Greet Life with a Welcoming Heart

 

A weekend of Sufi Dance and Chant

With

 Philip O’Donohoe

 

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th January 2010

 Kendal Fellside Alexander Centre

 

Toward the One the perfection of love harmony and beauty the only being
United with all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the master 
The spirit of guidance

In Sufism we cultivate the strength and ease of an open heart so that we can greet life and all of the people we meet with a welcoming heart. Several Sufi lineages use music and dance as the primary method of spiritual evolution and self realisation. As a Sufi one learns to perfect the sound of one’s own note so that it resounds fully and uniquely in the all-pervading ocean of cosmic harmony. Perhaps all that is necessary to begin this journey is the intention and the permission to allow oneself to listen more closely to the rhythm of the Divine Dance and to feel more fully its spiritual power and beauty. You can simply let the energy of the dances flow through your being and connect you to the deep wellspring of spiritual experience. To paraphrase the biblical phrase. In joy we live and move and have our being. Sufi Dance shows us how.

Essentially Sufi Dance is an instrument for the transmission of blessing. Mystics speak of universal peace, of cosmic consciousness, the peace which is beyond understanding. This kind of spiritual experience however is not the preserve of a few. Samuel Lewis the originator of this form of the dances offered them as a means for all people to experience such states in a relatively accessible way.

In their outer form they are simple circle dances. The integration of these movements which accompany the chanting of a divine name or a sacred phrase can attract a very high and noble form of magnetism from the space and at the same time can impregnate the immediate and not so immediate atmosphere with these magnetic qualities. As we sing and move with others in a circle there is an uplifting feeling and we can experience for ourselves such states as joy, peace, connectedness and unity. Watching people do these dances is like watching someone read a book.  One cannot know what is going on inside the hearts and minds of the dancers, the depth of their experience. They are based on experience and to get it, so to speak one has to dance oneself.

What is in it for me you might ask? Those who have experienced the Sufi Dance especially on these Kendal gatherings know how wonderful they feel when they sing and dance and move together in the circle. There is clearly fullness and openness of heart in ways that are simply not so easily accessible in other group practices or social gatherings; the harmony is tangible; the peace can be deeply felt; most of all perhaps there is the strength of connectedness and the feeling of being part of something greater than oneself; the limited self is transcended.

Philip is a master of spiritual dance and has trained in various forms of meditation over the last 30 years.  He is a leading international exponent of the Dance of Universal Peace and has devoted the last twenty years to spreading the dances around the world. He is a senior mentor for the Dances and trains others to lead. He has studied Sufism since 1989 and is a teacher of this form of Middle Eastern mysticism.  Philip also trained in yoga and the use of sound in healing and spiritual development. A significant focus of his work is using dance as a spiritual tool to increase people’s capacity for living life heartfully and successfully.

The sincere dancer is one of the best workers for universal harmony and so for universal peace. Samuel Lewis

Venue 
The weekend will take place at the  Fellside Alexander Centre,  Kendal, Cumbria. 


Times
Saturday 12th arrivals at 10am to start promptly at 10.30am. Finish at 9.00pm.
 Sunday 13th from 10am to 4pm.


Price
The price is £85. This includes lunch and supper on Saturday and lunch on Sunday.   

          
Further Details 
Contact Mary Rabia Dowson 

Tel. 015242 21147
Email: marydowson@talktalk.net 


Diary Dates: Sufi Weekends in Kendal 2010

17th-18th April : 11th-12th September

 

Bookings: Cheques payable to P. O’Donohoe to Mary Dowson, 1 Hindburn Cottage, Wray, Lancaster, LA2 8QB. 

For catering purposes please book by 16th January