IMPACT
Kripalu Donor Newsletter FA L L 2 0 1 9 Our officers need to manage the floor with intention, not reaction—with sensitivity and perception. RISE makes it possible. And the beautiful thing is you are making it available to us.” —Thomas Rondeau, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
Your gifts build a future for people with a past. Nicole Egan, at left, a RISE™-trained correctional educator, leads morning meditation for inmates at the Hampden County jail. Read more inside.
What Makes Kripalu Kripalu?
We know that you appreciate Kripalu’s food, the beautiful campus, the Healing Arts sessions, the hiking trails and the lake, and the smiles from helpful staff. But here’s the reason that nine out of 10 guests like you credit their retreat with inspiring positive change and personal growth: the wisdom, insight, and distinctive impact of our programs, rooted in the philosophy of Swami Kripalu. He urged every student to practice Self-Observation Without Judgment, and to walk “the path of love.” Every day, you help Kripalu deliver this wisdom, practice, and way of being to a world in which the need has never been greater. The value and power of the Kripalu lineage is immense. But its durability can’t be taken for granted. That’s why we are so grateful to every one of you whose charitable gifts make possible Kripalu’s most important work.
Your generosity ensures that these programs remain consistent and coherent while we pursue innovation. You make it possible to strengthen and mentor our faculty, sustaining quality and continuity. Your gifts allow guests to learn and grow, wherever they find themselves on life’s journey. Most important of all, your leadership guides future generations along the same path you’ve found at Kripalu— a path of extraordinary living, helping you to serve others and make wise choices for yourself. Embody calm. Cultivate clarity. Deepen connections. Build a more compassionate world. This is the Kripalu dharma. This is the value of your retreat. Thanks to you, wisdom passes from one generation to the next.
With gratitude, This year, we have undertaken a strategic assessment of our content— the teachings that you encounter in the Kripalu Schools, in R&R, in visiting presenters’ programs, and in RISE™. Barbara Vacarr, CEO
Get RISE, Give RISE Schools, hospitals, and correctional facilities aren’t the only places where RISE™ training builds resilience and improves performance. This unique program can make an impact from the C-suite to the ER. To learn more about engaging with RISE as a donor or a client, contact Kathy Durivage at 413.448.3117 or kathyd@kripalu.org. Support for RISE training at our most essential institutions is provided by the Angell Foundation, Berkshire Bank Foundation, Berkshire United Way, the Feigenbaum Foundation, Greylock Federal Credit Union, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, the Yawkey Foundations, and generous people like you.
MISSION DRIVEN, DONOR SUPPORTED Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to empower people and communities to realize their full potential through the transformative wisdom and practice of yoga. To find out more about Kripalu’s mission, please visit give.kripalu.org.
In Confinement, Freedom Your gifts help make a jail more mindful.
Before they start their morning meditation, the men pass their coded wristbands under a scanner. Their mats are arranged around the perimeter of a cavernous gym, decorated with bunting and a huge American flag. The men in orange are awaiting trial or transfer; those in green are serving out their sentences at the Hampden County Correctional Center, a medium-security jail in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
data to measure the institutional impact, but he has no doubt of the program’s benefit: the officers who say they can finally sleep at night; a skeptic who turned into a RISE evangelist; the 21 staff members who showed up for a daylong retreat in June. “RISE has helped create a community,” he says. “You realize that everyone is struggling with something. You’re not alone.”
Meanwhile, he and Nicole are documenting outcomes of SAVR, conducting inmate surveys before the program Then Nicole Egan cues music and takes up a microand after 60 days. The research shows near-universal phone. Pacing slowly through the gym, she launches into gains. Your gifts planted the seeds of this progress. a familiar litany: “Find a comfortable seat ... Focus on THE GIFT OF PEACE your breath ... If you feel your mind wandering, return At the end of the hour, two inmates, Dan and Dave, to your breath, without any judgment.” linger to talk about the program. Their green jumpsuits And, as a sense of calm descends on the gym, envelop- are a reminder that they have a history. But they also ing the men on their mats, it feels exactly like Kripalu. have a future. How do any of us accept our past and live the best lives we can, now? YOU HELP STOPS THE REVOLVING DOOR It feels nothing like Kripalu.
Thanks to Kripalu donors, Nicole has participated in RISE™ stress-resilience training at Kripalu. She is a correctional educator at the County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail. Her colleague Tom Rondeau, the department’s standards and training manager, was one of the first at the jail to participate in RISE. They are just two of the 59 staffers who have attended the program, thanks to you and your donations. That number will keep growing as long as the support is there.
Dan describes how hard it is to find peace in jail. “Some of the younger guys make fun of us, like, ‘Did you have a nice nap?’” he says. “But they get interested. They can see I’m calm.” As he speaks, Dan becomes more animated. “It puts me out in the woods with the water and the birds,” he says. “You can be wherever you want to be.”
Dave nods. “This is heaven.” “Every inmate here is going to move back into the community,” Tom says. “Have we done our part to prevent the revolving door for our inmates? Have we done everything we can to keep our staff resilient so they can do the work?” Thanks to you, a culture in search of tools has found an invaluable one in RISE. In the first seven months of the morning meditation program, called SAVR (Stress Anger Violence Reduction), there wasn’t a single verbal or physical altercation in the program, a remarkable record. ‘YOU’RE NOT ALONE’ As participation in RISE grows, Tom hopes to gather
Today’s Leaders, Tomorrow’s Impact Donors build a bright future
We are deeply grateful to the members of the Kripalu Legacy Society who have affirmed their intentions in 2019. The individuals below join the leaders who’ve helped to ensure a healthy future for the retreat center by making a gift to Kripalu in their wills: Anonymous (4) Ellen Brown Kathi Cafiero Cody Dalton Tony Dimick Thomas Gunning Kathleen Emery Laux May Ann Madlansacay Gregg Mayer Mirabai Lavinia Meeks Julia Romandetta Want to know more about planned giving? Is Kripalu already in your will, but you haven’t told us yet? We’d like to recognize you! Please contact Elizabeth Martin at 413.448.3333 or elizabethm@kripalu.org.
PO Box 309 Stockbridge, MA 01262-0309
kripalu.org
With Your Gifts, Flowers Bloom The Rachel Greene Memorial Fund gives yoga to ABQ.
It was the last class of Anna Horner’s six-week yoga program with third-grade special-education students at La Mesa Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Draw a picture of yoga, whatever that means to you,” she told the kids. In 2018, thanks to supporters of the Rachel Greene Memorial Fund, Anna had the opportunity to participate in Shakta Khalsa’s Radiant Child Yoga teacher training at Kripalu. She put the lessons to use volunteering at La Mesa, and was awed by the results: Kids jumping like frogs alongside their teachers, erstwhile tough boys tenderly singing “Long Time Sun” to close a class, a nonverbal girl wrapping Anna in a huge, silent hug of gratitude. Could every public school in Albuquerque offer yoga? That’s Anna’s dream. She’s grateful for the help you’re giving her on the journey. In 2019, your donations helped Anna return to Kripalu, this time for a program that will inform her work with older kids at the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque. Anna’s career as a nonprofit consultant, community activist, and yoga teacher is built around empowering others to reach their full potential. Your gifts to the Rachel Greene Memorial Fund help people like Anna seize and create the moments that change lives. As the La Mesa class wrapped up, one girl’s drawing jumped out. Flowers bloomed from bodies. The girl had written one word ... a word that Anna had never mentioned: Hope.