life…that of a yoga instructor…and therefore, this song is in the opening credits.
9. Omaha — the Counting Crows
The downside about meeting cool people at yoga school who are from all over the place is that they are….well, all over the place and therefore difficult to visit. This song is for my new friend Chelsea, from Wyoming, because we plan to meet ‘somewhere in the middle of America.’
10. Diamonds in the Sun—Girish
This song has two lines as lyrics. The first line is a Sanskrit mantra that goes “Lokah samastah sukhino bvhantu.” The translation is ‘may all beings be happy and free’ and it’s the first mantra that we learned as a group together. It was played for us once before in practice and then it came over the speakers during our final savasana as a group. It was an incredibly emotional moment as we prepared ourselves to say goodbye to an incredible place, amazing people and life-changing month. The second lyric line is “We shine like diamonds in the sun, every one of us.” And so we do….