Imagine a world where human beings respect and value one another, where interpersonal relationships contribute to well being, connection, creativity, wholesome interdependence, and peace.

This has been Kate and Joel’s mission as a couple since they were married in 1985.

In the early 1970s, they helped establish the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. For more than 25 years, they dedicated themselves to personal self-exploration and meditation, yoga, and community building at the Center in Lenox, MA—the largest residential holistic health and yoga center on the East Coast. For most of these years, they served on Kripalu’s Executive Committee.

Today, they live in Durango, CO, where they continue their Conscious Relationship work with couples and individuals through intensive marriage counseling retreats, weekend workshops, coaching, and psychotherapy.

Kate is a wise compassionate psychotherapist who specializes in helping couples and individuals create powerful and satisfying relationships. Before receiving her Masters of Social work from Smith College School for Social Work, she held various executive, as well as teaching positions at Kripalu. In 1994 she and her husband Joel founded The Conscious Relationships Institute™. This educational institute provides training workshops and seminars, marriage counseling intensive retreats, and psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families.

Over the last 30 years, Kate and Joel have developed uplifting and educational training programs for couples. These are offered at Kripalu Center and in the southwest United States. Additionally, she has created and led other workshops and trainings on relationships, personal growth, yoga, holistic health, leadership, and counseling. Kate’s current interest is in helping one couple at a time delve deeply into their personal relationship journey through the Marriage counseling Intensive retreats she and Joel offer.

Kate's certification and training includes:

Joel is a thoughtful and caring coach, mediator, and counselor whose experience includes successful relationship work with couples, businesses, and organizations. Over the course of his career, he has trained professionals in numerous modalities including holistic counseling and coaching, mediation, conflict resolution, and stress management.

Joel is a co-founder of the Conscious Relationships Institute, which delivers individual coaching as well as seminars and training programs to couples, families, and work teams. Joel specializes in conflict resolution and a compassionate approach to understanding and respecting our human differences. His current passion is coaching individuals and couples to get “out of the box” and live as fully and creatively as they possibly can.

Joel’s certification and training includes: