Christina P.

Five years ago, I came to Kripalu for an R&R Retreat to deepen my personal yoga practice. Little did I know that this one weekend would also deepen my life and open me up to a true understanding of yoga, both on and off the mat. I learned that yoga has the power not only to make a difference in an individual’s life, but also to make an impact on a bigger scale, influencing society in many different ways.

I am an endodontist in private practice and also teach clinical endodontics at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. I saw a need to help our students with the stresses they incur during their four-year training, and that inspired me to bring my passions of dentistry and yoga together. I attended Kripalu’s 200-hour yoga teacher training with the goal of teaching yoga and meditation to dental students.

I am now the director of mind-body wellness at Tufts Dental School, where I’ve initiated a yoga and meditation curriculum that is now part of all our students’ dental training. This curriculum provides our students with healthy ways to handle the stress they experience during their training, and also grounds and centers them, so they can deliver the best possible dental care to their patients. 

I have always felt a need to give back, and I am a proud Kripalu donor because my experience at Kripalu, the people I met there, and my yoga teacher training have contributed to my ability to make a difference in my profession, in the lives of dental students, and in the future of dental health-care.

Christina P. is a Kripalu Yoga teacher and director of mind-body wellness at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.