Shakti Gawain, an internationally known figure in the field of personal development and spirituality for the past twenty-five years, is a best-selling author and renowned teacher of consciousness. She promotes self awareness and wholeness and has sought to help people create balance in their lives.
One of Gawain’s main focuses is on the concept of the inner child. She believes an inner child lives within each of us throughout our life and that we need to recognize and tend to the needs of this inner child. She contends that if we fail to tend to the needs of our inner child, we may lose sight of what is really important in our lives. She holds that we must pay attention to this inner child in order to live our lives to the fullest.
Gawain was born in 1948. Her parents were academics and atheists. Shakti's name is the feminized version of the Hindu god Shiva. As an only child, she was an avid reader and thinker. She realized that not only the mind, but the body also needed to express itself and she began dancing lessons.
As an adult, she traveled to India. While there, she became deeply immersed in Indian culture and religious beliefs. She gave away all of her belongings and lived a possession-free existence. The value of being one with herself took precedence in her life. She has since become a noted figure in her field and a well-respected voice on spiritual issues.
Gawain has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America and Larry King Live. She has been published in the New Age Journal, Body, Mind & Spirit, Cosmopolitan, and Time Magazine. Gawain has written several books, including: Creative Visualization, Living in the Light, Path of Transformation and Creating True Prosperity. She is the co-founder of New World Library Publishing and an avid environmentalist. She divides her time between Hawaii and California and lives with her husband Jim Burns.
~ Amanda Miller
