Institute for Extraordinary Living
exploring the science of skillful action.
What does it mean to be a fully alive human being?
The Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living (IEL) has been created to investigate what it means to be a fully alive human being in the twenty-first century and concerns itself with the experience of aliveness for individuals, institutions, society, and the world. In particular, the IEL studies, promotes, and embodies states of thriving reflected by qualities such as resiliency, creativity, mastery, authenticity, compassion, and happiness. The IEL’s goal is to be a premier forum for researchers, practitioners, and lay people to develop and learn practical methods for cultivating these states based on knowledge gleaned from the contemplative traditions and from contemporary scientific inquiry.
In its initial phase, the IEL is particularly interested in the application of yogic strategies to the challenges of optimal performance in the arts, sports, and various forms of highly concentrated activity. Initially, the IEL will fulfill its mission through
- The development of a knowledge-model of the field
- Strategic collaboration with other institutions
- Sponsorship of an annual conference
- Highly targeted projects studying optimal performance
- The development of a curriculum in skillful action at Kripalu Center.
Research
The experience of human fulfillment is only now becoming the subject of serious scientific research. In recent years, neuroscience and sophisticated new psychological inquiry have begun to confirm the remarkable discoveries of the ancient yogis. Kripalu’s Institute for Extraordinary Living intends to be a world-class forum for cutting-edge researchers. The IEL currently has a research team of three scientists affiliated with Harvard Medical School working on a variety of projects in sports, performance, and health. Their early research shows that yoga postures, combined with sophisticated breathing practices and basic meditation techniques, improve performance in tasks that require focus, concentration, creativity, and rapid-fire decision-making skills.
The IEL is currently undertaking projects in several areas:
In sports Athletes of all persuasions have known for some time that systematic training in yoga and yogic breathing enhances mental and physical speed, endurance, strength, balance, agility, and flexibility. Now, the IEL, in conjunction with a team of researchers, is studying the effects of yoga on athletic performance at both the college and professional levels.
Education Over the past decade, educators have seen a rise in stress levels and mental health concerns in their students. While programs have been developed to address these concerns, few have focused on contemplative practices as a primary intervention. In 2008, the IEL began collaborating with a local school to study the effects of yoga practice on high school students. Results from this project are just now becoming available and plans are underway to develop and run a longitudinal study on contemplative practice in young adults.
Fulfillment One of the central missions of the IEL is to understand and study the fully alive human being. From this mission, our team of yogis came together to develop a standardized curriculum specifically designed to enhance optimal states of well-being and consciousness, which our researchers have just begun to study. Focusing on the core components of Kripalu Yoga, we plan to run and study this program in a variety of setting and populations.
Performance Professional musicians are now discovering that systematic training in yoga enhances the performance of complex tasks through the cultivation of highly refined states of attention, concentration, and focus—essential conditions for optimal performing states in music. New research confirms that yoga also attenuates performance anxiety and ameliorates its deleterious effects on both cognitive and physical functioning. The IEL is currently analyzing data from programs held at Tanglewood Music Center and the Boston Conservatory.
Brain Imaging Recent brain-imagining studies have helped to enhance our understanding of how contemplative practices change behavior, mood, and states of consciousness. Currently the IEL is undertaking the first study of its kind to investigate how regular yoga practice can impact the brain. Long-time Kripalu Yoga practitioners are being evaluated with state-of-the-art MRI imaging technology to determine if yoga practice can change the actual structure of the brain. Researchers are also evaluating the effects of yoga on enhanced emotional and cognitive functioning.
Veteran Populations Nearly 16 percent of returning troops develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In response, the Department of Defense (DOD) has sought effective methods of treating PTSD in war veterans. In 2008 IEL researcher Sat Bir Khalsa received a grant from the DOD to study the effects of Kripalu Yoga practice on military veterans with PTSD. IEL will collaborate with trauma and yoga experts to develop a comprehensive yoga program specifically designed to relieve symptoms of trauma.
