# Mahara McKay

Mahara McKay (born March 1981 in New Zealand) has been guiding thousands of individuals for over a decade in their personal and spiritual growth, expanded awareness, and inner transformation. Through Tantric & Shamanic Arts, Meditation, Breathwork, Bodywork, Dance & Vocal Activation, Conscious Communication, and Yoga, she empowers people to connect deeply with themselves.
In 2024, she founded Equilibra, a retreat center in the Swiss Alps, where all her courses have been consistently sold out. Teaching since 2015, she now offers an exclusive one-year Tantra Essence Teacher Training Initiation to five dedicated students per year.
https://www.maharamckay.info/about/biography
For more information, visit:
www.maharamckay.info
www.maharamckay.ch
www.equilibra.world

## Life
### Short biography

Mahara McKay has a Swiss mother and a father from New Zealand of Maori descent. She grew up in New Zealand until she was ten years old. In 1991, she moved to Switzerland. After mandatory school, McKay attended art school and started an apprenticeship as an interior decorator in the city of Zurich, Switzerland.
In 2000, McKay won the beauty pageant Miss Switzerland. After her reign as Miss Switzerland, Mahara McKay pursued an independent career as a model, presenter, and international DJ, composing music for Café del Mar and other chillout compilations. During this period, she lived in Los Angeles and Berlin before eventually returning to Zürich.
In 2012, she made a life-changing decision - selling everything to embark on a spiritual journey in search of deeper meaning and purpose. She spent a year backpacking around the world, immersing herself in different cultures and experiences.
In 2014, following a profound spiritual awakening in Fiji, she returned to New Zealand, wanting a fresh start, where nobody knew her.
By 2015, she had founded 2nd Floor Yoga, opening two beautiful yoga studios in the heart of Dunedin, where she reconnected with her roots and taught for two years. There she facilitated Tantric Hatha, Yin Yoga, Pregnancy Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama, Yoga Nidra and Ecstatic Dances.
As much as she loved her time there, she felt a deep calling to leave. She longed to focus on transformational trainings, guiding people beyond the physical body into the depths of heart and soul.
Trusting her instincts, she returned to India, where the next chapter of her journey began - and TANTRA ENERGY was born.
For four years, she lived out of a backpack, traveling the world, holding tantric spaces for personal development and spiritual awakening.
On the magical island of Koh Phangan, Thailand, she found a breathtaking piece of land, overlooking the ocean - a place that felt like home, the perfect setting for a Tantra retreat center. But life had other plans...
After purchasing the land, she returned to India to teach - and there, for the first time, she fell in love with a woman. Overcoming challenges of what other people may think of that, she moved to Portugal to her girlfriend, where she immersed herself in the early stages of building an off-grid community deep in the wilderness. They lived with no running water, no electricity, and endured scorching heat by day, while at night, they slept under the vast Milky Way, illuminated by thousands of stars. An unforgettable experience.
When they traveled back to India to hold a training, the global lockdown kept them there for seven months.
Eventually Mahara returned to visit her family in Switzerland. But with Thailand, Portugal, India, and New Zealand still closed, she felt trapped there and had to act fast. Switzerland was expensive, and she needed a place to live and teach. Just six months later, the second lockdown hit - thankfully she had secured an affordable studio where she could teach and live for the beginning. She had no intention in staying there. She was just waiting for the borders in Thailand to open.
Over the next three years, she built a thriving community - one deeply committed to self-discovery. Through the power of the spoken word from her students, her teachings reached and transformed countless souls.
Meanwhile she had a committed relationship with a Swiss Man, who did not want to live in Thailand. Therefore she decided to sell the land in Koh Phangan in February 2024.
By April 2024, she reinvested in an incredible building in the Swiss Alps, transforming it into a retreat center "Equilibra", where she now holds sold-out retreats and courses in both German and English. - may still be a work in progress.
In February 2015, she signed a contract with the investor behind the latest Dalai Lama documentary, agreeing to an intimate documentary about her own life - an intense, year-long project that will unfold in the coming months.
From April 2026 to April 2027, Mahara will offer five dedicated students an extraordinary one-year Tantra Essence Teacher Training Initiation. Additionally, a few participants will have the opportunity to join individual modules for their own personal growth alongside the living-in students.
Mahara has always dreamed of living in a small, supportive community, where people share a deep interest in the tantric lifestyle - cultivating freedom, balance, and respect for all beings, and Mother Earth. A place where discipline meets flow, and work and leisure exist in harmony.
For Mahara, the greatest teacher has always been LIFE itself - walking toward her fears, embracing challenges with an open heart, practicing mindfulness, observing children and animals, and immersing herself in nature.
From her humble beginnings to moments of fame and glamour, followed by a deep, spiritual path - Mahara is embracing an ongoing practice of evolving, becoming whole, finding balance, seeking truth and love, working on caring and nurturing relationships, personal development and self love, trusting her natural intelligence, and following her hearts calling.
"To truly follow the heart, we must first discover who we really are".
Today, Mahara feels more free, alive, and at peace than ever - dedicating herself to teaching tantric and shamanic arts, yoga, meditation, conscious communication, dance and vocal activation to anyone with an open heart and an open mind.
She has learned to appreciate life's simplest joys, to embrace humility, to take bold risks, and to live her dreams.
"I trust in the universe, in the wisdom within, and in the limitless potential of the soul".
Her greatest mission is to inspire you, to become the best version of yourself, to encourage you to reach your highest potential, and to guide you toward a life of love, peace, and balance.

### Career in the music industry

Starting in 2002, McKay worked as a DJ at different events. She produced several songs for compilations such as the chill-out compilation Café del Mar. Starting with a focus on chill out music, McKay added different music genres to her palette over the years. From 2006 onwards, McKay also used the pseudonym DJ Rocksy under which she worked at different open-air festivals as well as skate, surf and snowboard events. Based on her success as a DJ, McKay was chosen to be the ambassador of Quiksilver Women in 2009. Consequently, she worked at different Quiksilver events as DJ. Apart from this, she opened several shows, such as, The X-Games, Pro France, King of the Groms, Roxy Chicken, as well as the 2009 Tony Hawk Show at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. Her music style was a mixture of different genres. McKay worked as a DJ in various cities in and around Switzerland as well as in New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Singapore and Tunis.

### Career in the fashion business

Since her term as Miss Switzerland, McKay worked regularly as a photo and runway model for different Swiss and international brands, such as, Swarovski, Coca-Cola, Beldona (Swiss lingerie store), and Vögele Shoes (Swiss shoe brand). In 2005, she became the Swiss ambassador of the car manufacturer Ford which named a Ford Fiesta car series after her, the “Mahara Edition”. McKay was also the ambassador of other international as well as Swiss brands, such as, Onitsuka Tiger (2002–2009), Eve Cardinal (Swiss brewery, 2007–2011), Quiksilver Women (2009–2012), Walterli Freaks (Swiss fashion store), Dove Chocolate (2006–2008) and Harley Davidson (2009–2011).
Besides her engagement as a fashion model, McKay organised different fashion shows, produced photo shootings, and worked as a stylist on set. For over ten years, McKay designed most of her red carpet gowns herself. In 2011, she was chosen to be one of the designers of the contestants’ evening dresses at the Miss Switzerland pageant.

## Discography
### Compilations

* 2001: Moana I - My selection (Universal Music 2001)
* 2003: Moana II - My selection (Universal Music 2003)
* 2004: More Moana Dreams (TBA Music 2004)

### Singles

Written & composed/produced:
* 2005: One Life, Sampler Café del Mar Vol. 12
* 2005: Feel Free, Sampler La Maison de l'Elephant Vol. 3
* 2005: Feel Free, Sampler Bolero Lifestyle Club
* 2006: Waterlove, SoundOasis List Vol. 1
* 2007: Soulsmooth, Sampler Café del Mar Vol. 14
* 2009: He's Looking At You, Science Fiction Jazz Vol. 12
* 2010: Trust Me, EVE of the Cardinal Summer Session CD
* 2010: Ko Tahi Te Oranga, EVE of the Cardinal Summer Session CD
* 2010: Shake It, EVE Cardinal Summer Session CD
* 2011: Beautiful Day, Sampler Café del Mar Vol. 17
* 2012: Tiger Beer, for the Swiss/German film Summer Outside [de]
* 2013: Holes In My Pockets