Strong Roots Produce Beautiful Leaves

Twenty eight years ago, Kripalu Trustee Emeriti Maya Breuer began leading yoga retreats for women of color at Kripalu, answering her call to “teach the breath for her people.”

In doing so, Maya planted seeds for women of color to learn yogic practices that enable them to live life to the fullest and visioned perhaps by pure instinct, a future of radical belonging at Kripalu. A Kripalu where anyone who wanted to access what we have to offer was able to do so. That when they arrived, they felt like they belonged here, that they were seen in their fullness, and that their growth process was supported.

A future of sanctuary, sisterhood, and a space for women of color to be seen, heard and fully expressed.

We planted a tree on campus in Maya’s honor and take joy in watching it grow each day alongside the community of women of color who have supported and attended these retreats and the thousands of family and community members who have benefitted from the ripple effect of this sanctuary and sisterhood.

In 2023, inspired by the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color and in partnership with Kripalu Visionary Reggie Hubbard, Kripalu began hosting Permission & Refuge, A Healing Retreat for Men of Color which has now served the healing journeys of over 100 men of color and is now a priority effort at Kripalu.

Reggie states perfectly the importance of both retreats. The idea is “to increase the healing of the collective by exposing communities of color to the amazing nutritional, spiritual, topographical and energetic blessings of Kripalu, and to expose the greater Kripalu ecosystem to the alchemical impact of joy and healing out loud in community." Both retreats happen multiple times a year, including on the same weekend during Black History and Futures Month.

Strong roots produce beautiful leaves, and we look forward to the growth and healing to come.