Breaking Bad: A Modern Vinyasa Yoga Playlist

“Run from what's comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious.”  —Rumi

I have dabbled in various styles of yoga. And while my interest in some styles lasted longer than others, none felt quite like a practice I could completely dedicate myself to as a practitioner or teacher.

Despite having learned a lot about alignment and discipline in Iyengar, Bikram, and Ashtanga classes, I did not find my home in any of these practices. Similarly with Baptiste Power Yoga—the physical aspects of the practice appealed to me as a former athlete, but as a former dancer, I felt that an element of artistry, creativity, or emotion was missing.

I was grateful to discover Jivamukti and Prana Flow because it felt like I was finally being given permission to bring music and creativity into my teaching. But it wasn’t until “breaking bad”*—and realizing that having a yoga practice and teaching yoga were not dependent on having one particular teacher or guru—that I finally felt I had arrived “home.”

So I developed my own style of yoga, naming it “Modern Vinyasa.” I now practice and teach the style with only one “rule” in mind—that while I will always incorporate aspects of what I’ve learned and continue to learn from more traditional styles of yoga, I also will not be afraid to put a vibrant, playful, relatable, and/or fast-paced spin on those teachings.

Each time I feel that I should revert back to the “safety zone” and teach a more conventional or well-known style of yoga, I turn on this playlist and remind myself to challenge authority by trusting my own voice and intuition.

Whether you teach yoga, have a strong personal asana practice, or simply want something to listen to in the car, I hope this playlist will also encourage you to expand beyond conventions and the preferences of others—in order to trust your intuition and discover your own voice.

I recommend pairing this playlist with a 60-minute fast-paced vinyasa sequence (although there is a little extra music to work with if you want to use it for a 75-minute class). You might consider adding some kundalini-style kriyas during songs two and seven, as I sometimes like to do to challenge my regular vinyasa students to expand their comfort zones.

*No, not the show—"breaking bad" is an old Southern phrase that means to challenge convention.