Karen Faith: A Life in Yoga and Music

Here is the complete Karen Faith interview. My thanks to KF for taking time to speak with the Angel when she could have spent time practicing her favorite poses.

What's up with that music?
First of all, let's agree that music is one thing and yoga is another. (Kirtan might be an exception.) Practicing music is like practicing yoga, the way that practicing shoe-tying or investment banking or speed stacking is like practicing yoga, but to say they are all the same because they are practices would be silly. That said, I used to practice music. That was my primary practice from age 4 to 22. I did it professionally for 7 years, playing viola in orchestras or quartets or electropop bands. It was a hoot, and I'm very grateful for my resultingly fussy ears. Which brings us to "background" music. If you aren't supposed to listen to it, then turn it off. Otherwise, let's make it worth a listen. In class, I love to bring music the class has probably never heard before. Ideally, there are no associations. In my class, hopefully, you will never be thinking, "Oh my god, this song was playing when we were all in the car after the show going over to my gf's house and it was so cold because I wore that green jacket without the sweater because I'd left it at Heather's..." So, in order to prevent spontaneous time-travel, I almost never use anything that one might have heard on the radio. That means really new stuff, really old stuff, and insanely obscure stuff, and that stuff is hard to come by. I'm lucky to have lots of great musicians and music lovers in my life, who constantly introduce me to new things.

How do you come up with your mixes?
Once I have all these recordings, I try and search for tracks which are, as one musician friend of mine put it, "impressionable," meaning, music which allows you to bring something to it - which isn't manipulative, but has a certain openness about it which lets you be in the space you are in with it. That sound makes suggestions, not demands. And I mix according to sequencing... Some mixes have an arch, some are a steady climb, some have a stable, level energy... it depends on the sequence structure.

And where is the Indian stuff?
Well, I think it can get overused in yoga classes. Which is too bad because it's beautiful music. But yoga doesn't belong to Indian culture alone anymore! In fact, there are more people practicing Hatha (physical asana) Yoga today in the state of California than in all of India. Not that I ignore yoga's roots - they will always be in India, and we owe our founders great love and honor. But your practice is yours, made of you - your vernacular stuff and your divine stuff. You don't have to stay attached to India about it. As much as I encourage shifting our perspective, changing our habits, getting a little uncomfortable, practicing shouldn't feel like visiting a foreign country, it should feel like home base. Of course, I haven't been to India. And I bet as soon as I go, my students will never hear the end of it.

What are the three most important things that prospective yoga students should know about you?
1.If you're looking for a spiritual guru, consider me a jazzercise instructor. I'm too young in my process to be a spiritual teacher to anyone. I'm less of a president, more of a community organizer. I lead the practice in class, but I'm learning as much from my students as they are from me, if everything goes well.
2.At the beginning of class, the intention that I set as a teacher is to be of service to my students. I will point you in the direction of you. I will never veto your decision to work harder or take a break. If you deem yourself unfit to perform your duties as governor of yourself, I'm not going to step in and do it for you. I will, however, help show you that you've got what it takes. I will also get you a tissue and a cup of water, or maybe spritz your aura if need be.
3.I think life is really serious and dramatic and excruciating, and I think that's funny. Really funny. I am secretly so sincere and intense, and it's totally embarrassing. So I laugh a lot. Because one day we will wake up from all this the way we wake from our dreams - the nightmares, the inspiring visions, the x-rated stuff, the nonsense. I know what it feels like to walk through life with solemn devotion, and honestly, I'd rather laugh. There are still some moments it doesn't work, but I'm going to keep trying.

Why are yoga teaching and yoga important in your life?
Well, in an approved-for-the-public nutshell, I practice and teach yoga because have to live with myself. Some years ago I realized that I don't have fairy godparents (to my knowledge), or anyone riding a white horse to come dust me off and make me presentable - and it was pretty much the worst news I'd ever heard. We can be helpful to one another, we can support each other along the way, but when things get really real, it's just me and me. And when everyone around me is immersed in their own process, acting crazy or on vacation, what are my tools? Yoga teaches me how to manage the moments when I have to do the work no one else can do. Teaching is kindof another story. I'd love to say that I teach to generously give what has been given to me, but that's not really true. I choose to serve others mostly because it gives me back much more, it's healing to me. It gets me out of my own garbage for a minute and shows me, if I do it right, that even at my record lows, I can be helpful to someone. To me, showing up for other people is food, comfort, medicine and prayer. Plus, given that I skipped high school to study increasingly obscure arts, I'm practically unemployable.

What is your favorite pose?
I could answer this differently every hour. I like flying pigeon, because it's one of those I thought I'd never be able to do, and now it usually works! (Thanks Jessica Carlin for teaching me that one!) I also love pichamayurasana (forearm balance) because it's a new animal every time. (Jo Griffith is the angel that cheered me on in pincha the first several times I tried to get on up outta my fear! Love to you, Jo!) But when I first encounter a yoga mat at any given time of day, whether to practice or to teach, I almost immediately take a wide-kneed child's pose. Sure, it's a resting pose, but it feels very reverent to me. I always imagine I am bowing to the great something-or-other when I take balasana.

What is your least favorite pose?
PURVOTTANASANA! (inclined plane) It's so unrewarding. If I'm gonna work that hard, I want a freaking pay off! Can't get no satisfaction. Prasarita Paddottanasana is a big toughy for me, just because of my particular body and habits. The outsides of my shins burn like fire in prasarita!!! Ooooh I can feel it now! And Rich Logan does it in, like, every class, just to watch my face screw up like an angry toddler, I just know he does! My nemesis, for real, now that I think of it, is Virasana. (Hero) Hurts so bad I can't talk about it. Wouldn't it be wise and strong of me to say we learn the most from our most difficult poses? Fine. I said it.

What can a student expect in your classes?
Oh, I don't know! Hopefully they can expect the opportunity to be present in the moment just as they are, and to be supported in that. The rest is details.
What kind of student do you expect to see in your classes?
Well, I get surprised all the time. I have students from 15-75, champion athletes and couch potatoes, moms and lawyers and artists, quiet geniuses and neurotic blabbermouth nutjobs - (well, just one of those...but there I go talking about myself again.) My students are the best people in the world. They are beautiful and sincere and funny and brave and brilliant. I expect that trend to escalate. :)

Anything else?

Yoga doesn't have to be yoga. Your yoga can be parenting or gardening or learning to speak Japanese. Asana practice is one form, one variation, but it isn't for everyone, and I encourage you and me to remember to honor our other activities as practice. After all, learning to make perfect angles with your limbs isn't a matter of urgency. No one needs you to perform astavakrasana or else the Earth is doomed! But then again, what would happen if you practiced as if it were? I often say, "we're not saving lives here." But aren't we?