LOVED yoga sessions with Seane Corn, Nikki Myers, and Coby Kozlowski.  Had a blast doing ecstatic dance with Coby.  Amazing experience birthing fire with Micah Mortali.  One of my favorite sessions?  The panel "Ethics of Yoga Teaching in the Age of ICE: Yoga, Race, Politics and Creating Space for Healing" with Seane Corn, Nikki Myers, and Jyll Hubbard-Salk:

Yoga does not exist in a vacuum. The realities shaping our communities— race, immigration, identity, power, and politics— often arrive in our classrooms, whether we acknowledge them or not.

In this timely and thought-provoking panel, Seane Corn, Nikki Myers, and Jyll Hubbard-Salk will explore the ethical responsibilities of yoga teachers in a rapidly changing social landscape. Together, we’ll examine what it means to hold space for healing while navigating systems that impact safety, belonging, and human dignity.

Through the lenses of lived experience, social justice, recovery, trauma-informed teaching, and spiritual practice, our panelists will discuss how yoga can serve as a tool for resilience, connection, and collective care without bypassing the realities people face outside the studio walls.

Expect a candid, compassionate conversation that invites curiosity over certainty and reflection over reaction. Together, we’ll explore questions many teachers are asking: What is the role of yoga in times of social and political tension? How do we create spaces that are inclusive, ethical, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities? And how can we remain grounded in practice while engaging with the world around us?

This panel is for teachers, practitioners, and community leaders seeking to deepen their understanding of yoga’s role in healing—not only the individual, but the collective.

Practice with Seane Corn, a transformational teacher whose work transcends the physical practice of yoga to reach into the heart of healing, truth, and purpose. This unique 7-day Intensive in Costa Rica is a deep dive into the sacred art of facilitation—where presence matters more than performance, and intuition leads the way. Set in the natural sanctuary of the Nicoya Peninsula, this immersion is designed for yoga teachers, facilitators, and dedicated seekers ready to evolve their voice, expand their leadership, and reconnect to their inner wisdom. Seane’s approach honors the nervous system, the subtle body, the stories we carry, and the sacred responsibility of holding space—with compassion, skill, and grace.

Guided by Seane’s decades of experience, you’ll be invited to explore what it really means to hold space: for yourself, for others, and for profound transformation to unfold. Through a rich blend of yoga, somatic awareness, trauma-informed education, shadow work, and spiritual practice, you’ll learn to lead from your most grounded, authentic self. This isn’t about mastering a method—it’s about awakening the teacher within. Through practice, ritual, and honest self-inquiry, you’ll move beyond theory into embodiment, and emerge more aligned, empowered, and clear in your purpose.

Discover Your True Nature

In this weekend intensive, we will use the practices of yoga, meditation, and breathwork to explore the meaning behind the teaching found in every wisdom tradition that invites us to take refuge in the way things are. Led by Kripalu faculty Rolf Gates, this experience offers to hold us as we experience the present moment, just as it is.

At first glance, this invitation can seem to be the suggestion that we accept the unacceptable. During this set of practices, we will move beyond a glance and into the direct experience of the moment and our true nature to see if there is indeed something fundamentally trustworthy at the heart of our existence.

In this retreat, you will experience:

• Meditation practices

• Breathwork exercises

• Yoga

• Heart-centered community  

• Present moment mindfulness  

Please join us in this nourishing retreat as we rest in the sanctuary of our true nature. 

🥾 Step Into Your Adventure Era!

Join women from around the world for a free 5-day challenge and learn how to:

• Plan a year filled with adventure

• Get strong for hiking & backpacking

• Build adventure community + friendships

• Develop real confidence + skills outdoors

This challenge is for you if you want more adventure in your life, but don’t want to wing it on safety, fake confidence, or wait around for someone else to invite you along.

• 🥾 You want to hike and backpack more, but aren't sure where to start

• 🌲 You’re tired of waiting for the “right time,” the “right body,” or the “right people”

• 🧭 You want to feel prepared, not reckless when you head outdoors

• 💕 You crave adventure that fits into your real life(not someone else’s highlight reel)

• ⛰️ You’re ready to stop outsourcing confidenceand start building it for yourself

This challenge was created for both beginners and experienced hikers who want to feel more confident, consistent, and self-sufficient outdoors.

If you’re ready to create meaningful change in the year ahead — the kind that lasts beyond the first few weeks — this event is for you. You’ll be guided to focus on what matters most, one clear step at a time.

Instead of pushing harder or relying on fleeting motivation, you’ll learn simple, practical tools to shift your habits, energy, and mindset so progress feels natural. You don’t have to do it alone.

Join a supportive space designed to help you align with your values, build momentum, and feel more grounded, energized, and purposeful in everyday life.

From Kute:

"If you feel a deep knowing that you are here for a big purpose, are ready to step into your greatness now, and manifest abundance on every level...

I brought together 28 of the world's most inspiring leaders in the area of relationship, spirituality, health, love, money and personal growth to teach you the very best of what they know about creating success on every level and living a deeply fulfilled life.

Success is not an accident. In order to open a lock you need the right key.

In traditional school they teach you about algebra, complex scientific equations, the capital of countries, but we aren't taught about how to succeed in life itself.

There is no school for life.

In today's fast changing world, by the time you are finished learning in school, chances are the information is no longer relevant in the world you live in.

Life doesn't come with a manual. Many of us simply learn through trial and error.

I created The Purpose Summit to help you find your purpose, activate your power, and create massive abundance on every level."

Meditation is not one-size-fits-all. For adolescents especially, it’s a living, instinctive process — a way to tune into the body’s intelligence, listen to emotions as allies, and discover one’s natural rhythm of rest, renewal, and return to action.

This program brings together student leaders, parents, educators, and meditation mentors in an intergenerational learning space. Together, we experience the transformative power of instinctive meditation as taught by teenagers and other community leaders.

Discover instinctive meditation through the voices of adolescents, educators, and mentors — learn, teach, evolve together.

Be ready for the unexpected

Learn essential skills to respond to emergencies in the backcountry with SOLO-certified Wilderness First Aid training. A must for outdoor guides, adventurers, and anyone who explores beyond the trailhead. 

Craft tradition with your own hands

Join Indigenous artist Jennifer Lee to learn the ancient art of bark basket making using locally harvested materials. A hands-on experience rooted in culture, creativity, and connection to the land.

From Rolf: 

"Join our live 10-week online Yoga Teacher Study Group as we dive deep into the complementary wisdom of Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and the Bhagavad Gita. Each week, we’ll explore one of Chopra’s spiritual laws alongside key teachings from the Gita, engaging in thoughtful discussion, reflective journaling, and integrative yoga and meditation practices. This immersive experience is designed to support yoga teachers and dedicated practitioners in embodying these timeless principles both on and off the mat, enriching personal practice and enhancing the depth of their teaching with spiritual insight and authentic connection."

Camped in the picturesque mountains at Powder Ridge Mountain in Connecticut for Transcend Fest, a transformative and sacred gathering, a weekend full of yoga, meditation, ayurveda, dancing, and healing.

To align with Source is to embrace the fullness of our humanity—our wounds and wisdom, our struggles and grace—while deepening our connection to truth, love, and divine wisdom. This alignment is not about perfection; it’s about presence. It’s about recognizing that beneath all illusion, we are already whole, already interconnected, already love.

When we commit to this path of healing and awakening, we remember that liberation is a birthright, love is our highest calling, and service is our sacred duty. The world is aching right now—suffering, divided, and desperate for healing. But within this pain lies an invitation to show up fully, to meet the moment with fierce grace, to root ourselves in something deeper than fear, and respond with unwavering love.  

Aligning with Source empowers us to be fully present—to ground ourselves in deep compassion, act with integrity, and become steady beacons of healing and transformation. This is the inner work that shifts outer realities. It is the bridge between knowing and doing, between prayer and action, between intention and revolution.  

You are invited into this journey of profound self-inquiry, emotional reconciliation, and spiritual activation. Together, we will cultivate the tools for deep inner alignment, courageous accountability, and a heart-centered commitment to co-creating a world rooted in love, justice, and interdependence.

Let’s meet this moment—wholeheartedly, unapologetically, and together.

This workshop is open to most levels of students and will include:

• Yoga

• Meditation

• Journal writing

• Self-reflection

• Spiritual inquiry 

RISE™ is the signature resilience-building program of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, the largest yoga center in the nation. Through accessible practices of meditation, breath, and gentle movement, participants improve their work-life balance by learning how to:

• Navigate stress with skill to avoid burnout.

• Build positivity, productivity, and mental clarity.

• Improve stress resilience in the moment, and over time.  

Anchored in the science and practice of mindfulness, yoga, and positive psychology, the RISE curriculum balances practice, research, and real-world application. Over 10,000 people in over 150 organizations have benefitted from the RISE training, which has been studied in over two dozen peer-reviewed research articles.  Published research on RISE has shown that participants sustained boost in mindfulness, empowerment, and resilience, as well as a 32% reduction in day-to-day stress levels.

Reiki is one of the most popular and widely recognized forms of energy healing. Founded by Japanese mystic Mikao Usui, Reiki translates as "divine (or universal) life force." When properly applied, Reiki maintains health and well-being and can unveil our deepest spiritual nature.

In this Reiki training, we receive initiations for first- and second-degree Reiki using a sacred process called attunement. For many, simply being attuned to Reiki is life-changing as it raises our overall energy vibration, causing us to shed negative life patterns.

With compassion and humor, Reiki master Brett Bevell guides us in learning Reiki techniques for self-treatment and teaches us how to perform healing sessions on others.

We also learn how to engage sacred Reiki symbols to increase the power of Reiki treatments and send Reiki treatments distantly.

40-Hour Certificate Yoga Nidra teacher training with Jennifer Reis

Learn Everything You Need to Know to Practice and Lead Yoga Nidra

In this Yoga Nidra teacher training, you’ll be guided through an immersive, all-senses experiential learning—including my comprehensive 200-page manual with beautiful scripts and more! Together, we’ll explore all the essential gems of Yoga Nidra.

 You’ll complete this training feeling confident, inspired and ready to guide Yoga Nidra

Just ask any of the 4,365 Graduates of this Training!

Training to become a certified Meditation Teacher.  

"During this 6 month immersion in the vibrant world of Instinctive Meditation®, we offer a potent mandala of environments designed to enrich your personal experience and develop your capacity as a teacher."

From Rolf: 

"Dear Teachers,

I am writing to share with you an idea that I have had that I feel can make our next study group quite special. As part of my work with underserved communities I received a copy of The Power of Now from Eckhart Tolle’s Foundation. For the last two months I have studied this book in much the same I have studied the Yoga Sutras and the Buddha’s Satipatthana. I am finding it entirely rewarding to read a page or so of this book and then practice using the understanding of the human experience contained in it. It is a work that stands on its own. My experiences with the Ancient texts make many of the passages in The Power Now stand out in their true genius. I am proposing that we study The Power of Now and the Yoga Sutras concurrently. This will take a little longer. The study will last ten weeks, and each session will be 90 minutes so that we are able to practice together each week. There will also be specific practices that I will suggest as we move through the study that will support you in bringing these teachings off the page and into your lives."

When you travel through a new country, you need a guidebook.

When you travel through love, heartbreak, joy, parenting, friendship, uncertainty, aging, grief, new beginnings — life —
you need a guidebook, too.

This is the

Guidebook for Being Alive

WRITING AS AN ACT OF TRANSFORMATION

Join best-selling author, Cheryl Strayed, as she helps you tap into and express the stories you’ve lived, imagined, repeated, remembered, forgotten, or denied. Cheryl shares everything she knows about writing and living a creative life—from the elements of the writer’s craft to the barriers that keep you from fearlessly accessing your creative voice—to foster a supportive environment in which you can explore your own stories.

In this experience from Kripalu you will:

• Ignite your creativity.

• Write the stories you ache to tell.

• Share your work with others, and go deeper into your own.

Whether your stories manifest as fiction, memoir, letters, journal entries, or poems, come learn how to write with courage, compassion, depth, and love. If you’re ready to share your truest, saddest, hardest, funniest, most interesting stories, this program is for you.

Chip Hartranft bridges the traditions of yoga and Buddhism.  He is the founding director of The Arlington Center, integrating yoga and dharma practice, and has taught mindful movement, breath, and meditation in the Boston area since 1978.   A student of yoga chiefly in the Krishnamacharya traditions, Chip has also practiced vipassana meditation for many years.  He is the author of  "The Yoga-Sutra of Patânjali: A New Translation with Commentary"  and the forthcoming "How The Buddha Taught Mindfulness."  Chip teaches at The Arlington Center, Kripalu, and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and he teaches Buddhist history at Lesley University.  He also leads retreats in the United States and abroad that blend yoga movement, breathwork, and mindfulness.

Brighten your mood, heal your digestion, and recharge your immune system for Spring.

Are you feeling sluggish, hungry at odd times or generally out of sorts?

Join the ayurveda reset- 10 days to reset your digestive system and your health.

• Brighten your mood and natural energy levels

• Improve digestion and mental focus

• Recharge your immune system for Spring and Summer

Morning – Part 1: Releasing, Unblocking, and Healing Experience​
Guided energy clearing and deep healing to remove blocks and open new pathways.

 Afternoon – Part 2: Raising Vibration for Accelerated Abundance​
Learn practices to maintain high vibrational energy and align with abundance.

Here's what you'll learn in the webinar:

• The invisible thing that's controlling your life and holding you back, and what to do about it 

• Discover the 8 psychic senses you might have, and how they work

• Learn the ancient healing technique you can use to release trapped energy

• 4-Step process for healing yourself

• How to protect yourself from absorbing other people's negative energy

• Where energy blocks get trapped in your body, and how to release in instantly

The skills of meditation are life skills – ways of engaging with the flow of thought, sensation, emotion, and instincts through our bodies and minds. The essence of all meditation skills is to be friendly toward yourself, toward life itself.

Meditation Made Easy - The Skills for Effortless Practice

Many people have had poor experiences with meditation, feeling that they don't fit their preconceived ideas of what it takes to be a good meditator - or successful in meditation.

During his 56 years of meditation practice and over 50 years of teaching, Lorin has worked with many thousands of people to help them overcome the rigid paradigms that often lead them to give up on meditation. Through learning the skills of Instinctive Meditation you can develop a long term, enjoyable and life enriching meditation practice.

In this course, Lorin will guide you through experiencing a dozen or so beautiful skills that will help you overcome common obstacles to meditation.

IF YOU EVER FELT that you can’t meditate because you:

• can’t make your mind blank

• can’t sit still

• have too many racing thoughts

• can’t focus on your mantra, etc

then this program is for you!

Meditation is the practice of paying attention to life. It is a practice of loving tenderness.

“Yoga is a living tradition. Lorin is on the front lines as a meditation teacher, a champion of natural meditation, of awakening consciousness everywhere, in all places, in all times.”

Shiva Rea
Samudra School of Living Yoga

What will you Learn?

From acknowledging the natural rhythms of rest and excitement, to welcoming all of our parts, you will develop a practice that is welcoming of all of your experience.

In each class, Lorin will guide you in practicing the essential skills he’s been refining over 56 years. You'll explore a personal meditation, connecting with something you love, and learn to attend to your experience through these key skills.

By learning to live your meditation practice, the enlivened way you are experiencing the world, ripples out and touches not just those you interact with but continues off into the future.

You can be that person walking through the world, making it a little brighter!

Lorin Roche: "You're Not Failing, You Just Need a New Map

Millions of people meditate, but many believe they are failing at it. In reality, meditation is working perfectly—you're just experiencing it differently than you expected.

Imagine if someone went for a strenuous workout, then later felt sore and thought, "I must have failed." Or if they took a hike, started sweating, and concluded, "I must not be good at hiking." Meditation is the same way.

When you relax into meditation, your body seizes the opportunity to heal, restore, and release emotions. You may feel unexpected sensations, deep peace, or even waves of laughter or tears. These are all natural.

As a meditation teacher for over 55 years, I constantly hear people think they have failed when, in fact, they are doing fine.

Meditation is working—you’re just experiencing sensations and emotions in a way you didn’t expect. And that’s exactly how it’s meant to be.

This 90-minute class is for you if you are struggling with:

• Keeping focus and concentration during meditation

• Feeling restless or uncomfortable

• Have lots of thoughts and can't clear your mind

• Can't find the time to meditate

• Struggling with traditional meditation techniques

This 90-minute masterclass will equip you with the tools to overcome common meditation challenges, helping you transform obstacles into opportunities for a practice that feels natural, fulfilling, and deeply rewarding."

Join faculty member for the Kripalu School of Yoga and expert facilitator, Coby Kozlowski, and discover the wisdom that yoga offers to view midlife not as a crisis, but as a profound opportunity. 

Through lecture, conversation, yogic wisdom, and more, you will: 

• Receive an introduction to the four stages of life.

• Gain a better understanding of vanaprastha, the third stage of life.

• Experience Instinctive Meditation® and journaling practices to support your journey. 

• Connect with community to support you as you shift into a new phase.

• Embrace midlife as a sacred wake-up call.

According to yogic teachings, we go through four distinct stages, or ashrama, in a lifetime. Now is the time to stand for who you are and who you want to become—and to live in accordance with the season of your life.

• Brahmacharya (student)

• Gṛhastha (householder)

• Vanaprastha (forest walker/forest dweller)

• Sannyasa (renunciate)

Seane Corn's Magickal Valentine’s Self-Love Ritual & Yoga Class, a heart-expanding practice.   This is a time to honor the most important relationship in your life—the one you have with yourself. 

Through meditation, movement, and ritual, we’ll soften barriers, cultivate self-compassion, and set powerful intentions for love and devotion.

Restoration for the Soul

Join experienced yoga and meditation teacher Jacqui Bonwell for a program centered around how to hibernate and gather energy from within. Treat yourself to a weekend dedicated to exploring the full range of your parasympathetic nervous system while Jacqui shows you how to not think much at all.

Through writing exercises, breathwork, restorative yoga, and more, you will:

• Practice being still and silent.

• Increase your bandwidth, patience, and focus.

• Activate your visualization and manifestation abilities.

• Balance your adrenal fatigue and clear your chakras.

Return home feeling restored inside and out, and ready to approach your everyday life with a new outlook.

Explore The Subtleties and Depths of the Art of Meditation Across Diverse Traditions & Approaches

VIPASSANA, ZEN, TIBETAN, VEDIC, ABRAHAMIC, 

NONDUAL, MAINSTREAM-SECULAR, NEUROSCIENCE-BASED

A free, 8-day online event featuring 60+ world-renowned meditation teachers, including Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Sharon Salzberg, Deepak Chopra, Kristin Neff, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ruth King, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Sylvia Boorstein, A.H. Almaas, Caverly Morgan, Swami Sadyojathah ji, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara, and many more…

Melissa Bright is the host of "The Bright Side of Life" podcast.  You can view her content on Youtube, Instagram, or Facebook.  

You can also see Melissa as a host in several online summits, including: 

• Wisdom for Life's November 2024 "Power Of Love" summit

• Wisdom for Life's January 2025 "The Best Year of Your Life" summit

Here’s what’s included in this soul-deep reset:

• Daily Yoga, Breathwork & Meditation: Strengthen and cleanse your body, calm your nervous system, and cultivate clarity with mindful practices.

• Plant-Based Nutrition Guidance: Detox, nourish, and energize your body with 30 delicious, nutrient-rich recipes.

• 100-Page Manual: Dive into evidence-based insights, emotional support, and transformative journal prompts to guide your journey.

• Transformational Inner Work: Release limiting beliefs, process emotions, and set soul-aligned intentions for lasting change.

• Spiritual Practices: Deepen your connection to Spirit, enhance self-awareness, and reconnect with the love that unites us all as One.

"Light of Sacred Chant" Kirtan with Snatam and Sophurkh 

Snatam Kaur is an American Kirtan singer and peace activist raised in the Kundalini Yoga tradition. She has taught and shared Naad Yoga, Kundalini Yoga & Meditation and Kirtan through her recorded CDs, concerts, and workshops for the past fifteen years. For over thirty years, she studied with and grew up at the feet of her spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, while he was in his physical form. At the core of this practice is an essential experience of peace which has made it accessible to people of all walks of life to receive its healing effects. Snatam Kaur has an amazing ability to transform traditional chants into a contemporary sound that appeals to the modern ear and awakens an ancient yearning in the soul. While traveling the world on tour she also teaches yoga and meditation to children and adults alike, a part of her commitment to give people tools for a daily experience of inner peace.

Wisdom's for Life's "Power of Love Summit" was designed to help you:

• Boost Your Self-Love - Master self-care practices that affirm your value and enhance your self-esteem

• Revitalize Your Love Life - Rekindle romance and intimacy with your partner through expert-led sessions that address common relationship challenges

• Strengthen Family Bonds - Mend and deepen family relationships with tools that foster understanding and respect across generations

• Embrace Healing Techniques - Participate in sessions that utilize love as a foundational tool for emotional and physical healing

• Celebrate Love's Transformative Power - End the Summit empowered with actionable steps, inspiration, and a renewed belief in the power of love to change lives

Over 55 presenters including Sharon Salzberg, Tara Brach, Deepak Chopra, Jack Kornfield over 8 days:

• What is love?

• Self-love

• Romantic love and intimate relationships

• Love for our family and friends

• What religious and spiritual traditions teach us about love

• Love for community and humanity

• Love for our planet

• The healing power of love

Give your body a chance to heal itself.

10 days to reset your digestive system and your health.

• Invigorate your natural energy levels

• Improve digestion and mental focus

• Recharge your immune system for Fall and Winter

Yoga retreat, including vinyasa flow, yin, and restorative, taught by internationally-acclaimed instructor Seane Corn at Kripalu.  

Description: Celebrate the shifting seasons and embrace the beauty and inevitability of change through the transformative power of yoga, deep inner journey work, and mindfulness practices. 

Join internationally acclaimed yoga teacher and activist, Seane Corn, for a heart-opening, spirit-inspiring journey of self-discovery and renewal. Through invigorating vinyasa flows, soothing yin and restorative practices, guided meditations, and more, you will:

• Honor your body's natural rhythms.

• Form a more integrated relationship with the spirit within.

• Connect with the source of your being with self-awareness and surrender.  

Leave the stresses of daily life behind and let the transition from summer to fall become a catalyst for profound transformation. Return home renewed, refreshed, and ready to embrace the limitless possibilities ahead. 

Learn more about Cynthia and her work at: https://www.cynthiapapalentini.com 

Formerly titled Basic EP Facilitation, this two-day workshop will teach participants to facilitate and design Reflective Structured Dialogue. You'll learn EP's tools to hold space for tough conversations in daily life, in your community, at your workplace, or during formal dialogue sessions.

The Essential Partners framework promotes connection and curiosity between those who see each other as enemies. For three decades, our unique approach has transformed conflicts across the country and the world—but the basic principles of the EP’s framework are applicable to local community issues, organizational development, congregations, and everyday conversations.

Intentional communication helps individuals, organizations, and communities build trust, enhance resilience, and engage in constructive conversations despite deeply-held differences of value, belief, opinion, or identity. This workshop is designed to help participants develop a powerful set of tools to achieve those goals and adapt them to meet the needs of their contexts.

Objectives:

• To learn the theory and practice of EP’s Reflective Structured Dialogue framework;

• To design and structure conversations to meet a group’s purposes and needs; 

• To build competence and confidence in facilitating through challenging moments; 

• To prepare participants and one’s self to deal with challenges in the room.

As a result of this two-day workshop, you will be equipped to:

• Create a context for people to communicate about difficult or divisive topics;

• Break destructive communication habits;

• Design conversations, dialogues, or meetings with clear purpose, full participation, and a structure for moving forward;

• Intervene to facilitate through rough spots in the conversation.

4-week course led by Madeline Klyne at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.  

2,600 years ago, the Buddha considered the practice of skillful speech so important to our development that he made it one of the precepts and an essential step on the Eightfold Path to happiness. Skillful speech has four qualities:

• It is always truthful.

• It is uplifting, not malicious or unkind.

• It is gentle, not crude or harsh.

• It is moderate, not useless or meaningless.

Both Wise Speech and Wise Listening are mindfulness practices. They can be cultivated with a deeper awareness of our body, mind, thoughts, and emotions. We can learn to restrain our speech in difficult moments and to listen with our whole being, not just our ears. We learn to train the heart, inclining it towards wholesome states such as love, kindness, compassion and understanding. These skills are so needed in our everyday life, at home, at work, in our communities and in our world.

This program is appropriate for both new and experienced meditators of all ages and all levels of experience. Each session will include formal meditation practices, teachings, time for discussion, reflections, and questions. Homework between sessions is essential to this group. Everyone is welcome.

Lesson 1: Embracing the Cozy Darkness

Step into the enchanting dance of light and darkness through the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Discover the Nordic concept of "Hygge," a celebration of nesting, coziness, and the simplicity of nature's beauty. In this session, we'll equip you with take-home practices to get snug, sleep deeply, and synchronize with winter's rhythm.

Lesson 2: Mindful Outdoors

Uncover the wisdom of Nordic cultures that proclaim, "No bad weather, just bad clothing." Your cozy haven transforms into a launchpad for invigorating strolls through the winter landscape. Learn the art of being prepared for the outdoors, forging connections with trees, and embracing the enchantment of winter tracking.

Lesson 3: Carry the Fire

Transport yourself to a time before electricity, when winter's power loomed large. Imagine the darkness, cold, and scarcity of food. Now, envision the transformative warmth of a crackling fire, providing solace, tranquility, and comfort. Session 3 explores the practice of fire as a doorway to peace, shared stories, and the camaraderie of crafting memories with clan brothers and sisters.

"Life Skill workshop: Conscious Communication" at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health taught by Cristie Newhart, former Dean of the Kripalu School of Yoga, overseeing the 200-, 300-, and 1,000-hour yoga teacher training programs.

"Silent Day of Practice in Community" day-long meditation retreat with Narayan Helen Liebenson.  

Since the time of the Buddha, gathering together in community and sitting and walking in silence has been considered essential for the maturing of wisdom and compassion. The simplicity and support of the retreat environment, whether online or in person in CIMC’s beautiful meditation hall, encourages a continuity of awareness. Retreats can help develop qualities such as confidence, perseverance, patience, and collectedness.

During this one-day retreat, although there will be verbal teachings throughout the day, silence and simplicity will be our teachers as well. The day will conclude with an invitation to discuss the experiences of the day. Both new and experienced practitioners are warmly welcome!

Led by Jay Oren Sofer, this 6-week course was co-sponsored by Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC) and offered through the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS).

Communication sits at the heart of our lives – personally, professionally, and spiritually. This six-week program offers training in the foundations of an integrated approach to communication.

Drawing upon the Buddha’s teachings on the Noble Eightfold Path, mindfulness, and Right Speech, plus the modern disciplines of Nonviolent Communication and trauma healing, the curriculum offers concrete tools to hold one’s own while still hearing others and to engage effectively and efficiently in collaboration. Participants learn to:

• Engage in effective dialogue

• Feel more confident in conversation

• Strengthen their capacities for empathy and resilience

• Identify and stay focused on what really matters in any interaction

Through a combination of mindfulness practices, guided reflections, and interactive exercises, participants develop a stronger sense of presence, greater access to compassion, and more versatile, clearer communication. This program is appropriate for both experienced and newer students, therapists, school teachers, chaplains, and other helping professionals.

Diana Phillips graduated from the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado in 2004. She completed her Rolfing Advanced Training certification in 2009. In addition to Rolfing, she has studied cranial sacral therapy, visceral manipulation, energy medicine and Rolf movement.

Diana approaches Rolfing with great respect for the individual’s ability to heal from past injuries and trauma by providing a safe environment and working in a gentle fashion. Diana believes that the Rolfing process is a cooperative effort between the practitioner and client. Her goal is not only to eliminate pain and restrictions, but also to support her clients in finding new possibilities in their bodies.

"The Art of Meditation" day-long retreat with Chas DiCapua: There are two main ways to practice Insight Meditation. The first is directing one’s attention to an “anchor," a main meditation object such as the sensations of breath or body. The other involves not directing one’s attention to any particular object and simply noticing what is being known at any given moment.

In this retreat, we will explore the differences between these two essential methods, which meditative qualities they support, and when it is more skillful to use one or the other, or some combination of the two. It is important for the Vipassana meditator to be clear about these things and facile in putting them into practice. This is the art of meditation.

In our day together, we will practice honing our skills through guided and silent meditation, Dharma teachings and group discussion. This retreat will be supportive for both beginning as well as more experienced meditators. Everyone is welcome.

• Breathwork and Instinctive Meditation with https://www.instagram.com/jordanrhythm/Jordan Grinstein, Mati Yoga Studio, Millbury MA

• Full Moon Breathwork with Sonya Lyn at Rise UP! Center for the Arts, Healing and CommUnity

• Inner Child Breathwork with Sonya Lyn at Crescent Moon Wellness, New London, NH

• Elemental Breathwork with Rachelle Péan at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

• Ancestral Breathwork with Rachelle Péan at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

Nourishing the mind, body, and senses through theory, experiential practices, and time on Kripalu's beautiful campus with Kripalu teacher Emilie Reid.  See Emilie's website: season intentions to learn more about her practice.

An MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and Mindful Self-Compassion workshop with Kristin Neff.

Self-compassion involves treating ourselves kindly, like we would a good friend we cared about. Rather than continually judging and evaluating ourselves, self- compassion involves generating kindness toward ourselves as imperfect humans, and learning to be present with the inevitable struggles of life with greater resilience. It motivates us to make needed changes in our lives not because we’re worthless or inadequate, but because we care about ourselves and want to lessen our suffering. This workshop will provide an introduction to self-compassion by the world's leading expert on the topic.

Through lecture, discussion, and experiential exercises, you will learn about self-compassion and gain practical skills to bring it into your daily life. You will learn how to support yourself in difficult moments; handle distressing emotions with greater ease; and motivate yourself with kindness rather than criticism.

This course is relevant for the general public as well as to practicing mental health professionals.

Specific Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the three key components of self-compassion
2. Describe key research that supports the benefits of self-compassion
3. Practice techniques to increase self-compassion in everyday life
4. Motivate yourself with kindness rather than self-criticism

In 2010, the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living (IEL) was formed, and in collaboration with researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, launched groundbreaking research—which continues today—on the impact of yoga on physical and mental health. In 2017, the IEL evolved into RISE™, a Kripalu social-impact program that brings stress-resilience trainings to people in law enforcement, education, the healthcare and human services industries, and corporate workplaces.

RISE™ is leading the way by impacting individual and organizational performance through yoga and mindfulness-based practices. Each RISE program is specifically designed to support greater clarity and resilience, improved situational awareness, better decision making, work/life integration, and superior long-term performance for individuals and organizations.

For the past 10 years, both on and off the Kripalu campus, RISE has delivered this life-changing program to frontline providers and leadership in some of the most critical social institutions in North America: human services organizations, K–12 schools, correctional facilities, law enforcement, and healthcare. (See RISE brochure here.)

Our Mission: The Universal Life Church was founded on a single unifying belief: that we are all children of the same universe. Stemming from this motto are two basic tenets the ULC asks every minister to abide by:

1. Do only that which is right.

2. Every person is free to practice their religion however they choose, so long as they don’t violate the rights or freedoms of others or the law.

The ULC has made it its mission to advance this message by empowering people all over the globe – regardless of what belief system they choose to follow – to work together to build better, more unified, and more accepting communities. We believe our worldwide fellowship striving for a common goal to be its own form of worship – one that is just as valid as a typical weekly service held in a brick and mortar church.

In the spirit of important figures like Christ, King, Kennedy, and Gandhi, our millions of ministers work to support marginalized and oppressed groups around the world. However, unlike other large international churches, we are not hierarchical. We do not require our ministers or congregants to show deference to any central leadership, and believe in the equality of all people.

Oprah's Life Class presented two six-week eCourses with Brené Brown, based on her best-selling book "The Gifts of Imperfection: Your Guide to a Wholehearted Life."

Oprah.com/BreneBrownCourse

Kundalini Yoga taught by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.  

Taught by world-renowned Yoga Instructor, Shiva Rea, at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, supported by Twee Merrigan and Simon Park.