Khankah of the Heart Retreat, Crewe, January 2026: The Winged Heart

KHANKAH OF THE HEART
THE WINGED HEART

A residential retreat at Wistaston Hall Oblate Retreat Centre, Crewe

22th – 25th January 2026 From supper on Thursday to after lunch on Sunday.

“Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birdwings” – Rumi


Jilani and Shamsia have a vision of a Sufi community, a Khankah, based not in a building of bricks and mortar, but in the relationships between the deep and loving hearts of its members. All fervent seekers are welcome to join, whether you are new to this or have been walking the path for many years.

In this retreat we are inspired by the Sufi winged heart: the symbol of spiritual liberty, expressing that the heart reaches upward towards heaven. In those paired wings we see the balance of known and unknown, impermanence and what survives, dancing on the threshold, the edge between the worlds, where we fly free, with the breath of God beneath our wings.

Shamsia Sandra Sunfire lives, Dances and Walks in Wales and has done for nearly 30 years. She follows the Path of the Heart, the Path of Love. Shamsia is a leader and mentor of Dances of Universal Peace. She loves the retreat process that draws on the rich tapestry of wisdom teachings and practices, the rhythms of nature which empower us to be more of who we truly are. She both leads and attends retreats. Shamsia is a conductor in the Dervish Healing Order and is dedicated to service on the healing path.

Jilani Cordelia Prescott is a guide in the Sufi Ruhaniat International, Cherag, SoulWork practitioner and leader of the Dances of Universal Peace as well as a mentor of other dance leaders. She has over thirty years’ professional experience as a teacher and musician. Her relaxed and patient teaching style means people easily learn the practices, and can be free to enter the powerful and healing depths of the experience. Jilani lives in the misty Pennine hills of northern England, and brings her love for the Earth to everything she does.


Cost: £520 – £475 – £435 including all meals (generous/standard/cost prices: self selecting sliding scale based on need). £80 deposit (non-refundable) reserves your place. Please get in touch with us if these prices are beyond your means. We want to be inclusive and we hope to have bursaries. Single/shared accommodation available.

Shamsia and Jilani will have musical support from Halim Geoff Carter and Robert Salik Orange

We are very grateful to have received a grant from the Oneness Project to support an ongoing bursary fund to enable us in turn to support those encountering financial difficulties so that they can join us.  We have previously been supported by Dances of Universal Peace International. This bursary fund will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people.  We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive. If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.

We are committed to exploring sustainable ways to continue to gather as a Sufi Community, financially and based on caring for the Earth’s limited resources.  This venture has been unfolding in our hearts and our lives each and every time we meet, we nurture and pray for its past, present and future.

Please don’t be shy about approaching us to discuss bursaries or paying by instalments, which can make it very affordable.

Contact us now for more information or to book: email  Jilani on jilanicordelia@gmail.com, or Shamsia on sandrasunfire@gmail.com.

Inana: the ‘I Am’ Statements of Yeshua – 3rd to 5th October 2025, France

In the Footsteps of Yeshua and the Great I Am: Exploring the “I Am”, the secret teachings of the Aramaic Jesus.

le Chant du Loup – 2045 Chemin de Chapias 26150 Die, France

Inana: Simple Presence, the I inside the I, connecting one to One, is the food that energises all life.The “I Am” feeds all being with understanding and energy…

Simple Chants and Body Prayers, led by Jilani Cordelia Prescott, with live guitar support from Jilani.

All welcome! Everything will be taught as we go along – no prior knowledge or experience necessary.

‘Who danceth not, knows not what is being done.’ (Hymn of Jesus)

Cost: €150 Retreat Fee

Food and Lodging extra, by Donation

Gite, dormitory and camping all possible.

For bookings or further information, contact Manoelle:

Phone/WhatsApp +33 699 44 01 42

Sufi Camp 26th – 31st August 2025, near Usk

Come and immerse yourself in the beautiful Welsh countryside and ‘the Sacred Manuscript of Nature, the only book which can enlighten the reader’ (in the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan, the Sufi mystic). For these days we will live together close to the land and deepen our connection to Mother Earth through many different practices.

There will be opportunities for training for dance leaders, including circles where new or more experienced dancers, dance leaders and musicians can explore the dance leading journey, with guidance and supporting practices held by Jilani, who is a very experienced mentor and trainer of dance leaders.

This event is offered in association with Khankah of the Heart, a UK Sufi community based not in bricks and mortar, but in the loving hearts of everyone who feels part of it. Through Khankah of the Heart we may be able to offer some bursaries for those who would otherwise be prevented from attending this camp by the cost. Please ask!

Rissa of Yew Tree Camps has this to say about the site:

‘Meadow Ground overlooks the gorgeous Welsh Valleys and enjoys dramatic views and spectacular skies from its position on the hillside. The Stone Circle is a formation of English and Welsh stones, which came together serendipitously to create a deep and mystical place for the dances. We are immersed in nature amongst the hedgehogs, owls, buzzards, bluebells, orchids and new and old trees.

The land has been lovingly tended to and developed to create the beautiful and magical setting for these camps. We are blessed by the full range of weather that Wales provides; beautiful sunny days, misty rainy days and everything in between – it is therefore good to pack for all seasons!

We have various sheltered spaces for workshops, lovely compost loos (including a new accessible compost toilet) and a mains water supply for drinking, hand washing, cooking, and basic off-grid showering and bathing. We will maintain an open fire which marks the centre of our camping circle. 

Please ask us about alternative accommodation and any other access needs you may require. Our field may not be suitable for everyone as the ground is uneven in places, but we would love to accommodate you as much as we can. We have options available to help you attend more comfortably if you aren’t able to camp or don’t wish to. If you need to travel light, we can help with some basic supplies like tents or bedding, however these are limited. 

We have three cats who love the freedom of the field. Therefore we are not able to accommodate other peoples pets on the field.’

This exciting new event is designed to be affordable, and please do enquire if you need further help to be able to attend. Conversely, if you find the price is reasonable or cheap for the value which is being offered, please consider offering a donation to subsidise those who are less well off.

Bring your own plate/bowl/mug and cutlery, plus anything you need to be comfortable, including special food. You might also like to bring teas/coffees and delicious snacks to share. Our meals will be suitable for vegetarians with vegan and gluten free options, and are included in the price you pay. We will all offer our karma yoga or Seva services in turn to chop wood and vegetables, wash up and clear away.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment! Contact Jilani with any questions prior to booking

We are delighted to say that Sue Goodwin will be leading a dream workshop and daily dream weaving sessions at camp.

The old ones knew that life is a dream, that we are both the dreamer and the dreamt. Now more than ever the world needs dreamers. We need to see further than we have seen before, using our creative visioning powers to see all possibilities. Dreaming is an ancient art and practice that is now being reclaimed in the modern world as one of the ways we can shape shift our old realities and become more awake to what we are experiencing, perceiving and co-creating.

Honouring our dreams can offer us glimpses of the subtle direction of our soul’s longing, and open us up to new levels of healing and understanding. Attuning to the mystery of dream worlds can inspire us to show up more fully, and be more aware of how we are co-creating our lives.

In this workshop we will open up the vast territory that is our dreaming intelligence, and how it can support and be an integral part of our spiritual practice. We will touch into the role of dream work in some different traditions and cultures. I will share some of what I have been learning about different types of dreams, the language of dreams, dream interpretation and ways we can enhance our dream recall. There will be a short dream sharing practice with a partner, to help open up our dreaming consciousness.

During the week, we will have the precious opportunity to listen to each other’s dreams as part of our morning practice.

Bio: Sue is a dreamer, a grandmother, retired herbalist, plant spirit healer, ceremonialist and teacher. Her life’s passion has been the reclaiming of ancient wisdom and ways of healing body, mind, heart and soul. In her life walk, Sue has had the blessing and honour to learn from a medicine wheel tradition from the Americas and a number of other spiritual wisdom traditions, and is now happily alchemising what she has gathered in her own ‘Medicine Bundle’. She has been running women’s winter dreaming courses for the last five years, in person and online.


Spring Equinox in Wales

Light of Renewal, Light of Rebirth

A Day of Dances of Universal Peace to Celebrate the Approach of the Spring Equinox

With Jilani and Robert

Saturday 15 March 2025 10.30 for 11 am start, 4.30pm finish

Cilgerran Village Hall, High Street, Cilgerran, Cardigan, Wales SA43 2SQ

In between the pillars of the Day and the Night We walk through the doorway from the Dark to the Light: the Light of Renewal, the Light of Rebirth – Light of the Earth!’

The Spring Equinox is the time of the transition from the dark of winter to the lighter half of the year. It is also the time of new birth, when daffodils bloom, lambs leap, and the earth warms with hope for a new season of growth as tender green shoots begin to appear.

On this day we will dance with simple steps and chant sacred phrases together, with our focus on our own tender shoots, and on how best to support and nourish our growth at this time. We will call on the Light of Renewal, the Divine Light, to sustain us and guide us as we grow.

All welcome! Croeso i bawb!

£30 full day (£25 if paid before 16 February) £16 half day (ask if you’d need a concession) Please bring vegetarian food to share for lunch. Teas will be provided. Tasty snacks are welcome too!

Jilani will also lead a Sufi Zikr on Friday evening at 7.30pm, at a venue near Newport, for an additional donation (we suggest around £10, but according to your means). Numbers are limited so booking is essential.

If you would like to join us for the Zikr, please contact
Emma: emmaoftheearth@hotmail.com 07887 622188 or 01239 821118.

For bookings and practical information about the Saturday workshop including the venue, please contact Sally Davies: saldavies@hotmail.com or 07766 213606

For information about the content of the workshops, please contact Jilani: jilanicordelia@gmail.com or 07966 451534

‘You don’t need to have any experience of this type of group to enjoy it and feel uplifted…The movement and singing is spiritual and peaceful.’ – Lorraine

“Their events that I have experienced are really uplifting and thoughtful and make me feel like I’ve found a soul family.” – Claire

Jilani Cordelia and Robert Salik lead dance events and retreats around the UK, across Europe and beyond. Their workshops are always a safely held space to explore more of who you really are, supported and enchanted by beautiful live music and gentle, meditative movement. Both Jilani Cordelia and Robert Salik are dance leaders certified in the Leaders Guild of Dances of Universal Peace International. Jilani is also a dance mentor, and a guide in the Sufi Ruhaniat International. Jilani and Salik are delighted to be returning once again to Wales, to a land and a community very close to their hearts. We are looking forward to dancing with you!

www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org 

Dancing in the Sacred Manuscript of Nature – Annual DUPAustralia Retreat 2025

Annual DUPA Retreat 2025

Dancing in the Sacred Manuscript of Nature

with Jilani Cordelia Prescott

April 21-29 2025

Yarrawarra Retreat Centre, Corindi, NSW

3 days Dance Deepening and Leadership Training, and 5 days Retreat.

Yarrawarra is an indigenously owned retreat centre in a stunning location near the beach. Nearest airport is Coffs Harbour. We will also enjoy cultural activities.

All welcome! No experience required.

For registrations and enquiries contact the Registrar: Sabira Jane +61 499 652 804

sabirajane@gmail.com

Early bird by 21 March!

Winter Solstice Celebration with Jilani and Salik

21 December 2024 2-5 pm

Jilani and Salik warmly welcome you to join us for our celebration of the return of the Light this year at Om Yoga Works.

Gather together with like-minded friends in a heart warming celebration at the Celtic festival of the Winter Solstice.

Using chant and movement, with the Dances of Universal Peace, we invite you to open your hearts to the light and to each other.

The Winter Solstice can be a time to look back and reflect, but also to look ahead, to dream into the coming year, and to rejoice in the light returning. We will feel into and explore the nourishment and regeneration of this time of fertile darkness, and we will rejoice in the rebirth and returning of the light. We will work with simple sacred chants and movements, beautiful live music, powerful breath practices, and sharing; and the power of ritual and ceremony.

Everything will be clearly guided and held. All are welcome, whether you are new friends or old.

If you’d like to join us for a shared meal afterwards, please bring a contribution of something delicious to share. Read more about the Dances of Universal Peace at www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org

Khankah of the Heart 2025

The Khankah of the Heart is a vision of a Sufi community, a Khankah, based not in a building of bricks and mortar, but in the relationships between the deep and loving hearts of its members. All fervent seekers are welcome to join, whether new to this or having been walking the path for many years.  The core of this community will be the practices and teachings of Murshid Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti (Samuel Lewis) and the Sufi and Dance lineages that he birthed.  Dances of Universal Peace will be central to our group practice.  In our experience and understanding, the Dances of Universal Peace are rooted in the whole of S.A.M.’s teachings and practices including the Walks and that they will flourish more fully, firmly attached to their roots from which they can not be separated. 

Last year Jilani Cordelia Prescott & Shamsia Sandra Sunfire initiated our gathering together with a shared purpose. The Khankah of the Heart is envisioned to meet in different places at different times with different people guiding us through retreats.  We are living in the UK but retreats here will welcome those from other countries and future retreats could also be held in other countries.  This particular retreat will be 16th-19th January 2025, from supper on Thursday to after lunch on Sunday, at the Oblate Retreat Centre, Crewe, UK. Further details are on the attached flyer.  The retreat will happen just after the Urs of Samuel Lewis, the anniversary of his death, of when he returned to the Source from which he came.  There is a hope to expand this to a week long annual retreat, with other online and in person gatherings keeping us in touch in between.  The retreats are envisioned to serve and nourish the Sufi community and friends, wherever we may call home, returning to our home in the heart, our Khankah of the Heart, where we can gather to “eat, dance and pray” together.  

We are guided by our teachers.

“One who has learned friendship has learned religion; the one who has learned friendship has attained spiritual knowledge. The one who has learned friendship need learn very little else; morals in Persian is friendship” (Hazrat Inayat Khan)

“…real meetings are mergings; they change the parties involved leaving them more fully themselves.” (Murshid SAM)

We follow in their footsteps, walking with them. 

As Mentors and Dance Leaders we strongly feel that in order for the  transmission of the Dances of Universal Peace to be healthy and complete, we need to provide opportunities for Dance Leaders and potential Dance Leaders, to deeply experience SAM’s Dances & Walks, teachings and practices. This can provide strong roots for DUP to grow and bloom anew, setting new seeds for future growth in our young people.

We are applying for grants to start an ongoing bursary fund to enable us to support those encountering financial difficulties to be able to join us.  This will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people.  We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive. If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.

We are grateful for the grant we received from Dances of Universal Peace International for this retreat. If bursary help would be necessary for you to be able to join us, please get in touch.

We are committed to exploring sustainable ways to continue to gather as a Sufi Community, financially and based on caring for the Earth’s limited resources.  This venture has been unfolding in our hearts and our lives each and every time we meet, we nurture and pray for its past, present and future. 

Ramadan in Morocco with Jilani

at the beautiful eco-lodge retreat centre ‘La Maison Anglaise’ in Taroudant

February 26 – March 5 2025

Plus the option to travel there overland through France, Spain and Morocco in a Caravan of the Dances!

There are still a few places available for the week in Morocco, at La Maison Anglaise in Taroudant, and it can be booked right away, from this website:

Br250226 – Holidays with Heart

My intention is to travel there and back overland through France and Spain, and you are welcome to join me. We will stop in various places en route to meet with local people and share the Dances of Universal Peace together. There will also be opportunities to do a little sight-seeing and to enjoy local food. 

Our accommodation will be partly in AirBnBs or hostels, and sometimes may be in local homestays. There will be the option to arrange your own accommodation if you prefer something more luxurious. Some of us will travel together by train, others will drive and car-share. In the south of Spain we will visit places where there are no trains, so we will all share cars for that part of the journey. There should be enough locals with cars to accommodate those of us who arrive by train.

We have stops confirmed in Angers in France, in Barcelona, Alicante, Granada and Malaga in Spain, and in Tangiers in northern Morocco. I am still working on a possible stop in the South of France, but the journey is viable without it. The outward journey will take around 10-14 days, depending on whether we stop again in France or not.

The return journey will be more direct, but we plan an overnight stay in Tangiers and Madrid, and a weekend retreat near Plum Village in southern France. The whole return journey to the UK should be just under a week.

It’s perfectly possible to join for just a part of the caravan, or just for the week in Morocco, or any combination. We can’t book the trains yet as they haven’t been released. I recommend buying an interrail pass which makes it much more affordable. I’ll give clear details when the stops have been finalised. Or of course you can drive yourself, or request a car share place.

Things are still coming into focus but plans are well underway. Do let me know if you have any specific questions, and let’s keep in touch. If you want to be part of the week in Taroudant I recommend that you book that as soon as possible as there are only a few places left.