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
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.
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:
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.
A non-residential retreat with Murshid Allaudin Ottinger
‘Spirituality is not necessarily intellectuality, nor orthodoxy, nor asceticism… If there can be a definition of spirituality, it is the tuning of the heart.’ (Hazrat Inayat Khan)
At this time when humanity is faced by growing challenges and divisions, this retreat invites you to the sacred work of tuning the heart – aligning with harmony and inner peace. Together, we seek to awaken a deeper connection that can raise us above the distinctions and differences that divide, fostering unity and healing within ourselves and the world.
This retreat will run from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon, and our journey towards heart awakening together will include a delightful and powerful mixture of Sufi teachings, Dances of Universal Peace, breathing practices, chants, walking meditations, and of course, Zikr.
Murshid Allaudin Ottinger originates from Kansas City, Missouri. He is an internationally renowned leader of the Dances of Universal Peace and has facilitated camps and retreats around the world since 1979. With great thanks to his teachers, Allaudin continues to travel the world and share the Universal Sufi message of spiritual liberty. As a senior Dance mentor and teacher in the Sufi Ruhaniat Order “…his exceptional musicianship, creativity and spontaneity are the seeds of ecstatic experiences…”. And as a consummate musician, Allaudin has recorded several albums of Sufi music, jazz, and poetry over many years, and brings to all he does a great quality of heart.
Cost: £240 – includes 3 lunches and 2 suppers, with delicious vegan food cooked on the premises.
Gluten free options available. A small number of discounted places are available on request.
For further information, or to make a booking, contact Robert Salik Orange:
You are warmly invited to the upcoming Leader’s Gathering at Tauhara May 9-11 2025
This time we will be joined by two leaders from the UK who will be offering practices and Dances to develop magnetism and transmission. Jilani and Salik are both musicians and there will be at least one session for musicians.
Jilani says “I feel that any worthwhile dance leader training is really about training the self, to be more able to shine freely, with the light of the Original Blessing unencumbered by the veils and impressions of our human experience. We will focus on practices that develop magnetism and transmission – opening to being a clear channel for the light. When I work with Tassawuri and the Ancestors of the Dances it’s to that end – to develop our awareness of the illuminated souls who are in our lineage, so we can learn to think, feel and act as they would. So this work is really for anyone who is interested in developing their capacity to be really present, and to recognise all circumstances as our teachers, all faces as the Face of God. Naturally this development of the small self makes us better dance leaders, but also better teachers, parents, children, leaders in any field, and more fulfilled and happy humans.’
The weekend is subsidised and hosted by DUPANZ with the intention of supporting and encouraging Dance leaders and growing vibrancy in our community through our leaders.
All those who have ever walked the path of leadership or would like to in the future are welcome, along with those who are committed as musicians for the Dances of Universal Peace.
We are very blessed to have this opportunity, and to be able to meet and enjoy our connections and the beauty of Tauhara.
Please register with Wendy:hodderwendy@gmail.com 027 3766 599 and deposit the full amount or $100 into account 38-9017-0159916-02 with your name, DL May 25 as ref
If you are not a DUPANZ member please add $30 to the prices below
Jilani and Salik are musicians, leaders and mentors of DUP. Using chant, movement and other practices, they facilitate circles of people to be more fully alive, to feel safe together, to share deep connection and to touch sense of the sacredness of all life. In this event they will share dances and chants as a way for people to strengthen their connection with Mother Earth and with each other.
There are spaces for 24 full-time residential participants in shared rooms or camping. To register please pay a deposit of $100 into account 38-9017-0159916-05
If you are not a DUPANZ member please add $30 to the costs below.
Shared Accommodation and simple vegetarian meals $390 BYO bedding and breakfasts
Camping and simple vegetarian meals $350 BYO breakfasts
Part-time and non-residential participants are welcome but we will be unable to provide meals – sorry. Please enquire for costs: Jena – jenatara@outlook.co.nz
Oh Thou, the breathing Life of all, Creator of the shimmering Sound that touches us! You create all that moves in Light…
A residential retreat in France (in French/English) to learn and practice the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, with chants and body prayers. This workshop is based on the work of Neil Douglas-Klotz, with whom I trained for three years nearly 20 years ago. Neil has spent over 35 years studying Jesus in the context of Middle Eastern spirituality, seeing him as a Middle Eastern prophet, and looking at his words in the language he actually spoke, Aramaic. Aramaic is a bridge between ancient Hebrew and modern day Hebrew and Arabic, and by studying the words of Jesus in this context we arrive at a very different way of understanding his message. Specifically, there is not one way to translate Aramaic into English, but many layers of meaning, which can be very helpful for us nowadays, especially if we have ever felt alienated or put off by traditional translations of the words of Jesus. I have led this work in many countries, and both practising Christians and people who have felt wounded and alienated by the Christian church have had profound and healing experiences with it.
The Aramaic Prayer is the Lord’s Prayer in as close as we can get to the original words spoken by Jesus. We will explore those words in Aramaic, and discover several possible ways to understand and relate to those words through some English translations.
Above all this work is experiential, and embodied. The emphasis is not so much on study and mental understanding as on gaining an embodied experience of the prayer. To this end we will be chanting each line many times, with simple melodies and movements. This makes it easier for us to learn the words and also to drop into a felt sense of what we are experiencing.
During the weekend we will explore each line of the prayer, with time for questions and learning. The culmination will consist of a full experience of the prayer including a part where we share juice and bread to deepen our understanding and connection with the experience. The emphasis will not be on ‘getting it right’, but on dropping deeply into the prayer as a ceremony and a way to connect with the original message of Jesus, which many people find quite profound and surprising.
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, culminating in a beautiful co-created ceremony to honour and bless the Earth.
In the afternoons there will be training sessions for dance leaders – 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.
Rissa and Sky of Yew Tree Camps have 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. We also have an older cat and a small dog who live down at the house.’
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 everything you need for a vegetarian breakfast. You might also like to bring teas/coffees and delicious snacks to share. Our main 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 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.
