Full Circle Blog:
Mind Body & Spirit

What is Kripalu Yoga?

As a teacher of Kripalu Yoga, I live by and teach the principles I have learned while studying at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Kripalu Yoga attends to our spirit, mind and body in every class, as we move beyond the structure of postures and breath work. Kripalu Yoga also honors our inner wisdom and fosters self-acceptance, which can lead to deep personal transformation. We learn to be aware of and patient with physical and emotional sensations, and by simply allowing ourselves to feel these tensions we can often release them.

All healing is self-healing and yoga enhances our ability to heal. We build our prana (life force energy) by deepening our breath and then clear the pathways of circulation by stretching and moving. Eventually our prana flows freely to all places in need of healing. A consistent practice of yoga enhances our well-being on all levels.

Kripalu Yoga honors the process of transformation and encourages us to witness our personal growth on the mat. We are invited to Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, and Allow (BRFWA) all that we experience, with the same compassion for our Self that we might offer to a friend. By noticing our habitual way of responding to sensation, then choosing to stay with it and learn from the experience, we gain new insights and even a new way of being. What we practice ON the mat soon becomes what we practice OFF the mat in daily life and the positive effects of our yoga ripple through our relationships and community.

Kripalu Yoga can be a typical yoga experience of harmonizing mind and body, or it can bring us to a state of healing and transformation. The choice is yours, when the time is right!