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'''Kripalu Center''' is a [[non-profit organization]] which runs a health and [[yoga]] retreat in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts|Stockbridge]], [[Massachusetts]]. Its 2008 revenue was $27.4 million.<ref name="2008tax">http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/231/718/2008-231718197-050bce40-9.pdf</ref> Its 160,000 square-foot facility near [[Tanglewood]] Music Center is a former [[Jesuit]] [[seminary]] built in 1957 in a spare architectural style in a rural area of the [[Berkshires]], employs about 400 people (see citation below), and can accommodate more than 650 nightly guests. It has been the subject of numerous travel articles in general-interest newspapers and magazines.{{CN}}
'''Kripalu Center''' is a [[non-profit organization]] which runs a health and [[yoga]] retreat in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts|Stockbridge]], [[Massachusetts]]. Its 2008 revenue was $27.4 million.<ref name="2008tax">http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/231/718/2008-231718197-050bce40-9.pdf</ref> Its 160,000 square-foot facility near [[Tanglewood]] Music Center is a former [[Jesuit]] [[seminary]] built in 1957 in a spare architectural style in a rural area of the [[Berkshires]], employs about 400 people (see citation below), and can accommodate more than 650 nightly guests. It has been the subject of numerous travel articles in general-interest newspapers and magazines.[[http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=kripalu+Center+for+Yoga&ned=us&hl=en&scoring=a]]


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 16:31, 22 December 2009

Kripalu Center
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
Map
Former namesYoga Society of Pennsylvania
LocationStockbridge, Massachusetts
TypeRetreat
Opened1966 1983


Kripalu Center is a non-profit organization which runs a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its 2008 revenue was $27.4 million.[1] Its 160,000 square-foot facility near Tanglewood Music Center is a former Jesuit seminary built in 1957 in a spare architectural style in a rural area of the Berkshires, employs about 400 people (see citation below), and can accommodate more than 650 nightly guests. It has been the subject of numerous travel articles in general-interest newspapers and magazines.[[1]]

History

In 1965 Amrit Desai founded the Yoga Society of Pennsylvania, later called Kripalu, to provide yoga classes and training for yoga teachers. Desai is a native of Halol, India, where he met guru Swami Kripalvananda for whom Kripalu is named, and who followers believed was the 28th incarnation of Shiva, the supreme god of Hinduism.[2] During the 1970s, Desai established ashrams run by mostly unpaid followers in Sumneytown, Pa., and nearby Summit Station.

Kripalu acquired its Stockbridge property in 1983, and soon after, Kripalu legally became a religious order. Residents took vows of celibacy and obedience to Desai.[3]

In 1994, the board announced that Desai had admitted to having sex with followers, and resigned.[3][4][5] Kripalu later paid $2.5 million to settle a purported class action lawsuit related to this scandal representing more than 100 former residents. Kripalu made the payment partly by selling its adjacent Foxhollow property. Kripalu had purchased Foxhollow to provide housing for its most senior members.[3][6]

During 1999, Kripalu switched legal status from a religious order to a non-profit organization, [7] and according to its recent tax filings, is a "charitable and educational organization" exempt from paying federal taxes under rule 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Service.[citation needed]

As of 2009, Patton Garrett Sarley Jr. was chief executive of Kripalu and his wife Mary Sarley, was its president.[1] At the time of Desai's 1994 resignation, Sarley resigned as chief operating officer Kripalu re-hired Sarley in 2004 "with the help of a nationally recognized non-profit executive search firm,"(see 2007 tax document cited at end of this sentence)retained when Kripalu was experiencing "negative trends in mission viability and financial viability."[1] according to Kripalu.[8][9]

Recent operational data

In January 2009, Kripalu eliminated 15 percent of its staff and forecast up to a 30 percent decline in 2009 revenue, while managers agreed to forgo their "bonuses" as well as to pay reductions ranging from 5 percent to 15 percent, according to a local press report. [10]

Kripalu's 2008 revenue grew 7 percent, to $27.4 million up from $25.6 million in 2007 according to IRS documents.[1][8] Expenses in 2008 totaled $26.23 million, up 9 percent from a year earlier.

Payroll and employee benefit expense for 2008 was $13.23 million, up 4.4 percent from 2007. A 35 percent increase in pay and benefits was granted to Patton Garrett Sarley Jr., and his wife Mary, who, as lead officers obtained combined 2008 executive compensation of $584,000. In 2008, more than $1.9 million was spent on the salaries and benefits of a dozen employees who earned $100,00 or more, according to the IRS.

Apart from current and recent expense, compensation may also be historically relevant because in the 1990s, Amrit Desai's estimated annual compensation was $350,000 to $450,000, including housing and other benefits, at a time when Kripalu residents were serving as staff receiving small stipends in lieu of pay. .[11][12]

Facility

The building that currently houses Kripalu stands near the site of the gilded age mansion "Shadowbrook Cottage," reputedly the largest private residence in the U.S. at the time of its completion in 1894 and later destroyed by fire. It was named for Shadow Brook, a minor stream to the west of the site referred to by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1852 Wonder Book. [13][14] Jesuits moved away in 1970 due to a dwindling number of seminarians. Thirteen years later, Kripalu acquired the 160,000 square-foot building with which the Jesuits had replaced Shadowbrook Cottage.

Conservation easements for 225 acres of the 300-acre property were sold by Kripalu in 1997, under the U.S. Forest Legacy Program for the Yokun Ridge Reserve area.[15][16]

Kripalu owns and maintains its own water supply system, deemed at "high risk" of contamination with heating oil, gasoline, pesticides and other hazardous materials by a 2003 report from the state Department of Environmental Protection[17] which for these reasons, cited Kripalu for water supply violations in December 2006.[18] The following year, Kripalu's state-imposed deadline for replacing a hazardous well used to supply its guests with drinking water was extended to Aug. 1, 2009.[19]

In 2008 Kripalu began construction of a 34,000 square-foot housing annex on the Stockbridge property, as well as improvements to its sewage treatment plant and parking lot. Construction was to be financed with proceeds of a $20 million tax-exempt bond issue through Mass Development, a quasi-governmental economic development agency, with Berkshire Bank as lead lender.[20]

Kripalu Yoga

Kripalu Yoga is a trademarked form of Hatha Yoga that it calls therapeutic and spiritually focused. It uses yoga concepts of inner focus, meditation, standard yoga poses, "breathwork", "development of a quiet mind", and relaxation. Kripalu emphasizes "following the flow" of prana, or life-force energy, compassionate self-acceptance, observing the activity of the mind without judgment, and taking what is learned into daily life.[21]

As of 2008, Kripalu said it offered more than 750 programs and spiritual retreats attended by about 25,000 people annually.[22] It also offered training and marketing support to teachers of its trademarked yoga, along with a semester-long program for young adults, projects in music, weight loss and post-traumatic stress disorder. A further program in health offered various folk remedies for disease, according to the center's Web site.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/231/718/2008-231718197-050bce40-9.pdf
  2. ^ "Stripping the Gurus— -CHAPTER XXIII - UP THE ASANA". Strippingthegurus.com. 2005-05-15. Retrieved 2009-09-20. {{cite web}}: C1 control character in |title= at position 20 (help)
  3. ^ a b c "History of Kripalu Center". Kripalu.org. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  4. ^ http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24095860.html?dids=24095860:24095860&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+03%2C+1994&author=Reuters.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=FAMOUS+YOGI+RESIGNS%2C+ADMITS+HE+HAD+SEX+WITH+3+FEMALE+FOLLOWERS&pqatl=google
  5. ^ "Boston.com Local Search - Boston Globe Archives". Nl.newsbank.com. 1994-12-22. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  6. ^ Edwards, Johnny (2008-07-14). "Yogi brings life lessons back home 071408 - The Augusta Chronicle". Chronicle.augusta.com. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  7. ^ "History of Kripalu Center". Kripalu. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  8. ^ a b http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/231/718/2007-231718197-04862cde-9.pdf
  9. ^ "Cafeteria-style yoga - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. 2004-07-18. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  10. ^ "Kripalu latest to trim work force Jan 2009". Cache.zoominfo.com. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  11. ^ Tesher, Ellie (1995-08-11). "How a spiritual centre heals itself". Toronto Star-Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  12. ^ http://search.boston.com/local/Search.do?s.sm.query=kripalu&s.tab=globe&new=n&s.si(simplesearchinput).sortBy=articleprintpublicationdate&s.si(simplesearchinput).offset=10 Boston Globe 12/22/94
  13. ^ "History of Lenox, Massachusetts - The Berkshires". Berkshireweb.com. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  14. ^ "A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Shadow Brook Introductory to "The Golden Touch"". Classicauthors.net. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  15. ^ "Microsoft Word - 4539235D-449E-28652F.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  16. ^ http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/landacq/fy00.pdf
  17. ^ http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/drinking/1283014.pdf
  18. ^ "MassDEP: 2006 Enforcement Actions". Mass.gov. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  19. ^ "MassDEP: 2007 Enforcement Actions". Mass.gov. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  20. ^ Berkshire Eagle 03/07/2008
  21. ^ "The Kripalu Approach: Yoga for Everybody". Yoga Therapy Ireland magazine. Autumn 2006.
  22. ^ "About Kripalu". Kripalu.org. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
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