Durga Ma was born in the Mid West in 1942. She is a composer, author, yogacharya, and has teaching credentials and experience at all levels. She has taught privately (piano), performed in concert, owned her own business and raised two children. When her children were grown, she went into the woods for solitude, lived simply, and took up the full time study and practice of shaktipat kundalini yoga meditation, which is passed down through a lineage of teachers. She now writes, translates ancient Sanskrit mystical texts, teaches and certifies meditation teachers, and gives shaktipat initiation.