The Orange County duo Mental Physix is comprised of DJs Crisanto Santa Ana and Dru Ali. Mental Physix have spent the past four years committed to being part of the community. Their work includes raising the bar for the experience of music within yoga classes. They’ve collaborated with an impressive list of teachers and studios and made appearances at yoga events across the country. A typical yoga class accompanied by Mental Physix will ease you into your practice with peaceful, ambient tracks before gradually picking up tempo. Their blend of world music and danceable beats keeps you motivated through chaturangas and sweaty standing sequences, then guides you seamlessly into the stillness of savasana.
Ganesha’s Boom Baps
Mental Physix’s music has a way of intensifying the yoga buzz that you feel at the end of a good practice. For fans of their work, Mystic Recollections is a long-awaited debut album. Mystic Recollections perfectly showcases the talent and creativity of these two yogi-musicians.
The Music of Mystic Recollections by Mental Physix
The 10 tracks of Mystic Recollections take the listener on an aural journey to faraway places. Each of the tunes weaves together the sounds of Eastern instruments sitar, tablas, and sand rabab with powerful percussive beats. At the same time, the music takes the listener on a journey within by providing the perfect soundscape for a yoga practice, trance dance, or moving meditation.
Hyperspace
Stevin McNamara’s skillful guitar work appears in the gentle opening track “Gathering Medicine.” Then the song “Rockstar Sitars” picks up the pace with an irresistible beat that you can listen to again and again. It is sure to become a favorite on yoga playlists. Two of the tracks feature vocalist Mala Ganguly, who lends a distinctly Indian flavor to the fusion of sounds on this album, especially in the hypnotic “Ride into the Desert.” The title track “Mystic Recollections” manages to be both delicately mysterious as well as an accessible groove.
From start to finish, Mystic Recollections by Mental Physix is thoughtfully and artfully arranged to create a meaningful experience for the listener. Dive into this album ready to receive its offerings. You might just find that by the end, you’ll be operating at a higher vibration.
Alisha Maxine is a yoga teacher, climber, world traveler, and handstand enthusiast.