Alt Yoga

When it comes to your yoga practice, the right sonic environment is crucial — you want music that will let your thoughts stream freely, allow your pranayama (breathing) to cleanse and elevate, and gently push your asanas (poses) to reach their full physical potential. Enter Alt Yoga Essentials, with the Icelandic chill-out of Sigur Ros (the delicately gorgeous "All Alright"), the mellow folk of Mumford & Sons ("After the Storm"), the intergalactic electronica of AIR ("Biological") and the slow-track trip hop of Massive Attack ("Teardrop") to help guide you on the soft path to alt yoga fulfillment. In the meantime, let us guide you to Next Steps, for more Alt Yoga sounds.

Yoga demands serenity, whether you strive to achieve spiritual peace, meditative mind-and-body bliss, or even just a ripped physique. Our Alt Yoga Essentials help create an atmosphere of calm and tranquility, from the soothing sylvan sounds of Great Lake Swimmers ("There Is a Light") to the soft sonic radiance of the Album Leaf's "Blank Pages" and the shimmering melodies of Rogue Wave's haunting "Missed". Brian Eno pushes the pedal-steel into the realms of sweet suspension on "Weightless", the Cocteau Twins capture a hypnotic charm in "Lazy Calm", and Boards of Canada refract sound through the prism of "Tears from the Compound Eye". There's more — go deep into ambient yoga music in Deep Cuts.

Attaining oneness with mind and body gets just a little easier when your yoga soundtrack includes the balanced sonic textures of Belong's "All Equal Now". Those tricky moves suddenly seem a lot easier, as long as you follow the strains of Butterfly Explosion ("A Warmer Moment") to transcend your own earthly boundaries, and drift into the atmospheric wash of Anderson Cale's "Breathe In". Let Explosions in the Sky decorate your yoga session with the lilting "Magic Hours", learn a thing or two about posture with Bushmen of the Kalahari, and go for that extra bend with Donnie Darko score composer Michael Andrews ("Carpathian Ridge").

Yoga is more than just exercise — it's a discipline that works mind, body, and spirit to enhance strength and flexibility, bring bodily functions into balance, and even massage internal organs, all while striving to bring you to a meditative inner peace. You're definitely going to need more than just a good beat to motivate and enhance your yoga practice. That's where Alt Yoga Essentials comes in, with three playlists of tranquil tunes that offer a serene yet steady musical environment. We've got everything from the pulsing sonic mantra of LCD Soundsystem's "Great Release" to the interplay of musical light and dark in Múm's "Random Summer" and the muscle-toning ambient glow of Global Communication's "4:14" — all geared toward making the most of your mind-and-body workout.