Larissa Hall Carlson

03/17/2026

Spring is quietly stirring beneath the surface—longer days, brighter light, and that gentle invitation to move, awaken, and build strength again. 💙🌱

This season, I’m teaching a 6-week Ayurvedic Yoga series for Spring Strength & Stability with Better Yoga—designed to help you feel strong, steady, and energized during kapha season.

Ayurvedic Yoga for Spring Strength & Stability
🗓 March 18, 25 & April 1, 8, 15, 22
🕘 9–10am ET on Zoom

Each week we’ll explore:
•Core-focused yoga for stability and confident movement
•Kapha-balancing asana to build muscular strength and vitality
•Gentle strength training with light weights for tone and resilience
•Purifying breathwork + heart-opening restorative poses for integration and ease

This is an intermediate-level series—perfect if you’re ready to feel grounded, empowered, and a little more radiant this spring. 🤍

Join here: https://betteryogastudio.net/checkout/new?o=224500

May this season be a gentle return to strength, steadiness, and embodied vitality. 🧘‍♀️

03/16/2026

Feeling sluggish? Puffy?
Time for your radiance to return!

Join our Gentle Ayurveda Spring Cleanse on Zoom via Better Yoga 🍋🫖🧘‍♀️
April 12-17

Hurry—Early bird savings end at midnight.

https://betteryogastudio.net/pages/spring-cleanse?utm_source=uscreen&utm_medium=landing_page&utm_campaign=events&utm_content=link&utm_term=Gentle+Ayurveda+Spring+CleanseApril+12-17%2C+2026

03/14/2026

Clear the path for easy breathing 🌿

We’re in kapha season—the time of year in Ayurveda associated with moisture, heaviness, and increased mucus in the body. As winter melts into spring, many people notice more congestion, allergies, and sluggish sinuses.

One of my favorite Ayurvedic daily practices during this season is jala neti, the gentle rinsing of the nasal passages with warm saline water using a neti pot. It’s a simple ritual that helps flush away excess mucus, dust, pollen, and environmental irritants so your sinuses can stay clear and comfortable.

I personally find neti most helpful during kapha season, when the body naturally produces more mucus.

Best practices for safe and effective neti:

🌿 Use the right water
Always use distilled, sterile, or previously boiled water that has cooled to comfortably warm.

🌿 Add proper neti salt
Use salt specifically formulated for neti pots so the solution is balanced and gentle for the nasal passages.

🌿 Keep your neti pot clean
Wash thoroughly after each use and allow it to dry completely. Give it a deeper clean regularly to keep things sanitary.

🌿 Follow with nasya oil
Neti rinses away mucus, dust, and microbes—but it can also leave the nasal passages a little dry. I like to wait about 30 minutes and then apply a few drops of nourishing nasya oil to hydrate and protect the tissues.

My go-to is Banyan Botanicals Super Nasya Oil from 🌱 It’s wonderfully soothing after neti, and I also use it on its own when I’m in very dry environments—especially long flights or heated buildings in winter.

✨ Save 20% with code WINTERWITHLARISSA20

When to skip neti:

• Active sinus infection
• Bloody nose
• Significant septum deviation
• Severe nasal irritation

When practiced mindfully, this ancient Ayurvedic cleansing ritual can help keep your breath clear, your senses bright, and your head feeling light through the heavy kapha months.

Do you use a neti pot as part of your seasonal self-care routine?


📸

03/13/2026

Love classical music? Love yoga & mindfulness? You’re going to love this unique summer retreat.

03/12/2026

You, me, and Yo-Yo Ma!

Yes! A Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health - Tanglewood Music Center Summer Experience August 7-9 in the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts.

Register via Kripalu now to join this phenomenal summer event, then purchase your tickets to Tanglewood for the Saturday evening concert (tix on sale now and the Shed is filling up, so hurry! Lawn tickets are great, too--that's likely where I'll sit):
https://kripalu.org/experiences/yoga-music-and-mindfulness-kripalu-tanglewood-summer-experience?sku=18444055

A Harmonious Blend:
Immerse yourself in the transformative power of yoga and classical music during a weekend of deep nourishment and inspiration in the cultural heart of the Berkshires. This unique Kripalu-Tanglewood collaboration, led by renowned mindfulness and yoga educator Larissa Hall Carlson, offers a harmonious blend of contemplative practices and exquisite music.

With nearly two decades of experience teaching elite musicians—including faculty and fellows from Juilliard, Boston Conservatory, Tanglewood Music Center, Nashville Ballet, Cleveland Institute of Music, Western Illinois School of Music, and more—Larissa expertly guides participants in exploring the profound parallels between the disciplines of yoga and classical music.

Throughout the weekend, you’ll enjoy:

*Gentle and mindful yoga sessions with classical music in the background
*Pranayama and meditation practices to boost inner rhythm and harmony
*Guided deep listening to selections from the weekend’s BSO concerts
*Insightful reflections on rhythm, breath, and embodiment

On Saturday evening, we’ll attend the Boston Symphony Orchestra (featuring Yo-Yo Ma) concert at Tanglewood (located just across the road from Kripalu), with optional attendance at the Sunday afternoon concert. You’ll gain tools to listen more mindfully, with greater presence and appreciation for the nuances of live orchestral performance.

This program is open to all. No prior musical or yoga experience required—just a love for classical music and mindful movement.

A Harmonious BlendImmerse yourself in the transformative power of yoga and classical music during a weekend of deep nourishment and inspiration in the cultural heart of the Berkshires. This unique Kripalu-Tanglewood collaboration, led by renowned mindfulness and yoga educator Larissa Hall Carlson, o...

03/10/2026

🍀 Quick update, friends. 🍀

🍀 My new 6-week live online yoga series is now starting Wednesday, March 18th (instead of March 11th). 🍀

This series is designed to help you feel strong, centered, and energized this spring.

🌸 Ayurvedic Yoga for Spring Strength & Stability
📅 March 18, 25 & April 1, 8, 15, 22
🕘 9–10am ET | Live on Zoom via Better Yoga (all classes recorded)
Reclaim your strength and vitality with this intermediate-level series focused on building muscle, enhancing stability, and awakening energy during kapha season. Each week we’ll focus on strengthening the arms and core while supporting whole-body resilience and balanced movement.

This series thoughtfully blends yoga, breathwork, and light strength training to support spring renewal:

Kapha-balancing yoga asanas to energize the body and build muscular strength
*Lightweight strength training (2–3 lb weights) to enhance tone, endurance, and functional strength
*Core-focused sequences to support posture, stability, and confident movement
*Purifying breathwork to refresh and enliven the system
*Heart-opening restorative poses to cultivate ease, openness, and integration

Join the Spring Series: https://betteryogastudio.net/checkout/new?o=224500

This spring yoga series is ideal if you want to:
*Build strength in a supportive, mindful way
*Feel more stable and confident in your body
*Align your practice with Ayurvedic seasonal wisdom
*Stay consistent with live, guided classes from home

03/08/2026

This little kid had no idea what was ahead.

She didn’t know she would grow up to spend her life studying yoga, mindfulness, and Ayurveda—or that one day she’d be teaching these practices all over the world.

Looking back though, there were definitely clues. 👀

A love of movement.
A fascination with breath (starting underwater 🏊‍♀️).
A quiet curiosity about how the mind and body work together. 🌿

Fast forward a few decades and somehow that curiosity turned into a life’s work.

Along the way, this path has led to some pretty amazing experiences:

• Becoming a senior teacher at one of the largest yoga centers in North America 🧘‍♀️
• Teaching yoga and mindfulness to elite musicians—from the Boston Conservatory and Tanglewood Music Center to Juilliard and the Nashville Ballet 🎻
• Traveling to Tokyo (twice!) to teach a “Uniting Yoga & Ayurveda” teacher training ✈️
• Collaborating with researchers from Harvard and Brigham & Women’s Hospital studying how yoga can support performance anxiety
• Teaching advanced yoga teacher trainings—including Advanced Asana and Advanced Pranayama—for more than a decade
• Helping pioneer the Ayurvedic approach to yoga in the West nearly 20 years ago through courses, teacher trainings, festivals, and publications

And along the way… plenty of unexpected adventures.

Like traveling to New Zealand seven times to visit my best friend 🌏💛
Or leading retreats and trainings in beautiful places, like India and Costa Rica.

These days my job mostly involves things like:

Reminding people to breathe 😌
Encouraging them to relax their shoulders
And helping them enjoy a really good savasana… sometimes without falling asleep first 💤

Which, honestly, still feels pretty magical.

I’m deeply grateful to share these practices with all of you. 🩵

✨ Upcoming adventures together include retreats, workshops, and… an Ayurvedic YTT in the Bahamas this December 🌊☀️
(Yes, turquoise water included.)






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03/05/2026

Missed today's newsletter? Click to read:

Happy Thursday, friends! The light is shifting. The days are longer. The snow is melting. Here in Vermont, winter has been generous with its beauty—but I feel the urge to start spring cleaning: open the windows, clear the shelves, lighten the meals, and get the body moving. I even steamed my ...

03/05/2026

Ayurvedic Yoga for Spring Strength & Stability
with Larissa Hall Carlson
March 11, 18 & April 1, 8, 15, 22 from 9-10am ET
Zoom via Better Yoga (live & recorded)

Reclaim your strength and vitality with this 6-week yoga series designed to build muscle, enhance stability, and awaken energy during kapha season. Each week focuses on strengthening the arms and core while supporting whole-body resilience and balanced movement. Perfect for springtime renewal, this intermediate-level class combines:

*Kapha-balancing yoga asanas to energize the body and build muscular strength.

*Lightweight strength training (2–3 lb weights) to enhance tone, endurance, and functional strength.

*Core-focused yoga sequences to support posture, stability, and confident movement.

*Purifying breathwork and heart-opening restorative poses to refresh the system and cultivate ease, openness, and integration.

Props Needed: 2 blocks, 2 free weights (2–3 lbs), cushion, blanket.

*Note: No class on March 25 (enjoy a short pre-recorded practice instead)

Rediscover your strength, stability, and springtime vitality—inside and out!

Register via Better Yoga:
https://betteryogastudio.net/checkout/new?o=224500&utm_source=uscreen&utm_medium=landing_page&utm_campaign=events&utm_content=link&utm_term=Ayurvedic+Yoga+for+Spring+Strength+%26amp%3B+Stability