Dena is a long-time meditation practitioner in the lineage of Kriya Yoga. She came in contact with her guru Paramhansa Yogananda at the age of 20, long after he had left his physical form, and devoted many years to practicing his teachings and studying the texts of the ancient Vedic tradition. During her years of meditation, many vivid memories of past births began to emerge, revealing an intricate and subtle patten of cause and effect, the law of karmic unfolding. These memories became the subject of her books. The purpose of sharing these intimate stories was to help people see the long arch of their life, whether they retain memories or not, to help overcome fear and anxiety about death, to understand more fully the workings of cause and effect and to know that each one of us, moment to moment, is creating the blueprint for our future.

Having founded the non-profit organization The Global Peace Initiative of Women in 2002, she has worked to bring spiritual voices to address global challenges. She has spoken in many forums on the need for a shift in consciousness if we are to address successfully ecological decline, economic and gender imbalance, climate instability, violence and other critical issues. Before writing about her own spiritual experiences, Dena wrote about art and spirituality, publishing a number of books on contemporary artists and for some years editing the magazine Sculpture Review. She received her Master’s Degree from Columbia University, has served on numerous boards and in 2014 received the Niwano Peace Prize for her international work.

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