Sally Kempton

Sally Kempton was born on January 15, 1943, in Manhattan. Her father was Murray Kempton.[2] She was the oldest of five children and spent her formative years in Princeton, New Jersey. She attended Sarah Lawrence College, influenced by her boyfriend's perception of the institution's femininity. Her parents divorced when she was in college. As a student, she co-edited a magazine parody, The Establishment.[1]

After graduation, Kempton started her career as a journalist and wrote articles for the Village Voice, Esquire, and The New York Times, on counterculture-related topics.[1][3] She reported her first euphoric experience occurring in her West Village apartment, during a psychedelic encounter accompanied by the Grateful Dead's "Ripple".[1]

Kempton was also a member of the New York Radical Feminists and advocated for women's rights.[1] Her article "Cutting Loose", originally published in Esquire in July 1970, which critiqued societal gender norms, garnered significant attention.[1]

In the years following the Esquire piece, Kempton turned her focus to engaging with eastern spiritual practice. In 1974 set met the Indian mystic, Swami Muktananda, or Baba, the leader of the Siddha Yoga movement,[1][3] and shortly thereafter moved into his ashram. In 1982, she became a Siddha Yoga swami, and was given the name Swami Durgananda.[1]

In 2002, after spending 28 years in Siddha Yoga ashrams, Kempton gave up her vows as a swami and moved to Carmel, California. In the subsequent years, she traveled extensively teaching meditation and spiritual philosophy, and wrote two books on these subjects. For several years she wrote regular articles on spirituality for the Yoga Journal. She died on July 10, 2023, at the age of 80.[1]

• Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience (2011)

• Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga (2013)

• Official website