Posts In: Thievery Corporation

Flashbacks from Yoga One founders Amy and Michael Caldwell on how they nurtured a family-owned business and a thriving yoga community.

Back in the early 2000’s, if there was music in yoga class, in our experience, it was often heavy new age or Indian classical. As yoga continued to permeate our lives, the lines that separated on and off the mat kept melting. At some point, we wondered why we weren’t playing music in class that we were enjoying at home. So we tried. All of it.

I [Michael] had a great group of tri-athletes on Thursday nights who were up for anything. We did yoga to Heavy Metal (before it rightly became a thing). We offered a hip hop and yoga class with the wonderful Dina Weldin. We did live music and yoga. Once we hosted a class with the Hypnotic Gurus (drums, sitar and drone). We created many playlists (and I admit, the playlist often influenced the sequence). It was an exciting time, full of musical possibility. 

At a Zero 7 concert at the House of Blues (with Sia singing before she became a household name), it dawned on Amy and me. “If we are striving to find the perfect music for yoga class, others are probably searching as well. Why don’t we create a CD?” 

So that night, I looked at the liner notes of the Zero 7 “Simple Things” CD and found the record company information. The next day I contacted them.

Amazingly, they agreed to meet us at their office on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Bruno Guez, the President, had worked with Chris Blackwell from Island Records / Bob Marley and the Wailers fame (among other artists) so we were in great company.

On the spot, we agreed to work together. Amy and I would select the artists from Quango Music’s roster and our artist friends and put together the sequence. The record company would handle the licensing, production and distribution. We selected an unused image from Amy’s cover shoot with Yoga Journal taken by the amazing and acclaimed dance photographer Lois Greenfield. Lois generously agreed to let us use it and the fun began.*

Hours and hours of selecting tracks, ordering tracks, writing the liner notes and PR descriptions, creating the yoga class sequence that would be included in the CD’s jewel case via tiny figures and intended to accompany the music. It was certainly a labor of love.

Some of the artists included: Thievery Corporation, Zero 7, Bliss and Cantoma.

You can listen to the Yoga One CD on Spotify, download it on iTunes and Amazon or get the actual CD (if you still have a CD player).

* fun note, Lois included the cover image in one of her annual dance calendars.

Marketing Text:

Take a journey into tranquility with Yoga One; a collection of world, dub, and chillout meditative grooves, each consciously chosen to remind you to breathe and to help you become one with yourself and your surroundings. 

Chillout masters Cantoma, Bliss, Thievery Corporation, Christophe Goze and Bitter:Sweet all provide a hypnotic soundtrack to today’s modern yoga experience. Get away from the stress of everyday life and slip away into the next level of your consciousness with Yoga One.

Check out Yoga One’s newest class offering with Heather Fenwick, Gentle Flow with Mellow Grooves. Join us Sundays, 4:20pm-5:30pm.

Yoga One: What excites you the most about this class?

Heather: This class is exciting because we get to listen to awesome music WHILE we’re doing yoga! Oftentimes yoga teachers play soft, background music during class to keep the focus on the postures and breathwork. While this is a really wonderful idea, I also believe that listening to music can be a yoga practice in and of itself – we can tune in to what’s happening in the present moment by getting lost in a song, and let the music guide our yoga journey.

Also, doing gentle yoga on a Sunday evening helps set the tone for a well-balanced, calm transition into the work week – a pretty genius way to enjoy the weekend’s finale.

Yoga One: What are your playlist inspirations?

Heather: Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin got me hooked on proper music when I was in college, but they really just started to blaze the trail for musical inspiration from everywhere. These days, I love the Bahamas, DJ Drez, Tycho, even Thievery Corporation keeps putting out solid tunes… I’m also open to any suggestions from fellow music lovers – please feel free to hit me up on Facebook (Heather Fenwick) or Instagram (recoveringgypsy).

Yoga One: What do you hope your students will feel or experience?

Heather: My wish for these students, and for all beings, is to feel chilled out, happy, and connected. The pace of life around us moves all too quickly… so slowing down and enjoying seemingly little moments is good for our health, wellness, and ability to shine brightly in the world around us!

Yoga One: Thanks Heather, can’t wait to join you for class! You can find our full class schedule here. Ommm.