Dina Pappalardo crafts popular playlists that make yogis get out of their heads and fly

There’s no doubt about it: music and yoga are intersecting like never before.

But we’ve all been to classes where the music seriously detracted from the experience because of, er, a lack of…adequate curation. (Think: “My Heart Will Go On” during savasana.)

So what makes a good yoga playlist? The most important element is the arc, says Dina Pappalardo, a popular yoga instructor teacher at Equinox, who finally started posting her killer playlists on her blog after repeated requests from students.

What’s her trick? “I start with something instrumental to allow students to connect with their breath and tap into rhythm,” says Pappalardo. “The next song builds up a little more and it keeps building. The peak is in conjunction with the peak pose of the class, and then there’s an easier descent down.”

We checked in with Pappalardo to find out some of her go-to songs. Here are 7:

1. Michael Jackson—Human Nature
2. Florence + The Machine—Remain Nameless
3. P.M. Dawn—Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
4. Madonna—Frozen
5. Sade—Cherish the Day
6. Prince & The Revolution—Purple Rain (The best song for deep hip openers!)
7. Counting Crows—Colorblind (Sooooo good for savasana.)