Self-Awakening Yoga: The Expansion of Consciousness through the Body's Own Wisdom

by Don Stapleton

Takes yoga back to its roots as a creative learning process and an expansion of consciousness, not just a technique for health and fitness • Provides simple techniques that enhance the free flow of prana to promote physical and emotional healing, self-discovery, and spiritual evolution • Includes over 100 exercises and meditations for a self-structured practice • Teaches how to release the body’s inefficient, painful patterns and to access unknown potentials through kinesthetic inquiries 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 spiritual and healing properties of his own body. After 30 years of extensive yoga training, 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 to create a series of exercises that allowed him to recover freedom of movement, release emotional blockages, and unleash his spiritual and physical potential. Self-Awakening Yoga is the synthesis of Stapleton’s practice. More than 100 exercises--from focusing on the breath to accessing primal sound--show how to unlock the wisdom and power of prana to engage the body’s healing powers. His simple exercises and meditations focus on natural movements that encourage body awareness. Readers learn how to listen to what the body is saying before engaging in any specific yoga postures. 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.

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 22, 2004

Reviews

[Zsaffryn Terra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique approach to yoga with a focus on the internal experience and the flow of prana rather than the postures themselves.
The first section of the book is autobiographical and not necessarily tailored to the reader.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for yoga teachers. It's filled with a lot of black and white pictures, whcih can be helpful. It's large, and it includes a CD-V. I can see this being helpful to those who teach therapeutic yoga.

[Bryony · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would perhaps earn more stars if I had gotten to finish it. I was starting to get into the part that I checked it out for, but unfortunately, because of Interlibrary loan mixed with Dan Brown's new novel becoming available to me, I had to take it back to the library. The first chapter (which was surprisingly long to me) dealt just with how the author became a teacher, which was not at all what I was expecting. I may have to someday try again and get through the whole book.