SEMA SPACE ESPACE SEMA

SUFI WHIRLING MEDITATION Est.2014   
Tiohtià:ke/Montréal QC Canada  

Sema means mystic audition and movement. Join this monthly gathering to practice Sufi whirling alongside ancient poetry and music. It is a powerful, challenging and ecstatic meditation based on the teachings of Hz Mevlana Rumi, the Rifa’i-Marufi and Mevlevi Sufi orders, and the shamanic beyond. The future is ancient. The music is live. Come with passion, patience, comfortable clothing, good socks and a snack to share. Please eat lightly beforehand. By donation.

Ashk olsun

Tawhida Tanya Evanson has over 20 years of study under Turkish Rifa'i-Marufi Sheikh Sherif Baba Çhatalkaya and Canadian Semazenbashi (sema master) Raqib Brian Burke. She has presented sema in public across North America and Europe, and in Turkey, Japan, India and Kazakhstan with the Vancouver Rumi Society, Rumi Canada and music groups Mercan Dede (Turkey) and Niyaz (Iran-US).   

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 the Divine Invisible. "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.   

Ashk olsun

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-i Tabrizi.   

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 animist roots from across Africa and Asia. Sufi whirling is currently practiced worldwide and considered to be a universal symbol of peace.

Whirling also yields benefits on many levels for those who practice it:   
.  Access to deep states of meditation  .  Sensitivity to others  
.  States of ecstasy  .  Intense workout at advanced levels  
.  Stamina  .  Patience  .  Balance  .  Flexibility

Ashk olsun