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A Life of Wisdom
and Devotion

Sally kempton biograph 1943-2023

Sally Kempton, a beloved spiritual and meditation teacher, was an author and lifelong student of the wisdom traditions of Tantra, Kashmir Shaivism, and the Goddess traditions of India. Over nearly five decades, she dedicated her life to studying, embodying, and sharing these ancient meditative and tantric teachings in ways modern students could understand and apply them to daily life.

Sally was born in 1943 in Princeton, New Jersey. Her father, Murray Kempton, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Her mother, Mina, was a social worker. Sally was the oldest of four children and had three younger brothers. 
Sally&Muktananda

She studied literature and philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College and became a respected journalist in her own right. Her essay “Cutting Loose: A Private View of the Women’s Uprising,” was published in Esquire and captured the psychological and political sensibilities of second-wave feminism. She also wrote for The New York Times, New York Magazine,and The Village Voice. Around the same time, she was married briefly to Harrison Starr, a film producer.

The early 1970s began a time of discovery and personal upheaval for Sally. She crossed paths with a variety of Eastern and Western meditation and psychological frameworks that intrigued her. In 1974, she recognized her guru in Swami Muktananda, a tantric master of the Siddha Yoga tradition. Sally would spend the next three decades living as a monastic within the Siddha Yoga. She was initiated into the Saraswati order of monks in 1982 and given the name Swami Durgananda.

During her time in Siddha Yoga, Sally continued to write on spiritual topics, and she began to teach. She edited and collated her guru’s teachings in several books and in addition she edited Siddha Yoga’s monthly magazine, Darshan.
After nearly 30 years of monastic life, Sally left Siddha Yoga in 2002 and began teaching and writing in her unique style. For years she penned the “Wisdom” column for Yoga Journal in her role as contributing editor and she began teaching extensively in person and via online courses, reaching students  around the world.
Sally published her first book, Meditation for the Love of It, in 2011. This book is a descriptive, deep dive into the juiciness of heart-based meditation applicable to meditators at any stage of practice.  Awakening Shakti was published in 2013 and distills Sally’s vast, nuanced, and heart-opening relationship with the many faces of the Goddess into mantras, yantras, daily practices, and personal experiences. It is a guide into the art of honoring the Goddess in everyday life.
Her audio book, Doorways to the Infinite, is rooted in the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, an ancient Hindu text written as a dialogue between Shiva and Shakti, the male and female embodiments of the Sacred. 
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Doorways to the Infinite

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Meditation for the Love of It

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Cutting Loose

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Yoga Journal

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Sally was often described as a “teacher’s teacher” and was revered across many disciplines. She spoke fluently in the language of meditation and Eastern traditions but also wove Western psychology and neuroscience as well as current events and popular culture into her teachings.
At her core, she remained what she had always been: a writer and a feminist. Clear, incisive, and precise, she possessed a perfect mix of intelligence, warmth, wit, ferocity, and irreverence.  
Sally taught until shortly before her passing in July 2023. Her teachings live on through her students, her writings, her vast collection of online courses, and her guided meditations. Sally’s teachings remain an open doorway into meditation, self-inquiry, goddess traditions, and the living current of the tantric path.
Class with Sally Kempton
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