Dances Of Universal Peace Led By Ramana Smallen

A One Day retreat focusing on the life of the healer as viewed through the lens of the Healing Presence. We will work with breath, sound, light and love, to begin to dive deeply into the process of natural unfolding. We define Healing Presence as simply paying attention, with the addition of four qualities: ALLOWING, COMPASSION, LOVE AND INNOCENCE. This is a potent, but gentle combination.

This retreat will include opportunities to share our experiences, and times for silence for personal practice, which will be suggested by the guide on a personal, private basis. Wear comfortable clothes, and bring a desire to unlock that which is locked. No previous experience is necessary.

If you are traveling for this event you may want to take advantage of our hotel group rate with Hampton Inn & Suites. Click here for additional information.

About Ramana Smallen Ramana Smallen is a senior teacher in the Sufi Order International, and the Sufi Healing Order. Mr. Smallen is a practitioner and instructor in the Raphaelite Work, which offers hands-on healing retreats. He holds a Master's degree with SUNY at Buffalo in counselor education. He resides in Maryland, where he also works as a cabinetmaker. Ramana: 301-922-6537.

A Brief History of the Dances of Universal Peace and Unity

Hazrat Inayat Khan was a Sufi teacher from India who started "The Sufi Order in the West" in the early part of the 20th century. He was a contemporary of Unity’s Co-Founders, Myrtle and Charles Fillmore and they drew inspiration from his music and messages. Hazrat Inayat Khan developed the Universal Worship service. The ritual consists of an invocation, a reading from one of the holy books of the world's major religions, and the lighting of a candle for each tradition. A candle is also lit for all those individuals or religious systems (unknown or forgotten) that have inspired humankind. One goal of the Universal Worship service is to show people from different cultures the many common elements they share in their religious traditions, and to create a sense of unity among people from different cultures by teaching them to read each other's scriptures and "pray each other's prayers".

Samuel Lewis (October 18, 1896–January 15, 1971) was an American mystic and dance teacher who founded the Dances of Universal Peace movement. These dances, which take sacred phrases from all the world's religions, have since spread worldwide. He credits his "fairy godmother" Ruth St. Denis with his ability to draw Dance forms out of the cosmos and for his inspiration to teach Universal principles through movement meditations. Ruth St. Denis was ahead of her time in exploring dance forms from diverse world cultural and spiritual traditions. She was a teacher of Martha Graham and a feminist pioneer in the modern dance movement in America and Europe. Charles Fillmore and his second wife Cora Fillmore met Ruth St Denis on a trip to CA. Cora Fillmore was a dancer and became a student of Ruth St Denis and performed Spiritual Dances choreographed by her at Unity Village.

Lewis' and St. Dennis' idea of cultivating inner peace through dance drew on such diverse influences as Jalaleddin Rumi's whirling dervishes, early modern dance, American Shaker circle dances, square dancing, and Zen walking meditation for patterns of movement. They combined the dance movements with spiritual prayers, chants, scriptures, mantras, and poetry from all the world's religions. Sam and Ruth also incorporated the Muslim concept of Zikr or "remembrance" of the divine name by emphasizing the repetition of simple spiritual phrases. They set these phrases to music and added the simple dance steps.

The Dances of Universal Peace have been taught at Unity Village and in Unity Churches Worldwide since the very beginnings of Sam and Ruth’s inspiration. We are grateful to continue this tradition.