Stevie’s Lesson: Be Who You Are.

When I was a teenager, my sister, Nikki, came into my room as I was getting ready for a big first date and told me that I should stop listening to annoying music and fix my hair if I wanted the boy I was going out with to like me.

First things first: I wasn’t listening to annoying music, I was listening to R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Paegant. Second, I’m sure my hair looked awesome, it just didn’t look very conventional. And this was 1988 in Ohio, where if it wasn’t conventional it wasn’t considered pretty. The thing is, I didn’t care about being pretty. Pretty was so obvious. Pretty was, as I just said, conventional. The last thing I ever wanted to be was conventional. I wanted to be interesting. I wanted to be cool. To me, that’s what style is. It’s individuality, personality, confidence, and the ability to express who you are.

This yoga playlist is a collection of tunes from arguably one of the best singer-songwriters in rock, Stevie Nicks. But really it’s an ode to style. I grew up obsessed with rock ‘n’ roll and fashion, and no female rock star’s style was more enchanting or enduring than Stevie’s. If you don’t believe me, just watch Fleetwood Mac’s 1980 “Tusk”  video, where she’s twirling a baton on the field of the LA Memorial Coliseum in a strapless sundress, a little scarf haphazardly thrown around her neck, her hair blowing in messy layers in the wind. I’m pretty sure I wore an almost identical outfit to a neighborhood picnic just last month.

Stevie’s effortless flair exemplifies my belief that style is not something you can buy or fake. If you try too hard, or aim to impress someone else, you’ll miss the mark. If you don’t try hard enough you’ll end up looking, well, conventional. And in a society where I see so many women trying so hard to be perfect, to fit into some boring mold of ‘pretty,’ I can’t help but think they need to take a lesson from Stevie.

“And the summer became the fall
I was not ready for the winter
It makes no difference at all
‘Cause I wear boots all summer long…”

I wear boots all summer long too.

Perfect is boring.

Be who you are.

Namaste.

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Follow Bright Antenna Records on Facebook and Twitter to receive a heads up when each week’s playlist hits elephant journal. For our more yoga playlists, including Bowie Yoga, Grunge Yoga and Disco Yoga, visit Bright Antenna’s Spotify page.

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta

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