yoga
Sufi Yoga
This active meditation is a gentle blend of dance and yoga traditionally practiced in the oriental part of the world from Pakistan to Morocco, mainly done standing, circling, sitting – in movement or stillness.
Using the breath and a series of coordinated body movements followed by circling, your energy becomes centered in the hara, the life energy center below the naval.
From your center you can watch your mind and experience awareness and wholeness – the body moving in all directions, the center unmoving.
The practice is designed for you to create freedom in your body, mobility and flexibility by opening the heart, chest, shoulders, hips and lower back.
Meditative movement exercises in form of repetitions-mainly done seated on the earth-while rotating and twisting the body help release all stiffness and tightness eventually feeling more spaciousness not only in your physical body but also in deeper levels of your being.
Thus with time and practice, Sufi yoga is also an effective meditative practice, awakening the right energy to create a path for spirituality.
For centuries Sufis in the deserts from Morocco to the Middle East have naturally been developing and practicing their own way of yogic exercises, meditative movements and stillness.
Sufi Yoga is a profoundly moving call to discover and rest in the silence of our Heart. We are taken on a soaring journey, evoking a subtle remembering and awakening of our deeper Truth.
The practice fills the heart with a wondrous intensity and spirit and its quiet and illumining power continues to resonate inside one’s Being long after the practice.
I first came across the practice of Sufi Yoga when I had the chance to meet a group of Sufis in an oasis in the Sahara Desert. As they invited me to join their early morning meeting I was enchanted by the arising magic of this beautiful celebration.
Every morning the Sufis would just very naturally get together to celebrate this holy hour of dawn. Some would move and dance, others would play music or just sit quietly until – again very naturally – they would join into the same rhythm of meditative movements.