Shakti Gawain was born Carol Louise Gawain in Trenton, New Jersey on September 30, 1948. She received a bachelor of arts degree in dance from the University of California, Irvine in 1971. In 1977, she co-founded New World Library with Marc Allen. In 1992, Gawain left New World Library to start a publishing company called Nataraj Publishing with her husband Jim Burns. Gawain became a leading author in the world consciousness and human potential movements. She wrote numerous books including Creative Visualization, Living in the Light, Return to the Garden, The Path of Transformation, The Four Levels of Healing, Creating True Prosperity, and Developing Intuition. She was also an inspirational speaker and lead workshops. She died from complications related to hip surgery on November 11, 2018 at the age of 70.