Rooted in ancient traditions, adapted for
modern active living.
Our Vision & Mission
Our Vision is to create a path to inner awareness through the practice of yoga.
Our Mission is to provide transformative yoga instruction rooted in Tantric Hatha traditions for the modern Western practitioner.
We share these deep practices to enrich our community, creating a path to become more fully alive on and off the mat.
Swami Kripalu
Yoganand Michael Carroll
Our Story
Our yoga classes and programs are based on the Hatha Yoga teachings of Swami Kripalu.
Swami Kripalu was an ascetic yogi whose intensive practices led him to a very deep understanding of yoga, which he passed on to his students. His teachings were the inspiration behind Kripalu Yoga© as developed by Yogi Amrit Desai and taught at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts.
The teachings of Swami Kripalu are also the inspiration behind Pranakriya Yoga. Pranakriya Yoga was developed by Yoganand Michael Carroll, a long time student of Amrit Desai, Swami Kripalu, and other teachers in Swami Kripalu’s tradition.
During his fifteen years as a resident of Kripalu Ashram and Kripalu Center, Yoganand dove deeply into the renunciate practices of Swami Kripalu. In 1989, he was initiated into the vows of Sannyasa and joined Kripalu’s Monastic order.
In 1994, after 14 years of intensive practice, he received Shaktipata initiation from Yogi Amrit Desai and began practicing the advanced yoga that Swami Kripalu himself had practiced for over 30 years. Under the guidance of Amrit Desai, Yoganand was instructed to pass on the deeper teachings to Kripalu practitioners as he felt appropriate.
In 1994, after 14 years of intensive practice, Yoganand received Shaktipata initiation from Yogi Amrit Desai and began practicing the advanced yoga that Swami Kripalu himself had practiced for over 30 years. Under the guidance of Amrit Desai, Yoganand was instructed to pass on the deeper teachings to Kripalu practitioners as he felt appropriate.
In 1998, Yoganand became a director of the Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training program, and later in the same year became the overseer for Kripalu Advanced Yoga Teacher Training.
In 2003, Yoganand left his teaching position at Kripalu Center. He continued to study the teachings of the yoga tradition and to practice Hatha Yoga techniques from Swami Kripalu’s renunciate path as a householder living and working in the world. Many students gathered around him, attracted to his approach which he refers to as a hybrid path: mostly householder living a sattvic lifestyle with a core of renunciate teachings and practices.
With the blessing of the current directors and developers of Kripalu Yoga, Yoganand gave name and expression to his understanding of the teachings of Swami Kripalu under the title of Pranakriya Yoga. In 2022, Yoganand became Professor Emeritus for Pranakriya; he continues to lead a handful of the School’s trainings, serves as Dean of the Curriculum Committee, and is an important advisor to the School’s Executive Director.
Become More Fully Alive
Pranakriya classes and programs are true to the ancient tradition Swami Kripalu lived and taught, and have been adapted by Yoganand Michael Carroll for western students living active lives in the world.
“To practice yoga is to change your experience. When you change your experience you change your life.”
— Yoganand Michael Carroll
“Wherever you go, spread your love. Just keep the candle of your love burning and whenever you find an unlit candle, light it up. There’s no higher purpose or answer beyond that.”
— Swami Kripalu