Style Profile: Kripalu Yoga
Meet Kripalu Yoga. Learn about its lineage and how and where you can start your practice.
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Kripalu Yoga is a challenging approach to asana practice that emphasizes meditation and breathwork, and encourages inward focus and spiritual attunement.
Basic Principle: Practicing Kripalu Yoga can initiate a gradual process of physical healing, psychological growth, and spiritual awakening.
Who Founded It: Amrit Desai
Inspiration: Sri Kripalvananda, also known as Bapuji (1913-1981)
Where to Do It: Tens of thousands of people have flocked to the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Massachusetts. While there, visitors can take part in workshops on everything from yoga and hiking to African drumming. They can also spend a long weekend resting and relaxing, enroll in a teacher training, or go for the popular three-month intensive Spiritual Lifestyle Program. To find a Kripalu-trained teacher in your area, visit kripalu.org.
Who Does It: Kripalu attracts people who want to transform their lives. Yogis looking for something more playful can try Kripalu’s DansKinetics, a dynamic blend of dance and yoga.
Teachers to Know: Stephen Cope, Ann Greene, Sudhir Jonathan Faust, Shobhan Richard Faulds
Resources: You can learn the basic approach to this style from videos such as Kripalu Yoga: Gentle, Kripalu Yoga: Dynamic, Kripalu Yoga: Partner, and Pranayama: The Kripalu Approach to Yogic Breathing. And Stephen Cope has written an autobiographical book called Yoga and the Quest for the True Self that delivers a compelling history of Kripalu Yoga.
