Kripalu

Kripalu is a deeply spiritual form of Hatha yoga, one which focuses on listening to “the wisdom of the body” through proper alignment and Pranayama (breathwork) coupled with meditation. Kripalu was created in the 60′s by the yogi Amrit Desai, founder of the Yoga Society of Pennsylvania. As a young man, Desai studied under kundalini master Swami Kripalvananda, and incorporated many of kundalini’s techniques and principles into Kripalu.

Kripalu’s asanas are relatively unstructured; there are no set series, and the goal of the postures is to enable your prana, or life energy, to bring you self-acceptance and compassion, remove judgment, and the ability to practice what you’ve achieved in class beyond the studio.

Kripalu has three stages. The first teaches postural alignment and unity of breath with movement through short poses that stretch the body and erases tension. During the second stage, poses are longer and meditation becomes more prominent. The third stage, “meditation in motion,” is completely self-driven: practitioners use their prana to spontaneously guide them from pose to pose.

All Kripalu classes feature centering exercises and end with a period of deep, full body relaxation. Beginner classes focus primarily on the first stage, while intermediate and advanced classes contain aspects of all three stages.