Kripalu Bodywork is a massage and yoga-like technique that promotes relaxation, psychological growth, and spiritual well-being. It draws heavily from yoga tradition and incorporates regular yoga techniques, such as asanas and pranayama. The Kripalu philosophy has grown steadily since its inception in 1966 and has over 250,000 people attend its retreats and spiritual seminars each year. The largest facility is the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Kripalu Bodywork, or more commonly, The Kripalu Body Workout, is a massage or yoga-like technique that shares characteristics with Kripalu Yoga. It focuses on massage and breathing techniques and seeks to promote relaxation, psychological growth, and spiritual well-being. The training is based on Swedish massage and is said to relieve physical and mental stress and tension, increase and facilitate the flow of nutrients to muscles, organs and joints, and stimulate the movement of lymph around the body. It is a very holistic technique, and along with this tradition of massage and relaxation, it marries traditions found in yoga and tantra.
The Kripalu Body Training System was inspired by Sri Kripalvananda, also known as Bapuji, and originated in 1966 with Indians Amrit Desai and Swami Kripalu. He first visited the United States in the 1960s to take a place at the Philadelphia College of Art. During his time in Philadelphia, he began teaching yoga to the natives and was so successful that he soon founded the Pennsylvania Yoga Society. . The Kripalu philosophy has grown steadily since its inception and boasts 750 educational programs and has over 250,000 people attend its retreats and spiritual seminars each year.
Kripalu Body Workout draws heavily from yoga tradition and is particularly associated with the “extremities” of yoga practice known as Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) and Dhyana (meditation). The Kripalu system also incorporates the regular yoga techniques that are classic to the yoga tradition, such as asanas and pranayama (breathing). The aspect of breathing is integral to the Kripalu Body Training because it encourages the body and mind to slow down to a pace that leads to the state of deep meditation that leads the practitioner along the tantric path. Practiced meditators in the Kripalu tradition can hone this ability to a degree that allows them to access transcendent states.
The Kripalu system has adherents and retreats all over the world, but its largest facility and highest concentration of members is at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States. The facility is a converted Jesuit seminary in the Berkshire Mountains and seats 300 guests and hosts around 15,000 per year. Prices in the center range from US$125 for a dormitory to US$160 for a double and more comfortable room.
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