“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>

Heading out the door? Read this text on the brand new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
>”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>Download the app.

Essentially the most memorable Savasanas can appear to transcend the confines of time and space. You experience stillness, give up, and release. You emerge feeling restored and maybe transformed. Chances are you’ll even find solace inside yourself. Although the culminating moments of your yoga practice can happen in silence, a lot of us find that our ability to really experience repose is undeniably swayed by music.

Music’s influence on our mood is…complicated. Personal preferences definitely play into the equation, as do certain complex neurophysical responses, corresponding to the discharge of neurotransmitters in response to the vibe of a song or heart rate attuning to its beat.

But you don’t need to know the intricacies of how music influences your mood to acknowledge when it happens. All you really want to know is that what you hear should enhance, not detract from, the profound and somber experience that’s Savasana. That exact elixir is exclusive to every individual, but if you experience it, you recognize.

The next Savasana songs—some instrumental, others with lyrics, and all of them soothing—have struck a chord with us, students and teachers we all know, and tens of millions of others who appreciate music, meaning they’ll likely elicit the same experience in you or your students. There’s just one approach to know for certain.

25 Must-Try Savasana Songs

Mystical Music

Ashana | “Soulmerge”

Ashana’s soaring vocals and resonant singing bowls make her considered one of the premiere Latest Age artists of our time. With greater than 18 million downloads, that is her most well-known (and arguably most transfixing) song due to lilting harmonics and that angelic voice.
Length: 9:36

Anoushka Shankar | “Naked”

The daughter of gifted sitarist and social icon Ravi Shankar has made her own way within the contemporary music space along with her tackle traditional Indian music. In 2003, she became the primary Indian woman to be nominated for a Grammy. “Naked,” a track from one other Grammy-nominated album, Rise, is but considered one of her consistently standout tracks featuring the sitar.

Length: 4:16

MC YOGI | “Shanti (Peace Out)”

MC YOGI has been a game-changer within the fusion of traditional Eastern music and modern hip-hop and offers loads of awesome yoga tracks. But nothing beats this Indian-inspired song for a restful Savasana. Yoga teacher Erin Stewar considers it a Savasna must.

Length: 6:59

Michael Mandrell and Benjy Wertheimer | “Santosa (Contentment)”

These musicians made just one album together and the closing track is transportive. The comfort it brings can definitely be traced to the nice and cozy sounds of traditional instruments, including the esraj, tamboura, and tabla.

Length: 8:36

Dean Evenson, Scott Huckabay, Phil Heaven | “Sacred Alignment”

This Celtic-tinged ambient track is yoga student Kristen Lindblad’s go-to song for settling into Savasana. “It will probably evoke some deep emotion from me while I’m in that relaxed state,” she says.
Length: 8:37

Sacred Earth | “Respiratory Space”

With greater than 38 million downloads, this blissful track is one other fan favorite. It draws on the bansuri, a standard Indian bamboo flute, together with the thrum of cicadas within the background.
Length: 8:06

Jane Winther | “Om Mani Padme Hum 1”

Jane Winther’s music is minimalistic yet lush, soothing, and almost bewitching. This track, her hottest, adds the practice of mantra to Savasana. Try it in traditional Savasana and even during a restorative supported Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Sure Angle Pose).

Length: 8:24

(Photo: Album cover for Resonance Meditation by Beautiful Chorus)

Instrumental Tracks

Beautiful Chorus | “Heart Chakra”

The album Resonance Meditation, from the favored independent vocal group Beautiful Chorus, walks you thru each of the seven chakras. “[It’s] great in the event you’re in search of something without spoken words,” says yoga student Rachel Blake. Although any of the songs could work during Savasana, Blake recommends “Heart Chakra.”
Length: 4:40

Echo Ark | “Floral Hymn”

The relaxing electric guitar track drenched in reverb is so soothing. (Fans of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” will find it familiar.) This track is considered one of only 4 songs by the artist on Spotify, and we’d like there to be more.
Length: 3:35

Brian Eno | “At all times Returning”

Ambient music producer Brian Eno strips every little thing down on this piano and guitar ballad. The essential hook loops throughout your complete song, making it easy to settle into that blissfully hypnotic Savasana state.
Length: 4:04

East Forest | “Hold On”

Portland-based yoga teacher Ryan Ashley says she all the time plays this “relatively unknown and delicate” song from East Forest’s Music Meditations album for Savasana. She finds it to be uncannily adept at enabling students “to unwind and fall deeply into themselves.”

Length: 8:50

Olafur Arnalds | “Tomorrow’s Song”

This uplifting yet delicate piano ballad provides an easeful ending to any yoga practice, particularly restorative or Yin. If you desire a full-length album in your yoga practice, the Icelandic composer’s expansive discography offers ample options.
Length: 3:07

4444

Yo La Tengo | “Green Arrow”

This song’s melancholy guitar meanders through a field of crickets before dissolving into rhythmic drums. “It just makes me zone right out,” says yoga teacher Harvest Radich, who relies on this trackfrom the band’s 1997 album, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, as her go-to Savasana track.
Length: 5:43

Manose | “Land of the Medicine Buddha”

A gifted flutist from Nepal, Manose includes 10 instrumental meditations on this song from the album Call Inside. It draws on the soothing sound of streams, wind chimes, and the bansuri, an ancient flute-like instrument. Medicine, indeed.
Length: 7:00

Contemporary Songs

Audra Mae | “Eternally Young”

Mae’s cover of the Nineteen Sixties classic by Bob Dylan dispenses with accompanying music to emphasise the wisdom imparted. “May you mostly do for others, And let others do for you.” Her rendition of the song brings a way of closure to class, because it did to the TV series “Sons of Anarchy.”
Length: 2:50

Slowdive | “Falling Ashes”

A soft, tinkering piano slowly builds into layered vocals from the long-lasting ’90s shoegaze band singing, “occupied with love” time and again. This indie track is an ideal set-it-and-forget-it Savasana track.
Length: 8:00

Jeff Buckley | “Hallelujah”

The late Jeff Buckley never disappoints. His crooner voice is characteristically emotive on this ’90s electric tackle composer Leonard Cohen’s classic. Those heavenly falsettos can bring on divine rapture.
Length: 6:53

Nouela | “The Sound of Silence”

On this haunting cover of Simon & Garfunkel, Nouela and her breathy vocals are unaccompanied save for the occasional piano chord. It’s as if the space in between the sound reverberates off the partitions. Yoga Journal senior editor Renee Schettler finds it particularly quieting for college students after a night practice with the lights low.
Length: 3:23

John Lennon | “Imagine”

Though recorded and released greater than 50 years ago, this classic speaks to all generations with a message that also lands: “Imagine all of the people, sharing all of the world…I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.”

Length: 3:07

Electronic Music

Slow Dancing Society | “A Song That Will Help You Remember to Forget”

This ambient rock production by solo artist Drew Sullivan exploded in popularity after yoga influencer Rachel Brathen worked it into regular rotation on her Yoga Girl Playlist of the Month. It merits the hype.
Length: 6:14

Random Rab | “Lace”

With its gentle beat and serenely sighing strings, Random Rab’s “Lace” brings a fascinating combination of downtempo electronics and traditional string instruments to Savasana.
Length: 3:47

Télépopmusik and Angela McCluskey | “Breathe”

With its higher BPM, this track is very suitable following a high-energy class. And with its elevated pace, it may possibly help students who find prolonged stillness difficult struggle less. The tinge of cool-lounge vibes make it a perfect segue from yoga time to social time.

Length: 4:42

Jellis | “You’re The One That I Need”

The unique mix of downtempo breakbeat and soothing vocals make for a fascinating Savasana. The lyrics are minimal and repetitive, which implies little or no distraction for resting yogis.
Length: 3:37

(Photo: ODESZA | “Kusanagi”)

ODESZA | “Kusanagi”

This effusive track from Odesza’s breakout 2014 album, In Return, radiates happiness. Electronic notes shimmer and ripple as playful voices frolic within the background and you are feeling the pleasure of a carefree summer day.
Length: 3:28

Sol Rising | “The Light”

With its uplifting melody, this track creates an optimistic yet soothing atmosphere so that you can bask within the afterglow of your practice. You’ll literally walk out of the studio vibing like a beam of sunshine.
Length: 3:34

About Our Contributor

Sierra is a author, yogi, and music lover living within the Pacific Northwest. She’s been practicing yoga for nearly a decade & got certified to show in 2018. She writes and teaches all about connection: connection to the body, to nature, and to the universal love that holds us together. She’s also the creator of Your 12 months of Magic, a moon magic journal and witchy workbook. Without cost yoga and witchy wisdom, find Sierra at thelocalmystic.com, on Instagram @thelocalmystic, and on YouTube.