Poetry, Presence, and Practice  

This weekend is devoted to praise, attention, and the living practice of gratitude with the poet Mary Oliver’s official biographer, Lindsay Whalen, and integrative therapist and yoga teacher Shawn Parell.  

Mary Oliver understood praise not as abstraction, but as a disciplined, embodied way of seeing. Through her work, we will explore how attention itself becomes a form of devotion—and how gratitude can be practiced even in the presence of loss, change, and uncertainty.  

Together, we will:

• Read and reflect on selected works that illuminate Oliver’s poetics of praise, with contextual insights from Lindsay Whalen’s biographical work.
• Engage in accessible yoga practices designed for embodied integration.
• Practice attentional and writing exercises designed to deepen gratitude as a lived, moment-to-moment experience.
• Explore the inner and outer landscapes of Thanksgiving through guided reflection and optional group sharing.

This program welcomes all levels of experience in yoga, meditation, and writing, and is open to both devoted readers of Mary Oliver and those encountering her work for the first time. Participants are invited to enjoy Kripalu’s nourishing meals, peaceful grounds, and daily offerings throughout the weekend. 

• Recommended Reading: Lindsay Whalen, How Mary Oliver's Biographer Finally Met the Legendary Poet
• Recommended Listening: The Poet of Dawn is the Poet of Darkness: A Talk with Mary Oliver Biographer Lindsay Whalen