with Hafizullah Chishti Saturday, October 2, 2010
9:30 am – 5 pm
Providence RI
“Your dance just took me today, and suddenly I began to whirl. All the realms spun around me in endless celebration. My soul lost its grip. My body shed its fatigue. Hearing Your drum beat and Your hands clap, I floated up to the heavens.
Daylight, full of small dancing particles and the one great Turning; our souls are dancing with You, without feet, they dance.”
—Rumi
The
Turn — the whirling of the Dervishes —
is a moving meditation and an embodied prayer of the
most ferocious power. It is held that the Turn has
been done in all times and places in which the world
has needed the energies for which it is a unique conduit.
There is a Secret in the Turn, and it is only known
by Turning.
Learning The Turn is a process of spiritual alchemy.
It engages all planes of our being and has deep and
lasting effects in our whole life. The Turn is a
discipline of body, mind, and Heart/Will... much of what
we do in life lets the ego run free but imprisons the
soul; the Turn harnesses the ego, freeing the soul
to know Itself more deeply and for Being to act in a
real way.
Participants of this workshop will be introduced to:
A solid grounding in the
technique of the stationary and
“walking” Turn. Proper technique
promotes stamina without undue effort,
balance and stability without dizziness, and
smooth subtle-energy flow and opening of the
subtle centers.
How the Divine Breath moves in
the Turn, and using this to harmonize daily
life
The Adab (“Manner”) of
the Dervishes — integrating the
“inner Turn” into daily life
How the Turn and the Zikr work
together
The historical background of the
Turn and related practices
This workshop stands on its own, and is also part of the series in the ongoing training which began a year ago.
Our study materials are drawn from the teachings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, and The Turn taught from
the perspective of his approach to Sufism.
You need not have a desire to learn the physical technique of the Turn to benefit from this workshop.
Registration
and Tuition:
The cost of the workshop for first-time attendees is $95 ($175 for couples), and $75 for students, those under 30 and those 65 and over.
Tuition for those who are participating in the ongoing full training is $85, $65 for seniors and students, and $150 for couples.
If you wish information about the ongoing training, please contact Lakshmi or Hafizullah.
Register by making a check payable to “Hafizullah Chishti” and sending to Sufi Order of Rhode Island, 33 Woodbine Street, Cranston RI 02910. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address.
For further registration or location information, contact Lakshmi Barta-Norton at 401.781.9069, or
by email
“As
the planets turn around the Sun, the limbs of the
Sufi turn around the heart, the living shrine of God.
Through the channel of Hafizullah’s
proficient tutelage, may this sacred art reach those
for whom it is meant.
I give this training my
wholehearted support and encouragement.”
—Pir
Zia Inayat-Khan Head of the Sufi Order International
Hafizullah has
walked, stumbled, crawled, and danced the Sufi
path for 33 years. He is a shaikh (senior
teacher and lineage-holder) in the Sufi Order
International, and is active in developing curriculum and in mentoring teachers-in-training for the Order at a national level.
He studied the Turn with the Mevlevi Dervishes
for over twenty years and taught it for seven
years under the auspices of Mevlevi Shaikh
Jelaluddin Loras. His passion is sharing in spiritual practice and sacred space with those who are awakening.
If you have questions about
the seminar content, Hafizullah can be reached at
908.328.9903 or by email (click here)
