Mark A. Michaels (Swami Umeshanand Saraswati) and Patricia Johnson (Devi Veenanand), a devoted married couple, have been teaching Tantra together since 1999. Their approach combines traditional lineage-based Tantra with the best contemporary methods so that students can bring heightened awareness and an expanded capacity for pleasure into all aspects of everyday life. Michaels and Johnson are the authors of The Essence of Tantric Sexuality (2006), which won the USA Book News National Best Books 2007 Award in Health: Sexuality. Their second book, Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: The Key to Enriching Your Sexual Life (2008) won a 2008 USA Book News Award. Their meditation CD set, Ananda Nidra: Blissful Sleep (Projekt Records) was a finalist for the 2012 COVR Visionary Award for Innerspace/Meditational/Healing Music. The couple has taught throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia.
Michaels is a graduate of New York University School of Law and a member of the Bar in New York State. He holds master's degrees in American Studies from NYU and Yale. Formerly, a playwright and translator, he translated and adapted Goldoni's The Mistress of the Inn for the Roundabout Theatre Company, and co-wrote The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of Debate, which premiered at New York's Primary Stages.