Meet Our Teachers!
Class Descriptions and Bios
Ziraat: Deep Ecology & Universal Sufism
We live in a time of cascading environmental catastrophes, yet we possess a lineage of practices that support us internally while directing us toward outward beneficial actions. The best way to predict the future is to create it!
Teacher: Murshida Darvesha MacDonald
Murshida Darvesha MacDonald, a Murshida in the Sufi Ruhaniat International, leads groups internationally in Ziraat (deep ecology), Universal Sufism, meditation, and the Dances of Universal Peace (DUP). She is Chair of the Ruhaniat Ziraat Council, and President of the BOD of DUP IN. She believes that as we come to understand our interdependent and contingent nature, we create the conditions that bring about peace and happiness to all of life. Our practice and our life should be one. Our discovery of freedom releases us into caring, compassionate action for all beings.
Returning to Wholeness: Living a Life of Intimacy
We will work with the tools our lineage offers to practice remembrance of Unity in the face of a world where we are continually exposed to distraction and fear. We will work with effacing the Nafs and cultivating the wholesome qualities of what it can mean to become fully human. What does intimacy with life look like when we let go into the One? Pir Shabda and Murshid Rahmat will work with Zikr, wazifa, meditation, prayer, contemplation, breath, dialogue, and walking practice in this exploration.
Teachers: Pir Shabda Kahn & Murshid Rahmat Moore
Pir Shabda Kahn, a direct disciple of the American Sufi Master, Murshid Samuel Lewis, has been practicing Sufism since 1969 and, since 2001, is the Pir (Spiritual Director) of the Sufi Ruhaniat International, the lineage tracing from Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis. He is also the Spiritual Guide of the Dances of Universal Peace worldwide. Shabda has studied and performed North Indian Classical Vocal Music under the guidance of the late Master Singer, Pandit Pran Nath, since 1972. He is also a disciple of the illustrious Tibetan Master, the 12th TaiSitu Rinpoche. He brings gentleness and humor in transmitting the rich lineage of Sufism.
Murshid Rahmat Moore was brought up Rosicrucian and took initiation into the Sufi Order at 21. He has been on the path that Hazrat Inayat Khan outlines and Universal Sufism since. He has trained as a retreat guide. He has studied North Indian classical vocal music with Pir Shabda Kahn. He took Bayat with Pir Shabda in the early 90’s and has been in the Ruhaniat since then. He has deeply studied Buddhist practice through Vipassana and Dzogchen and taught mindfulness based cognitive therapy. He is a psychiatrist and has studied psychotherapy and dream work with Dr James Gustafson. He has taken Shahada and is deeply engaging Islam and some traditional practices most recently. One destination and as many paths as there are breaths. Alhamdulillah!!
Women’s Mysteries
Murshid SAM offered women practices to enhance our love and appreciation for each other, and gave us back our sisters, our mothers, our aunts, our grandmothers. In this gathering, come explore our beauty and creativity together, and discover again the treasures of our hearts! We tap into the ancient rhythms of civilization, the practices of Goddess worship and rituals of the earth.
Teacher: Yasmin Cogswell Spiegel
Yasmin Cogswell Spiegel met Murshid S.A.M. in 1968. Murshid’s emphasis was always on his students developing their heart qualities, on breath, walk, and rhythm in one’s daily life—on love, joy, and peace—and his teachings were always practical, useful, effective, and filled with fun, laughter, and warmth. Yasmin became an attorney and a mediator in Family Law for 35 years, providing a practical platform for her to help children and families through trauma. Throughout her life, the power of the Zikr—there is nothing but the ONE reality—has been the steady beat of her heart and rhythm of her walk and her breath.
Getting Cozy with God
A practice of cultivating intimacy with the divine inside and all around us. We’ll work with divine names from the Sufi and Bhakti traditions to draw close to different qualities of love through Kirtan, inquiry and conversation.
Teacher: Bryn Morgan
Bryn Morgan (she/her/hers) is a Bhakta who loves nothing more than to sing to god by their many beautiful names. She’s honored to share interfaith devotional music in her home of Santa Cruz and at camps and retreats around the world. As a student of Asha Greer, she aspires to become nobody and in the meantime have a fun, loving, kind time being somebody. She is currently working towards a Master’s in Interreligous Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
Yoga and Energy Healing & Deeper into the Heart of Love
Yoga and Energy Healing: A journey of the Self, through the Self, to the Self. We will revel in universal life energy and cultivate liberation in our bodies, hearts, and minds. Class begins with 15 minutes of energy healing (Reiki, Pranayama, Tapping) drawing from various traditions. Dances of Universal Peace: An amazing way to sing, dance, pray, and commune together. We will immerse ourselves in melody and movement, balancing depth of experience with openness and sharing.
Teacher: Sadaya Zimmerle
Sadaya Zimmerle is a Ruhaniat initiator and mentor in the Dances of Universal Peace with a passion also for energetic healing modalities (eft tapping, reiki, breathwork), service, and all things uplifting for humanity. Her day job is as a clinical social worker who teaches yoga and zumba on the side. Amid all the limitations in this earthly plane, we can yet in any moment tap into the limitless. We can make pockets of heaven on earth wherever we go and live the Oneness that we are in All we do.
Astrological Yoga of Murshid Samuel Lewis
This workshop will be a deep dive into the Astrological Yoga of Murshid Samuel Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti). We will use the breaths, the walks, and the spins of each planet to enable “attunement,” insight, and inner-directed intuition. By extending that awareness from ourselves to others, a deeper understanding and transformation of ourselves and our relationships can occur.
Teacher: Amina Meyer
Amina Meyer is a lifelong student of Sufism, ontology, and thought work. She is a teacher of the Walks, a meditation taught by Murshid Samuel Lewis to develop one’s embodied presence and attune to the “all of it” through the rhythm of breath and movement. Amina has maintained a Qadiri zikr circle for more than a decade. Amina is a second-grade teacher, art teacher, puppeteer, and proud mother of three. She lives in Richmond, California.
Singing Your Heart’s Song
Singing and Dancing have always been core practices in our lineage. In this class we will sing, dance, and pray our heart’s prayers, as well as opening to songwriting through meditation and walking practices. Accompanist Aidan Santa Cruz will support us in learning songs from many different genres: gospel to jazz, folk to chant and beyond.
Teacher: Gitanjali Lori Rivera
Gitanjali Lori Rivera has been a student of Sufism for over 40 years and a performing artist since her teens. She loves to blend performance with her practice and is excited to bring that to our beloved Mendocino camp this year. Gitanjali is a yoga teacher, dance and zikr leader, a cherag, and a guide on the Sufi path.
Early Morning Reveille
A meditative gathering of Sacred Sound and Silence: Discovering Zikr, the Awakening of Presence, and sharing companionship, conversation and contemplation. Let’s explore together the states and stages that arise within the inner architecture of the Sufi Zikr of Remembrance: La ilaha illallah.
Teacher: Murshida Mary Kenney
Murshida Mary Kenney is a student and guide in the Sufi Ruhaniat International and has been a practitioner of Islam and an explorer of Truth within the Sufi path for more than 30 years. She especially loves diving into the “Now” of this moment, connecting with what’s true, allowing whatever arises to be present and welcomed as Friends along the Way.