Durga Ma's education began
in a small mining town in Missouri. She spent three years on scholarship
completing her BA in piano and coral conducting at the University of
Missouri before completing her MA at San Francisco State University.
She is an elementary, secondary and adult education credentialed teacher,
and has taught in the psychology department at Antioch College West
in San Francisco, California.
After owning her own business and raising
her two children, she simplified her life in order to take up the full
time study and practice of an ancient spiritual path of Eastern origin
(shaktipat kundalini yoga) which is passed down through a lineage
of spiritual masters. Having successfully completed all the stages of
this path over a period of several years, she was appointed to teach
her teacher's advanced students in the United States.
For many years Durga Ma lived in solitude
meditating eighteen hours each day and studying ancient Sanskrit writings.
Her extraordinary gift for comprehending the inner meanings of these
great works, and her own meditative experience have given rise to her
extraordinary grasp of the spiritual path.
She has written and published on the subject
of meditation and the spiritual path, and has translated various texts
from the original Sanskrit into English specifically for the Western
reader. Realizing that most spiritual and religious writings and oral
teachings have traditionally been carried by and addressed to men, she
interprets these teachings for women in current time in Western culture.
Her many years of study and experience
have equipped her with an amazing ability for refining ancient teachings
for access to a modern world without sacrificing essentials and authenticity.
She stresses empowerment through conscious choice, and personally tailors
her guidance to meet each person’s needs and aims. Her students
represent various religions as well as those seeking Truth outside organized
religion.
Durga Ma now resides in Phoenix, Arizona