Jilani and Salik will explore the legacy of Sufi Sam, his Teachings, Dances, Walking Practices, Meditation and Breath Practices, at this time when we remember his passing 53 years ago. You are most welcome to join us live on Zoom or to find the recording later on YouTube.
Here are the Zoom details to join us live on Tuesday 16th January at 7.30 pm UTC (UK time):
Coming together as women do… Women’s Retreat 1-3 July
The non-residential price, including all meals, is £210
You can bring your own bedding and sleep on comfortable bunk beds on a mezzanine above the Dance hall for £230. There are 10 bunks. Some camping is also possible for the same price.
Other accommodation is in very comfortable flats, with kitchens so you can make tea and snacks for yourselves whenever you want. The flats each sleep around 3-6 people. One flat is situated on the ground floor and is wheelchair accessible, as is the hall where we will dance and eat.
In a shared room with 2-3 people in each room the price is £270 (or £250 per person if two of you are happy to share a double bed!).
If you are blessed with abundance and would like to support a woman who would find it hard to afford to come, you can pay a Generosity ‘Paying it Forward’ Price with an additional donation of your choice. Please let me know if you would be willing and able to do this without negative impact on your circumstances, so I can offer this support to someone in need.
If you need financial support to attend, please ask. There may be support from the ‘Paying it Forward’ scheme. Additionally, although the costs of hiring the Westwood Centre are fairly high, once they are covered by the requisite number of bookings I am happy to discuss bursaries.
I am very grateful to my dear friend Hannah Flint for cooking for us all weekend, and providing us with delicious, comforting and nourishing vegetarian meals and snacks. All food and teas etc is included in the price, although you are free to bring any special teas, snacks or food items you might need or want. There are small kitchens with fridges, kettles, cookers and microwaves in the flats, as well as the main kitchen where Hannah will be preparing our food. Please let me know your dietary requirements and we will do our best to accommodate them. Certainly we can provide for gluten free and vegan diets.
Please drop me an email or a message to say you’ve paid! The balance is due in full by 21 June. If you need to cancel after the end of May, any refund will be discretionary – I will do my best to help. I will need to retain a minimum of £50 to cover administrative costs, and further refunds may depend on managing to fill your place. But please talk to me!
The Westwood Centre is in a beautiful location, and there are big windows looking out over the valley which the sun streams through into the spacious and airy dance space. There is a very well-equipped kitchen, and there is disabled access. It’s rural, but on a bus route from Huddersfield. It is also walkable from Slaithwaite train station (1 mile uphill, or a £5 taxi). There are direct trains from Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly. If you need to come by car, we encourage you to share lifts, and we can help facilitate that.
Please do get back to me if you have any questions or concerns. I hope you will be able to be part of this warm and loving group!
Feel free to pass this information on to other likeminded women who might be interested.
I’m taking bookings now for this day event which Salik and I are offering on 14 May. It’s in a stunning new (to us) venue, which we are very excited to share with you. The Westwood Centre is in a beautiful location, and there are big windows looking out over the valley which the sun streams through into the spacious and airy dance space. There is a very well-equipped kitchen, and there is disabled access. It’s rural, but on a bus route from Huddersfield. It is also walkable from Slaithwaite train station (1 mile uphill, or a £5 taxi). There are direct trains from Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly. If you need to come by car, we encourage you to share lifts, and we can help facilitate that.
Greetings of Peace to you all! I want to share with you some of the projects I am working on at the moment, in the hope that you may be interested, and maybe even join me.
I am very excited to be travelling to Wales in March with Salik, to lead dances in three different venues. We do hope that if you live near enough you might be able to join us for one or more of these events. It’s the first time we’ve been able to travel to share dances in a live public circle since before the pandemic.
On Friday 11 March I will lead an evening of Zikr in the village of St Dogmaels, followed by a day of Dances in Cilgerran, both in West Wales. Details, including how to book are on the flyer below. I’m grateful to my friends Jane and Dilwara for their support with making this happen in these uncertain times. I have often been to West Wales over the years, and led many Dance events in the area. The local community of friends and dancers, as well as the beautiful land there, are very important and precious to me. I would so love for you to meet me there if you can!
We will also be leading a short session on Sunday afternoon in Bangor, at the Friends Meeting House from 3.30-6.30 pm. This is specifically in support of my mentee, Dance Leader in Training Ruth Christine, who is establishing a Dance circle in Bangor. We hope that we can encourage a vibrant circle to develop! Do come and support us in that venture if you are able to.
As the possibility of travel seems to open up, I am hoping to be in the Czech Republic in July, and in Spain in August, teaching at camps. I am hoping to offer a Women’s Retreat in early summer, and I am beginning to dream a trip to the USA in the autumn (or fall!). Please get in touch with me if you’d like to know more, or to support me in making these trips happen, perhaps with a dance or Sufi retreat in your area. And watch this space for more information as things unfold over the next few months.
Jilani trained for many years with Neil Douglas-Klotz, the originator of this body of work, the embodied experience of the Aramaic words of Jesus through chant and body prayer. If you are inspired by his work, please explore his website here: https://abwoon.org, where you can make a donation to him in gratitude. You can also donate to support Jilani’s work here.
The Aramaic Prayer of Yeshua – the Lord’s Prayer in the language Jesus spoke. Jilani presents the prayer as a ceremony, using the inspired translations, chants and body prayers of Neil Douglas-Klotz, with whom she has studied for many years. You can find out more about his work on his website https://abwoon.org.
Q&A with Jilani Cordelia Prescott, Sufi Elder, discussing active compassion in the climate emergency.
Throughout human history life has been a fragile, precious gift, and death a constant companion. Modern medicine and affluent societies have helped us to imagine that we are or could be immune from sickness, suffering and death. This illusion of (and search for) immortality has influenced much of our behaviour, endowing us with a reckless and yet ultimately unsatisfying lack of regard for the natural limits of life on a physical planet, while insulating us from the vibrant experience of a life lived in real appreciation of its fragility and finite nature. The Sufis tell us to ‘Die before Death’ – to live our daily lives in the understanding that death is always near. How might this influence our choices and priorities?
If we are to apply the 4 Rs of Jem Bendell’s Deep Adaptation to the Restoration of Ancient Wisdom, we can consider the Resilience with which spiritual traditions and their practices have supported humanity through the hard times over millennia, helping us to make sense of both suffering and joy. I would choose to Relinquish the rigid structures and abuses of power of organised religion, but to Restore and bring back the practices which actually can serve and support us. At the same time, Reconciliation is vital, and healing of the wounds of our history, in order that we can appreciate the precious gifts of these traditions, without rejecting everything in a reaction against the terrible abuses we have seen.
Join Jilani and Salik on Tuesdays at 7:30pm UK time for around 90 minutes on zoom as we share sacred chants and body prayers accompanied by beautiful live music on guitar and viola. These meditations involve our whole being, inviting us to experience connection with each other and with the divine.
We teach all the words, chants and movements carefully each time, so beginners can easily join. The depth of peace and devotion that can be experienced, even on Zoom, often takes us all by surprise.
How to join: The Zoom link will be posted in our regular mail-outs, so do sign up to our email list to receive it, or if you prefer you can join our Messenger or WhatsApp groups by messaging us your details. We send regular reminders on these. The link for Jilani’s email list can be found here: https://mailchi.mp/23e2d0b4c247/jilanidancing.
Donations: We offer these gatherings freely; however, it supports our work and our ability to provide for our family and home if you are able to offer us a donation. But no-one will be turned away for lack of funds. To donate, you can send a BACS transfer to 089286 02297358 or via Paypal – paypal.me/theheartcentre (please leave the ‘Goods and Services’ button unchecked to avoid a charge being levied).
YouTube: If you aren’t able to join us for this event, or wish to experience some of our other online offerings, we have a YouTube channel where you can watch and listen to us: https://www.youtube.com/c/JilaniandSalik We add to the recordings regularly, so do subscribe and you will be notified when we upload new videos.
Explore the pure, joyful, direct experience of mysticism rooted in practice, song, body prayer and mantra.
Every Friday Jilani will be online, sharing chants, body prayers and breath practices from different traditions. Join on Zoom (see link below), or on Facebook Live.
These are the practices which have brought comfort, grounding and even bliss over the millennia to humans just like us, aware of our limited physical nature and our fragility, but also aware of our infinite nature, and the awe-inspiring, loving vastness of all-that-is, in which we live and move and have our being.
I encourage you to join this journey, the path of the heart, of spiritual freedom, leading to more vibrant life and awakening, and dedicated to the alleviation of suffering. Seek out opportunities to explore and encounter the bliss and ecstasy of deep connection and mystical experience.
2.30pm London, 6.30am San Francisco, 9.30pm Singapore, 11.30pm Melbourne.
Jilani Cordelia Prescott is a Musician, a Mother, a Mystic; A Leader and Mentor of the Dances of Universal Peace; a Guide and Companion on the path of Universal Sufism or spiritual freedom.
This is free to join. If you would like to donate to Jilani and support her in her work, you can do so via Paypal – http://paypal.me/theheartcentre (choose ‘Friends and Family’ or leave the ‘Goods and Services’ button unchecked to avoid a charge being levied)
Monthly Zikr at the Heart Centre, near Hebden Bridge – in person! Usually the second Thursday of the month, at 7.30 pm. Check the calendar for the next time we meet.
Contact Jilani if you would like to attend. All open-hearted spiritual seekers and lovers of the One are welcome. Please arrive ready for a prompt start at 7.30 pm, and enter the room in silence. There is no charge to attend, but there will be a plate for donations.
