Dancing the Heart Awake
By Murshid Abraham Sussman
This article continues our Elements of Mastery column in which we explore the art, craft and spiritual practice of Dance leading and mentoring. Mentors are invited to submit their reflections on this topic to the Guidance Council.
As a young wanderer in 1969, I first met my spiritual teacher, Sufi Murshid Samuel Lewis, dancing in Precita Park in San Francisco. I realized quickly that life was taking me on an extraordinary adventure, and that my primary task was simply to be open, to listen, and to welcome the awesome blessings that were pouring forth from this God-realized dervish. I embraced the dances he shared with us as opportunities for ecstasy and as pathways to higher consciousness. I loved the community drawn together around this unpredictable, funny and wise elder. Adorned in our colorful robes, I experienced beauty in each and all of the dancers, and spiritually, I felt I was arriving home. READ MORE
“Be Ye Songs of Glory”
By Murshida Halima Sussman
The Walks and Dances of Universal Peace are an exquisite vehicle for the transformative spiritual awakening to our true nature. In the Dances we overcome isolation and the illusion of our separate individual states, and join together in the experience of our shared humanity. All people have words and expressions for love, compassion, peace, and joy. The Walks and Dances offer us a medium to experience and open to these kind of qualities that are, in reality, always present. We tune ourselves through rhythm, breath, heart awakening, and embodiment to the reality of Love, Harmony, and Beauty.
“The dance is the way of Life; the dance is the sway of Life. What Life gives may be expressed with body, heart, and soul to the glory of God and the elevation of humankind, leading therein to ecstasy and self realization. Verily, this is the sacred dance.” (Murshid SAM, Intro to Spiritual Dancing) READ MORE
