Soul Shift: Return to What Makes You Feel Fully Alive

Soul Shift is a wellness retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, led by bestselling author and educator Rachel Macy Stafford. It is meant for anyone who has spent years adapting to expectations, urgency and endless demands, and who suspects their joyful spark is buried rather than gone. Over a weekend of teaching, reflection and daily yoga, the retreat helps you begin clearing a path back to yourself.

What to Expect

Rachel draws on her book Soul Shift and on newer practices developed through years of teaching this work. The program is organized as a botanical garden-inspired journey of self-reclamation, and it moves between teaching, guided reflection, experiential exercises, journaling and conversation with other participants.

Across the weekend you will work on how to:

- Recognize what is depleting you and reconnect with what restores your energy, peace and joy.
- Create protected moments of presence that help you hear your own needs, values and inner guidance.
- Replace self-criticism and pressure with practices rooted in compassion and inherent worth.
- Set boundaries that protect your time and energy, and release roles, expectations and responsibilities that are no longer yours to carry.
- Reconnect with the interests, gifts and parts of yourself that make you feel most alive.

You leave with a personalized Soul Shift map and practical tools for protecting what matters, caring for yourself without having to earn it, and making choices that help you feel more present, connected and whole.

The rhythm is steady. Check-in begins at 2:00 pm on the opening day, followed by a Kripalu Yoga class, dinner and an evening program session from 7:30 to 9:00. On the full day, Kripalu Yoga runs from 6:30 to 7:45 am, then a silent breakfast, a program session from 9:00 to 11:30, lunch, a second session from 1:30 to 4:00, another yoga class at 4:45 and dinner. The closing day begins with yoga and silent breakfast, followed by a final program session from 9:00 to 11:00 and lunch before departure. Times may shift slightly, and a schedule is provided at check-in.

About Rachel Macy Stafford

Rachel Macy Stafford is a bestselling author and educator and the author of Soul Shift. She is known for compassionate, hope-filled teaching about returning to what makes you feel fully alive, and she leads every session of this retreat.

The Setting

Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is a residential center built around yoga and rest. Accommodations are intentionally simple, designed to help you unplug and feel grounded. You can choose a private room or a shared, community-style dormitory room. Rooms are ready by 4:00 pm, and a luggage room is available if you arrive earlier. Three nutritious meals are served each day, and breakfasts are held in silence. Special dietary needs can be accommodated with advance notice.

On the day of departure, room check-out is at 10:00 am, and you may stay on campus and take part in workshops until 2:00 pm.

Before You Go

This retreat welcomes people of all backgrounds and experience levels. No prior knowledge or practice is required, and the program is offered in English.

Your stay includes all program sessions with Rachel Macy Stafford, more than ten yoga classes each day, three meals daily, overnight accommodation, access to the Kripalu grounds and facilities, and journaling and reflection materials. Healing Arts sessions and items from the Kripalu Shop and Cafe are available for separate purchase. Transportation to and from Kripalu is not included.