Sivananda Yoga with Helen Stapleton

Sagada is indeed blessed with the people she invites. The latest arrival (although they've lived here a long time before) is reknown potter, Archie Stapleton, with his wife, Helen Stapleton and 3 lovely kids + Austin. A casual talk with Helen revealed she's a certified Sivananda yoga instructor from Tennessee. Wow, yoga in Sagada! Yes!!!

Similarities
My practice is essentially Ashtanga, but I have practised Sivananda with Mimsy in the past. However, this is the first time I'm to do it with a certified teacher. I joined in one of her weekly yoga sessions. Ashtanga and Sivananda are not mutually exclusive. They vary, but slightly. Sivananda starts off with breathing exercises (pranayama) before going into the actual poses (asana). They both end in the corpse pose which is supposed to allow the body to absorb all the subtle life force (prana) it has harnessed in the last hour. I finished the session feeling invigorated and charged to meet the challenges of the day ahead.

Ending Thoughts
I'd been practising yoga for nearly 4 years now, but not with the regularity needed to achieve a sustained altered consciousness. It's a treat if and when that happens. What started out as an exercise in flexibility has allowed my mind to glimpse a reality far bigger than the packaged physical offering of conventional day-to-day living. With my daily reading/exercise of awakening the third eye, coupled with yoga, here in Sagada, perhaps the most conducive place to realize a spiritual quest, I'm full of childlike excitement and wonder to where this journey will take me.

Thank you, Helen.

--- TheLoneRider

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Reader Comments:

inglay
(24 Aug 2006) wowoweeeeeee nice yoga asanas there!!! it's like you're closer to the heavens when u do yoga on top of a mountain!! i will do my own yoga poses too when i go home to sagada....this is one of the best sites ive browsed lonerider!!! keep it up!!!

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