Kripalu RISE

RISE: The Kripalu Approach to Resilience- Tools for Work-Life Balance

Born at Kripalu and rooted in decades of embodied wisdom, RISE™ brings the science of mindfulness together with the heart of compassion. Through dynamic, evidence-based programming and education, discover tools to manage stress, build resilience, and live and work with greater clarity and care. Whether you are a corporate leader, educator or seeking change in your own life, RISE meets you where you are and gives you the tools to go further. Developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health and refined over a decade, RISE is a research based curriculum designed for real life. 

The Six RISE Sessions

1 Riding the Wave: The RISE Model for Resilience

Conceptual outcomes:

  • Understand both the positive and negative roles of stress on performance and wellbeing.

  • Define Staying Centered and draw relevant examples from their personal lives.

  • Apply the Riding the Wave model to their own experience, and begin to identify their typical response patterns around stressors.

  • Identify the 3C’s of Calm, Clarity and Connection and how they form the components of a Centering.

Experiential outcomes:

  • 3C Centering

  • RISE Practice emphasizing basic movements and foundational principles

2 Embodying Calm: The Power of Breath

Conceptual outcomes:

  • Understand the basic dynamics of the nervous system involved in stress resilience.

  • Appreciate the unique role of the breath in deliberate autonomic regulation.

  • Define the Complete Breath as slow, deep breathing with an emphasis on personal comfort, and understand its key benefits to downregulating the stress response.

Experiential outcomes:

  • Complete Breath

  • RISE Practice with emphasis on coordination of breath and movement

3 Cultivating Clarity: The Mindful Mind

Conceptual outcomes:

  • Understand the potential and the limits of conscious attention and the need to manage attention skillfully in critical moments.

  • Articulate personal and professional challenges to attention.

  • Define Mindfulness as paying attention, in the present moment, on purpose, with an attitude of openness.

  • Appreciate the relevant benefits of mindfulness practice: improved attention and stress reduction.

  • Identify personal habits of attention in relationship to both internal and external focal points.

Experiential outcomes:

  • Breath meditation

  • RISE Practice emphasizing internal focus on sensation

4 & 5 Deepening Connection: Strength Within Us, Strength Between Us

Conceptual outcomes:

  • Understand the ways in which personal sense of meaning and purpose fosters resilience.

  • Appreciate the key role of social connection in resilience and wellbeing.

  • Articulate personal challenges stress poses to personal and social connection.

  • Identify essential personal strengths as well as those in colleagues.

  • Understand the ways in which well-wishing can deepen social connection.

Experiential outcomes:

  • Strengths Reflection

  • Well-Wishing Meditation

6 Integration: The Roadmap for Resilience

Conceptual outcomes:

  • Appreciate the need to recharge and understand the benefits of skillful use of downtime.

  • Identify RISE tools with the most promise in their personal and professional lives.

  • Articulate tools and practices beyond RISE that promote their Calm, Clarity & Connection.

  • Affirm their learning among their peers and create a smooth, empowering transition from the program.

Experiential outcomes:

  • Self-Care Plan

  • RISE Practice integrating all tools

  • Closing Circle

Kripalu RISE pitch deck

RISE Program Structure Options Offered by Megan

RISE is offered as a 6-session program designed to support resilience, mindfulness, and well-being in schools, organizations, and communities.

You can choose the format that best fits your group’s needs:

  • Once a month for 6 months over Zoom

  • Once a week for 6 weeks over Zoom

  • One full day in-person training

  • 6 sessions over 2 days in person

Each option creates space for learning, practice, and reflection, with tools that participants can bring into their daily lives right away.

If you want to learn more about the RISE program, you can also book Megan to present a sneak peek of the RISE program, a one-hour RISE “Ride the Wave” sampler, a modified version of Kripalu’s evidence-based stress resilience program, to help you determine whether you want to schedule the 6-part series for your organization/institution.

If you are interested in bringing RISE to your school or organization, please contact me at megan@belove.studio to explore what format might work best for you.