In the tranquil Martinsville Valley, nestled near the Watagan Mountains, a former Newcastle barrister is guiding Australians on a profound journey toward inner peace. Shakti Durga, once known as Kim Fraser, has traded legal briefs for spiritual healing at her Harmony Centre ashram.
From Courtroom to Ashram: A Life Transformed
The search for serenity has become increasingly challenging in today's stressed-out world, but Shakti Durga offers a sanctuary for those seeking calm. She legally changed her name in the tradition of spiritual leaders forging new identities. Durga represents spiritual strength and courage, while Shakti signifies spiritual energy.
Once dubbed Australia's first female guru, she now prefers the title of mystic and healer. People get frightened of the word guru because of people who've behaved badly, she explains.
Several turning points led her down this unexpected path. I had six months of bronchitis while trying to run a law practice and raise a two-year-old, she recalls. I was exhausted. Someone suggested I try energy healing, which I didn't believe in.
Skeptical but desperate, she gave it a try. My lungs cleared up within 24 hours. That was completely outside my paradigm of what was possible, she says. During the healing, she also felt the release of grief from the end of her six-year marriage.
The Science Behind Spiritual Healing
Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Science in California, explains that energy medicine assesses and treats energetic imbalances, bringing the body's systems back to homeostasis. Dr Radin has published more than 150 academic articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Some assume that energy medicine is mediated by electromagnetism or quantum mechanics, Dr Radin says. Many scientists and physicians will not accept 'weird' healing effects without an explanation, regardless of the growing database indicating that many of these modalities appear to be efficacious.
Energy medicine includes various practices such as:
- Reiki and therapeutic touch
- Qigong and acupuncture
- Shamanic and spiritual healing
- Prayer and emotional freedom techniques
Virtually all of these modalities work not only in proximity to the patient, but also at far distances, Dr Radin notes. It is this nonlocal feature of energy medicine that is at once the most puzzling and the most intriguing aspect.
Building a Spiritual Sanctuary
Shakti Durga retired from law at age 40 in 2001. By this time, she owned two large parcels of land along Martinsville Road at Cooranbong. She bought the 65-acre site in 1999, creating the perfect setting for an ashram in this pretty valley of natural beauty and birdsong.
Having been taught by Indian, Balinese and Filipino teachers to become a spiritual leader, she established the Harmony Centre. Her husband of 25 years, Hugh Keller (also known by his spiritual name Shiva), donated his half of the property to the Well Being Initiative charity, which runs programs at the ashram.
The centre's activities blend indoor and outdoor spiritual practices:
- Meditation classes and healing sessions inside a modest house
- Fire and moon ceremonies outdoors
- Meditations with their four joyful cows named Panacea, Brahmi, Veda and Bella
- Cooking classes and community working bees
We invite people from every faith. You don't even have to believe in the divine, Shakti Durga emphasizes. It's just about having love inside you.
The Harmony Centre holds a community Satsang every Sunday at 10:30am, featuring music, communal singing, and mystical teachings. When Shakti Durga leads these events, she sings with a heavenly voice that seems to emanate love and bliss.
Prior to being a spiritual teacher and healer, my singing career was limited to the shower, she jokes. While I loved music, I never thought of myself as a performer.
She believes her voice is augmented by an energy beyond me, with lyrics coming to her spontaneously as she sings. I came to believe that a goddess was working through me to bring forth love through sound. It awakens people.
Asked what she means by goddess, she describes it as the spiritual energy of love and kindness and the life force that makes the plants grow. She connects this to the ancient concept of Mother Earth and feels the world needs more of the divine feminine.
Healing Emotions and Building Community
The spiritual path at the Harmony Centre aligns with the widespread Australian desire for better mental health. People have thoughts that they'll never be fully accepted or loved, Shakti Durga observes. It becomes their subconscious paradigm. We help them move through that so they know they are loved and valued.
She teaches that emotions are messengers providing valuable information. The charge from my emotion gives me the information I need, she explains. I can breathe and release that charge, then meditate and have a clear idea about what needs to be done.
Underneath emotions, she believes, lies a bedrock of connectivity that feels like love. Helping people connect with this foundation represents a huge shift in consciousness for many visitors.
The community that has grown around the Harmony Centre provides essential support. Our kind, sweet community is growing. Everybody looks after each other and is welcoming of new people, she says. It's the gardens, the cows, walking on the land, the friendship - even just a cup of tea.
Scientific research increasingly supports the validity of energy healing approaches. A 2023 study of the Bengston healing method found a measurable resonant bond between healer and healee, noting that successful healing associates with connection while failure associates with disconnection.
A University of Technology Sydney systematic review concluded in 2016 that energy healing has demonstrated some improvement in illness symptoms, while calling for more robust trials. Similarly, University of Northampton meta-analyses in 2015 found a significant improvement in wellbeing relative to control subjects in non-contact healing studies.
For Shakti Durga, the spiritual path has been the gift that keeps on giving. You never know where it will take you. For me, it's been more love than I ever felt possible.
Reflecting on her transition from legal professional to spiritual guide, she acknowledges the profound shift in her approach to life. Before, I was so rational, logical and left-brained. I have economics and law degrees, she says. To use this other part - your heart, spirit and soul - I had to learn how to do it.
