Toward The One, The Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, The Only Being, United With All The Illuminated Souls Who Form The Embodiment Of The Master, The Spirit Of Guidance.

For students registered in the Esoteric Studies Course, "God is Breath" by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, this web page provides access to the materials for Class 5, recorded on June 1, 2013.

God is Breath - Class 5

Please note that these classes are offered in the sacred container of trust, and are not to be shared with anyone not registered in the program.

Click here for the Class Readings pdf file

Click here for the Practice Assignments pdf file

INDIVIDUAL STUDY / VIRTUAL SANGHA RECORDINGS SECTION

Click to download the Session 1 Soundtrack

Click to download the Session 2 Soundtrack

EDITED VIDEO RECORDINGS FOR VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSIONS

Click a Session Title below to view the video on YouTube

VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSION 1 VIDEO: Sufi Invocation; The Oneness - Illuminated Soul Practice; Githas - Occultism; Githas - Advanced Concentration - Connecting with Illuminated Souls; HIK on Urooj, Kamal, Zaval; Kasab Practice; Emphasizing Urooj Breath and Walk; Emphasizing Zaval Breath and Walk; Emphasizing Kamal Breath and Walk; Q&A's on Breath.

REVIEW OF PRACTICE ASSIGNMENTS: with Murshid Wali Ali.

VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSION 2 VIDEO: Sufi Invocation; Ya Dhal Jalali wal 'Ikram Instruction*; Ya Quddus Ya Jami' Instruction*; Attunement to the Rhythm of Enlightened Beings - Hazrat Inayat Khan and Samuel L. Lewis; Readings from Murakkaba - Tassawuri Murshid; Q&A; Fikr of the Zikr Meditation.

*The full-length practices for Ya Dhal Jalali wal 'Ikram and Ya Quddus Ya Jami' may be viewed in "6 Evening Session", below.

FULL CLASS RECORDINGS SECTION

Click a numbered title to view the video on YouTube.

MORNING SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

(Note that the audio zip files also contain tables of contents in docx and pdf format).

1 Morning Part I -
Sufi Invocation, Bismillah; Estaferallah Dance; Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim Partners Practice; Ya Fattah 33x; Dhyana of Sakyamuni Buddha from Murshid SAM

2 Morning Part II -
The Oneness-Illuminated Soul Practice - Q&A; Githas-Occultism: The Impression About the Affairs of Others, Meditation & Discussion; Githas-Advanced Concentration: Connecting with Illuminated Souls; Practical Mastery of the Breath; Dance - "May All Beings"; Walk of the Holy Mother; Khatum

AFTERNOON SESSION   | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file3

3 Afternoon Part I -
Introduction; Shakti Jai Dance; Walk of Shakti; Ya Qabid, Ya Basit, Ya Wasi' Dance; Ya Qabid, Ya Basit, Ya Wasi' on the Breath; Introduction to Sitting & Walking Urooj, Zaval, Kamal; HIK on Urooj, Zaval, Kamal

4 Afternoon Part II -
Kasab Practice; Emphasize Urooj Breath and Walk; Emphasize Zaval Breath and Walk; Balanced Kamal Breath and Walk; Q & A's on Breath

5 Afternoon Part III -
Breath of the Sun, then Walk; Breath of the Moon, then Walk; Sun & Moon Together, then Walk; Review of Practice Assignments; Discussion and Q&A; Connecting with Gratitude and May All Beings Be Well

EVENING SESSION | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

6 Evening Session -
Allaho Akbar Anthem Song; Ya Dhal Jalali Wal 'Ikram 33x and Fikr; Ya Quddus Ya Jami' Aloud and on the Breath; Commentary on Accepting and Letting Go; Commentary on the Rhythm of Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel L. Lewis; Commentary on "Tassawuri Murshid"; Sufi Invocation; Presentation of Githa #10 on Concentration; Questions and Answers; Fikr of the Zikr; Healing Prayer

Toward The One, The Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, The Only Being, United With All The Illuminated Souls Who Form The Embodiment Of The Master, The Spirit Of Guidance.

For students registered in the Esoteric Studies Course, "God is Breath" by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, this web page provides access to the materials for Class 6, recorded on July 6, 2013.

God is Breath - Class 6

Please note that these classes are offered in the sacred container of trustand are not to be shared with anyone not registered in the program.

Click here for the Class Readings pdf file

Click here for the Practice Assignments pdf file

INDIVIDUAL STUDY / VIRTUAL SANGHA RECORDINGS SECTION

Click to download the Session 1 Soundtrack

Click to download the Session 2 Soundtrack

EDITED VIDEO RECORDINGS FOR VIRTUAL SANGHA STUDY

Click a Session Title below to view the video on YouTube.

VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSION 1 VIDEO:Sufi Invocation and Bismillah; Lesson on Psychic Power; Psychology Reading; Guidance on Attuning to Illuminated Souls; Qualities & walk of Abraham; Class comments on attunement & experience; Practical Empathetic Oneness with Illuminate Souls; Class Comments and Guidance; The Bird and The King; HIK on Possibilities; Khatum.

For a REVIEW OF PRACTICE ASSIGNMENTS, see "Review of Practices" in the Session 2 Video, below.

VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSION 2 VIDEO: Sufi Invocation; Review of Practices; Centering Exercises-Intro; Covering Eyes; Thumbs in Ears; Closing 7 Openings in the head; Follow up lesson on Shagal; Meditation - Hearing the Breath as Hu; Shagal Lesson on Light; HIK - Mysticism Lesson; May All Beings Be Well.

FULL CLASS RECORDINGS SECTION

Click a numbered title to view the video on YouTube.

MORNING SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

(Note that the audio zip files also contain tables of contents in docx and pdf format).

1 Morning Session -Sufi Invocation, Bismillah; Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim Walk; Ya Fattah Walk; Ya Hayyo, Ya Qayyum Walk; Ya 'Adl Dance; HIK Githas on Psychology; Forgiveness: Ya Halim, Ya Ghafur; Tawwaba Bloch with her Mother; Journal Presentations; Further Reading HIK Githas; "Peace is Power"; Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram Dance; Khatum

AFTERNOON SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file
 

2 Afternoon Part I - Sufi Invocation; Dance - "May All Beings"; Guidance on Attuning to an Illuminated Soul; Class Comments on Attunement Experience; Practice - Empathetic Oneness with Illuminated Soul; Further Class Comments and Guidance; The Bird and the King Story from the Masnavi; Wazifah Concentration - Ya 'Alim, then Ya 'Alim, Ya Hakim; Ya Alim - Ya Hakim Walk; Picture of Murshid Sam, Exemplifying the Spirit.

3 Afternoon Part II - Guidance on Qualities: Trust, Reserve, Surrender, Equanimity, Recall, Continuity. Allaho Akbar Anthem Dance; Review of Practices: Ya Wahhab, Ya Razzaq, Ya Fattah; Centering Exercises (Shaghal Practice) - Touching Eyeballs as a Feather, Thumbs in Ears, Closing the Seven Openings of the Head. Kalama Dance; Healing Prayer.

EVENING SESSION | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

4 Evening Session - Sufi Invocation; Dance: Thy Light is in All Forms; Follow-up Lesson on the 3rd Shaghal Practice; Meditation: Hearing the Breath as Hu; Shaghal Lesson: Connected with Light; Githa of HIK on Mysticism; Noticing the Breath; Questions and Comments on Breath; Meditation: Breath Practice of Own Choice; Free Hu; Khatum; May All Beings Be Well.

Toward The One, The Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, The Only Being, United With All The Illuminated Souls Who Form The Embodiment Of The Master, The Spirit Of Guidance.

For students registered in the Esoteric Studies Course, "God is Breath" by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, this web page provides access to the materials for Class 7, recorded on August 3, 2013.

 God is Breath - Class 7

Please note that these classes are offered in the sacred container of trust, and are not to be shared with anyone not registered in the program.

Click here for the Class Readings pdf file 

Click here for the Practice Assignments pdf file

INDIVIDUAL STUDY / VIRTUAL SANGHA RECORDINGS SECTION

Click to download the Session 1 Soundtrack

Click to download the Session 2 Soundtrack

EDITED VIDEO RECORDINGS FOR VIRTUAL SANGHA STUDY

Click a Session Title below to view the video on YouTube

VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSION 1 VIDEO: Invocation; Ishq Allah Ya Barr; Meditation Practice; Additional Meditation Instructions; Q&A on Shaghal, Touching Eyelids as a Feather; Closing / Opening 7 Shaghal Centers; HIK Githa on Psychic Power; Practices - HuAllah/Descent of Dove/ElAllahHu; Khatum.

This month's REVIEW OF PRACTICE ASSIGNMENTS is found in "Addtional Meditation Instructions" and "Q&A on Shaghal" in the Session 1 Video above.

VIRTUAL SANGHA SESSION 2 VIDEO: Sufi Invocation; Murshid SAM Commentary on Fikr; Fikr Practice; Reading and Commentary; Introduction to Wazifah; Ya Alim, Ya Alim/Ya Hakim; Ya Azim; May All Beings Be Well, Nayaz.

FULL CLASS RECORDINGS SECTION

Click a numbered title to view the video on YouTube.

MORNING SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file
Note that the audio zip files also contain tables of contents in docx and pdf formats).

1 Morning Session Part I - Hara Center-Ya Haqq Walk; Oneness Concentration, Sufi Invocation, Bismillah; Dance of Gratitude: Ya Shakur Allah, Ya Hamid; Om Namo Amitabhaya Dance; Ishq Allah, Ya Barr Wazifah Practice; Meditation Practice.

2 Morning Session Part II - Additional Meditation Instruction; Q&A on the Shaghal Practice; Shaghal Practice: Touching Eyeballs as a Feather; Shaghal Practice: Closing all Seven Openings; Announcements; HIK-Githa on Psychic Power (Awareness); Dance: Ya Azim; Dance: First Stage of the Dervish Cycle.

AFTERNOON SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

3 Afternoon Session Part I - Dance: Hazrat Bibi Maryam; Dance: Ya Wahhab, Ya Razzaq, Ya Fattah; Dance: Prayer Wheel; Walk of Avalokiteshvara; Sufi Invocation; SAM Commentary on HIK Teachings on Fikr; Fikr Practice; Reading and Commentary, continued.

4 Afternoon Session Part II - Introduction to Wazaif Practices; Ya Alim; Ya Alim, Ya Hakim; Ya Azim; Free Hu; Akhlak Allah; May All Beings Be Well, Healing Prayer.

EVENING SESSION | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

5 Evening Session - Sufi Invocation; Dance: Tara Zikr; Dance: Ya Ra'uf Ya Rahim Allah; Sittting Fikr: Ya Ra'uf Ya Rahim; Reading from The Bowl of Saki; Class Comments and Discussion; Hu Allah & Descent of the Dove Practice; El Allah Hu; Kalama Dance; Khatum.

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"The Mushahida Contemplation is the awakening, within the Heart of Emptiness, of all the senses simultaneously, such that you are the eyes and ears of the Divine Reality Itself, and the Cosmic Actor in the Universe." — Murshid Wali Meyer Ali

We anticipate opening registration for the first cycle of Course 3 sometime in 2025.
Join our email list

Course 3: Mushahida requires completion of both Course 1 and 2 (or of the previoius 21-month version of God is Breath). Continuing to work with many of the practices from the previous two courses, this course focuses on gaining deeper experience with the full Shaghal breath practice and introduces the Mushahida Contemplation practice.

 Murshid Wali Ali Meyer on the beach in Maui, photographer unknown

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"Mujahida is the process of overcoming all the deluding emotions—and similarly disarming all your outer judgments about them—by rooting out the seeds in yourself and becoming empty." — Murshid Wali Ali Meyer

Prerequisites

Course 2: Mujahida requires completion of Course 1 (or the previoius 21-month version of God is Breath).

Building on participants' prior experience with the practices, teachings, and perspectives from Course 1, this course introduces the next stage of intentionally Watching the Breath with gentle Loving Awareness, in a more active way with the Mujahida Concentration, plus the beginning stages of the Shaghal breath practice, and a few other supplemental practices.

Course Description - What is Mujahida?

By dictionary definition jihad means struggle, effort, or striving, and a mujahid is one who performs jihad. Mujahida is then the performance of jihad. But struggling, efforting, or striving with what or with whom?

Following the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the Sufi approach to jihad is internal, the personal striving with one's own nafs; with the complex of one's own ego-centric perspectives, preconceived ideas, rigid self-serving beliefs and concepts, biases, prejudicies and projections; concerns about the perceived distinctions and differences that one wrongly decides separate oneself from others; impressions of one's own separation and disconnection from God-Goddess-Source; absolute judgments and fixed conclusions about right and wrong, good and bad, of self and other. All of these impressions of duality cover the Heart, and prevent one from experiecing the Unity and Oneness of one's own True Nature which isn't separated from God-Goddess-Source nor from other human beings.

The Mujahida Concentration is one way of combining Breath and intentional Loving Awaness to "take on one's self", to identify the ego/nafs rooted impressions, and to neutralize and clear them from the sphere of the Heart.

In the opening poem of his Masnavi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi compares these ego-rooted impressions to rust. He says: "Go clear the rust from the mirror of your heart, and make the Light manifest. When the mirror is free from rust, the face of the Beloved shines within it." In Buddhist terminology this work is the struggle to overcome the deluding emotions. In Christian terminolgy, this is the process of removing the log from one's own eye, before doing anything about a perceived the speck in a neighbor's eye. In Alchemical terminology this is the Magnum Opus, the Great Work, of transmuting the lead of the ego personality into the Gold of Spirit. And as Imam Bilal Hyde (a long term friend of the Ruhaniat, and co-author of Physicians of the Heart), often quips about this work of honestly and unflinchingly confronting one's own nafs "This is Sufism for grown ups, folks".

And finally, in Course 2, Wali Ali tells a Murshid SAM story: "I remember during the the Vietnam War, when someone said to Murshid SAM, 'What do we have to do to stop this?' And Murshid said, 'Stop pulling your triggers.'" The Mujahida Concentration is one way of identifying our own triggers, which engage our reactivities, and refraining from pulling them as we work to neutralize and remove them.

Course 2: Links for Participants

Links for registered participants will open when Course 2 registration is completed
Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Final Recap

Course Tuition

The suggested tuition for Course 2 is $500 USD for 9-months of instruction, guidance, and support from the Wheel Mentor, plus the co-creative of a supportive Sangha of fellow Wheel-member practioners.

Tuition adjustments are available. Money should not be an obstacle to your participation. For those living on fixed incomes, or in other situations where the suggested tuition puts the course out of reach for you, or where currency exchange rates are too unfavorable for you, you may adjust the suggested tuition.

Please consult your own heart and Guidance to decide on a tuition adjustment that will work for you and your situation, without compromising your basic needs. There is a "sweet" amount between too much and too little, that will respect your own financial and economic realities, while also honoring the great value and benefit this course offers, and completing the cycle of  Spiritual Reciprocity.

Registration

We anticipate opening registration for Course 2 in mid-June 2024. Join our email list.

For More Information

Muiz Brinkerhoff, Program Director: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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"The breath is the current which is established between all planes of our existence. Its current runs from the life unseen to the life on the surface, thus uniting spirit and matter both." — Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Course Description

This first course focuses on teachings and practices from Hazrat Inayat Khan, Murshid SAM, and Murshid Wali Ali Meyer for various ways of more deeply and consistently Watching the Breath, in a very gentle and refined way, without "leaning" on it, and without a particular mental agenda, or expectation of an outcome. In addition, a variety of other Breath, Sound, and Concentration practices (including Attuning to the Illuminated Souls) are engaged with, so that eventually the Breath can become a teacher, leading to greater skill in modulating one's emotional, mental, and spiritual states, by making conscious changes to the Breath. Throughout the course practical suggestions are offered to help better embody the teachings about Breath, and the God Ideal, and to lovingly hold and work with any resistance that might arise — all in support of making God a Reality in one's life. (photo of Murshid Wali Ali courtesy of Paula Saffire)

Course 1: Links for Participants

For current participants and for those who have completed the course
Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Final Recap

Course Tuition

The suggested tuition for Course 1 is $600 USD for 12-months of instruction, guidance, and support from the Wheel Mentor, plus the co-creation of a supportive Sangha of fellow Wheel-member practioners.

Tuition adjustments are available. Money should not be an obstacle to your participation. For those living on fixed incomes, or in other situations where the suggested tuition puts the course out of reach for you, or where currency exchange rates are too unfavorable for you, you may adjust the suggested tuition.

Please consult your own heart and Guidance to decide on a tuition adjustment that will work for you and your situation, without compromising your basic needs. There is a "sweet" amount between too much and too little, that will respect your own financial and economic realities, while also honoring the great value and benefit this course offers, and completing the cycle of  Spiritual Reciprocity.

Registration

We anticipate opening registration of the new cycle of Course 1 in mid-June 2024. Join our email list.

For More Information

Muiz Brinkerhoff, Program Director: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you'd like to get a taste of the teachings, perspectives, and practices that you'll engage with during the course, you can watch a recording of the introductory presentation that Muiz made on August 20, 2022, for the Ruhaniat Family Zoom Gathering, "Breath, Heart, and the God Ideal". His presentation begins at 17:07 minutes into the recording: https://youtu.be/RMsCICSNlS4

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"By working with the God Ideal, we imagine God's Perfections, and as we do so, God imagines our own Perfections."  - Murshid Wali Ali Meyer

The God is Breath Program is a series of three courses designed to provide students with a broader insight into the value of embodying the fundamental teachings of our Ruhaniat Sufi lineage, through engaging with some deep, practical, individual and group experience with the core spiritual practices those teachings suggest. Course 1 is titled 'Breath, Concentration, and the God Ideal', Course 2 -'Mujahida', and Course 3 - 'Mushahida'.

Participants will reap the most benefit from the courses by approaching them with a dedicated intention and a compassionate commitment to their own inner development.

And as Murshid Wali Ali Meyer (photo right), the late head of the Ruhaniat's Esoteric School and creator of this engaging and inspired program, says in Course 1, Lesson 1:

"These teachings and practices are the whole of the inner methodology of the Sufi Path in a nutshell — making and using a loving connection with the Source as the vehicle of our growth. We continue to imagine and have our notion and feeling for what God is, evolving along with our own development...By working with the God Ideal we imagine God's Perfections, and as we do so, God imagines our own Perfections...We aren't separated in Truth from these Perfections or from God, only in our own experience."

Format

Participants are grouped with 7-15 people forming a Prayer Wheel under the guidance of a skilled Wheel Mentor. This format promotes the growth and development of a Sangha that supports participants in their journey through the practices. Prayer Wheels meet online via Zoom sessions once per month for 1½ to 2-hours. Occasionally, a Prayer Wheel may be offered that meets in-person or is a hybrid of in-person and online meetings.

Duration

Course 1 runs for 13 months (12 months of instruction and practice, and a final recap and "looking ahead" session), with some short, written teachings to study and contemplate in each of the lessons, plus a regimen of daily practices, that progresses from 15 to 30 or 40 minutes over the duration of the course. Course 2 and Course 3 run for 9 months plus final recap and "looking ahead" sessions.

Daily Practice & Assistance

Since all 3 courses are predominately focused on gaining deeper individual experience with the various spritiual practices, there is a gentle expectation, and a loving encouragement for Wheel members to build the habit of a daily practice if they don't have one, or to deepen their ongoing practice. Following Hazrat Inayat Khan's example, there is also no judgment if one falls short of this ideal. Rather one is encouraged to lovingly refocus on the ideal of daily practice, and move forward within the supportive container and co-created atmosphere of the Sangha of the Prayer Wheel.

If needed, participants can request some individual assistance from their Wheel Mentor, and from their Sufi Guide if they are working with one, in order to engage with any resistance in productive and healthy ways.

Course Tuitions

Each of the 3 courses has a suggested tuition. However money should not be an obstacle to your participation. A tuition adjustment is available if you need it.

For those living on fixed incomes, or in other situations where the suggested tuitions put the course or courses out of reach for you, or where currency exchange rates are too unfavorable for you, you may adjust the suggested tuitions.

Please consult your own heart and Guidance to decide on a tuition adjustment that will work for you and your situation, without compromising your basic needs. There is a "sweet" amount between too much and too little, that will respect your own financial and economic realities, while also honoring the great value and benefit this course offers, and completing the cycle of Spiritual Reciprocity.

Toward The One, The Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, The Only Being,
United With All The Illuminated Souls Who Form The Embodiment Of The Master,
The Spirit Of Guidance.

God is Breath - Course 1

Breath, Concentration, and the God Ideal

FINAL Recap - Materials & Resources

For students registered in the Esoteric Studies Course, "God is Breath" by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, this web page provides access to the materials for Course 1, FINAL Recap, video compilation recorded on May 11, 2013, and edited by Sheikh Muiz in January 2024 to align with the reorganized curriculum.

Please note that these classes are offered in the sacred container of trust, and are not to be shared with anyone not registered in the program.

FINAL Recap TEXT MATERIALS

Click links to download Resource PDFs:

* Muiz' Transcription of Final Video & Notes PDF
* Wali Ali's Suggested Plan for Ongoing Practice PDF
* "Prayer of the Breath" poem by 2013 course particpant Abu Bakr Tony Hoeber PDF
* Overview of Course Practices by Lesson PDF
* Overview of Course Reading Selections by Lesson PDF
* List of Course Links and Passwords

FINAL Recap VIDEO and AUDIO RECORDINGS

FINAL Recap & Looking Forward VIDEO COMPILATION:
Breath Concentration & Invocation; Variation on the Daily Breathing Practice; Wali Ali reading his written Final Message, Reflections; Inspirational Words; Guidance for Future Practice; Questions & Answers; QA Perry, Using Firmness when Necessary; QA Anneliese, Becoming a Vehicle of Power-Allaho Akbar; QA Vivian, Feeling Limitation in the words "Toward the One", QA Insu, Infinity Symbol, Intention in Practice; Dedication and Khatum.

Click to download the MP3 Audio Soundtrack for FINAL Recap Video Compilation (audio) FILE

FULL CLASS RECORDINGS SECTION

Click a session title to view the video on YouTube.MORNING SESSION  | Click here to download the mp3 audio zip file
(Note that the audio zip files also contain tables of contents in docx and pdf format).

1 Morning Session Part I - Breathing Toward The One, Sufi Invocation; Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim Partners Dance; Toward The One Sun and Moon Walks; Dance: Ya 'Adl; Guided Daily Meditation Practice; Reflections from Murshid Wali Ali Meyer.

2 Morning Session Part II - Ya Wahhab, Ya Razzaq, Ya Fattah; Sharing: Abu Bakr, Ali, Janet, Shams, Vivian; Zikr Allah; Sharing: Nizamuddin, Raqiba, Anneliese; Lullaby Zikr by Anneliese Blanchard; Sharing: Insu, Fadhillah; Kalama Dance, Shaffee Kaffee for Azimat; May All Beings Be Well.

AFTERNOON SESSION  | Click here to download the mp3 audio zip file

3 Afternoon Session Part I - Walking Grounded, Breathing Toward The One, Sufi Invocation; Dance: Allaho Akbar; Dance: This is How I Would Die; Sun Walk Inspired By Sun Tarot Card; Ramnam Snake Dance; Breaths of the Kingdoms; Sharing: Azimat, Shafee, Hayat, Perry; Dance: Adoramus Te Domine - Murshid Tanzen O'Donohoe.

4 Afternoon Session Part II - Dance: Ishq Allah Mabud Lillah - (Center Circle Partners); Sharing - Vakila, Sundari, Halim; Bismillah Song by Halim Friedman; Sharing - Andalieb, Shakur, Gaiatree; Murshid Wali Ali Inspirational words; Sharing: Mary Magdalene, Ali Qadr, Tawwaba; Murshid Wali Ali - Guidance for Future Practice; Free Allah & Nayaz.

EVENING SESSION | Click here to download the mp3 audio zip file

5 Evening Session - Murshid Sam Zikr with Pir-O-Murshid-Hazrat Inayat Khan Melody; Fikr of the Zikr, and Guided Meditation; Questions and Answers: Mujahida vs. Mushahida (NOTE Since this video recording is from the original 11-Lesson, 21-month version of the GIB course, these 2 more advanced breath practices haven't been introduced yet. The updated format of the GIB Course takes them up separately in Course 2: Mujahida, and Course 3: Mushahida. However listening to Wali Ali's answer could be useful to you, at least in showing where the larger arc of our breath practice is heading.); Using firmness when necessary, Learning to be a vehicle of power - Allaho Akbar; Feeling limitation in words "Toward The One"; The infinity symbol, Intention in practice; Dervish Cycle: Part I (Ya Hayy, Ya Haqq with Partner), Part II (Allah Hu with Partner), Part III (Spinning with Hu); Khatum.

Program Overview

Course 1: Breath, Concentration, and the God Ideal

Course 2: Mujahida

Course 3: Mushahida

Join our email list  to receive announcements about the God is Breath courses, and other Ruhaniat offerings.

Toward The One, The Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, The Only Being,
United With All The Illuminated Souls Who Form The Embodiment Of The Master,
The Spirit Of Guidance.

God is Breath - Course 1

Breath, Concentration, and the God Ideal

Lesson 1 Materials & Resources

Please note that these materials are offered in the sacred container of trust, and are not to be shared with anyone not registered in the program.

If you are here, you have registered for the Sufi Ruhaniat International's God is Breath Program - Course 1. This course was offered by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer in 2013 at the  Mentorgarden, to a group of committed mureeds.  This web page provides access to the materials for Lesson 1, recorded on February 9, 2013.

ABOUT the COURSE MATERIALS & RESOURCES

The materials and resources for each lesson consist of 2 text documents, in PDF format, containing the reading and study material for the lesson (short selections from the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis), and a list of the practices and other assignments that accompany the lesson. (Note: Murshid Samuel Lewis is also referred to as Murshid S.A.M. or Murshid SAM, and at times simply as Murshid. In addition to "Sam" being short for "Samuel", "SAM" is also the first intials of his Sufi name "Sufi Ahmed Murad").

These 2 PDFs, are titled Readings, and Practices & Assignments. In addition there are complete video segments of the recorded, in-person course that are viewable on YouTube. And finally the audio-only soundtracks of the videos, in MP3 format, are also available for download.

THE ASSIGNED PRACTICES
Various practices are assigned in each lesson, to bring the teachings on breath ever more deeply into our hearts and our lives. Each lesson is intended to be absorbed over a 3-month period of group and idividual study and practice.

The oft quoted aphorism by al-Ghazali (the reknowned 11th century CE theologian, logician, jurist and Sufi teacher), that was repeated again and again by Murshid SAM, and Murshid Wali Ali — "Sufism is based on experience, not on premises" — definitely applies here. It is the regular, direct, personal engagement with, and experience of a spiritual practice or exercise that will have the actual effect — not concepts about it, not thinking about it, not talking about it. Concepts, thoughts, and talk about something are just concepts, thoughts, and talk about that something. They aren't the direct, transformational, personal experience with it.

VIDEO COMPILATIONS & Full Day's Recordings
In addition to the complete set of video segements, there are also 2 video compilations , each approximately 90 minutes in length, containing carefully selected portions from the full-day's recordings, which offer a very useful and fairly comprehensive recap of the day's program.

PERIODS of SILENCE
In the video recordings and the audio soundtracks, you will find extended periods of silence during meditations or when vocalized practices are taken into silence, "on the breath", or during portions of the walking practices. Leaving those silences in the recordings is intended to allow students to engage in the full experience of the meditation, practice or walk, while it is being modeled by Murshid Wali Ali, and the students in the in-person course.

SHORTCUT LINKS in the VIDEOS at YOUTUBE
A list of time stamp links for the various topics or sections of the YouTube videos will be found directly beneath the YouTube videos, by clicking on the words "Show more," (or "more", depending on what device you're using to view the videos). These time stamps are shortcut links which will jump directly to a particular topic or section in the video. The MP3 audio-only soundtracks are also divided into named tracks, which will allow you to easily start at the desired track.

AN ENCOURAGEMENT to TAKE UP WATCHING THE VIDEOS or
LISTENING to the AUDIO SOUNDTRACKS
as a SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
These video and audio recordings can become a very valuable resource, while pursuing the course digitally, if we can overcome the resistance that may arise around setting aside the time, and actually watching/listening to them.

Another oft repeated aphorism in our lineage, from Joe Miller, a long-term friend of Murshid SAM, and one of our spiritual Godparents is "It can't be taught, it has to caught." This reality is why human beings gather around those who are manifesting a greater degree of Awakening, to experience an expansion of their own state, by "catching" some of it from the manner, the attitude, the perspectives, the atmosphere, the Heart, and the Breath of the more awakened person.

It is possible, even through a video or audio recording, to catch the atmosphere, the spiritual transmission, and enter into the Presence, as Murshid Wali Ali offers teachings and commentary, answers questions, and models the seated and walking practices. What it takes is adopting the sympathetic, empathetic intention and attitude to participate in the process, as if one was there in the circle with Murshid Wali Ali and the group of students.

Centering in the heart, linking the Breath with Loving Awareness, and attuning to Wali Ali and the circle of students, while actually doing the practices along with the group, opens the portal that allows the atmosphere and transmission to be "caught" and then co-created within one, in current time. Remember, heart space, spiritual transmission, and Awareness are not limited by outer time and space as we experience them in our everyday human lives.

(Click here for downloading instructions for zip files.)

LESSON 1 TEXT MATERIALS

Click here for the Lesson 1 Practices & Assignments PDF file

Click here for the Lesson 1 (Gender Neutral) Readings PDF file

(Note: If you don't already have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader app or program installed on your phone, computer, or other device, you'll need to download it and install it, BEFORE you can open the PDF files to read them. Click here to view Adobe's Acrobat Reader webpage and click the 'download' button. There is NO NEED TO BUY Acrobat Pro! )

LESSON 1 VIDEO & AUDIO RECORDINGS

Click here if you wish to download the MP3 Audio Soundtrack for Lesson 1 Video Compilations 1 and 2 ZIP file

Click a Session Title below to view the video on YouTube.

LESSON 1 VIDEO COMPILATION 1 - Introduction to the Course, Sufi Invocation, Githas on Dhyana, Murshid Wali Ali's Commentary, Breath Meditation: Allah the One Breath, Breathed into All Livingness, Githas on Ryazat, Wali Ali's Commentary, Rhythmic Breath Practice (Describing and demonstrating the primary daily breath practice/meditation that centers this course), Ya Raqib, Mastery of Breath, Toward the One Breathing (Darood) for Self Protection, Walk of the Hara Center, Githas on Dhyana (Meditation), Purification Breaths and the 3 Powers in Prayer Nayaz, Githas on Dhyana, Urouj and Nasoul (inhalation and exhalation) and more Mastery of Breath, Balance between Meditation and Activity, Ya Hayy Ya Haqq Dance

LESSON 1 VIDEO COMPILATION 2 - Sufi Invocation, Purification Breaths and Nyaz; The Heart as a Globe and Illuminated Souls; Toward The One and Joe Miller's "We Are The One"; The Heart, Feeling & Love, The Silence Beyond Sound; The Silence-Breath Meditation; Kwan Zeon Bosai Walk; Jalal, Jamal, Kemal Reading and Commentary; Ya Dhal Jalali wal 'Ikram Dance.

LESSON 1 REVIEW OF PRACTICES & ASSIGNMENTS

LESSON 1 - COURSE MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS - A short video introducing some of the God is Breath students in attendance.

LESSON 1 FULL DAY'S RECORDINGS

Click a numbered title to view the video on YouTube.

MORNING SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

01 Introduction and Bismillah Dance 

02 Ya Fattah and Ya Shakur Allah Dance

03 Practice, Commentary and Questions

04 Walk of the Hara Center

05 Walks of the Sun and Mars, Khatum, Nazar

AFTERNOON SESSION  | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

06 Toward the One Walk, Om Tara Partner Dance

07 Dhyana Readings, Commentary, Practice

08 Q&A, Dhyana Readings & Commentary, Practice

09 Kwan Zeon Bosai Dance & Walk, Ya Hayy Ya Haqq Dance

10 Jemal, Jelal, Kemal, Q&A, Breath Practice

EVENING SESSION | Click here to download the audio-only mp3 zip file

11 Sufi Invocation and Twenty Purification Breaths

12 El Allah Hu Dervish Cycle Dance, Ya Dhal Jalali wal 'Ikram Dance

13 Almighty Peace Dance and Walk of Attunement to "Peace is Power"

14 Review of Practice Assignments and Closing