Today is an exclusive live video interview with David Lipsius, for the interview series “Interviews with the Leading Edge.”

In this series of interviews, I engage with people who are on the leading edge of transformational change, doing work to further the consciousness revolution and how it is manifesting in culture, politics and spirituality, in order to help bring along a more enlightened society.

David Lipsius is one such person.

David is the CEO of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, a world-renowned retreat center in Lenox, MA. Kripalu is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to empowering people and communities to realize their full potential through the transformative wisdom and practice of yoga.

For more than 40 years, Kripalu has been teaching skills for optimal living through education for the whole person: body, mind, heart, and spirit. It is the largest and most established retreat center for yoga, health, and holistic living in North America.

David had a powerful life story to tell before he came to Kripalu, with a journey filled with leaps of faith, synchronicities, the following of his heart and the listening to what was true for him.

He started his professional career as a lawyer, but after a few years of doing legal work, found he desired a career that had more creativity to it. He then went to work in the television industry, starting out as a page for NBC and working his way up to becoming a vice-president.

At the same time he was working at NBC, David starting delving into eastern thought and the yogic arts, and became a serious student of yoga. At some point, he decided he was ready to leave his job at NBC, even though he loved it, in order to become a yoga teacher.

Just as he was winding down his career at NBC,  he was hit by a car while bicycling and suffered serious physical injuries that took him through numerous surgeries and an arduous rehab process. He went to Kripalu for a month-long yoga for rehabilitation program, and at the end of the program he applied for a job there. He was hired for an administrative position at Kripalu, and a few years later became the CEO.

I met with David at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health overlooking the beautiful Berkshire Mountains in Lenox, MA, and there we had a far-ranging conversation that covered not only his personal story (which truly is an inspirational one), but we also talked about Kripalu, its mission, its programs, and its role as a lighthouse and a beacon of light.

Kripalu is playing an important role in helping to usher in a consciousness revolution, by creating a sacred space where people can come to heal, grow and evolve.

And David Lipsius, the CEO of Kripalu, is someone with a vision of how Kripalu can continue to play an integral role in this movement, and he has the wherewithal to make sure that this vision comes to fruition.

To learn more about Kripalu, go to http://kripalu.org/