I study with a Sufi teacher Adnan Sarhan. He is originally from Baghdad and now travels around the world and the United States conducting workshops. He blends ancient techniques of movement, chanting, whirling and timing with dancing, singing and veil dancing. His work is unique amongst modern Sufi orders because movement and rhythm are central to his work and the separation of men and women, ritualistic behavior are absent . In his work the emphasis is on inner development. The most important aspect of his spiritual work is that it has freed countless people from bad habits, lifestyles and attitudes that limit their value of life. He is a very creative and musical being and the work is always accompanied by great Middle Eastern music and as a unique drummer Adnan brings to life music as a healing and dynamic influence on the human spirit.
The Sufis believe a human being is a forgetful creature not a sinful creature and their focus is on remembrance. Remembrance annihilates the slavery of forgetfulness by bringing people to the moment. To the Sufis the moment is the abode of God, of spirit, of healing and re-animates the living force. You can see it on the faces of the people as they feel it, they look like they saw something extremely beautiful inside themselves, or they found something they thought was lost to them forever.

The Moment
The moment is a mystery that holds within it the revelations about existence that can transform the whole being. The Sufis throughout time have refined the spiritual techniques and practicalities of living that ensure this process of unfolding can lead anyone, with the desire, to a deeper and more profound experience of life. It is a constant process of removing one veil of illusion after the other and what people find is the beautiful nature of reality and how everything feels, as it is, in the flowing state of unity. It can be felt even in the first few hours of doing a workshop with Adnan Sarhan and it can span a whole lifetime to penetrate the depths of the profound nature we have within us which we share with the nature of existence.
Unlike other spiritual paths the Sufis integrate the spiritual life with the life they lead in this world and believe each to be a reflection on the other. When the spirit flourishes an ease, understanding and purpose begins to be perceived in the day to day details of life. It becomes more enjoyable, richer and less rushed. The shifts experienced in the perception bring the constant and challenging opportunities to refine the inner and outer landscapes of our lives.

My Sufi Story

Coming soon "Inside the Time; A Sufi Path"
by Tamsin Murray
My involvement with Sufi work began in 1987, when I read an ad in the newspaper, "Sufi workshop with Adnan Sarhan. I had read a little about Sufi and liked the feeling of it. At this time in my life I smoked about two packets of cigarrettes a day, lived on coffee and cookies too much alchohol and bad feeling. After the weekend workshop I couldn’t stomach a cigarette, had no desire for cookies, coffee or alcohol and I wanted to dance in a way that felt so natural and deep. It was an unexpected turnaround so I continued the Sufi work with Adnan Sarhan. The reason a few simple exercises and a Sufi teacher can transform, so radically a person’s life, still amaze me. Peace is a rarely felt experience in modern times and I found through this work how important it is to our being to be at peace on a regular basis.

 About the Veil: Quote by Adnan Sarhan
"To dance with the veil and to make the dance and the veil look beautiful and romantic requires concentration and imagination, poise and balance, awareness and sensitivity. You have to work with the veil tenderly and to be gentle with it and to put yourself in the veil as if you are the veil and as if the veil is you. You blend into each other and you create a limitless movement and the veil becomes like a wind playing with the waves of the sea , when the waves rise and fall tenderly impressing the wind and they feel the coolness on their cheeks and they fall down to the sea with joy and delight and they rise again for another tempting kiss.  Dancing with the veil will create vision after vision of imagination and flight to the depth of the reality where you are in an action meditation that knows nothing but the lushness and the living force of the moment. When you do justice to the veil, the veil will transcend to perfection. The veil symbolizes the many thousands of veils in the lives of the people of the world. The veil is a mystery and when you master the mystery of the veil you will be able to understand the secret of the phenomena of veils and the bondage that keep people hidden behind the invisible veils..." For Tantra Magazine Feb./March 1992

A real and true dance creates communication with the people who are watching and with the drum you become a moving rhythm. Your spirit takes over the body and tells the body what to do. When the spirit commands the body, the body will become an instrument of marvels. The body projects itself in exaltation and elation and the cosmic energy opens itself and flows to the body and energizes the body with vitality, beauty and intelligence. The dancing is the yearning of the spirit to freedom. The body dances to the rhythm of the spirit when the rhythm of the spirit and the perfected rhythm of the drum join together. The dance becomes the life of the moment. When you are in the moment, the moment expands and becomes a tranquil sea of time. The spiritual pleasure becomes the essence of the sea of time. To go to the spirit, you will get the spirit. You will fall in love with the spirit and the spirit exposes itself to you. The spirit is love, joy, pleasure and delight and it is the life. When the dance becomes perfected, deep and real, it becomes a living dance that makes the life within more alive, more aware, more intelligent, more alert and awake in the moment. True and real dance is never in the past or the future. It is in the present and the present becomes the heaven of dance. The dance brings transcendence to a higher reality and the dance becomes a song dancing with the stars. The mist becomes the veil of the dancer. The dancing song and the undulating veil sway with the breeze. The night of Scheherezade becomes alive and the echo of the lute penetrates the heart of night. the spirit becomes the dance and the dance becomes the spirit and the life becomes lovable. the moment of the lovable life becomes fragrant with the perfume of heaven and life becomes contentment and the pleasure of spirit becomes its depth. Spirit is not a lecture or strict behavior of didactic imposition or solemn rigidity. It is only when the people don’t know what the spirit is or where spirit is or pretend they are spirit, then they become stiff, contracted, and catalepsy is the extreme opposition of spirit. Dancing brings lively energy to the place and charm to the people. When the dance is perfected and it comes from the depth of the mind, the body, the feeling, the emotion and the spirit, the dance becomes magical, phenomenal, delightful experience. the body becomes an instrument of cosmic energies with the force of life and invokes transcending aspiration. The moment becomes life, love joy and pleasure that come from the spirit and transcend the senses beyond the senses to senses that are bathed with the attribute of spirit. The time flows and unfolds and the dance becomes a phenomena of evolution to perfection and makes life blend in a union with the creation."

Adnan Sarhan, Sufi master and drummer, born in Baghdad, travels the world giving workshops and performing drum and dance concerts. He has trained many people to become great dancers and teachers. His commitment to his work is evident in the effectiveness and joy of his workshops. He lives what he teaches, giving a profound experience of what he calls the spirit. In the summer he holds a three month intensive in the mountains of New Mexico where the pure air and gentle forests support the healing process that takes place. 

If you would like more information about Adnan Sarhan and Sufi workshops you can contact,

The Sufi Foundation of America
www.Sufifoundation.org.com

Some sayings from great Sufi Masters

Intelligence is a light in the heart which disinguishes between truth and vanity. (Al Ghazzali)
Dancing is the yearning of the spirit to freedom. (Adnan Sarhan)
The soul may see more in an instant than can be written in voluminous books. (Al Ghazzali)
He alone is wise who is master of himself and the ignorant is the one who is slave to his desires(Muhammed)
God wills your comfort not your discomfort. (Quran)
The lovers visible and the Beloved invisible - whoever saw such a love in this world? (Rumi)
This form of man is a veil; we are the qibla of all prostrations. (Rumi)
If these shifting sands are unstable, another kind of foundation is laid down. (Rumi)
Make your thoughts like tender harp music that brings pleasure to the one who hears it, and the heart will dance on it's tune. (Adnan Sarhan)
We should take ourselves no more seriously than they take us. (Al Ghazzali)
The most ignorant of people is the one who abandons the certitude he has for an opinion people have.(Ibn 'Ata'illah)
He who sows the wind reaps the storm.(Middle Eastern proverb)
Beneficial knowledge is the one whose ray of light expands in the mind and uncovers the veil over the heart. (Ibn 'Ata'illah)
The soul has an eye as surely as the body has, by which we may know the soveriegn truth. (Al Ghazzali)
Let your spirit usher you to the hidden world of time and it's reality , beauty and charm will be revealed to you. (Adnan Sarhan)
Patience is my friend. (Muhammed)
When the heart is moved by music, whatever is in the heart wells up and is revealed. (Al Ghazzali)
Music reveals that which lies within you, embedded in your heart. (Al Ghazzali)
The souls are made through the instrumentality of music to express themselves. (Al Ghazzali)
Music fires the heart with itself, and washes it clean of all sensual vagaries that were existing there before. (Al Ghazzali)
Time spent in watching the ecstacy of others is time well spent. (Al Ghazzali)
Music reveals that which is in the inner recesses of the heart. (Al Ghazzali)
It is in (spiritual) ecstacy that all doubts are resolved. (Al Ghazzali)
Ecstacy connotes the tearing aside of the veils and witnessing the Friend (God), or in other words to annihilate the ego. (Abu Said Arab'i)
The purpose of human life is to have vision of God. (Al Ghazzali)
No medicine is better than softness. (Al Ghazzali)
No protector is better than peace. (Al Ghazzali)
Learning is the seed, practise is the field and intent is the water. (Al Ghazzali)
In every heart there is a different note and rhythm, all stamping feet outwardly, and the minstrels hidden like a secret. (Rumi)
A man who knows will not waste his time in any work when his spirit is not part of it. (Adnan Sarhan)
When the heart is pure, all of you becomes pure. (Adnan Sarhan)
The unity of the breath, the moment and you becomes the truth of reality. (Adnan Sarhan)
Not until a man knows himself will contentment descend upon him as a boon companion. (Adnan Sarhan)
The esence of life is the peace of the soul. (Adnan Sarhan)
That which is false troubles the heart while truth brings joyous tranquility. (Adnan Sarhan)
There is nothing for a human being except what they strive for. (Quran)
If your thought is a rose, you are a garden of roses, if your thought is a thorn, you are fuel for the fire. (Rumi)
If you count the blessings of God you will have no number to contain them. (Quran)
Good deeds make a human being perfect. (Muhammed)
When the dance becomes perfected, deep and real, it becomes a living dance that makes the life within more alive, more aware, more intelligent, more alert and awake in the moment. (Adnan Sarhan)
The true worship is love. (Adnan Sarhan)
Silence adorns the learned and abuses the ignorant. (Al Ghazzali)
Respect the time and the time will respect you. and the time will be your guide to the hidden space where the hidden reality manifests itself to you. (Adnan Sarhan)
Whatever you do you will be rewarded according to your sincerity.(Quran)
Contentment is my treasure. (Muhammed)
The only thing which I possess is the food I digest. (Al Ghazzali)
There are seventy thousand veils between ourselves and God.
Real comfort is in a complete and perfect contact with God. (Gilani)
The deeds of excellence and spirit are one. (Adnan Sarhan)
When you are in love with your breath you will love yourself, and you will be able to love others. (Adnan Sarhan)