Portland Helmich

You can spend 15 minutes on a Zentangle creation, or take as long as you want. Creating one is comprised of eight steps.

Life force—it’s what makes our hearts beat, trees grow, and rivers run. “The Egyptians called this energy ka,” says Robert Peng. “The Indian rishis named it…

Kripalu faculty Jeremy Rock Smith discusses how food nourishes us not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually.

Since we’re spending more time at home than ever before, what can we do to clear our spaces of stuck energy?

Simply thinking of the recipient while activating the distance symbol, practitioners can send Reiki to anyone, no matter where they are.

Positive psychologist Maria Sirois and life coach Karlee Fain are in a position to help others navigate the intensity and stress of personal and global change,…

With so many unknowns swirling around us, metaphysical readings can be a salve, helping to decrease our anxiety, broaden our perspectives, and offer us…

Metaphysical readings use a solution-oriented approach to help people give themselves permission to make a choice or a change.

The Share Circle is one of the oldest, richest teachings of Swami Kripalu and yet the simplest, because there’s nothing to do but be present.

Dating can be deflating and demoralizing. But mindfulness can bring more clarity, equanimity, and self-compassion to the process.

In mindfully creating our meals, we nourish ourselves and others, both physically and spiritually.

The reason why so many resolutions fail is because we don’t make an emotional connection to why the goal is important, says Kripalu life coach Izzy Lenihan.

What if the choice to be kind to others is made at the expense of being kind to ourselves?

Think there's nothing to be gained by revisiting a beginner yoga class after you've moved on to more advanced practice? Cristie Newhart, Dean of the Kripalu…

Nurturing deep friendships requires being vulnerable and exposing our weaknesses and wounds. But it also means establishing healthy boundaries, for both…

Just like our closets and our cars, we benefit from seasonal cleansing, says master acupuncturist and Ayurvedic practitioner Jonathan Glass.

Lissa Rankin says our fears can lead us into futures that are brighter than we could ever imagine, because they point us in the direction of what most needs…

Stan Tatkin and Tracey Boldemann-Tatkin offer tips to help romantic relationships not only remain intact but also grow and thrive.

All relationships—even the best ones—experience conflict. It’s the way we manage it that makes all the difference, says relationships expert Jayson Gaddis.

Going through a breakup, losing a job, or being rejected by a friend can all hark back to the original trauma of birth and separation, says psychotherapist…

The contemplative somatic practice of Continuum is based around the understanding that the body is comprised of approximately 70 percent water, which is in…

Grace reconnects us to the truth that we are in and also part of boundless love, true support, and peace, says interfaith minister, spiritual teacher, and…

What also diminishes happiness is the lens through which we perceive ourselves and our circumstances, says Dan Tomasulo. How we choose to think affects our…

Kripalu presenter Donna Cardillo insists that reinventing yourself at any stage of life is absolutely possible, but that it does require some planning,…

Despite how central the immune system is to our overall health, many of us unwittingly compromise it with poor lifestyle choices, such as chronic stress and…

A former serial dieter, best-selling author Geneen Roth says that there are many reasons women obsess about the calories on their plates and the size of their…

While out-of-balance boundaries can cause some of us to be overly accommodating, hyper-vigilant, or codependent, others can become pushy, aloof, or inflexible,…

Kripalu presenter Rhonda Britten, master life coach and best-selling author, understands how debilitating fear can be, and she also understands that fear is…

Divorce is one stressor that has the power to impact almost every important area of life, says clinical psychologist Jeff Zimmerman, a Kripalu presenter. To…

Kripalu presenter Sara Auster, a sound therapist and meditation teacher, crafts experiences that use sound as a tool to help people access meditative states,…

There’s no right way to live a life, but there is a way to live that’s more right for us than it is for anyone else. Kripalu presenter Debbie Millman explains…

Mira Kelley calls herself a past-life regressionist, and describes her work as a process that allows people to connect with other lifetimes and see the bigger…

Peter Bregman says that emotional courage is like a magic key, and he defines it as "the willingness to feel everything." Happily, there are simple exercises…

Because the gut is connected to all of the body’s systems, gut issues not only affect digestion, but can also affect many other aspects of our health.

According to best-selling author Gabrielle Bernstein, we use judgment to insulate ourselves from the pain of feeling inadequate, insecure, or unworthy.

Miranda Esmonde-White, creator of Essentrics, says that not only can we slow the aging process through physical exercise, we can reverse it.

According to Kripalu presenter Andrew Holececk, dreams can offer more than insight; they can be used to enhance mental or physical performance.

Moving Towards is one of the four orientations of Azul, a conscious movement practice and method of personal transformation developed by Kripalu presenter…

According to Rita Charon, healing what divides us requires radical listening, and choosing to set aside our assumptions and biases.

When we do something as simple as give others the gift of our full and compassionate attention, we make an impact more powerful than we might imagine.

According to Judith Hanson Lasater, who has been teaching yoga for nearly 50 years, one of the most important things yoga instructors can teach their students…

Aruni Nan Futuronsky, longtime faculty member and life coach at Kripalu, says that the source of our suffering is our resistance to reality. We struggle…

Sex, love, and relationship therapist Laura Berman believes that most of us struggle to find or sustain love because of the stories we tell ourselves about who…

During the holiday season—replete with travel, family visits, extra spending, and the pressure to feel jolly and filled with good cheer—even the happiest and…

Over the last couple of months, I’ve received a few text messages from my eye doctor’s office alerting me that it’s time to schedule my next check-up. I haven…

Before I began practicing yoga regularly, I thought I didn’t belong in a class—because of how I perceived people who do yoga. And ubiquitous yoga ads replete…

More than 35 million Americans practice yoga. Many turn to it to improve strength, balance, and flexibility, as well as to reduce stress. But it’s a safe bet…

How can we foster less conflict with supervisors and coworkers? Self-awareness is key, and so is breath awareness.

After a breakup, a big part of our work is to trying to figure out how to heal our negative thought patterns.

Until we can create new neural pathways, we seem to default to the familiar, even though it hurts. So how do we create healthier patterns?

When we look at family photographs, it’s easy to see where our physical characteristics come from. We may have our fathers’ smiles, our mothers’ eyes.

Hair helps define who we are. It can be a personal expression of our nature and personality, and its health can give us insight into the health of our whole…

Ray Crist discusses how shamanic tools and principles can infuse greater meaning into both your yoga practice and your life.

When we incorporate shamanic and yoga practices into our lives, we begin to balance the spiritual and the material.

Sarajean Rudman talks about how you can cultivate deeply meditative experiences while enjoying vigorous outdoor activities such as running.

When we commune with the outdoors, we physically connect to the rhythms of nature, buffering the stress of everyday life.

I came out of the bank holding onto the strap of my red leather bag. I hadn’t walked more than 30 feet when I heard footsteps running toward me from behind.

Clinical psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk defines trauma and discusses how yoga and other mindfulness practices can foster compassionate self-observation in…

Martha Huggins and Molly Hollibaugh discuss how you can uncover your creativity through the hugely popular Zentangle method.

When I was 12 years old, I would pour through the high-fashion pages of Vogue magazine. I honestly wish I hadn’t been allowed to.

Erica Mather speaks with host Portland Helmich about what body confidence really means, her own struggles with body image, and how yoga launched her on a…

In Let Your Yoga Dance, the body, mind, emotions—even the soul—all get a workout.

Portland Helmich talks with Megha Nancy Buttenheim, founding director of Let Your Yoga Dance® LLC..

Portland Helmich talks with Maria Sirois, inspirational teacher and psychologist, about how to slow down, and why it's so important.

Dan Leven discusses how dance engages the brain, opens the heart, and fosters vitality in people of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience.

Portland Helmich talks with former Dean of the Kripalu School of Ayurveda Larissa Hall Carlson about pranayama and its numerous physical and emotional benefits.

Portland Helmich talks with psychotherapist, Kripalu Yoga teacher, and author Stephen Cope, who describes how yoga practice goes beyond physical gain to create…

Portland Helmich talks with Hilary Garivaltis, former Dean of the Kripalu School of Ayurveda, about Ayurveda and how this powerful and proven holistic health…

Host Portland Helmich talks with author and creativity coach Eric Maisel about how we all have the ability to manifest our potential through self-expression.

Mark Hyman, medical director of the UltraWellness Center, discusses how treating the system and not just the symptom can help heal chronic conditions and bring…

Deborah Davis discusses qigong, an ancient holistic system that blends Chinese medicine, deep breathing, stretching, self-massage, and sound to enhance…

From building flexibility and balance to sharpening mental focus, yoga has become an instrumental component of many athletes' training regimens. Endurance…

Author, speaker, and spiritual luminary Deepak Chopra offers tools for deep, embodied transformation.

Psychotherapist and Kripalu Yoga teacher Dana Moore discusses the neuroscience behind trauma and how mindfulness practices and body-centered modalites, such as…

Senior Kripalu Yoga teacher Sudha Carolyn Lundeen addresses some of the key health issues affecting women today, and how the self-nurturing practices of…

David Nichtern discusses the principles of mindfulness meditation, or shamatha.

The Feldmans discuss the intricacies of building love and trust in relationships, offer insight as to how yoga practices can help couples grow, and give tips…

Lisa B. Nelson names the three biggest risk factors for heart disease, and discusses techniques that can prevent and even reverse the effects of heart disease…

Kathie Madonna Swift discusses how nutrition can influence our genetic makeup, the ways food affects mood, and the satisfaction that comes from cooking at home…

Panache Desai defines vibrational transformation, and explains why we're all infinite beings with infinite possibilities.

Sadie Nardini, founder of Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, shares her insights on how connecting to our core, both physically and emotionally, can help guide us…

Best-selling chant artist and Kundalini Yoga teacher Snatam Kaur reveals how chanting can help us listen more deeply to our inner voice and to those around us.

Rolf Gates, a yoga teacher and former social worker trained in the field of addiction, tells us how the practices of yoga and meditation can help those in…

Rachel Schaeffer, a Kripalu Yoga teacher and author, describes the 12 spiritual muscles, and how to tone and strengthen them to experience your yoga practice…

Jurian Hughes describes how, through postures, affirmations, chanting, and simply breathing, we can unlock the freedom that allows us to create more joy, ease,…

Neuroscientist and author Rick Hanson discusses powerful healing methods that combine the latest brain science with the wisdom of contemplative practice, and…

Kofi Busia shares his insights on how the alignment-driven practice of Iyengar Yoga can help us to develop more skillfulness on the mat and deeper awareness…

Power Yoga innovator Bryan Kest discusses how a physically potent yoga practice is not just a great workout but also a profound mind-body experience.

Kia Miller discusses heart connection and self-realization through Kundalini Yoga and meditation.

Kripalu Yoga teacher Jennifer Reis discusses how tools such as yoga nidra can nourish the whole being through slowing down, letting go, and tuning in.

Karen Maezen Miller, a Zen priest, teacher, and parent, discusses how to incorporate the straightforward wisdom of Zen into everyday life.

Micah Mortali, Director of the Kripalu Schools, talks about the journey that led him to becoming a Kripalu Yoga teacher.

Qigong master Yang Yang discusses how low-impact qigong can yield high results for your health and well-being.

Yoga teacher Sam Chase tackles the topic of happiness in this edition of Kripalu Perspectives.

Metta meditation is about extending compassion first to yourself (a common place to start, though there’s no right or wrong way to begin) and then to others.

As I breathed into my body in Jurian’s yoga class, the past and future drifted away. I was in the now.

Master yoga instructor Tao Porchon-Lynch discusses her lifelong passion for yoga and shares her timeless tips on aging well.

Change isn’t linear. We go back and forth. Sometimes we move through the cycle in five minutes; other times, it takes five years.

If we want to flourish, we can’t just think ourselves there. We need to become a walking expression of what we want to experience by engaging our bodies in the…

Listen in and enjoy inspirational thoughts from Kripalu faculty and invited presenters—leading teachers, writers, and thinkers in the fields of yoga, health,…

Listen in and enjoy inspirational thoughts from Kripalu faculty and invited presenters—leading teachers, writers, and thinkers in the fields of yoga, health,…

Talent. It’s a word we use most frequently to describe artists and athletes—individuals who demonstrate great potential and, ultimately, great performance,…

If you’d like to do more than simply endure another winter, here are some ways to thrive during the frostiest time of the year.

Yoga teacher and author Sarahjoy Marsh discusses how yoga can be an incredibly bonding experience between mothers and daughters.

Find out how tools from Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine can impact women’s health.

Listen in and enjoy inspirational thoughts from Kripalu faculty and invited presenters—leading teachers, writers, and thinkers in the fields of yoga, health,…

Listen in and enjoy inspirational thoughts from Kripalu faculty and invited presenters—leading teachers, writers, and thinkers in the fields of yoga, health,…

I consider myself fairly self-aware. I’m relatively in touch with my feelings and can put words to them. I have a good sense of my strengths and weaknesses. I…

Re-storying leads to increased optimism, competency, self-esteem, and deeper authenticity, says positive psychologist Maria Sirois, PsyD.

Not only what we eat, but how we eat, plays a big role in nutritional health.

The benefits of zazen include increased attention span, self-confidence, and a greater ability to feel genuine joy, compassion, and gratitude.

A cleanse can help the body to eliminate toxins and waste and prevent chronic disease and inflammation.

Chakra Flow Yoga uses asanas to discharge tension and activate the energy channels of the seven chakras.

The energy of the sacred feminine transforms our perception, so that we can actually see the divine dimension of ourselves and others, says spiritual teacher…

The journey of healthy weight management is one of rebalancing and recommitting to what we’re really hungry for.

The World Health Organization has stated that by the year 2030, depression and anxiety will be our number-one global disease burden. Can yoga help?

Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra can reduce stress, prevent illness, improve memory, enhance clarity and concentration, sharpen intuition, and increase happiness, says…

Kundalini Yoga teacher Kia Miller offers a practice designed to oxygenate and purify the blood, increase circulation, activate the digestive system, and…

There’s power in trusting that your body knows what’s best.

Portland Helmich sets out to unplug for a few days at Kripalu and revel in quiet, self-care, and inner-world exploration.

In Chinese astrology, I’m a Snake. We Snakes apparently prefer mental activity to physical activity. We’re the kind of people who don’t mind being curled up...

Yoga and mindfulness are powerful tools for weight management, because they cultivate body awareness.

Being creative means living to our fullest potential.

What is allostatic load? The phrase is relatively unfamiliar to most of us, but it’s well worth learning what yours is, pondering how to reduce it, and then...

Spiritual teacher Anodea Judith describes the chakras as a map of the journey to consciousness, a profound formula for wholeness.

What’s the greatest expression of myself that I can be today? To create change, you have to transmute the habits of your old self into someone new.

Many years ago, when I was living in Vermont, I taught English as a Second Language. I created my own little business tutoring the many engineers and...

Rabbi Sigal Brier says that, when we relax into our heart’s purpose, we stop obscuring the fact that we’re all interconnected, not separate from but part of…

What is a “yoga story,” and how can it enhance our experience of the postures?

Each of us has a story that’s uniquely our own—a storehouse of experiences only we have had, a perspective unlike anyone else’s.

Commitment is what’s necessary to make your creative vision into a reality, according to Dan Millman and Sierra Prasada.

If I want to experience greater happiness, I can’t expect to stumble on it. It’s up to me to make it happen—and that means it’s more tangible, too.

To quiet the Inner Critic, Jane and Beth say we need to build our Inner Coach.

When our plates are overloaded with work and family responsibilities, or we're in crisis, self-care and self-renewal tends to fly out the window.

Both of my grandmothers died about 10 years ago. I was especially saddened when the one I was closer to passed away, but I can’t say I was grief-stricken....

“Think of how your favorite music has an immediate effect on your mental and emotional state,” Jurian says. “Sound vibration is a powerful healing tool.”

Healing Chöd is a sacred ceremony that helps us release illness, suffering, and karmic obstacles to allow spiritual growth.

According to Kripalu presenter Timothy McCall, MD, our all-American, take-it-to-the-limit mindset can actually create more stress and fewer results, especially…

Like so many, I’ve spent most of my life battling the same 10 or 15 pounds, losing them with great pride only to gain the weight back again and berate myself...

About five years ago, I was in Paris for a week to celebrate my birthday. It was one of the happiest times of my life. As I strolled the streets of that...

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “diet,” what I really hear is “deprivation.” Having been on array of diets over the last 30 years (I started...

We’re a nation fixated on youth—perhaps because our country isn’t even a quarter of a century old yet. Our anti-aging obsession has morphed into a...

I recently started working with a life coach. You know, those people who force you to get clear on your values, identify your goals, and then hold you...

Change is a fact of life. Even if we take no steps to improve our lives, we’ll still grow older. Time will march forward. The question is whether we’ll move...

According to Lisa B. Nelson, MD, Director of Medical Education at Kripalu, we may very well be consuming a full day’s worth of sugar before 9:00 am.

According to a study on health and longevity, we need to spend time not only focusing on taking better care of ourselves, but on taking care of others.

Rolf Gates, a yoga teacher and former social worker trained in addictions, says the best way to treat our inner worrywart is just to breathe, consciously.

According to Snatam Kaur, a sacred chant artist and Kundalini Yoga teacher, it doesn’t take as much effort as we might think to tip the scales and bring more…

There are times when a radical change of course is necessary in life. The old way just isn’t working anymore; a new approach is required.  We don't know...

I’ve been interviewing healers and spiritual teachers for a while now, and when I ask them how to live a healthier and happier life, many offer the same answer…

If you’re really interested in eating well, you need to make cooking a priority, says nutritionist and dietician Kathie Madonna Swift.

Couples therapists Joel and Kate Feldman, married for three decades, say that people in happy, longstanding relationships tend to practice some of the same…