Monday I had a new and enriching experience - the practice of Sufi chanting, prayer and dance.
Though generally one thinks of the whirling dervishes, we danced in a line while chanting a simple prayer and the effect was to become like one unit. Synchronized swimmers or line dancers could relate.
Sufism is a religion, an off branch of Islam, rich in mystery and sensuality borrowing from many other ideologies to create a practice that celebrates light, music, mystery, and the senses. Rumi and Hafiz are famous Sufi poets. Nusrat Fateh ali Khan was well known for his haunting and beautiful chants. Prayers are often to illuminated beings and spiritual guides all with the goal of oneness, unity with God. Dance is one way in which this is accomplished with the chanting and trance of the movement comes a feeling of unity with others and the universe.
Though generally one thinks of the whirling dervishes, we danced in a line while chanting a simple prayer and the effect was to become like one unit. Synchronized swimmers or line dancers could relate.
Sufism is a religion, an off branch of Islam, rich in mystery and sensuality borrowing from many other ideologies to create a practice that celebrates light, music, mystery, and the senses. Rumi and Hafiz are famous Sufi poets. Nusrat Fateh ali Khan was well known for his haunting and beautiful chants. Prayers are often to illuminated beings and spiritual guides all with the goal of oneness, unity with God. Dance is one way in which this is accomplished with the chanting and trance of the movement comes a feeling of unity with others and the universe.
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