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SEMA
SPACE ESPACE SEMA
SUFI WHIRLING MEDITATION Est.2014
JAN 22 | FEB 5 | MAR
5 2023 - 2-4pm
Nyata
Nyata Dance Studio
4374 St. Laurent, 2nd floor
(ring to enter)
Tiohtià:ke/Montréal QC
Canada H2W 1Z5
Sema means mystic
audition and movement. Join this monthly gathering to
practice Sufi whirling alongside ancient poetry and
devotional music. It is a powerful, challenging and
ecstatic meditation based on the teachings of Rumi,
the Mevlevi Whirling Dervishes and the shamanic
beyond. The future is ancient. The music is live. Come
with passion, patience, loose clothing, good socks and
a snack to share. Please eat lightly beforehand, this
is an active meditation. By donation
Tawhida Tanya Evanson has over 20 years of study under
Turkish Rifa'i Marufi Sheikh Sherif Baba Çatalkaya and
Canadian semazenbashi (sema master) Raqib Brian Burke.
She has presented sema in public across North
America, Europe and Turkey, as well as in Japan, India
and Kazakhstan with the Vancouver Rumi Society, Rumi
Canada and music groups Mercan Dede (Turkey) and Niyaz
(Iran-US).
Whirling yields
benefits on many levels:
- Access to deep states of meditation
- Sensitivity to others
- States of ecstasy
- Intense workout at advanced levels
- Stamina
- Patience
- Balance
- Flexibility
Everything in the universe turns - planets around
a sun, Earth on its axis, wind in the trees, the
protons, electrons and neutrons in our body. The
whirling dervish engages in sema
(listening, turning) to align with this basic, cosmic
movement.
Sema is an active meditation; a prayer during
which a dervish's body can open to channel divine
invisible energy. "Dervish" literally means "doorway"
and is thought to be an entrance from the material
world to the spiritual world. In order to open, the
dervish attempts to be empty of ego or sense of self.
Whirling in place with one symbolic palm extended
upward to receive and one extended downward to give,
the dervish does not attempt to hold onto energy but
to be a vessel for it to pass into the hearts of
others. Sema is an open secret - the whirling dervish
tries to get out of the way to reveal it but as in any
type of meditation, it is a struggle.
The origin of the Turkish Sufi Mevlevi whirling ritual
lies with Persian mystic philosopher and poet Mevlana
Jalaladdin Rumi (1207-1273). It is said that he began
whirling out of longing after the disappearance of his
beloved teacher Shams.
Mevlana's son founded the Mevlevi Dervish Order
in 13th century Anatolia. The Mevlevi's ritualized the
practice of whirling, but there is evidence that the
practice of whirling has ancient African and animist
roots. Sufi whirling meditation is currently practiced
in Turkey, Canada, U.S., Italy, Spain, Syria, Iran,
Egypt, Morocco and Sudan. It is considered a universal
symbol of peace.
For more information visit mevlana.net
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