I absolutely love making playlists for my yoga classes.
One of the benefits of working at YogaSix is that because the chain has a little bit more of a fitness-feel to it, I can go crazy with fun, upbeat, modern music when I’m planning soundtracks for my classes.
After a few years of teaching and dozens of accompanying playlists, I’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm of creating playlists to use in my classes.
The first playlist I ever made was a weeks-long affair. I think I listened to my playlist over and over again, and practiced my sequence along to it to make sure it worked.
Now, I’ve gotten so proficient at making playlists that I can make a class playlist in a matter of minutes.
A full disclaimer: I use Spotify to make my yoga class playlists, so a lot of this advice is geared toward Spotify users.
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Take classes and ask your instructor for a link to their playlist. I’ve never had an instructor tell me no — most instructors are more than happy to AirDrop a playlist to you, or direct you to their Spotify account so you can find it there. Feel free to give yoga instructors you like a follow on their streaming platforms, too!
Tip: Don’t limit yourself to yoga instructors! I follow a few of my CycleBar instructor friends on Spotify, too, and I take a lot of their song suggestions for my own use.
Related: Search Spotify for pre-created playlists to use. You can either use the full playlist as a whole, or pick and choose songs from it. YogaSix has a great channel called Y6 Music Central with tons of pre-drafted playlists. Sometimes I’ll search “YogaSix Hot” to get inspiration from other instructors, and sometimes searching Spotify for generic “Savasana music” or “Tibetan sound bowls” works wonders.
Tip: Feel free to check out my Spotify profile and take some of the playlists from me!
Keep an ear out for music when you’re outside the studio. Sometimes I’ll be at a bar or at a friend’s place and I’ll hear a beat and think, “oh, that would be a great song to play during a Sun B-plus!” I’ll use Google’s music recognition tool to figure out what the song is, and then I’ll save it to a playlist to sort through later.
Which — create pre-playlist playlists. I have a few playlists that I curate: “No words – upbeat” (perfect for my first song of class, which is peppy without distracting vocals while students set their breath and settle into class), “Cool down” (slower, softer melodies used for the last portion of class, which is usually gentle counter-stretching) and “High energy” (fast-paced music good for fast vinyasa flows or any kind of core work). Plus, a general “unused” playlist for cool songs I hear that I might use in the future.
Tip: Use folders to sort your playlists to keep everything neat and organized.
Also, use Spotify algorithms to find similar songs for use. I’ll create song radios all the time and use those to find some filler songs for my playlists.
Tip: When you find a good playlist or create a good song radio, save it for later use!
Feel free to reuse playlists! You don’t have to create a new playlist for every single class. I like to name my playlists for the class format and month I created them, and then reuse them every few weeks.
Use tools to help you sort your playlists. I love this sort your playlist tool. You can log in with your Spotify account, access your playlists, and then sort your playlists by various metrics. I love using both the “energy” and BPM metrics, which can help you organize your songs to match the intensity of your sequence.
Ask your students for suggestions. Students LOVE hearing music they love. Ask your students what artists they’re listening to, or what songs they’ve had on repeat lately.
And, finally: When you play music during class, make sure your playlist has been downloaded and your phone is set to silent. I enabled a bubble on my iPhone that automatically puts my phone into “Do Not Disturb” mode when I arrive within a few hundred feet of my studio, and some of my fellow teachers manually put their phones into airplane mode before teaching. Whatever method you use, make sure your playlist doesn’t get interrupted mid-flow.
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What kind of music do you love to listen to when you flow? Let me know in the comments!
My views are mine alone and don’t represent those of YogaSix, YogaSix Flagstaff or any prior yoga studio I have worked for. You can read more on my disclosure and privacy policy page.
