FreQ Nasty and the Art of Spiritual Practice

From his roots in the burgeoning nu-skool breaks scene of the late 1990s, to his numerous genre-blurring collaborations and remixes with artists as varied as Fatboy Slim, Kelis, KRS-One, Bassnectar and Roots Manuva, the one they call FreQ Nasty (real name: Darin McFayden) has been constantly pushing his unique blend of breakbeat, dub, reggae, dancehall, and hip-hop-influenced bass music in an ever-impressive, ever-evolving way.

Throughout it all, or even perhaps beneath it all, Darin has been on a kind of inner spiritual journey as well, one that has not only provided a creative foundation for his work to thrive, but one that has become the cornerstone of his day-to-day practice and place in the world.

A longtime devotee to the Satyananda/Sivananda yogic tradition, Darin’s practice has become much more central to his work as FreQ Nasty (and alter-ego Atmaspheric) in recent years, best evidenced by his collaborative efforts with David Safire and the Dub Kirtan All-Stars and the increasingly popular Yoga of Bass workshops that he has developed with yoga teacher Claire Thompson.

Whether onstage, in the studio, at home, or leading a workshop, Darin has become the very manifestation of a life lived at the intersection of music and spirituality. In the same way that the Yoga of Bass workshops seek to reveal the ways in which peak states of meditation and traditional yoga practice are similar to the “ecstatic dancefloor experience,” so too does the daily practice and creative of expression of Darin in FreQ Nasty mode serve as a gateway toward understanding our own place on the dancefloor and in the world.

When did meditation become part of your awareness and daily practice?

“It was like going to church and seeing the pastor twerking on the altar.”

I started practicing a South Asian Indian lineage based out of London in the late ’90s. I practiced at an ashram that was founded in the UK in the ‘60s by Swami Satyananda, student of the great yoga reformer Swami Sivananda. An “ashram” is a kind of spiritual center for hardcore devotees—which in this case were mainly women dressed in orange robes with shaved heads and colored marks on their foreheads, so that’s what I thought yoga was.

When I got to Los Angeles in 2006, and went to Exhale in Santa Monica for the first time and saw all the girls practicing in skimpy outfits, and big buff dudes with their tops off sweating buckets, I freaked out. It was like going to church and seeing the pastor twerking on the altar. That was my awakening to the fact that yoga had been adopted in the West and was looking very different from its original forms in South Asia.

What stage was this in your career, and what was it about meditation that captured your interest?
Around that time, I had released some records and was just starting to get international gigs. I had seen much of the world before I started DJing, so I already had the sense that no matter how I tried to distract myself or avoid my internal struggles by changing environments or countries, at the end of the day when I sat down and shut my eyes, the same issues would arise.

Whether it was a beach in Thailand, a temple in India, a club in NYC, a squat in London, inside a pyramid in Egypt—there was my messed-up mind chatting the same negative bullshit about myself and others. So I guess I was fortunate to realize relatively early on that the contentment in life I was looking for had to come from within, and that’s what meditation seemed to offer.

Since there are many different traditions/teachings related to meditation, give us a brief sketch of the tenets of your chosen approach.
In the Satyananda/Sivananda tradition, you not only use the physical body and yoga poses to move energy in the body to create health and well-being, but also to get the inner energies to move in such a way as to create the ideal conditions for meditation. The word “asana” that we associate with yoga positions in the West actually means “seat” in Sanskrit; the exercises were originally intended to make you flexible enough to sit for meditation.

Through this meditation, you would realize the true nature of the self beyond the ego-associated small self. This process leads to a contentedness that comes from a true connection and love with all people, all the time, as the veil of separation that creates the me/you tension is broken down.

“All of these workshops are ways of pointing out that we have these awakening experiences with music, dancing and art anyway, so how can we learn and use those insights to create a happier life where we feel more connected, present and relaxed?”

How do you take those insights that you achieve while meditating and make it part of your daily life?
I believe most forms of meditation try and create “mindfulness” in different ways. This allows us to not only use one part of the mind to watch the rest of the mind working on a second-by-second basis in our meditation sessions, but to do so throughout the day. From this comes the realization that most of what we think is objective reality is a finely woven series of narratives that have been formed from the time we were very small children.

Whether it’s been received through schooling or parenting or the media, we start to see that for the most part, we’re just repeating habits and patterns that have been absorbed by us without us really knowing it. From this observation comes the ability to watch these stories play out in our daily life and see how our attachment to defending these stories—and creating new stories that prop up the old ones—is hemorrhaging our potential happiness and stopping us from being fully present with the people we love.

Where does Yoga of Bass fit in? In many ways, this seems the ultimate outgrowth of your desire to draw attention to the “intersection of music, arts, and spirituality.”
Yoga of Bass has two parts: “Yoga,” which is a Sanskrit word that means “practice” (as in a spiritual practice), and “Bass,” which refers to music, but especially the music that I play. So our “Yoga of Bass” workshops are about using music as a form of spiritual practice and bringing your peak dancefloor experiences off the dancefloor and into the rest of your life.

I do the Yoga of Bass workshops with Claire Thompson, a Los Angeles-based yoga teacher, singer and dancer, and we both believe that music and the arts bring about mental and emotional states that mirror the insights achieved by advanced meditators and yogis; so we try and connect these dots for people who come to the workshops.

So many people who come to the festivals where we often have these workshops are coming to have their life and minds transformed somehow—and not only through music and chemicals. For some, it’s the workshops about sustainable communities; for others, it’s about healing, yoga, meditation, music, food, and connecting to a larger community. But for all of them, they are looking outside the current climate of consumer capitalism for a more sustainable way to connect with others and live a satisfying life based around what makes them truly happy—as opposed to just owning stuff.

Give us a sense of what a typical workshop looks/sounds/feels like?
Sometimes we’ll be opening the mainstage at a festival, with Claire leading a yoga session while I mix a set of deep, lush bass music curated to match the intensity and flow of the pose sequence Claire is leading. Other times, we’ll be in the workshop area leading a discussion/presentation on the parallels between peak experiences we have on the dancefloor and peak states of the yoga and meditative paths.

We also do workshops on topics like “Art, Music and Spirituality,” about how to use a spiritual path to turbo-charge your creative journey; or “Peak, Flow and Letting Go,” about the connection between dance and the spiritual paths of Buddhism and yoga. All of these workshops are ways of pointing out that we have these awakening experiences with music, dancing and art anyway, so how can we learn and use those insights to create a happier life where we feel more connected, present and relaxed?

“The commitment to the meditative process is just like the commitment to get in the studio every day—in that it’s equally frustrating, joyful, exciting, slow, surprising, enlightening, and makes life so valuable and precious.”

How do you balance being a spiritual person with the sort of upheaval that being an internationally touring DJ entails?
It’s a bastard to deal with, to be honest. It’s rare that I don’t miss at least a few days of mediation on a long tour, and I also end up doing it at odd hours to make up for early flights, odd travel schedules and late nights playing, which isn’t ideal. But it is all based on a strong practice at home when I’m not touring, to keep me in the game.

I’ve found that if I keep my practice strong at home, I can form strong habits that are going to promote my meditation practice when I’m touring. I also use walking meditation when I’m on tour, which can be done anywhere. I also carry with me the things I use to meditate with at home—a yoga block or cushion to sit on, a thin, wool blanket to wrap around, and my meditation timer app, which I have on my phone anyway. All help to keep the habit alive and strong.

What advice can you share with readers who may be interested in beginning a meditation or yoga practice after reading this?
It’s REALLY important to receive formal instruction if at all possible. Having a teacher who can give you personal advice on your practice is invaluable, so I would highly recommend beginners find someone in their area who they can relate to and who have the experience and or training to be able to help them.

There are so many great teachers you can go to now in most cities around the world. I would look for yoga or meditation that is from an authentic lineage, and look for something with a meditative bent rather than just a full-power/fitness type yoga, which often strips out the spiritual aspects.

If you want hardcore meditation advice and classes, I would have a look at my meditation teacher’s website; and if you want more teachings on a modern, spiritual practice based on the ancient philosophy of South Asia and Tibet, try my heart teacher.

Of course, I try and pass on the instruction and amazing advice that my own teachers gave me by teaching meditation in Los Angeles at the Mahasukha Center, and then of course by doing the workshops and Yoga of Bass sessions at festivals and clinics throughout the year.

These are all insights that can be harnessed not only for spiritual growth, but also for the very real-world discipline of sitting in the studio and committing to putting in work to better your craft every day.
Definitely, the commitment to the meditative process is just like the commitment to get in the studio every day—in that it’s equally frustrating, joyful, exciting, slow, surprising, enlightening, and makes life so valuable and precious.

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