About Diana

In April 1974, when I had been meditating for a year, I developed a profound yearning for spiritual liberation.  In Ram Dass’s book Be Here Now, I read that when the student is ready the teacher will come. With that promise in mind, I hitchhiked from my hometown of Toronto to the supposed spiritual mecca of coastal California. I was nineteen. I arrived in Pasadena in late spring and soon met the famous guru, Swami Muktananda. That was the beginning of a challenging and transformative association with him, as well as a personal and professional investigation of the tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, a profound body of work about which Muktananda was a leading expert. Kashmir Shaivism is a non-dual Hindu tradition that is also deeply rooted in yogic philosophy and practice. I studied with Muktananda from 1974 until the early 1980’s and later expanded what I learned from him in my academic studies and elsewhere.

As a woman schooled in these ancient tantric practices, and as a Western contemplative and academic, I offer a perspective free from many historical cultural encumbrances. Meditating formally since 1973, my practice is rooted in the deep tantric wisdom of the Heart.  Mystics across traditions speak of the piercing, penetrating, awakening and opening of the Heart as integral to spiritual development. I anchor my teachings and writings in ancient tantric insights and my own spiritual turning points, culminating in a profound awakening of my Heart in the spring of 1989. This transformation shifted my perspective entirely; I no longer saw spiritual liberation as a distant destination to be achieved. Instead, I recognized that the realization and expansion of the Heart is a holistic, lifelong process that encompasses body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Within this space of the Heart, I discovered a sacred inner sanctuary—a quiet reservoir of wisdom, stillness, peace, and love that anchors me through life’s challenges and forms the ultimate foundation of my work today.

Bridging Wisdom & Academia

As an Associate Professor Emeritus, author, poet, and educator, my work bridges the boundaries of communication arts, transpersonal psychology, holistic education, and sacred tantric traditions. Following a distinguished academic career at the University of Waterloo, I now focus my research, consulting, and spiritual teaching on the transformative power of the Heart as a site for relational healing, conscious leadership, and profound internal inquiry. By exploring how conscious presence, authentic dialogue, contemplative listening, emotional resilience, and spiritual intimacy intersect, my integrative approach seamlessly weaves Western psychological frameworks with Eastern philosophy.

This unique dual lens allows me to help both individuals and organizations move from the head to the Heart—building the emotional resilience, compassion, discernment, and authentic presence required to navigate complex modern landscapes and live with deeper purpose and fulfillment. My writings and teachings offer insights and practices that provide the opportunity for profound expansions of consciousness.

   I completed an undergraduate degree in English and creative writing in the late 1970’s. In the early 1980’s I began teaching meditation in Continuing Education programs and soon pivoted to a private consulting practice in the area of Stress Management for organizations. Driven by a desire to deepen my impact, I began graduate studies at the University of Toronto in 1986. Beyond academic knowledge, these studies offered a transformative space for inner reflection and professional evolution - deepening my psychological insight and allowing me to fully align my spiritual calling with my career.

   My MA in Adult Education with a specialization in Developing Human Resources (1989) at the University of Toronto integrated psychological and transpersonal courses with those focused on facilitation, and adult and arts-based learning. My MA thesis, Presence, was a phenomenological exploration of my spiritual experiences, detailing the awakening of my Heart.  From 1989 on I developed a series of workshops and retreats focused on facilitating the deepening realization of the Heart.

   I hold a PhD from the University of Toronto (1996), in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning with a specialization in Holistic and Aesthetic Education that combined contemplative, holistic and arts-based interpretive inquiry with research on ancient tantric tradition. My PhD dissertation, In the Tenderness of Stone: A Poetics of the Heart focused on the contraction and expansion of consciousness as linked to the awakening of the Heart. This phenomenological study blended the foundational tantric texts of Kashmir Shaivism with contemporary transpersonal psychology, my own spiritual turning points, and insights from the many workshops and retreats I had facilitated on the Heart.

   During my decades-long academic career, I taught numerous university courses, including Spiritual Development in a Diverse World: Communicating Across Differences, Interpersonal, Small Group, and Organizational Communication, Conflict Management, Leadership, Adult Learning, and the Holistic Educator and Professional Practice. My courses integrated contemplative and imaginal practices.

Expanding the Work

   As a scholar-practitioner, I seamlessly bridged my scholarly research with practical applications in organizational communication, leadership coaching, and conflict management. Central to my consulting practice is my signature Heart-based approach, which integrates authentic dialogue, experiential inquiry, and reflective and contemplative practices into corporate, not-for-profit, and public sector frameworks. I teach leaders and teams to engage in contemplative listening. This technique bypasses immediate defensive reactions, allowing conflicting parties to hear the deeper feelings and unmet needs underlying a dispute, and to acknowledge their own contribution to the conflict. Drawing from my work on institutional tension and broken trust, I guide organizations and individuals to see conflict as a catalyst for creative transformation rather than a destructive force.

As a spiritual teacher, I facilitate retreats and workshops that integrate my heart-based approach and deeply embodied contemplative and meditative inquiry. My teaching, research, and publications emphasize holistic, experiential learning that engages the body, mind, emotion, and spirit. I have facilitated workshops and given talks across Canada, the United States, England, and the European Union.

   Additionally, I have co-edited and contributed to three foundational books exploring spirituality in education:

Spirituality, Action & Pedagogy: Teaching from the Heart;

Holistic Learning and Spirituality: Breaking New Ground;

Spirituality, Ethnography & Teaching: Stories from Within.

   My articles, book chapters and other writings further express my understandings and teachings on the awakening and deepening of the Heart realization for contemporary seekers.

  I invite you to explore this realm of the Heart. To ask the deeper questions and welcome the sacred wisdom of your own Heart. To notice what calls to you as you listen inwardly. To tap the well of love, peace, inspiration, energy and fulfillment that dwells within.

The Power of The Subtle Heart

By Heart, I refer not to the physical organ, but rather the subtle Heart - in Sanskrit, hrdaya. Sensed near the center of the chest, ancient texts identify this space as the seat of the soul, or Atman, authentic emotion, and deep relational wisdom. Mystics from all traditions speak of the opening of the Heart as integral to human development.

My aesthetic perspective draws on the creative resources of metaphor and imagery to facilitate this awakening. In my teaching and writing, metaphors are not merely poetic devices; they are somatic and spiritual bridges that help us access realities beyond literal language. Metaphors like the "the stone heart, “the broken heart,” or the "the inner flame" serve as experiential anchors. By working with these images, we give our inner landscape a tangible form. This allows us to move from abstract spiritual concepts to direct, embodied encounters with the power and the presence of the Heart and its wisdom, mapping out our internal shifts and transformations.

This approach embraces our individual humanness as precious and sacred rather than as something to disown, abandon, or dissolve in the search for spiritual enlightenment. It encourages all aspects of our humanity to thrive while celebrating the paradox of being simultaneously separate and One.

Awakening the Heart

Awakening the Heart – its freedom and responsivity, its capacity to move and be moved by all that surrounds it – catalyzes a profound expansion of consciousness. As we enter into a greater realization of the Heart and harness its compassion, wisdom and responsivity within ourselves, we create a ripple effect that may move out to touch other systems in our sphere – interpersonal, community, organizational, national and global.

The world is chaotic and rife with unprecedented change and challenge, politically, environmentally, culturally, socially and personally. Life is increasingly unpredictable, and our foothold on the precipice is precarious. Maintaining one’s sense of centeredness and equilibrium can be challenging, to say the least.

When fear, anger, depression, or despair take hold, it is vital that we kindle feelings of hope, compassion, kindness and love within the Heart, and that we find the energy needed to seed our inner and outer worlds with a greater light. Practices like the meditative exercises found in my teachings and writings can help us access the peace and resilience that abides within us and guide us toward appropriate action to protect ourselves and those we love. As we learn to derive sustenance, support and inspiration from our inner world we develop and deepen the strength, calm, compassion and inner center that will guide us as we move forward in our lives.