Yoga for Stress and Burnout

Yoga for Stress and Burnout is a healing workshop at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, led by Hari Kirin Khalsa, MD, and Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD. It is a weekend program on the science and lived practice of yoga for chronic stress, anxiety, depression and burnout, and it suits anyone feeling worn down, especially caregivers and professionals in healthcare and education.

What to Expect

The program blends lectures, yoga and meditation practices, self-reflection and group process. More than 70 percent of it is experiential, so you spend far more time practicing than listening. The teaching covers the physiology and psychology of chronic stress and burnout, and how prolonged stress can tip the balance of psychoneuroimmunology toward the chronic inflammation linked to conditions from insomnia to serious illness. You will also receive an overview of clinical trial research on yoga and mind-body practices, along with the scientific and clinical reasoning behind using yoga and meditation to address the underlying causes. One thread looks at moral injury and its role in burnout among care providers.

Practices are meant to ease anxiety, build stress tolerance and resilience, and leave you replenished. Before you leave, you complete a personal action plan for your work and personal life.

The schedule runs over three days. The opening day begins with check-in at 2:00 pm, a Kripalu Yoga class from 4:45 to 6:00, dinner, and a program session from 7:30 to 9:00 in the evening. The full middle day starts with Kripalu Yoga at 6:30 am and a silent breakfast, then program sessions from 9:00 to 12:00 and 1:30 to 4:30, with lunch between them, and another yoga class before dinner. The closing day has morning yoga, silent breakfast and a final session from 9:00 to 12:00, ending with lunch and departure. Times may shift slightly, and a schedule is provided at check-in.

About Hari Kirin Khalsa

Hari Kirin Khalsa, MD, is volunteer faculty at UMass Chan Medical School. She brings a physician's perspective to the weekend, along with personal experience of how yoga can change the way people meet stress and burnout.

About Sat Bir Singh Khalsa

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD, is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He brings the research side of the program, including the clinical evidence for yoga and meditation as approaches to stress-related conditions.

The Setting

Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health sits in Stockbridge, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Accommodations are intentionally simple, from private rooms to community-style dorms, and are meant to help you unplug and feel grounded. Rooms are ready by 4:00 pm, and a luggage room is available if you arrive earlier. Check-out on the final day is at 10:00 am, though you may stay on campus and take part in workshops until 2:00 pm. Three meals are served each day, and breakfast is taken in silence.

Before You Go

No prior yoga or meditation experience is needed, and the program is open to people currently facing these challenges as well as professionals who want to deepen their understanding of caring for others. Those who are more comfortable practicing in a chair are welcome throughout. Bring a notebook or journal and dress comfortably. The program is taught in English.

Your registration includes ten or more Kripalu Yoga classes over the stay, three meals a day and access to the Kripalu grounds. Campus accommodation is required and billed separately. Healing Arts sessions and purchases from the Kripalu Shop and Cafe are extra. Yoga teachers registered with Yoga Alliance can earn 8.5 hours of continuing education credit.