Russell Strelnick is a certified Kripalu instructor and has extensive training in breath work and meditation in the U.S. and India.

Kripalavanandaju (Bapuji) taught us that the most useful characteristic that the spiritual seeker can foster is the ability to observe one’s self without judgment. Normal the mind is asking “what do I do next to meet my needs.”. This approach to life keeps us busy in the past (noticing what we have lost) and in the future (assessing what it is we want). The internal resources are being drawn into the business of controlling and managing ourselves and our world as best we can in order to avoid the bad and hold on to the good.

Yoga means unity. Kripalu Yoga shifts the question from “what do I do next to meet my needs” to “Who am I?” Our internal resources now are drawn into the conscious awareness of self – in this moment, and the business of observing self, good and bad for the purpose of embracing and accepting self instead of controlling self. In this moment just stop and meet who your are. The mind’s knots unravel and you recognize yourself as that which your are seeking. The breath opens …. Meeting whatever arises. The self is present and at one with all sensations of the body. All feeling of the heart, all thoughts of the mind, and all that is spirit. The posture holds sacred what is in this moment, and our subtle life energy (prana) becomes audible. You can follow it’s wisdom and guidance in a form of movement that is called Kripalu Yoga posture flow. This is inside out Yoga vs. outside in Yoga. Instead of the mind imposing a predetermined set of postures on the body, you tap into the natural pranic energy guiding the body, like a cat stretching after nap. The cat instinctively stretches, following the feedback of it’s nervous system … saying ahhh, this feels good.

Daily Yoga practice, breathing, relaxation and meditation return us to balance, so that when we actually choose “what to do next” our actions come from a grounded core truth of who we really are.

Come and enjoy Yoga Sahdana (spiritual practice) with me.