Sally Kempton, a great yoga teacher and devotee of the Shakti, passed away peacefully on July 10th at age 80 in her home in Carmel, California after struggling with waning health for the last couple of years.
Over the last 40 years in the modern yoga world, Sally Kempton was an exemplary teacher that inspired countless yoga students worldwide to seek their spiritual hearts—the inner abode of the resplendent Self, the hub of all sacred places.
When I first met Sally, (a.k.a. Swami Durgananda) in Ganeshpuri, India at Gurumayi’s (Swami Chidvilasananda’s) ashram in November of 1989, her eyes and smile shone brightly with Shakti (Kundalini energy, high frequency Prana) from her daily meditation practice and other sadhana as a yogic monk. Sally was charmingly eloquent with a refined vocabulary and a vivid intellect. And at the same time, students would recognize that she knew the Self—this place of divine love and creative light (Shakti) inside all of us—directly and intimately. She was beloved by many of us in the modern yoga world, not only for her brilliant mind and skillful teaching, but also for her sparkling presence of goodness and lovingkindness.
This inner radiance of the heart was unveiled to Sally in 1974 when she received Shaktipat from Baba Muktananda. In her book, “The Heart of Meditation: Pathways to a Deeper Experience”, Swami Durgananda writes that “In the early 1970’s, Swami Muktananda initiated me into meditation by showing me that the field of my Awareness contained the whole universe.” Durgananda describes her Kundalini (‘coiled life force’) awakening with Baba Muktananda as a “kind of implosion” in which the Supreme Consciousness of the universe was directly experienced as her own Awareness, scintillating as divine love.
Sally spent the next 49 years sharing and inspiring others about the great path of yogic meditation, particularly influenced by the Kashmir Shaivite guru Abhinavagupta and his disciple Kshemaraja, who taught that this material world was a luminous manifestation (Shakti) of Supreme Consciousness. From this Tantric view, everything is God. Sally epitomized this all-inclusive philosophy by always looking for the Auspicious in others. Sally greatly helped to further Baba Muktananda’s “meditation revolution” in the West by making the esoteric Tantric teachings of Kashmir Shaivism accessible and practical for the mainstream public, particularly in the American yoga world.
Above all, Sally Kempton’s teachings shone with Love and Truth — the universal Shakti, vibrating with Light from the Kundalini lineage of Bhagawan Nityananda. Regardless of religious affiliation or ethnic background, if one were in Sally’s presence, their spirit was uplifted to seek the Highest within themselves and the world.
From 1992 – 2001, I was privileged to spend a lot of time each Summer in Swami Durgananda’s uplifting presence as a student of Gurumayi at Swami Muktananda’s Ashram in upstate New York. In 2002, Swami Durgananda left SYDA and become a householder again and returned to her family name – Sally Kempton, moved to northern California, and entered the burgeoning yoga world as an independent writer and meditation teacher. Sally was superb with teaching a variety of meditation techniques to the hatha yogis, especially the Anusara students who were touched by Sally’s good heart. I also introduced Sally to my contacts at Yoga Journal, which helped to spread her Shakti-filled teachings to a wide audience, also significantly raising the caliber of the magazine.
When I left Anusara yoga in early 2012 under terrible circumstances, Sally was there for me as a powerfully wise and loving friend and supporter. Over the following most challenging and blessed years of my life, Sally remained a steady friend, regularly reminding me to “be true to the integrity of your heart, John,” — a key teaching that informs me every day.
Sally’s radiant presence and loving wisdom will be deeply missed.
Sadgurunath Maharaj ki Jai!
