Self-Awakening Yoga: The Expansion of Consciousness through the Body's Own Wisdom
Author: Don Heckman Stapleton
YOGA
“What an awesome and inspiring book. It beautifully illustrates how an external teacher can lead a person to the lotus feet of his or her own inner authority.”
Erich Schiffmann, author of Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness
“Don is an adept, an amazing contemporary yogi who has gone beyond ordinary convention. His mastery of the spiritual inquiry and his brilliance radiates through every chapter of this book.”
Todd Norian, certified Anusara Yoga teacher, former director of Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training
When artist and professor Don Stapleton discovered yoga, it marked the beginning of a journey into the awakening powers of prana--the energy of yogic purification--and the natural creative powers of the body. After twenty years of extensive yoga training and teaching, an accident left him with a severe injury to the spine. Faced with the challenge of physical recovery, Stapleton drew upon his knowledge of yoga postures and his years of exploration into prana flow to create a practice that allowed him to not only heal from the injury but also discover a greater physical ease and emotional expansiveness than he had ever known before.
Self-Awakening Yoga is the synthesis of Stapleton’s practice. More than 100 movement explorations enable the reader to unlock the wisdom of prana to stimulate the body’s innate power for transformation and self-development. His yoga exercises and prana-flow meditations focus on natural movements that encourage body awareness. Readers learn how to listen for messages from the body before entering intotraditional yoga postures, providing the opportunity for deep engagement with the postures and for recognizing the self as the highest yoga-teaching authority. Self-Awakening Yoga takes yoga back to its roots as a creative learning process and an expansion of consciousness, not just a technique for health and fitness.
DON STAPLETON, Ph.D., has taught yoga worldwide since 1976 and was a teacher and director of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health for nineteen years. His extensive training includes Kripalu, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Siddha Samadhi, and Oki-do styles of yoga. He lives with his wife and son in Costa Rica, where he is cofounder and codirector of the Nosara Yoga Institute and the director of Interdisciplinary Yoga Teacher Training.
In the accompanying 60-minute CD-V, the author leads readers through four of the explorations included in the book. The CD-V can be listened to on a CD player or viewed on a Mac or PC computer, where visual cues can be seen.
Don Stapleton, Ph.D., has taught yoga worldwide since 1976 and was a teacher and director of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health for 19 years. His extensive training includes Kripalu, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Siddha Samadhi, and Oki-do styles of yoga. He currently lives with his wife and son in Costa Rica, where he is co-founder and co-director of the Nosara Yoga Institute and the director of Interdisciplinary Yoga Teacher Training®.
Table of Contents:
| Acknowledgments | v | |
| Prologue: Your Body as Earthen Vessel | ix | |
| Part 1 | The Origins of Self-Awakening Yoga | |
| 1 | The Path to the Teacher Within | 2 |
| 2 | "Who Am I?": Self-Awakening Yoga Methodology | 38 |
| 3 | Initiating Your Self-Awakening Journey: Using the Inquiries | 54 |
| Part 2 | The Inquiry Exercises of Self-Awakening Yoga | |
| 4 | Releasing into the Embrace of Gravity, Growing into the Light | 58 |
| Heavy Body, Effortless Awareness | ||
| Traveling to the Origin of the Breath | ||
| Attuning to the Pulse of Being | ||
| 5 | Rooted in the Earth, Open to the Heavens | 75 |
| Using Gravity to Realign Your Body | ||
| The "Yes" Movement | ||
| 6 | Restoring Natural Alignment by Balancing the Cervical and Lumbar Curves | 91 |
| Opening the Middle and Upper Back: Folded Empty Coat Sleeves | ||
| Mobilizing and Synchronizing Movement in the Neck and Pelvis | ||
| 7 | Recharging the Body's "Energy Battery" in the Belly | 110 |
| Locating and Energizing the Belly Center | ||
| 8 | Releasing into Movement from the Center of Being | 123 |
| Moving from the Center | ||
| 9 | Opening the Hip Joints for Seated Postures and Simple Spinal Twists | 133 |
| Locating and Anchoring the Sitz Bones for Grounded Seated Postures | ||
| Differentiating Spinal Movements by Opening the Hips | ||
| 10 | Hugging the Planet Earth: Opening from the Belly into Front-Extension Postures | 155 |
| Lengthening the Front Side to Hug the Planet | ||
| Opening to Life by Engaging the Belly Core | ||
| 11 | Lifting onto All Fours: Balancing Stability with Mobility in Cross-Lateral Movement | 184 |
| Stabilizing the Upper Body | ||
| Balancing Upper Body Strength with Flexibility | ||
| 12 | Containing the Paradox of Polar Opposites: Individuation through Bilateral Movement | 210 |
| Harmonizing Opposite Sides through Perpetual-Motion Rocking | ||
| Balancing Strength with Flexibility in Side-Stretching Postures | ||
| 13 | Making the Hero's Journey: Traveling the Time Spiral of the Spinal Twist to Arrive Now in Seated Forward Bend | 235 |
| The Paradox of Courage and Surrender in Hero Pose | ||
| Spinal Twists | ||
| Balancing the Upper and Lower Body in Seated Forward Bend | ||
| 14 | The Miraculous Journey to Standing in Now, the Open Moment | 259 |
| Finding a Leg to Stand On | ||
| Balancing Resolute Determination with Lightheartedness | ||
| Walking through Life with the Strength of a Lion and Heart of a Lamb | ||
| 15 | The Practice of Flowing with Life's Unfolding Mystery | 279 |
| Integrative Flow 1 | Angel Wings Breath | |
| Integrative Flow 2 | Salutation to the Child | |
| Integrative Flow 3 | Salutation to the Sun | |
| Integrative Flow 4 | Prana Posture Flow | |
| Epilogue: As You Prepare to Journey On... | 302 | |
| Resources | 304 |
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Kickboxing: The Complete Guide to Conditioning, Technique, and Competition
Author: Christoph Delp
This comprehensive training manual features all the information needed for a successful start in kickboxing, right up to winning the match in the ring. Author Christoph Delp, an expert fitness coach and an experienced kickboxing and Muay Thai trainer, begins by describing kickboxing’s history, development, and rules. The technical section explains all of the attacking techniques, as well as important defense and feinting skills. In spectactular photographs, champion kickboxers demonstrate the skills step by step, enabling the reader to easily duplicate the exercises and to understand the technical fine points. Chapters dedicated to training and competition contain vital information on training plans and structure, contest preparation, and competitive strategy. An ideal companion for beginners, the book is also an excellent reference for active kickboxers and other martial arts athletes who want to improve their punching and kicking techniques. Readers can use the book to train on their own or as a complement to club training.
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