Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
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| Former names | Yoga Society of Pennsylvania |
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| Location | Stockbridge, Massachusetts |
| Type | Retreat |
| Opened | 1983 |
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| www |
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The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a non-profit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in , Massachusetts. Its 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957. The center has described itself as North America's largest residential facility for holistic health and education. With 2013 revenue of $34.7 million, it employed about 626 people as of 2008 and can accommodate more than 650 overnight guests.
Kripalu Yoga is a form of Hatha Yoga using inner focus, meditation, standard yoga poses, breathwork, "development of a quiet mind", and relaxation. Kripalu emphasizes "following the flow" of prana, or "life-force energy, compassionate self-acceptance, observing the activity of the mind without judgment, and taking what is learned into daily life."
Indian-born Amrit Desai came to the United States in 1960 to attend the Philadelphia College of Art. A close disciple of a renowned Indian yoga master named Swami Kripalu, Desai taught yoga classes to a growing number of yoga enthusiasts in the Philadelphia area. In 1966, Desai and nine others formed the Yoga Society of Pennsylvania, a nonprofit organization organized to advance the science and philosophy of yoga.
In 1972, Desai left the Philadelphia area with a handful of dedicated students to establish a small, residential yoga retreat center in Sumneytown, Pennsylvania.
In 1974, the name of the nonprofit organization was changed to “Kripalu Yoga Fellowship” to reflect an increasing emphasis on propagating the teachings of Swami Kripalu through residential retreats, depth programs, and the training of Kripalu Yoga teachers.
In 1975, Kripalu purchased a second and significantly larger facility in Summit Station, Pennsylvania, which had space for student housing, group yoga instruction, meal preparation, and a fully staffed holistic-health center that offered massage and a variety of other health services in concert with two physicians. This health center was the genesis of “healing arts,” which remains an important aspect of the Kripalu curriculum and mission.
Both the Sumneytown and Summit Station properties were staffed by an inspired group of volunteers and yoga enthusiasts who formed the nucleus of the community or ashram. Desai was the ashram’s spiritual leader, while the ashram staff offered a curriculum of yoga, holistic health, and self-discovery programs to the public.
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