Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz

The Wordless Language of Creation (all-school class)

Teachings, chant, meditations, body awareness, and sacred movement (including walking meditation, body prayer, Dances of Universal Peace, and Sufi zikr) from the tradition of Sacred Creation and Original Blessing. Including creation stories, the native Middle Eastern tradition, Genesis, Holy Wisdom, the Aramaic Jesus and Sufi traditions.

The real language of creation resides within what Hazrat Inayat Khan calls the Silent Life. Whenever and however we practice, we only prepare ourselves for its moments of grace. Any practice, chant, dance or ritual done with the expectation of repeating a past moment of joy will push that moment further beyond reach. Experiment, gratitude, and surprise, not entitlement and demand, are keys to its doorway. Ultimately, we only encounter it when we remember why and how we’re really here. Then we begin to hear the “voice that constantly comes from within” (Inayat Khan), which tells us exactly where we are and what we need to do, even in the challenging, troubling times in which we live.

Alima Silke

Prayer: The Deep Longing of Our Souls

Throughout all times people have turned to a greater power in prayer. We want to explore the nature of prayer in its various forms as well as the different aspects of prayer as described by Hazrat Inayat Khan. Essential questions will accompany and guide us on this path: What makes prayer essential for us? How can it be a powerful path that allows us to grow and mature? How can it help us to meet the challenges of our time? How can it bring us more into harmony with the sacred process of creation? This is an invitation to an open space of experience and exchange.

Brita Baraka & Hauke Jelaluddin

Healing and maturing – with love, harmony and beauty

Healing in the sense of becoming whole is a lifelong process of maturing. Each stage has its own challenges. The apple blossom is not yet an apple, but it will become one if it allows itself to change, transform and finally mature into an apple.  So we too are invited to accept the different phases of our lives as they are. Just as the apple blossom needs the warmth of the sun, nutrients and water from the roots, we need love, harmony and beauty in order to grow and mature.

We will devote ourselves to these phases of growing and maturing – with Sufi exercises, meditation, Soulwork, dances and sharing.

Jean-Pierre Salik David

Remembrance: Meditative practices in the tradition of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid SAM

We will explore various ways of these practices, first through zikr (dhikr) with the music of Hidayat Inayat Khan, including its instructions on the subtleties of symbology, geometry, posture, movement, chakras concentration, and breath. This is the Zikr that his father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, shared nightly before bedtime with his children.

Secondly, we will dive into the Heart Sutra that will invite contemplative meditation, reciting a version shared with the monks of Shasta Abbey that used to be directed by Jiyu Kenneth Roshi.

Lastly, we will share a meditation in action, called Fikr by the Sufis, through the Dances of the Universal Peace and meditative walks that can be portable anywhere and anytime.

Natalia Nur Jahan

Carrying the Light: the Sacred Purpose of the Spiritual Practice

The first thing we usually think about when taking on a spiritual practice is that it will help the expansion of our consciousness. If we do the practice as intended, with sincerity and dedication, we indeed notice that happening. Once we have enhanced our “own” light though, we become centres of radiance, of brightness and get the ability to enhance the life of others and the environment around us. That is a natural development on the path. Yet perhaps even that is not the ultimate purpose, and true reason, for the practices we do. We will explore this theme and dive deep into the Sufi exercises like breathing, walking, and quiet meditations, the Beautiful Names, and dhikr (zikr). 

Raaja Hakim

Singing Towards the One

In his class Raaja Hakim will offer a variety of Sacred Songs and singing Zikr. They range from a simple mantric style up to 4-part harmonies. The music consists mainly of his own compositions inspired by his spiritual practices with a focus on Sufi contents or Aramaic words of Jesus (Yeshua). Also some Harmonic Temple songs of Nickomo as well as other Heart Songs might be presented.

Rafia Sieglin

Sufi – Sesshin supported by Wazifa practice and other creative possibilities (walks, sounds, healing breath and other exercises)

Zikr or Sufi dances are described by many Sufi masters as a practice that is beneficial for body, mind, soul and breath awareness. It is a wonderful way to achieve inner peace and clarity. The inner light can grow, the inner power of love can flow through us.

Alternating with meditation and other exercises, a deep space within us is addressed, allowing access to expanded experiences.

Rahmana Dziubany

Becoming one with the One through a Hindu-Christian-Sufi experience

“There are moments when even rocks become exalted and trees fall into ecstasy.”–Islamic tradition (as quoted by Inayat Khan)

Spiritual practices give us pathways to reconnect with the Source, coming back to an original state of blessing. Rahmana will share inspirations received on her spiritual journey from three major traditions: Universal Sufism (dances, walks, nature meditation and wazaif) combined with the teachings of the Benedictine Dom Bede Griffiths (Swami Nayananda), pioneer in inter-religious dialogue. His Shantivanam Ashram is the mother of all later Hindu-Christian ashrams, a unique pilgrim site for seekers, where Vedic teachings, rituals, prayer and chants merge with Christian contemplative life and charity.

This workshop will give opportunities with guided outdoor meditations, as the Proitzer Mill is located in an idyllic surrounding with its water places, fields, meadows and charming forests. They will be based on Hazrat Inayat Khan’s “Nature meditations“ where he teaches us to become like the Rishis – one with nature. Their revelations have been preserved in the Vedas; their ritual and prayer places were giant trees or rocks. Spending time in nature and connecting with the wisdom streams of the earth can be a bridge to re-enter this feeling of being held and whole, creating access to one’s own inner wisdom and intuition. We will navigate the inner and outer landscapes   inspired by these three traditions.

Tara Andrea and Maboud Charles

The Language of Creation

The Beautiful Names are an expression of the Language of Creation. These mysteries of existence beckon us to mature beyond a conceptual knowing of the world, to gain a direct visceral understanding of the music of life, self, and soul. These constellations of light are an ancient vocabulary of Origin and Being that compel us to discover unity and meaning through our sensing, feeling and intuitive human body.

Maboud and Tara Andrea will guide us in the experience of these Healing Names as expressions of the Wisdom, Balance, Love and Language of Creation through their original wasifa inspired dances, meditations and group sharing.

Glen Unmana

Doorways to Reality

In this early morning meditation class Glen will offer anchoring practices to bring us back into our own deep Presence. Working with breath, chanting, chakras, body prayer and our own simple “I Am-ness” these practices drawn from the non-dual Advaita Vedanta and Kashmiri Shaivism traditions will take us beyond the fluctuations of the mind into awareness of Source – the silent wellspring of all creation and all creativity. Among treasures we will draw inspiration from are the Upanishads and the Vijñāna-bhairava-tantra (VBT), a famous 1,400 year old scripture presenting 112 methods of meditation that reveal the true nature of Reality.

Khabir Wali

Early Morning Sufi Practice Class

Throughout creation, in many traditions, part of spiritual practice have been and still are certain breath patterns, reciting and repeating prayers, silence and contemplation. Using these pathways, we’re are going to get in contact with our inner world and guidance. In following a steady rhythm and pattern, we’re going to create a new start for each day.

In this early morning class, we consciously turn to repetition every day and thus to a rhythm of praying, breathing and silent space, in order to experience it from day to day more and more easily, more and more simply, more and more deeply.