Stretch’s Top 10 Music Picks for Getting Your Yoga On

While some more traditional studios either prefer silence or kirtan, here at Stretch we think that good music just makes yoga that much better! If you love the music we play here in the studio and want to know how to find it for your home practice, here are our top 10 artists to add to your playlist:

Oliver Tank

Pretty much anything by Oliver makes us swoon! A Sydney based electronic artist with a pretty limited amount of songs to date sadly, but all of which are just amazing to yoga to. Our favourite song of his is “Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion”. You can check out his originals and some of his gorgeous covers on Soundcloud here. https://soundcloud.com/oliver-tank

Sigur Ros

These Icelandic music gods play incredibly moving ethereal music with non-distracting Icelandic lyrics (which are pretty darn hard to sing along to!). Uplifting and beautiful, favourite tracks include “Se Lest” (I See a Train) and “Heysatan” (The Haystack). Lovely just to chill out to even if yoga isn’t on the cards.

The XX

A bit of good old British reverb tinged indie pop never goes astray, especially when they incorporate the sensual vocals of Oliver Sim and Romy Madley-Croft. Try “Stars”, “Angel” or “Shelter” to really bliss out as you flow.

Jeff Buckley

I think this one probably goes almost without saying, but who doesn’t love Jeff Buckley’s completely divine voice in almost everything he did. “Hallelujah” has to be one of the most gorgeous songs in the history of mankind and we dare you not to melt away to it during a savasana.

Dustin Tebbutt

A native of Armidale, Dustin relocated to Sweden for two years before coming back to good old Aus to launch his debut album. His beautiful debut tune “The Breach” really tugs on the old heart strings, as does the equally beautiful “Where I Find You”. Perfect for a relaxing Simple Stretch.

Bon Iver

There pretty much isn’t a Bon Iver song that isn’t beautiful, melodic and soothing, so feel free to just grab an album and play in full! An American indie folk band founded in 2007 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, Bon Iver translates into “Good Winter” and their first album was written in a log cabin in the woods – so yogic! Try “For Emma” or “re: Stacks” for starters.

Flight Facilities

Some of their songs lean on the heavy side of electro but the more chilled out beats from this Australian duo are just down right beautiful. "Clair De Lune" (featuring Christine Hoberg) is just perfect for any practice style, and going for nearly 8 minutes gives you plenty of time to really get into the groove.

Lisa Mitchell

You might remember this sweet little songstress from Season 6 of Australian Idol, and she makes no secret of the fact that she is a gigantic yoga addict. Her song “Spiritus” is actually about yoga (gorgeous) and Lisa is quoted as saying "Spiritus means breath in Latin and I've been doing a lot of yoga lately and a lot of breathing; that's the main thing you concentrate on." The perfect song to add into a joyous vinyasa flow.

Sia

She’s gotten a little more commercial in recent times, but back in 2007 Sia produced the perfect yoga song aptly titled “Breathe”. What can be better than her lovely voice encouraging to practice pranayama? Some of her more recent songs are also great for a faster and stronger flow, so be sure to check out this Australian downtempo, pop and jazz singer to see if she works for you.

The Kite String Tangle

We do like to keep our yoga music Australian as much as we can (I think we made it 6/10) so finishing with another one of our favourite Australian artists, the solo project of Danny Harley (who you may know from the group Pigeon) who happens to be from little old Brisbane! A truly talented alternative electronic artist who gets the ethereal sound oh so right, check out “Given the Chance”, and his cover of Lorde’s “Tennis Court”.