Shakti Gawain (30 September 1948 – 11 November 2018)[1] was an American New Age and personal development writer.[2] Her books have sold over 10 million copies.[3]

Early life and education

Born Carol Louisa Gawain, she graduated from the University of California with a degree in fine arts and dance in the mid 1970s.[4]

Career

Gawain is best known for her book Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Life (1978).[5] The book focuses primarily on making changes to visual mental imagery, and attributes to it the capacity for hindering or facilitating an individual's potential, citing vivid anecdotal stories drawn from her experience and that of others to support her thesis.[6]

The first line of the book reads "Creative Visualization is the technique of creating what you want in your life". The following paragraphs define imagination as the "creative energy of the universe", and introduces the book as a means by which to use the so-defined imagination to "create what you truly want — love, fulfillment, enjoyment, satisfying relationships, rewarding work, self-expression, health, beauty, prosperity, inner peace, and harmony."[6]

The book has been a bestseller for nearly 40 years.[7] Subsequent to the popularity of the book, the practice of creative visualization, remained a staple and stable feature within the New Age movement, self-help media, and popular psychology of the 1980s, 1990s, and first decade of the 21st century.[8]

New World Library

Gawain was the co-founder, with Marc Allen, of New World Library Publishing Company, and founder of Nataraj Publishing, a division of New World Library.[1]

Publications

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References

  1. ^ a b Maher, John (November 16, 2018). "Shakti Gawain, New World Library Cofounder, Dies at 70". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  2. ^ "About Shakti Gawain". Shaktigawain.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-12.
  3. ^ Bond, Gwenda (4 April 2014). "Inspirational and Spirituality Books 2014: Getting Centered". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  4. ^ Shakti Gawain personal website
  5. ^ Hughes, Dennis and Janice. "Shakti Gawain Interview". www.shareguide.com. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  6. ^ a b Gawain, Shakti (2008). Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create what You Want in Your Life. Nataraj Publishing. ISBN 978-1577316367.
  7. ^ Callahan, Maggie (20 November 2015). "Visualization: The Power Of Positive Thought". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  8. ^ Rindfleish, J. (2005). "Consuming the self: New Age spirituality as 'social product' in consumer society". Consumption, Markets and Culture. 8 (4): 343–360. doi:10.1080/10253860500241930. S2CID 144285623.

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