You're struggling in downward dog position, arms feeling rubbery, ready to collapse, when an aria floating from the speakers lifts your spirits and gives you the stamina to stick out the pose. This scenario, and ones like it, are playing out in yoga studios all around the country as yoga instructors, musicians and yoga enthusiasts converge in an evolving phenomenon, the use of music with the ancient practice of yoga.

Estimated to be some 6,000 years old, yoga is traditionally recognized as having eight "limbs" or paths, one of which, hatha yoga, is the physical discipline that we here in the West identify simply as yoga. Not some Eastern version of the Ab-Master or Tai Bo, its true purpose is to develop an inner stillness to achieve greater awareness.

While music isn't traditionally a part of the practice, Indian Kirtan or devotional chants, have for centuries been an intrinsic part of the more prayerful aspects of the yogic lifestyle. Now, a new take on music meshed with yoga is creating some inspired (and frankly, some insipid) takes on the practice. Ranging from tradition-bound chants that recall timeless Vedic literature to bump-n-grind disco, the moves are on in yoga. Much of this new practice has been credited to the Jivamukti studio in New York, where co-founder Sharon Gannon began working kirtans and beats into her practices in the mid-Eighties. Now, with the surge in popularity of yoga, a music industry complementing the essence of the practice is flowering too, with record labels, artists and venues devoted to both traditional and contemporary styles becoming increasingly popular.

Labels such as White Swan, Triloka and Meta Records are putting out a steady stream of music by artists informed and inspired by traditional Indian music, but also updating it with electronic instruments and singing in both the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit as well as English. Favorites found in yoga studios and patchouli-scented boutiques include artists such as Jai Uttal, Deva Premal, Bahagavan Das and Krishna Das.

A related phenomenon unseen just a few years ago is live music events staged at retreats and studios. Kirtan singer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Stringer tours the country leading chants and performing at places like Jivamukti and Moksha Yoga in Chicago. "Yoga doesn't ask us to believe, just experience," says Stringer. "It's the same with the music. Although chants are spiritual in nature, the sounds are what are most important. They're benefiting you whatever your belief system is."

During actual practice, Los Angeles-based instructor Laura Bogner incorporates everything from Ravi Shankar to Led Zeppelin into her classes, depending on the mood she's trying to instill. "One of the biggest challenges, especially with beginning students, is keeping their minds from wandering outside of the room," she says. "Music is a great tool for keeping them present."

On the other side of the spectrum -- and continent, Lawrence Biscontini, group fitness manager at the Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico, has developed a program called Yogopera, a flow class choreographed to classical music and opera. "Music creates biomechanical feedback, meaning your muscles actually respond to these soothing sounds," he says. "A perfect example is your heart, which synchronizes with the beat of the music."

For beat-crazy souls willing to explore the outer limits of this practice, Disco Yoga, complete with flashing lights, shimmies for attention. Appropriately located in Manhattan at Crunch fitness, Yoga Director Suzi Teitelman leads a class where the downward dog position becomes "disco dog" and tree position is held and shaped to the Village People's "YMCA." Care to guess what's played for the final position of the class, known as savassana? Donna Summer's "Last Dance" of course.

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