About Diana

In April 1974, when I had been meditating for a year, I developed a profound yearning for spiritual liberation.  I read, in Ram Dass’s book Be Here Now, 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 Kashmir Shaivism, a profound body of work about which Muktananda was a leading expert. 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 the practices of Kashmir Shaivism, and as a Western contemplative and academic, I am to some extent freer of the cultural and societal encumbrances that may have burdened understanding of that traditional wisdom in the past. I have been formally meditating since 1973 and my practices are rooted in the deep tantric wisdom of the Heart - the call to the sacred that is born of love.

By Heart, I refer not to the physical organ that pumps blood, but rather the subtle Heart—in Sanskrit, hrdaya—that can be sensed near the center of the chest and is often identified in ancient texts as the seat of the soul, or Atman, as well as of emotion. Mystics from all traditions speak of the piercing, penetrating, awakening and opening of the Heart as integral to spiritual development.

As both a scholarly researcher and a contemplative practitioner engaged in mystical inquiry, my writings and teachings offer insights into the expansion of consciousness and practices that provide the opportunity for profound psycho-spiritual transformation.

I have a unique perspective on the integration of Kashmir Shaivism with transpersonal and psychological perspectives based on my own spiritual journey, education and teaching experience. At the University of Toronto, my PhD dissertation (1996) was a phenomenological study of the contraction and expansion of consciousness specific to the awakening of the Heart. It was rooted in the texts of Kashmir Shaivism and incorporated insights from transpersonal psychology, my own spiritual turning points and the many workshops and retreats I had facilitated on the Heart. My teaching, research, and publications over decades have been grounded in experiential and holistic learning and inquiry, engaging body, mind, emotion and spirit in the process. I have given workshops and talks in various venues in Canada, the US, England and the EU.

My co-edited books — Spirituality, Action & Pedagogy: Teaching from the Heart; Holistic Learning and Spirituality: Breaking New Ground; and, Spirituality, Ethnography and Teaching: Stories from Within — have explored the integration of spirituality in education. My articles, book chapters and other writings further express my understanding of 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.

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.