Yoga Music

Yoga and music have coexisted in Indian tradition for thousands of years — classical Indian ragas were designed to accompany different times of day and specific spiritual and emotional states. Western yoga studios began incorporating music in the 1980s-90s as yoga spread globally following the counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The fusion of yoga with world music, ambient, and electronic genres created a distinct yoga music category by the early 2000s.

Artists like Deva Premal and Snatam Kaur built entire careers specifically around yoga and kirtan music, selling millions of albums. By 2018, Spotify's Yoga playlists had over 5 million followers, and dedicated yoga music labels had emerged as a significant niche within the wellness industry.

Yoga music contributed to the global yoga industry valued at $80 billion by 2020, and influenced the world music genre by bringing Indian classical elements — sitar, tabla, tanpura drones — into mainstream Western music consciousness. It shaped the careers of entire generations of kirtan and mantra artists in the West and helped establish the concept of intentional, mood-specific music as a legitimate product category across all streaming platforms.