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FREE Dance and music

2008-01-17T06:21:22Z

Aloha Kakou,

Ever been curious about Balinese dancing? Djembe drumming? Middle Eastern dance?
Do you have friends who are interested in learning how to hula and ori?

We are about to launch a new session of introductory classes in music and dance!

To celebrate, we are having an evening of FREE performance and instruction on Friday, February 1st at the Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance:

Intro to Hula for Men and Women
6:00 - 6:30
Instructor: Kumu Mahealani

Rhythms of the Caribbean
6:30 - 7:00
Instructor: Hugh Humphrey

Balinese Dance
7:00 - 7:30
Instructor: Kompiang Metri

Middle Eastern Dance
7:30 - 8:00
Instructor: Miriam Peretz

Intro to Tahitian Ori
8:00 - 8:30
Instructor: Kumu Mahealani

Each half hour session includes a short demonstration and lesson.

Light refreshments will be served.

The new session of classes will start on Sunday, February 3rd.
A complete and up - to - date schedule of classes is now on view at our website:
http://www.mahea.com

For more information call: 510-845-2605
Our location is 729 Heinz Avenue in Berkeley, California

Tell a friend!

Mahalo!
Kumu Mahealani

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11:11 Sacred Solara Dances

2005-08-31T02:19:42Z

"...
The 11:11 Sacred Dances

The 11:11 Sacred Dances are very powerful tools to anchor the Greater Reality into the physical.
They are deeply transformational. Each dance is for a specific purpose which is ever evolving.
Some dances are extremely vigorous, while others are so subtle that we barely move.
Each dance has myriad levels of mastery and refinement.

There are presently eleven Sacred Dances which have been birthed by Solara
and others to facilitate our journey through the 11:11.

Many of you will be surprised at how familiar these dances are.
But remember, we have been dancing them together for aeons in the Invisible.
This is why it feels exhilarating to perform them in our physical bodies upon the Earth at this time.

The Sacred Dances are both subtle and powerful.
They are an important part of our initiation into the Greater Reality.
We ask all participants to honor their sanctity by performing them with utmost respect
and by wearing white clothing which symbolizes the purity of our One Being.
If you perform these dances with your full Presence, with focused intent and dedication,
you will be noticably transformed!

Please remember that whenever we perform these Sacred Dances,
in groups large or small, anywhere on this planet,
all of us are with you; for truly we are woven together in Oneness.
Even if you are a tiny group of inexperienced dancers,
when you perform these Sacred Dances with sincerity and an open heart,
you will feel all of us dancing with you as One Being!

The best way to learn these Sacred Dances is to participate in the Master Cylinder
of an 11:11 Gate Activation. Not only will you be taught them by Solara,
but you will be dancing them in the context for which they were created.

Here are our 11:11 Sacred Dances:

THE STARRY PROCESSIONAL
(1991 by Solara)

The dance of us as One Star. It brings together our One Being by aligning us into One Star, then we spiral into the Greater Reality. This dance was performed worldwide by over 144,000 people at the 11:11 Activation on January 11, 1992. And it is the only Sacred Dance which has been danced at every one of our Master Cylinders at the 11:11 Gate Activations..

How to dance the STARRY PROCESSIONAL:
Music for the STARRY PROCESSIONAL: Now available on CD!

THE GREATER CENTRAL SUN DANCE (1992 by Solani)

Expands the Great Central Sun into an even Greater Central Sun aligned with the Greater Reality. This energetic dance creates propulsion and is only performed on special occasions when great energy is needed for a specific purpose. The focus and specific movements of the dance in the center of the Greater Central Sun are continually evolving depending on the specific purpose needed at the time.

Music for the GREATER CENTRAL SUN DANCE: Now available on CD!

THE SACRED SPIRAL DANCE (1992 by Solara)
The dance of the Lovers from Beyond the Stars is the map of our journey into the One Heart. This exquisite dance was the focal point of the 11:11 Second Gate Activation in June 1993. Two spirals of dancers representing the Lovers from Beyond the Stars dance into the center and become One Being, then the two as One spiral outwards into the Greater Love.

How to dance the SACRED SPIRAL DANCE: Under Construction!
Music for the SACRED SPIRAL DANCE: Now available on CD!

THE LOTUS DANCE (1992 by Omashar & Solara)

One of our most subtle dances which represents the One Heart. We slowly dance in two circles as petals of the Lotus of True Love, gently expanding that love outwards to the planet and inhaling back to the pure Core Essence of Love. This dance is performed in silence with almost closed eyes and powerfully anchors the One Heart wherever it is danced. It is magnificent outside at night under the stars.

How to dance the LOTUS DANCE: Under Construction!

THE EARTH-STAR DANCE (1995 by Solara)
A powerful dance of transformation which integrates Earth & Star within our physical bodies. First, we dance vigorously as primordial Earth Beings, then we dance as etheric Star Beings. Continually changing back and forth embodying these two very different energies, we then join with a partner who embodies the opposite of what we are. Finally the Earth and Star Beings merge and become One. This dance was birthed in Finland.

How to dance the EARTH-STAR DANCE:
Music for the EARTH-STAR DANCE: Now available on CD!

THE TAANUA DANCE OF THE GREATER LOVE (1995 - 1996 by Ramariel & Solara)

A wild dance which activates the Greater Love. Our movements and sounds are inspired by the Kalahari Bushmen as we embody the stars hunting for True Love. It is a strange, joyful dance that often puts us in a state of precarious physical balance until we realize how supported we are by our One Being. By the end, we discover that we have found something far beyond True Love as we are ecstatically filled with the Greater Love.
(Part of this dance was birthed by Ramariel in Machu Picchu, Peru in 1995 and the rest in Montana by Solara in 1996.)

THE ONE EYE DANCE (1996 by Solara)

Another subtle dance of our One Being which constantly reweaves and realigns itself. As we dance, our One Eye is activated, taking us deeper into new levels of perception and feeling.

THE INSERTION POINT DANCE (1997 by Solara, Nova & Uriel)

A powerful, new dance performed by groups of three in which we create insertion points to anchor the Greater Reality into the physical. This dance was born at one of the 11:11 Third Gate Master Cylinders.

Music for the GREATER CENTRAL SUN DANCE is also used in the Insertion Point Dance.
Now available on CD!
See photos of the INSERTION POINT DANCE:

THE THIRD GATE DANCE (1997 by Sunyar)

A joyous celebration of our One Being. We continually form One Heart / One Being with ever-changing partners. An exuberent honoring dance filled with tenderness and love. This dance was birthed at our final Third Gate Activation in October 1997 at the Glasshouse Mountains in Australia.

THE GOLDEN LION DANCE (1998 by Solara with Ataana Loa)

Our most powerful dance was at the core of the ceremony for the Fourth Gate Activation Master Cylinder. This dance is a massive leap from all our previous dances. It heralds the return to Earth of the golden, winged lions and opens the doorway to a time of fulfillment. Through an intricate series of movements, many pairs of empowered lions weave themselves into a heightened sense of Oneness with everything.

THE ONE EARTH / ONE BEING DANCE (2004 by our One Being at the 6th Gate Master Cylinder in Ireland.)

The One Earth / One Being Dance has several stages. In the first one, we consciously choose to step inside the Circle of the One Being. Once our One Being is in position, we choose as One for our One Being to step inside the Circle of the Earth. As it does, concentric circles are formed, with the Earth-Star in the center of the circle. As the outer circle activates, it sends ripples of energy to the next circle which then activates and sends ripples of energy to the circle inside it. This goes on until the Earth-Star itself is activated which causes the innermost circle to pulsate. The pulsations go outwards while the ripples go inwards. This creates a massive Zone of Overlap in which all things are possible.

In addition to these dances, there is the ever-changing DANCE OF THE ELEMENTS
which was performed at all the 11:11 Gate Activations since 4th Gate.

All material copyrighted 1991 -2004 by Solara. All rights reserved.

..."
Source: http://www.nvisible.com/1111/SacredDances.html

posted in dance - 0 replies

Sacred Dance: The Search for Cosmic Harmony

2005-08-31T02:17:43Z

"...Gurdjieff International Review
Sacred Dance: The Search for Conscious Harmony
An Interview with Pauline de Dampierre
Conducted by Jacques Le Vallois

Copyright © 1988, 2002 Institut Gurdjieff, Paris
Jacques Le Vallois: There is undoubtedly a good reason why Peter Brook’s Meetings With Remarkable Men ends with a sequence of sacred dances; I felt it was one of the strongest parts of the whole film. They are unlike any dances we ordinarily see performed in public. The exactitude and precision of the gestures seem to obey a certain order; and then they don’t seem to be natural movements, but rather give the impression of being the result of a long, special training. I have to say that these dances touched my emotions in an unaccustomed way.

So I’m very glad to be able to ask you some questions today, to find out more about them: what they mean and how they produce such an effect. First of all, I’d like to ask: what meaning did Gurdjieff attribute to them?

Pauline de Dampierre: In the book from which the film is taken, you will find some very important indications of that meaning, and they are surprising for us because they don’t seem to coincide either with our idea of art or with the devotional aspect of sacred dance. Describing his stay in the monastery shown in the film, Gurdjieff tells about watching the priestesses work. They had to learn a number of postures and reproduce them very exactly. He says that these postures have a meaning, and that they constitute an alphabet; so in the evening, when the priestesses dance in the great hall of the temple, the brothers can read in these postures the truths that were implanted in them several thousand years ago and which are transmitted in this way from one generation to another. He was astonished by the precision and the purity of the positions, and touched by them without yet understanding what they meant. We are in an analogous situation. And in fact, the way in which we are touched is our best approach to the whole new world that these movements can open. You only had glimpses of a few of them in the film.

Jacques Le Vallois: Yes, they were evidently incomplete. How would you describe these dances?

Pauline de Dampierre: How to describe them—perhaps there’s no better way than the answer Gurdjieff gave his pupil Ouspensky, when he told him to imagine that there was a mechanism for studying the planets which represented visually the laws governing their movements, reminding the onlooker of all he knows about the solar system. He said there was something like that in the rhythm of sacred dances; and he stated enigmatically that through these strictly defined movements and the patterns made by the dancers, certain laws are made visible and intelligible to those who know them.

And I would add that Gurdjieff made his pupils feel the significance of these dances much more by his presence and the influence it exerted than by explanations. He led his pupils to try constantly to relate their work to the central element of consciousness which was the foundation of his teaching.

Jacques Le Vallois: Is practicing these movements a way of approaching Gurdjieff’s teaching?

Pauline de Dampierre: Yes, one of the ways. You may imagine how difficult it is to sum up the essence of this teaching in a few words; let’s just say that it allows a person to feel in him or herself the existence of two poles. One pole corresponds to one’s real possibility, if one is willing to look for it—the awakening of consciousness, the development of being, presence to oneself. The other pole corresponds to the way we actually live, enslaved by our automatism, our passivity, our sleep. To try to wake up and escape from this sleep could be the direction of our whole life, at every moment; special conditions and an exceptional method of study are provided by these dances.

Jacques Le Vallois: Where do they come from, these dances—or rather “movements,” as you call them? Did Gurdjieff find them on his travels, or did he compose them himself?

Pauline de Dampierre: Both! All his travels and research were for the purpose of mastering the knowledge of the laws that govern the lives of human beings. The same laws are behind the ritual dances which he saw in many places, and it is according to them that the dances were composed. He learned that the law governing our slavery and spiritual sleep decrees that the automatism of our thoughts and feelings is closely bound up with the automatism of our movements and postures. That is the magic circle from which the human being can never escape by himself. But a series of new postures, proceeding from a real knowledge of a different order of laws, can open us to a different order within ourselves that would free us, unify us, and awaken us to the real meaning of our lives, so that our real being could act and make itself heard. This is the “science of movement” which Gurdjieff rediscovered.

Jacques Le Vallois: Seeing these dances for the first time, I had the strange impression of “jamais vu”—something I had never seen before. What I saw was a perfect, harmonious whole. Also, there seemed to be a kind of osmosis between the dancers. How much time does it take to reach this degree of perfection?

Pauline de Dampierre: I would say that it takes an entire lifetime for someone finally to reach the beginning—but the beginning of something immensely great. Anyone can begin to do them, but this approach will bring a person into a long process where he will find out that he is not prepared. The preparation must be a gradual one—a gradual increase in the difficulty of the movements and also in the inner resources which are called on. These postures often require movements that are not associated with each other, which the body’s automatism does not make naturally; and also the sequences of positions are hard to memorize. The automatism itself has to adapt itself. Before beginning to work on the sort of dances you saw, a lot of preparatory exercises are necessary which require a sustained attention.

The first requirement is for the correct, pure position; otherwise the meaning is lost.

Jacques Le Vallois: How is the idea of purity to be understood in relation to position?

Pauline de Dampierre: The position becomes something less unconscious. Schematically, let’s say that it’s a firm, balanced position, that allows the person to maintain an inner presence while making a simple gesture, followed through without tension, without any useless or involuntary expenditure of energy. One has to feel the position, have a living impression of it, for it to be right and pure. And this sensitivity does not develop just by itself. It’s necessary to have an outer attitude that corresponds to the inner one.

Jacques Le Vallois: Does that require a special attention which allows the execution of the right movements?

Pauline de Dampierre: That is a first stage.

Jacques Le Vallois: The music accompanying the dances is quite unlike anything I have known before, although certain harmonies perhaps are reminiscent of Near Eastern ones. How does this music act on the dancers?

Pauline de Dampierre: Through the harmonies—but above all, through the composition of the music. Music also can belong to different orders of laws. Its structure, its harmonies, its melody, and its rhythm must accompany not only the outward movements but also the inner impulses which develop progressively in the course of the exercise. If the quality of vibration is right, it will awaken its counter-part in the dancers; it will not carry them away nor distract them. It continually brings them back to themselves and to their need to be open.

The person who plays for the movements also has an active role. I will give you an example: you see that each of the exercises has a certain tempo which, like all musical tempos, is indicated on the score in the usual way—lento, allegretto, and so on, and sometimes by the metronome marking. But the metronome is not a sufficient guide. The same tempo that has given a peaceful, collected impression will seem at another time unbearably slow; or one which allowed a vigor and force to appear will now seem hurried. The right tempo is felt when it is in harmony with the inner state, and when the musician allows this harmony to come through his playing. Then the sound itself is transformed and it sustains the effort of the dancers.

Jacques Le Vallois: Could one say that there is a sensation which is a sort of central point of reference, corresponding with a right movement?

Pauline de Dampierre: If that were all, the movements would not have their real meaning; they would not be connected with the basic question with which this teaching confronts us. Again and again, while making the movement, the pupil tries to return to himself and to remember the direction of his search. He must have a deeper, more relaxed, more sustained attention. He feels the great power of his automatism and discovers that he is much more its prisoner than he thought, because the moment he gives in to it, he is lost. But if this attention is sustained, a new energy appears which is higher and more active, which awakens him to himself. The body relaxes completely and begins to participate in a freer way; a new intelligence accompanies the movement. At that moment, the pupil approaches the “exact doing” of which Gurdjieff spoke.

Jacques Le Vallois: Could one speak of this as a “state of grace?”

Pauline de Dampierre: A state of grace—yes. Above all, the dancer experiences that this state asks for much more than he could have imagined. The execution of the movement is a test of truth which doesn’t permit cheating: there has to be exactitude in the gesture, obedience to the rhythm, absolute order governing the rows of dancers, unanimity of movement; and at every moment he feels his inadequacy. If he imagines that he can put his trust in a state of grace, his clumsy movement reminds him that his timing is wrong. One of the big discoveries to which this work leads is that the body has to be taught. It is full of tensions, full of all the results of its way of behaving, and not ready to be animated by a state of grace.

If the struggle lasts long enough, a moment comes when this state becomes, for an instant, a reality. Then there is a real coming together: body, feeling, and thought are united. The pupil experiences a demand such as he has never felt before, the need to be nothing but an instrument; and he has never before felt so alive, so independent, so truly free.

Jacques Le Vallois: Is this very special state related with something that could be called a different energy or vibration?

Pauline de Dampierre: It is certainly related. Sometimes other expressions are used: density of matter and density of vibrations, degree of vivifyingness; but the term energy is more evocative of our own experience. Our ordinary states are connected with a certain quality of energy which has its own characteristics—for instance, a kind of heaviness. A more interiorized state is necessarily linked with a finer quality of energy that comes from a higher level; otherwise it cannot be maintained. If it is maintained, new relations are established between the functions of the body, the thought, and the feeling.

Take the example of rhythm. How can rhythm be defined? It’s not just a regular alternation of strong beats and weak ones, of tension and relaxation; it’s a pulsing of energy, an ebb and flow of energy which is not usually perceived as such. Gurdjieff gave a very simple explanation to show the importance of rhythm. He was standing, holding one arm out in front. He said:

You see, if I extend my arm this way, I spend a certain amount of energy. If I lower it, I again spend energy, and once more if I lift it again. But if I make a continuous up and down movement, I need much less energy.

With that he showed us that a momentum, something like a sustained musical note, could be established that would support an inner state. In practice, this momentum can be of quite different qualities; it depends on the impulse to which it responds. If the rhythm is rigid and mathematical, if it is “anti-rhythmic,” no momentum is established. On the contrary, it may be disordered and out of control. But there can be a much more subtle rhythm connected with a very fine inner attention. In the moments of grace that you spoke of, there is sometimes such inner unity that one could say that the body moves with the rhythm in a conscious harmony.

Jacques Le Vallois: Does the intellect—or rather, let’s say, the mind—act as a restraint?

Pauline de Dampierre: Continually! It is much too ponderous, and it exerts a constant attraction. The attention that’s necessary doesn’t come from the mind; it has no name and no form.

Jacques Le Vallois: Is what is asked for in these “movements” the core of Gurdjieff’s teaching?

Pauline de Dampierre: As I said earlier, the movements provide conditions that are especially favorable and especially concentrated. What is central to this teaching must be lived also in all sorts of other conditions, in which the attractions of the outer world are much stronger. The experience of the movements would have no sense if it were limited to particular conditions. Its usefulness lies in revealing the possibilities and the difficulties of the whole human problem. It confronts the problem of manifestation.

Jacques Le Vallois: You lay stress on the importance of the positions and their exactitude. Can it be said that they contain a symbolic meaning?

Pauline de Dampierre: It all depends on what one is trying to understand. Analyses are not very useful. I don’t deny that each of these positions may have a definite, precise meaning, like the mudras of the Hindu repertory of gestures, which constitute a language for the transmission of certain information belonging to a body of knowledge. But it mustn’t be forgotten that the knowledge of which it speaks has always been linked with the perception of universal and human phenomena, interpenetrating and acting upon one another. These symbolic gestures were addressed to people who were steeped in this knowledge, as we are not. For example, in Buddhist art certain statues hold in one hand an oblong object which is a vase. It will be said, for instance, that this contains the Bodhisattva’s nectar of compassion; but it is also understood how this compassion is linked with the symbolism of water, the beneficent water which penetrates and fertilizes and unites. We don’t have this understanding.

Jacques Le Vallois: The intellectual explanation of the symbol doesn’t seem satisfactory. One could say the same thing about the movements—there isn’t an intellectual explanation of them.

Pauline de Dampierre: There could be one, even a very precise one; but it would be “for those who already know”—and they find it for themselves. One might say that in the symbol, two worlds begin to meet. By means of the symbol, a permeability appears between these two orders.

Jacques Le Vallois: Can it also be said that the movements are the artistic expression of a knowledge?

Pauline de Dampierre: In turn, I shall ask you a question: you saw some of these dances in the film. What did you think of them? Did you find in them a certain beauty?

Jacques Le Vallois: The prevailing impression, I would say, was an unquestionable harmony of the whole that seemed to correspond with something true and adequate. But I also felt the beauty of the gestures, and I was very much moved by the music which accompanied them.

Pauline de Dampierre: Nevertheless, while the movements were being performed, the aim was not to create a work of art. I would add that not one of the dancers ever thought of himself as an artist; not one considered himself a specialist in sacred dance. The dancers are usually people who lead active private and professional lives, and at the same time undertake this discipline in order to enrich their search.

You spoke of harmony. What conditions are necessary for this harmony to appear? First of all, there is a canon, a lawful order. This canon comes from a knowledge: that of the relation between form and substance, between the movements of the body and those of the human psyche. Its goal is the evolution of consciousness. But this canon and this knowledge are not enough. The dancer has an essential role to play; without him, the harmony will not appear. He must not submit to this canon mechanically or passively; he must search. There is a question which concerns him deeply, and he must obey consciously. The harmony and the beauty will come from that.

Jacques Le Vallois: The science you have spoken of, if I have understood, is a knowledge of cosmic laws. Would you say that this science, together with a certain open attitude of search, can create the necessary conditions for the appearance of a very high form of art?

P. de Dampierre: Gurdjieff had a very lofty idea of what he called objective art. One of its characteristics is that it has the same effect on everyone. He described a moment in his youth when he and his fellow searchers found themselves in front of a very special work of art in a desert of Central Asia. At first, they thought it was a very ancient image of a god or a demon; but little by little, they saw that a whole cosmological system could be found absolutely everywhere in it, in all its details—even in the facial features. They found that they could decipher this system, and that they became aware of the feeling that had animated the creators of the statue. They seemed to see them and to hear their voices; in any case, they felt what these people had wished to convey to them.

It’s not the ambition of those who study these movements to create a work of this sort; but in the course of their practice, sometimes a very special phenomenon occurs. It may happen that everything comes together so perfectly, with such a shared understanding, that their differences disappear. One doesn’t notice one or another person any more. It is as though one individual comes forward, raises his arm, turns his head; only one feeling moves through the whole and activates it. What occurs is an event. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is the manifestation of an objective law, but a prospect opens toward that horizon.

Jacques Le Vallois: It seems a very far horizon. With nothing to orient them, what chance do people today have of reaching it?

Pauline de Dampierre: First of all, I will say that this possibility opens only at moments. Perhaps people watching the movements have an impression of a whole, of harmony, of the release of an unusual force. They are touched, because it is not a professional performance that they are watching, nor a demonstration of the results of school work, but a living event that is taking place in front of them, with all its risks, its moments of rise and fall. The dancers themselves know this perfectly well; they feel the instability of everything that is happening in themselves. This is the price of the great moments they may experience.

And then there is another aspect, which applies more precisely to your question. We have spoken up till now of this very high vista which unfolds, of a possible culmination of the search. But at the same time these exercises open a prospect that is very simple and very accessible. Anyone can approach them, whatever his capacities; and from that point of view, one can say they answer to a lack in today’s world, a need for renewal. These exercises are one of the disciplines one finds today—there are still too few—which point out the necessity of associating the body with an inner, spiritual aspiration. This necessity has been forgotten; the body lives apart, and we don’t feel the inadequacy in that situation, and the limitations which it imposes on every plane of our existence. We are given no taste of the body’s dormant possibilities; we don’t know how to listen to it nor to call it. But a relation could be established—and not only during the practice of a discipline. Those who participate in the work of the movements will tell you that the understanding which has come to them carries over into other moments, in the most ordinary situations. There is no circumstance in our life which need be cut off from it, not even taking the subway or sitting at one’s desk or walking in the street.

So you see, we come back down to the level where we live.

Copyright © 1985, 2002 Pauline de Dampierre
This webpage © 2002 Gurdjieff Electronic Publishing
Featured: Spring 2002 Issue, Vol. V (1)
Revision: April 1, 2002

This interview—translated from the French—was first published in The American Theosophist, Wheaton, IL, LXXIII (5), May, 1985, pp. 175–181. Pauline de Dampierre was one of the intimate circle which gathered around Gurdjieff in the days of the Paris Occupation. Trained as an attorney and journalist, her central interest and occupation have remained in the study and practice of Gurdjieff’s ideas. Jacques Le Vallois is the editor-in-chief of the French monthly Aurores, a periodical devoted to the study of traditional civilizations and spiritual search.

..."
Source: http://www.gurdjieff.org/dampierre1.htm

posted in dance - 0 replies

Welcome to Dance

2005-08-31T02:13:34Z

Creation is linked to Dance - the movement of the Soul - as it blends sound, light, and color in rhythmic patters of geometry that opens our souls and allow us to flow into other places where we are the creators.

Dancing as a way of releasing, healing and connecting with each other and our divine source dates back tens of thousands of years, and can be found in thousands of cultures the world over.

We are energy beings. Our feelings and emotions are energy, and as energy they are meant to move. Dance is a perfect way to vibrate and move this emotional energy, thereby restoring the body to its natural order.

Dance to heal yourself and your community, and to expand your radiance, awareness, presence, aliveness and passion.

Dance is one of the oldest forms of self expression.

It is an expression / language of the soul that dates back since the beginnings of time.

posted in dance - 2 replies

Rumi and Dance

2005-03-23T05:20:56Z

The Life and Spiritual Milieu of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

In the last decades of the Twentieth Century the spiritual influence of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumiis being strongly felt by people of diverse beliefs throughout the Western world. He is being recognized here in the West, as he has been for seven centuries in the Middle East and Western Asia, as one of the greatest literary and spiritual figures of all time. Different qualities of Rumi have been brought forth by a variety of new translations that have appeared during the nineteen-eighties. He has been presented as both refined and sensual, sober and ecstatic, deeply serious and extremely funny, rarefied and accessible. It is a sign of his profound universality that he has been so many things to so many people.

Rumi's Life

Jalaludd�n Rumi was born in 1207 in Balkh in what is today Afghanistan. At an early age his family left Balkh because of the danger of the invading Mongols and settled in Konya, Turkey, which was then the capital of the Seljuk Empire.His father Bahauddin was a great religious teacher who received a position at the university in Konya.

Mevlana's early spiritual education was under the tutelage of his father Bahauddin and later under his father's close friend Sayyid Burhaneddin of Balkh. The circumstances surrounding Sayyid's undertaking of the education of his friend's son are interesting: Sayyid had been in Balkh, Afghanistan when he felt the death of his friend Bahauddin and realized that he must go to Konya to take over Jalaludd�n's spiritual education. He came to Konya when Mevl�na was about twenty-four years old, and for nine years instructed him in "the science of the prophets and states," beginning with a strict forty day retreat and continuing with various disciplines of meditation and fasting. During this time Jal�ludd�n also spent more than four years in Aleppo and Damascus studying with some of the greatest religious minds of the time.

As the years passed, Mevlana grew both in knowledge and consciousness of God. Eventually Sayyid Burhaneddin felt that he had fulfilled his responsibility toward Jalaludd�n, and he wanted to live out the rest of his years in seclusion. He told Mevlana, "You are now ready, my son. You have no equal in any of the branches of learning. You have become a lion of knowledge. I am such a lion myself and we are not both needed here and that is why I want to go. Furthermore, a great friend will come to you, and you will be each other's mirror. He will lead you to the innermost parts of the spiritual world, just as you will lead him. Each of you will complete the other, and you will be the greatest friends in the entire world." And so Sayyid intimated the coming of Shams of Tabriz, the central event of Rumi's life.

At the age of thirty-seven Mevlana met the spiritual vagabond Shams. Much has already been written about their relationship. Prior to this encounter Rumi had been an eminent professor of religion and a highly attained mystic; after this he became an inspired poet and a great lover of humanity. Rumi's meeting with Shams can be compared to Abraham's meeting with Melchizedek. I owe to Murat Yagan this explanation: "A Melchizedek and a Shams are messengers from the Source. They do nothing themselves but carry enlightenment to someone who can receive, someone who is either too full or too empty. Mevl�na was one who was too full. After receiving it, he could apply this message for the benefit of humanity." Shams was burning and Rumi caught fire. Shams' companionship with Rumi was brief. Despite the fact that each was a perfect mirror for the other Shams disappeared, not once but twice. The first time, Rumi's son Sultan Veled searched for and discovered him in Damascus. The second disappearance, however, proved to be final, and it is believed that he may have been murdered by people who resented his influence over Mevlana.

Rumi was a man of knowledge and sanctity before meeting Shams, but only after the alchemy of this relationship was he able to fulfill Sayyid Burhaneddin's prediction that he would "drown men's souls in a fresh life and in the immeasurable abundance of God... and bring to life the dead of this false world with... meaning and love."

For more than ten years after meeting Shams, Mevlana had been spontaneously composing odes, or ghazals, and these had been collected in a large volume called the Divan-i Kabir. Meanwhile Mevlana had developed a deep spiritual friendship with Husameddin Chelebi. The two of them were wandering through the Meram vineyards outside of Konya one day when Husameddin described an idea he had to Mevl�na: "If you were to write a book like the Ilahiname of Sanai or the Mantik'ut-Tayr'i of Fariduddin Attar it would become the companion of many troubadours. They would fill their hearts form you work and compose music to accompany it."

Mevlana smiled and took from inside the folds of his turban a piece of paper on which were written the opening eighteen lines of his Mathnawi, beginning with:

Listen to the reed and the tale it tells, how it sings of separation...

Husameddin wept for joy and implored Mevl�na to write volumes more. Mevlana replied, "Chelebi, if you consent to write for me, I will recite." And so it happened that Mevlana in his early fifties began the dictation of this monumental work. As Husameddin described the process: "He never took a pen in his hand while composing the Mathnawi. Wherever he happened to be, whether in the school, at the Ilgin hot springs, in the Konya baths, or in the Meram vineyards, I would write down what he recited. Often I could barely keep up with his pace, sometimes, night and day for several days. At other times he would not compose for months, and once for two years there was nothing. At the completion of each book I would read it back to him, so that he could correct what had been written."

The Mathnawi can justifiably be considered the greatest spiritual masterpiece ever written by a human being. It's content includes the full spectrum of life on earth, every kind of human activity: religious, cultural, political, sexual, domestic; every kind of human character form the vulgar to the refined; as well as copious and specific details of the natural world, history and geography. It is also a book that presents the vertical dimension of life -- from this mundane world of desire, work, and things, to the most sublime levels of metaphysics and cosmic awareness. It is its completeness that enchants us.

His Spiritual Milieu What do we need to know to receive the knowledge that Rumi offers us? First of all, it needs to be understood that Rumi's tradition is not an "Eastern" tradition. It is neither of the East nor of the West, but something in between. Rumi's mother-tongue was Persian, an Indo-European language strongly influenced by Semitic (Arabic) vocabulary, something like French with a smattering of Hebrew.

Furthermore, the Islamic tradition, which shaped him, acknowledges that only one religion has been given to mankind through countless prophets, or messengers, who have come to every people on Earth bearing this knowledge of Spirit. God is the subtle source of all life, Whose essence cannot be described or compared to anything, but who can be known through the spiritual qualities that are manifest in the world and in the human heart. It is a deeply mystical tradition, on the one hand, with a strong and clear emphasis on human dignity and social justice, on the other.

Islam is understood as a continuation of the Judeo-Christian or Abrahamic tradition, honoring the Hebrew prophets, as well as Jesus and Mary. Muslims, however, are very sensitive to the issue of attributing divinity to a human being, which they see as the primary error of Christianity. although Jesus is called the in the Qur'an "the Spirit of God," it would be thought a blasphemy to identify any human being exclusively as God. Muhammad is viewed as the last of those human prophets who brought the message of God's love.

In Rumi's world, the Islamic way of life had established a high level of spiritual awareness among the general population. The average person would be someone who performed regular ablutions and prayed five times a day, fasted from food and drink during the daylight hours for at least one month a year, and closely followed a code which emphasized the continual remembrance of God, intention, integrity, generosity, and respect for all life. Although the Mathnawi can appeal to us on many levels, it assumes a rather high level of spiritual awareness as a starting point and extends to the very highest levels of spiritual understanding.

The unenlightened human state is one of "faithlessness" in which an individual lives in slavery to the false self and the desires of the materials world. The spiritual practices which Rumi would have known were aimed at transforming the compulsiveness of the false self and attaining Islam or "Submission" to a higher order of reality. Without this submission the real self is enslaved to the ego and lives in a state of internal conflict due to the contradictory impulses of the ego. The enslaved ego is cut off from the heart, the chief organ for perceiving reality, and cannot receive the spiritual guidance and nourishment which the heart provides. Overcoming this enslavement and false separation leads to the realization and development of our true humanity. spiritual maturity is the realization that the self is a reflection of the Divine. God is the Beloved or Friend, the transpersonal identity. Love of God leads to the lover forgetting himself in the love of the Beloved.

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Whirling Dervishes

2005-03-23T05:20:30Z

The Whirling Dervishes trace their origin to the 13th century Ottoman Empire. The Dervishes, also known as the Mevlevi Order, are Sufis, a spiritual offshoot of Islam. In 1972, Jelaluddin Loras, Sheikh of the Mevlevi Order of America, brought the religion from Turkey to the United States. On December 17, Whirling Dervishes across the world celebrate the birth of Jelaluddin Mevlana Rumi, a mystic poet, who founded the Mevlevi Order. Modern day Whirling Dervishes' are members of the Mevlevi Order (named for their founder Mevlana) lived in what we might call coisters or monasteries - what to them was a Mevlevihane.

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Tribal Dance

2005-03-23T05:19:44Z

Trance Dance

Dancing to the beat of a tribal drum.

The participants reach a level of excitement they call 'Ecstasy'. They feel primal energy.

Trance Dance is a healing tool with its roots in many ancient cultures. It is practiced by Shaman.

Musical dance is a journey in the Shamanic tradition of the Native American people, and their insight into the power and magic of the animal archetypes, the healing of others, and the healing of the Earth Mother.

The process of Trance Dance seems to fall into three stages;

Firstly a building of trust - getting to know the others in the group. We do this physically with movement and mirroring games and people start to reveal who and how they are to the group. Next to find a partner who will be with us during the dance, noticing what we need and keeping us safe

Then to the dance itself. Dancing one or two at a time with their eyes closed the dancers accept the safety provided by the rest of the group. As they let go deeper into the dance their bodies spontaneously express whatever needs releasing. The dancers partner and two or three others surround them, keeping them from collisions. The supporters use their intuition to decide what it is the dancer needs; perhaps more space or arms ready to catch them if they loose their balance, a hand to hold or voice to support the dancers own shouts.

The dancer often comes to 'points of resistance' when they loose their balance or energy, with help they push through these till they have gone as far as they want to.

The drummers meanwhile have a similar role. Matching the dancers energy. Not pushing with their drumming but watching closely for the shift or breakthrough in the dancers movement and following them. The energy forms a circuit between dancer, supporter and drummer, sometimes slow, sometimes a reaching a crescendo of passion. Following the flow to stillness.

In this way it seems a perfect embodiment of love and relationship through acceptance, support, intuition and energy exchange - the dance of holding and being held. The dancer has the safe space to show the parts of themselves they may have found difficult to express and so they move deeper into love of themselves.

The dance ends when the dancer has gone as far as they are able and at that point they are helped to a comfortable space by their partner who stays with them to nurture and support them, always listening to what the dancer needs and wants from them.

When everyone who wants to has danced we reach the final stage of the day. A quiet closeness as the group comes back together, perhaps holding each other in gentle contact. People find their place in the centre or on the outskirts of the group according to their needs.

At the sharing some have been moved by the feeling of being safely held by the group and others by the chance to follow their intuition in supporting others. A quiet time for integration and re-centring is then needed. Many people have moved energy that has been stagnant for a long time; this culture doesn't make many safe spaces for strong passion - whatever kind of emotion it contains. This often leads to blockage, unhappiness and illness.

We need to dance and drum as much as every other culture throughout history. We need times to be in our body instead of our heads and to feel the ecstasy of letting go. In Trance Dance we can learn to trust that our bodies know what we need to do. And we can learn to accept and love ourselves and others in the process.

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The Art of Dance

2005-03-23T05:19:17Z

The art of dance flows through the soul as it does through the universe creating a way for musical frequency to express itself.

In rituals dance can expression the essence of that which one desires.

The movements of the arms in many dances are similar to the arm motions of ancient civilizations. These are usually slow graceful sweeping motions used to move energy or to communicate.

Put on some music and dance!!

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