Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to "The Language of Yoga" podcast, hosted by Becca Schmidt, E-RYT500/YACEP, a 20-year veteran yoga instructor. Prepare to take your yoga teaching skills from average to extraordinary as Becca shares her wisdom, experiences, and practical tips for helping your students find a transformative journey of self-discovery.
In this podcast, we'll delve into the art of using language to cue and connect. Discover the power of vocal tone, volume, repetition, and even the beauty of silence and stillness. But that's not all – we'll also explore the impact of incorporating class themes such as the Chakras, the Yamas and Nyamas, the elements of fire, water, and air and many more.
By embracing these themes, both you and your students can tap into the magic of metaphor and visualization. Imagine guiding your students to embody the grounding energy of the root chakra or incorporating the principles of the Yamas and Nyamas for ethical decision-making on and off the mat. Themes add depth and richness to your classes, allowing your students to connect with the natural forces within themselves.
Throughout the podcast, Becca will share invaluable insights, personal experiences, and practical tips on seamlessly integrating words, vocal qualities and themes into your instruction. Whether you're an experienced teacher seeking to revitalize your classes or a curious beginner diving into the depth of yoga, "The Language of Yoga" is here to empower and inspire you.
Taz Rashid Interview - The Language of Yoga
===
Becca: [00:00:00] Welcome to the language of yoga. I'm your host, Becca. Well, we made it through our first season. Here we are season two with a guest that I know all of you yoga teachers will definitely recognize. He's a renowned musician in the yoga circles and beyond. He blends high vibrational electronic dance music with yoga and meditation.
And in the past few years, uh, he has performed at some of the biggest yoga gatherings in the world. I know you know, these tell you ride yoga fest. Drishti Beats, Yoga Journal Conference, Arise Festival, Bhakti Fest, Bali Spirit Fest, and of course the very fun, [00:01:00] exciting Wanderlust Festivals. He has shared the stage with many global acts, including Michael Franti, Trevor Hall, Soul Rising, MC Yogi, DJ Drez and more.
And he is now joining us to Show, share his story and also talk about his current tour, the one and only drum roll, DJ Taz Rashid.
Taz: Hey Becca, thanks so much for having me here. Um, honestly, like I've actually looking forward to this for a couple months now since we originally started talking and you told me about it.
So I'm, I'm happy that it's happening and then that we made the time for it and I'm Yeah,
Becca: made the time you are one busy dude. And I know we're carving all of this in just like a short time slot. So I appreciate you so much.
Taz: Yeah, [00:02:00] absolutely.
Becca: So we're just I want to start out actually, you just got back from a big festival in Saudi Arabia.
Can you just maybe a turn back the hands of time a couple of weeks and tell me about that.
Taz: Oh my gosh. Well, first of all, you know, what's interesting about Saudi Arabia is that I actually have a personal connection to that country. I'm not from there. I'm from Bangladesh, um, small country next to India for those of you who may not be familiar.
But before I moved to America in 1990, I actually lived in Saudi Arabia with my family for two years.
And I would
Taz: go back and forth between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh for school because they didn't have like, because I didn't speak Arabic and I didn't speak English yet. I spoke Bengali. So I had to like go back and forth for schooling because we were just kind of like temporarily living there.
And I'll be honest, like back then it was like a whole You know, when I went back a few weeks ago for this wellness [00:03:00] festival in a beautiful city called Alula, it's, uh, and I'll talk, speak a little bit more about that. The country has transformed so much from what I remember in 1988, 89 to now. Um, it's, it's really transformed in its consciousness, its leadership,
the
Taz: way.
Uh, women's rights are, uh, have grown and just given, you know, it's so much more Westernized now in that sense, not even Western and modernized, you know, they're less up with it. Uh, women can drive now, uh, they can choose what kind of clothes they want back in the eighties when I was living there, it's very tight and more on the extreme side, you know,
probably
Taz: one of, so like that was a big contrast.
And I was just, a lot of my filters just fell away, you know, and we have, you know, We have these filters and perspectives based on our previous experience of certain things. And I still had a lot of those filters being like, I didn't know what I was going to expect this time around. And a lot of those filters evolved, they shifted.
Um, [00:04:00] and I'm just grateful for that experience. And I'm so happy to see this country and other countries in that area. starting to evolve, especially going into the wellness world, meditation, yoga, embracing these inner practices, uh, for their people and inviting like people to come to that country to experience their beautiful lands.
Cause it's like so historic where I was.
Becca: I saw some of, yeah, I saw some of your socials and I, I'm like, Oh, you're, you're barefooted. You're just walking on the sand and you're in this beautiful, well, the city I was in, it was,
Taz: it was considered a forbidden city for like, I think decades or centuries. I'm not sure, but it dates back five and a half thousand years.
You probably know Petra and Jordan, like that beautiful building, like, so it was the same people there, the Nabataeans. That built that they were actually in this part of saudi arabia five and a half thousand years ago Wow, and they built this whole city there and I think uh, not think uh [00:05:00] from what I understood the romans when they were Fully in power came and just kind of uh, so killed them.
Yeah wiped them out and then they all just disappeared You know, so now they're uncovering all this there.
Becca: And how, how about you there? Did you have some time for just this? I guess I just want to throw out that word. Energetic, energetic reflection. Were you able just to kind of be calm and tap into. You know all of the energy over the years in that space
Taz: Yeah, I actually had quite a bit of time I was there for almost I think like when I left my house tuesday and I came back wednesday I was like traveling for eight days straight But it takes a while to get there and return but I was there for like five six days And my schedule wasn't crazy busy.
I'm grateful for that at the festival And so I was able to go to a lot of the sites relax. Yeah, give myself some time Reflect Connect with the lands and I felt this ancient energy, you [00:06:00] know, that was reviving That's what I felt. Wow, and it super charged me like literally I I can still feel it like when I like Flew out of there.
I was like, wow, I actually feel so inspired My creativity was ignited. Um, I felt deeper connection with uh, because I grew up muslim. So I have I reignited this like kind of Arabian lineage, um, because even I, the fact that I'm from like Bangladesh, there's a lot of trade routes and things like that, that connects that whole part of the world in many ways.
If you see the people, you can see similarities. Um, so there's a lot of ignition of great energy and, uh, inspiration. I played a lot of the local instruments there, because I actually know how to play a lot of those drums and patterns.
Oh my gosh. Like the
Taz: dumbek, darbuka, the frame drum, things like that.
And so there was an experience I had where I got to play some of these instruments with local musicians. Uh, I got to play the oud, which is a, a string [00:07:00] instrument,
it's spelled
Taz: O U D, and I actually ordered one recently, so I'm going to get, that's coming in the mail, it's a Turkish one. I'm sorry, it's actually an Arabic one, uh, it's coming from a Turkish company.
So like all this new stuff was ignited, which is like so cool.
Becca: I'm excited. So we'll hear some of that influence in our, in some of the tracks to be in some
Taz: music. Yes, absolutely. Oh yeah. They'll, they'll make their way in there. Absolutely.
Becca: All right. Hey, we want to know more about the concert series that you are in the middle of right now.
Tell us everything. It's an immersive experience, but yeah, kind of walk us through what that is. If none of us have ever done this before.
Taz: Yeah. Yeah. It's actually, um, It's, it's very, I would say it's a unique experience for probably most people in the world, you know, some people may have experienced aspects of this at festivals, especially if they've been to like things like Wanderlust and Telluride, all these festivals, so, uh, the two people involved are myself and, uh, the yoga teacher [00:08:00] and musician MC Yogi, um, Who's been around for a long time as well.
Um, I think he's been rocking the scene since like 2008, as far as the festivals goes, but teaching for a long time. So, uh, we've known each other for a while, but we just started working together just this past year at some of these festivals, like Berkshire yoga festival. Telluride and also love shine festival in Asheville and we were our collaboration energetically was so great that we were just like oh my god like we got something cool here it's finally we're working together and like people like we're just like wow that's incredible
yeah and
Taz: we were like let's let's do something on the road ourselves so we came up with this concept called supersonic yoga And, um, in all what it is is really, there's this word that I'm like, it's not used a lot, but it's a yoga concert.
That's
Taz: what I'm calling it. And that's what we're going to be calling it. And this word, these two words will go out there and then I'm sure people will [00:09:00] start using it. So it's a yoga concert. The way you think about it is that it's a two hour yoga experience with, and not just like asana, it's a meditation, it's a light breath work at times.
Movement, free movement, dance, uh, singing, chanting, uh, and of course, uh, flow, you know, yin yoga, vinyasa, whatever you can. There's this like, it's like this wellness experience in a two hour format. Originally, we were going to do like a yoga class, take a break, and then do a concert. That's been done, maybe not a lot, but We were like, what if we just combine the two so it's one experience.
It just keeps everybody together.
Yeah,
Taz: a lot of times people will do a class and they'll leave, you know. We don't want, we want everyone to experience the full thing,
Becca: right? And
Taz: we just did a few of them in Florida and three and we know it's, it's, it works.
Becca: Oh, I'm so excited. I, I have a ticket for Wednesday or Thursday night here in Orlando in Winter Park.
So, uh, I'm super stoked. It's actually the first time I will [00:10:00] ever have, um, done yoga with headsets. So. Oh yeah. Oh
Taz: yes. That's the other great addition is that we're using, uh, silent disco, uh, heads, headsets or headphones. There are the specific name is a sound off experience headphones. That's the company that I work with.
So I own 250 of these headphones. And, um, so we can do like pretty large size classes. And, um, so the whole experience is through these headphones. Do you hear the teacher's voice? MC Yogi's voice through the, through the headset, when he's singing, rapping, whatever you hear through the headset sounds, we know we have special effects.
So it makes his voice sound. Really like as if he's performing and not just talking to the delay, the reverb. So I, I handled that alongside with him. I have special like things set up. So it sounds like really high quality delivery, even through the headsets. And, uh, and of course you can hear the music and the participant has control over their headset.
That's the cool thing. They can make it louder, quieter, you know, they can pop it up when they're [00:11:00] dancing.
Yeah.
Taz: And, um, so yeah, if someone were to just walk by and they saw us, they really wouldn't hear much, maybe just breath and some hooting and hollering at times and clapping and we like to snap. Um, But, uh, it's a really cool experience in that way.
Becca: You know, I, uh, yoga is always transformational, um, or has that opportunity, I should say, to be very transformational. And I love that you have, uh, what, a hundred, 200 people all in one space, but every individual It's having their own individual experience. So it's, it's just such a cool thing to be among so many people that are also going through that.
But, but you're also very centered on your own experience and your own practice. And you know, it's, I would imagine that after a little while you're not even really that concerned over, um, What's happening around you. It's, it's your own individual [00:12:00] experience. Kind of like dancing in your, in your bedroom, right?
It's very personal.
Taz: That's what a lot of people say. That's what a lot of folks love it. They get the community experience. There are times when they're dancing around, looking at each other, doing certain things, but it is. For like a, from a practitioner standpoint, you are really in this journey and you hear MC Yogi's voice straight through it.
So it's feels like he's literally right there kind of guiding you though, like as a coach, almost like the whole path, like just whispering sweet, everything's in your ears, you know,
Becca: that's a good tagline.
Taz: Yeah. Yeah. Good
Becca: hashtag for you.
Taz: Yeah. So it's really, yes, it's a very cool individual journey, uh, along with the community.
Becca: So this podcast is called the language of yoga, and we've had a number of guests with sort of their perspective on, you know, how they use language to teach. You know, all kinds of things from, you know, paddleboard [00:13:00] yoga to yoga for, um, you know, new moms, uh, prenatal yoga, all kinds of things. But I want to get your perspective on, um, you know, I'll just sort of speak for myself.
I'm always probably very, um, attuned to the words I'm using and certain, uh, nonverbal cues, a sense of touch, all these things, but music has not been the forefront of my teaching. So I, and maybe some of the other teachers out here, um, listening, I want to know from you, what. Music can do, um, for the yoga experience.
What, what, how many levels, what is happening with the music energetically? I'm just going to throw it over to you because I know you can talk about that.
Taz: Yeah, [00:14:00] there's a lot to unpack there and I'm happy you asked. I mean that I love this conversation. And many ways to go, but where I'll start, first of all, is, um, you know, using music as a choice, you know, and it's not a necessity by any means.
Like you can have the most amazing class without music, and then you can't have the most amazing class with music if you know how to use it. So that's where it comes. It comes down to understanding energetics and just the energy of what music is doing. And that's where I feel a lot of the confusion slash hesitation, um, you know, lack of confidence comes in with a lot of teachers is that they actually don't know how to use the music properly.
So they'll either not use it or they'll use it very quietly in the background, which can become distracting.
Um,
Taz: I, I'm on the, I've been teaching this workshop called my best playlist since 2000, I think 15 at festivals like yoga journal, uh, [00:15:00] wanderlust and all these other yoga festivals. But I also taught it on yoga Alliance on their online platform.
Great.
Taz: So I know that this information is legit and it's been, you know, I've taught over thousands of teachers this around the country. And what I try to train and help teachers is what my mind is going through as a professional yoga musicians, uh, producer slash DJ. Cause I do these experiences live with teachers all over the world.
And oftentimes, majority of the times I would say 98 percent of the time, I've never made a playlist before the class. It's all in the moment. And that obviously takes skill and practice and doing, but I anticipate the energy. Most teachers don't, won't have to do that, you know, but I teach teachers what I'm thinking.
What I'm doing, how to look at the curve of say, like a typical video, so yoga class energetically, how to work with your breath and the beat of the music. If you really want it to sync up, there's those [00:16:00] moments, you know, when like everybody's breathing to the beat of the music and you're like, breathe in.
Breathe out and like you don't have to get militaristic about it, but it is amazing when it does happen Yeah, and everyone's flowing and breathing together. Yeah. Okay. So these are all school also, of course choices But teachers and students seem to love that when they are flowing to the beat. They're connected.
It's just synced up You know, I mean and There's a great feeling and being synced up. So the music, uh, if you've seen any great movie or any most movies out there, there's a, there's a score music happening in the background. You know, say for example, like Hans Zimmer, right?
Becca: No, I'm such a big fan.
Taz: So you have to start thinking if you're, if you're a teacher, you have to start thinking of yourself as a teacher slash like a, film composer in a way where you're creating the soundscape for your students.
So how can you support the practice? How can music support? These are the kinds [00:17:00] of terminology and thinking styles teachers can start doing is like, how can this music support and not distract? Yeah. So a lot of times like Using songs with crazy and there's nothing wrong with lyrics. Cause you can definitely use it in certain parts, maybe when you're not speaking, but using it in a way where it supports and not distracts, like it's competing with your teaching when you're speaking.
Right. So there's
Taz: all these things that I work with, you know, kind of like helping educate, um, people can follow me on Instagram and things like that. I talk about this stuff. And I've trainings online and I do it live as well. But um, You know, those are some areas to start thinking about. I'm not obviously going to do a full teaching on this podcast But i'm just saying these are the conversations Teachers need to start having either in their own mind or with me or with themselves as far as a community But music can be a huge help because with the right music You can take that practice from like, say, a B plus to an A minus or an A or [00:18:00] maybe even an A plus, so it can only elevate your practice, which is going to in turn make your students enjoy their practice more, want to come back and practice more with the teacher.
Becca: Because the
Taz: teacher grows, you know,
Becca: right. I teach other teachers. I have a coaching program for new yoga teachers, but also teachers who may have been around for a while, but then they have that maybe a little insecurity in some area and on the intake form, I asked them, you know, how they feel about their choice of music.
And I would say more than 50 percent say, Ooh, I don't think I'm doing it right. So, Um, that's, that's an area I think a lot of teachers don't, maybe they don't even admit that they have a real insecurity about it, or they just sort of, uh, ignore the need for spending some time and, um, figuring out what's going to resonate, even different, you know, different, um, I don't like to [00:19:00] use ages, but different sectors of the population, um, might need a particular type of music and others are ready to jam, you know?
Um, so I, and I've had, I did talk about that in one of my previous podcasts about the stumbling blocks and one of the stumbling blocks, in my opinion, was, Is using music that, um, actually takes away from a student's practice. And, um, I think they can, I'm going to start sending them to you, by the way.
Taz: Well, if you have a community, we can easily do an online tramp.
Be more than happy to hop on a call just like this. And I've done that for so many communities. They'll gather like 50, 100, 200 teachers. And we'll do like a two hour training. I answer questions and I actually have a full presentation for online where I break down classes in sections, show them certain things so they can.
Kind of do what I am thinking like they'll be able to walk away with tools right away That can [00:20:00] put into effect to elevate their practice, right? Because if you don't have a music
Becca: background there are so many things you're not thinking about and one of them is just that you Know beats per second or the be the rhythm a lot of
Taz: teachers like how do I find the rhythm, you know like that?
Becca: Right. And I know, uh, yoga dance is becoming a lot more popular. So that might be, you know, an eight count, uh, flow rather than a 10 count flow. So there's just some, I think some nuances that if you have a baseline, a base understanding, uh, you're, you're just going to do better in planning your music.
Taz: Yeah.
So, so you do not, they don't have to spend too much time. It's, you know, It comes with practice, but understanding a few of the tools, we'll just set them on a, a brighter path, you know, and then, then you practice just like everything else.
Becca: So your newest album, Blessings, is that fantastic by the way.
Taz: Thank you so much.
I listened to it
Becca: this morning. [00:21:00] Um, you are, uh, tell me a little bit about that.
Taz: Yeah, you know, I, I'm writing music all the time, you know, but like with having a second child and I'm just, you know, support a family, you know, my wife, myself, my daughter, son, and we have a full time nanny. So it's like, I'm supporting a lot.
And so I don't sit around writing music all the time because I actually have, uh, actual clients that I write music for, uh, big companies that, um, are using my music and their apps. Uh companies like apple, um, they have Apple fitness is a big. Um, it's probably the largest I would say fitness app in the world, you know Because it's through apple and I actually write music for them and i've been doing it for a few years Uh, those things keep me busy then also my tour keeps me busy.
So when I do find time to write music, it's But, uh, interestingly, this album blessings, uh, just [00:22:00] kind of, a lot of these songs kind of just happened like over the holidays I was with my daughter and we'd sit around, find sounds we like. And, you know, and so she was a part of some of the, like, we would sit together and just find certain, you know, sounds or samples, and then I would just create songs around them.
Um, but you know, like all these songs can be used in like the yoga practice. Some of them are more chill. And, um, and, uh, yeah, I'm just grateful that I get to do it because it's, for me, it's still fun. It's still fun to write music. I could do it all day and every day, but I don't, you know, I don't have that option to just sit around and do that.
It's
Becca: hard for highly creative people to just, you know, Put everything else on hold and say, okay, now for the next 36 minutes, I'm going to be creative. You know, um, so it's good that you, um, you can still do that and you have such wonderful inspiration with your newborn baby and your little girl as well.
He's
Taz: great. Yeah. No, they've, they've, it's, it's good. And I, and I know that [00:23:00] there's seasons for this. Kind of creative work so I don't get frustrated like right now I'm not writing a lot of music but after this tour is done For example, the two weeks after that I have like I have to work on 15 songs for a client for example So like I know that i'll be writing, you know working on music.
So it's like really understanding your schedule, you know, you have to like have, I feel like you have to have really good operational skills, almost like a project manager to be a great, you know, creative entrepreneur,
you know,
Taz: which I consider myself.
Becca: So let's switch gears to a couple more last questions.
I want to know a little bit more about you. I want to know about your childhood. What was the first instrument you picked up? Do you come from a musical family?
Taz: Yeah. Yeah, so, uh, like I said I grew up in Bangladesh, um, you know, uh, folks from that part of the world, it's interesting, especially in the Bengal region um, in Bangladesh, a lot of creative people there.
Um, but most of those creative [00:24:00] people, they don't do it for a living. They're like The real jobs are like doctors or engineers and stuff, but then a lot of them as a, as like a hobby or passion, they sing, play harmonium, you know, the instruments like that. So I grew up with a family of engineers, doctors, business folks, whatever.
But I always saw them playing the harmonium singing, especially my dad. Like he's a doctor, but I, since childhood, I remember him singing and playing harmonium, even with my mom at, uh, um, Family functions and also like community functions. Even when we came to America, like there were like superstars in our little communities, always seriously.
Like, so I always had that, like, Oh, my dad's, you know, he's a star. Like he could sing really well. So, so I, I had that growing up. Thank God we have a musical upbringing and I started playing the piano. That's my main instrument in fifth grade. Did you have
Becca: piano lessons?
Taz: Yeah, I did back then. Yeah, exactly. I had piano lessons for a couple of years back then.
And I w it was [00:25:00] all classical music. So I had a really strong classical background. Um, And, uh, I learned a lot of theory. Thank God that I went, my teacher taught me music theory at an early age. So because of that, I can do anything now, you know, and if you know how to play a piano, well, I always tell parents this to kids.
Like if your kid learns how to play the piano, you can make music. You can do anything because with a piano, you can pretty much sample and do certain sounds of other instruments. You know, um, so around seventh grade, I started playing guitar.
So
Taz: that was my second main instrument. From guitar, I went to, like, bass.
And now I play, like, I play a lot of instruments, to be honest. I'm not gonna say that I'm a master at all of them. My main instruments are guitar, piano. But I'm really good at hand percussion.
Uh,
Taz: that was, uh, Third wave. I would say I had a creativity back in 2008 when I was still in the corporate world, but I was itching to get out of the matrix.
I was like, something I need to do creatively. That's [00:26:00] when I learned this Arab drum called a Buca. It's a beck and so I play a lot of hand drums, but then I play Native American flutes. Oh my goodness. I play the did redo. Uh, well, I can, I know how to do that. Those. Pretty good actually. Um, jaw harp, you know, and then I, I play other fun instruments like handpans.
Those are a lot easier, more just technique.
Becca: Yeah.
Taz: Um.
Becca: When did you decide to blend it all through a soundboard?
Taz: Yeah. So I got a Mac computer back in 2010 and back then it was like GarageBand. I'll be, I wasn't thinking in my head, Oh, I'm going to become a, I was still in the corporate world till 2011. And back then I just opened up GarageBand because it came with your computer, your laptop and You know, I could record piano.
They had samples. I was just having fun. I think 2013 14 I started just getting a little bit more serious because people were asking me to create Stuff because I was djing at yoga events They were like, why don't you make [00:27:00] some like meditation music or some beats and stuff? So I was like, all right, you know, I know how to play these instruments Thing was back then I didn't know how to produce well yet Okay, and production music production you need to you need to have some schooling you can do it yourself But it's literally a very technical path.
It's
Taz: very nerdy I will say even use that word you can't just pick it up There's so many dials and different effects to use compression this and that so 2000 I think 17 um A trusted colleague, you know, who's a great musician producer. He, he was like, man, if you want to do this for real, you got to take some classes either in person or online.
And, you know, I was like, that sounds great. So I just did a full year online program with a school called pyramid. They're based out of San Francisco. I don't know if they're still around or not, but it was all online. But the cool thing was with that program, I was already making music and producing. But they gave me like [00:28:00] 40 hours or 50 hours, one on one time with teachers that were music producers.
So I was getting critical feedback and working on music and that transformed the game and also collaboration with other musicians, like. Momentology, Ingmar Low, Soul Rising, Shrekology, Shrekala, these, these artists that I worked with earlier on, that elevates, you know, your production as well. So anyone that's listening that wants to do any kind of creative work, A, get some proper schooling, whether it's a masterclass, you have to study it, you have to kind of become obsessed with it, and I became very obsessed with it.
You have to watch others doing it and then collaborate with people that are, um, doing it, you know, and work with them and learn from, you know, others, and you can do it. You know, now I consider myself a pretty good producer. I can, I can do a lot of things pretty easily. So,
Becca: yeah, wonderful. Good, good stuff there.
When you [00:29:00] collaborate, do you start on, let's say you're collaborating with, um, maybe some of the guys you just mentioned, do you start from an acoustic level and have conversations or how does that, what does that look like?
Taz: A lot of times we're in the same room and we'll just like have instruments with us or keyboard, you know, we'll make a beat first.
There's a, it can go so many ways. I, I personally, I don't even know what I prefer. Cause I like trying different ways. Sometimes I'll make a beat and then lay some instruments on top of that. Other times it'll be a really great riff or an instrument, and then we'll add beats to the background of that. A lot of times we'll listen to other music for inspiration.
That's actually. What a lot, our majority musicians do is we listen to a lot of other music
that's,
Taz: that we're inspired by, and it will create something that we're inspired by that. So that's very important is to have reference tracks,
Becca: things like
Taz: that.
Becca: You mentioned, you know, how inspired you are, you were from your travels in Saudi Arabia.
Imagine if you go to Africa [00:30:00] or places where you. It's maybe your first experience there and suddenly there's a beat in your head and you know, you get very Uh creative on um what you can do with that even you know natural beats the footsteps or whatever Yeah, exactly so I love your ambient I love listening
Taz: to like playlists a lot of times people ask me who are your favorite artists right now I'm, like, I don't even have any I don't really know but like I have favorite artists from childhood Like the beatles are still my favorite artists.
I consider that You I'm a classic rock guy. And then I had the nineties phase and all that, but like right now, like, I don't, I, I more so listen to playlists for certain vibe, you know, like, for example, like I was in Saudi Arabia, like I'll, I'll just find a playlist on that energy, like, you know, electronic Arabic moods or like tribal electronic mood and just listen to that.
And then there's so many musicians to explore and something like that.
Becca: I have two more questions to ask. [00:31:00] I was reading a sentence from your bio and I hope I can, I copied and pasted this. Your bio says your vision is to be a channel to cause the expansion of all those around you by tapping into the creative wisdom of the body.
And allowing that human being to feel, let go and awaken. Can you expand on that?
Taz: Yeah, you know, um, I consider that, that's, It's I wouldn't say that's like a very short answer, but I guess it could be if I had to feel into it So we're all creative divine beings, you know I mean like no matter who you are in the world Like if you believe that there's a drop of the divine in each of us whether it's a you know The smallest drop or a big it doesn't matter like that divine energy is within all of us.
So that's spark Of the all that is is within us. So a lot of a lot of times us [00:32:00] living in the matrix of just Programming since childhood that spark kind of gets blocked or like there's these onion layers So I think music has a way to enliven and awaken that you know used in the right way it did for me That's my personal experience With using music for meditation and it was binaural beats.
So my mission in life is to use music in a way so it can help others feel awake in a sense of enlightenment, awakening to their deeper purpose so they can live a deeper, a purposeful and meaningful life. And, uh, when it's done correctly on the yoga mat or in the dance floor, um, they can have that sense or feeling when they wake up out of Shavasana or come back into the room.
And they're just like, wow, I feel the sense of energy within me. And then they take that onto their life. And I feel that in people when I do these events, I literally feel that energetically within them. And that inspires me, you know, and, um, that's been [00:33:00] my, I wrote that mission statement down, which you read.
Back in 2011, when I left the corporate world, and I'm literally seeing that happen to this day, since I really started taking it for real as like a career path. And, uh, it hasn't shifted yet. So,
Becca: uh,
Taz: music is here to awaken us.
Becca: So Taz, if we want to follow you on socials or, uh, drop in on some of the workshops online, tell us how to, how to find you.
Taz: Yeah, I think that's the best places, uh, to find me is like, go to, if you're on places like Spotify or Apple Music, find me under DJ Taz Rashid. That's where I release my music and my work, and I release a song every week. So, there's always something fresh on your release radar. And then, um, my newsletter is also a way I stay in touch with over 55, 000 people in the world.
Um, and it's always growing. So just go on my website, djtasrashid. com and you can sign up for, there's a free kind of like opt ins type stuff where you'll get added to my newsletter, but [00:34:00] you can just go on my website and, uh, sign up for that. And, um, all my socials are under DJ Taz Rashid as well, like Instagram.
I'm mainly just active on Instagram, sometimes Facebook and rarely on TikTok, but I do have those pages. And, uh,
Becca: do you interact with your, um, your listeners? I mean, can I write you a message and you write me back?
Taz: Thank you. Don't mean
Becca: to put you on the spot there. Well,
Taz: Talking.
Becca: I have enjoyed this interview so much and I wish you the very best, the blessings for your beautiful wife and your little Ninos, uh, Nina Nino.
Um, yeah.
Taz: Thank you so much.
Becca: Yeah. And welcome. I know, uh, I'll probably get to say hi to you when you're in Winter Park. Yeah. But, um, yeah, we'll see you soon. Yeah, we'll see you soon. Okay. Thank you so much. All
Taz: right. Thanks so much
Becca: cia.[00:35:00]
Hey, thanks for listening today. That was a fun show. If you want a little bit more information about DJ Taz Rashid, check out the show notes. We'll list how to reach out to Taz or maybe take one of his courses. He's pretty awesome. If you want to take one of my classes, uh, check out my website, Becca, or that you can email me at Becca at BlueMoon.
yoga, or just go to the website, BlueMoon. yoga. Again, thanks for listening and I will catch up next time.