Elonne Stockton

Program Director and Senior Yoga Teacher

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Elonne Stockton started practicing yoga at age 14. As a student at Choate Rosemary Hall preparatory school, she found that practicing 2-3 days a week helped her cope with the stresses of competitive academics and athletics, as well as with the endless challenges of adolescence.

Elonne ran with her high school cross country and track teams, and she continued to run competitively during her first two years of college. Her running coach at Choate was Buddhist and taught religion and philosophy, and he helped to spark her interest in meditation and Eastern thought. But before she started meditating regularly, Elonne caught a glimpse of what a concentrated mind was like through her distance running.

She wishes she had had more guidance with her yoga practice when she was young. At the time, there were no studios or teachers where she lived, so she had to find yoga on her own, with the help of books and video tapes. It was not until the late 90's, when she transferred from Bowdoin College to Columbia University in New York City, that she began studying at the various studios open around New York at that time - Jivamukti, Integral, Sivananda, etc.

She soon found the humble, simple, and quiet energy of the Sivananda center in Chelsea to be the sanctuary she was seeking. She regularly attended satsang and asana classes there.

After graduating from college, Elonne had more time to go deeper into her practice. When she was 24, Elonne went to the Sivananda Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas on vacation. While on vacation, she decided to take a break from the field of journalism to attend the Sivananda teacher training course, which she completed in January of 2003. She started teaching the morning after she finished the course and has been teaching ever since.

Elonne was on staff with Sivananda for 2 years, teaching and doing Karma Yoga in the Bahamas, Canada, and India. Afterwards, she spent a year teaching in the United States.

In 2006, Elonne moved to Taipei, where she lived and taught yoga for three years. It was in Asia that she met her teachers, Paul Dallghan, O.P. Tiwari, and Richard Freeman. Their support and guidance makes it possible for Elonne to continue to strengthen and develop her connection to the practice.

Elonne has taught asana, pranayama, and meditation in retreats, resorts, ashrams, studios, orphanages, hospitals, and clinics around the world. She is now extremely grateful for the opportunity to teach at Samahita Retreat. As her understanding of the practice grows, she feels more and more like a beginner, and she is excited to help others as she furthers her own studies.

February 9-10	Accra, Ghana	Nieves Lahuerta
February 11-14	Abidjan, Ivory Coast	Onanchi Chappet
February 15-18	Cape Town, South Africa	Shanti Capetown
April 4-7	Utrecht, Holland	Yoga Moves
May 11-12	Saigon, Vietnam	Catherine Walter