Fairfax, CA

"We come whirling out of nothingness. The stars make a circle and in the center we dance."   Rumi

Mariam Baker, spiritual midwife, energy weaver, mother of five children is a dedicated student of embodied spirituality.  She is interested in practical tools for personal and planetary growth and healing - a way of mysticism that is interwoven with everyday life.

Charlottesville, VA

Saul was born in Cleveland Ohio on January 20, 1939.  He lived in California from 1948 to 1977.  He was an original disciple of Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, to whom he was sent by his first teacher, Mother Mary of Mount Shasta.  He was initiated into Sufism in February of 1969 and made Murshid Sam’s Hakim (spiritual healer and jurist) in 1970.  He formed and has served as director of the Ruhaniat Healing activity, the Dervish Healing Order since 1977.

Haiku, Maui, Hawaii

Leilah was born in Southern California in December of 1950.  As a child, she preferred to spend time a fair amount of time alone, especially time in nature.  At 19 she made some changes her life, becoming a vegetarian, beginning a yoga practice.  She began exploring sacred teachings and spiritual teachers with inclusive religious perspectives.  These were highlighted by Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Satchitananda.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Saadi was a long-time student of the Murshid Moineddin Jablonski (d. 2001), the spiritual successor of Sufi Ahmed Murad Chishti. He was recognized as a teacher in the Sufi path in 1981 and a senior teacher in 1993. Under the name Saadi Shakur Chishti, he gives retreats internationally each year. In 1982, he co-founded the International Center for the Dances of Universal Peace.

Seattle, WA and New York City, NY

A student of Pir Moineddin, Murshid Wali Ali and pretty much everyone these days, Khadija accepts as a working hypothesis that “there is nothing but God,” seeking that experience everywhere.  A traveler on the Sufi path since 1973 she first encountered her beloved “Soofies” in her early 20's in a Beverly Hills theatre via Murshid SAM in the film “Sunseed.” 

Batesville, VA

Asha is often intoxicated with awe, fascination or bafflement about the nature of reality.  Her herstory includes a lifelong interest in comparative religion and its influence on the brain, thought and behavior.  She was a co-founder of the Lama Foundation, an ecumenical spiritual community which has been thriving more than forty years in the mountains of New Mexico. 

San Rafael, CA

Shabda Kahn has been a disciple of Sufism since 1969. He is a direct disciple of Murshid Samuel Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti), and he worked closely with the great American mystic Joe Miller. Shabda is currently the Pir (spiritual director) of the Sufi Ruhaniat International and the director of the Chisti Sabri School of Music.

Deer, AR

Murshid Khabir Don Kitz was born in Woodbury, New Jersey.  He first thought he would become a Lutheran Minister but instead studied art at the Philadelphia College of Art.  In 1974, while living San Antonio, Texas he met his first Sufi teacher Shaikh Sarmad Brody.  Shortly after, he was ordained as a cherag by Pir Vilayat Khan.

Petaluma, CA

Fatima met Samuel Lewis in February 1967 at the age of 20 and received bayat the next month.  For the next four years, until his death January 15, 1971, a portion of 5 days per week were spent in his presence.  Learning, studying, practicing, eating, dancing, walking, working, observing, playing, and living with him filled this intense period of her life which did not end with his death.  It all continued seamlessly with various students assuming the roles he had given them.  She lived in Sufi community houses for 20 years.

San Francisco, CA

Wali Ali was born in Mississippi in 1942.  He attended the University of Alabama at a time when it was a segregated institution and was named college newspaper editor of the year for his newspaper’s editorial campaign offering ethical and moral reasons to support integration.  He went to graduate school at Vanderbilt University on a fellowship, majoring in Philosophy, and minoring in Theology.  He received a M.A. in Philosophy and fulfilled all the requirements for the Ph.D. with the exception of completing his dissertation. 

Edinburgh, Scotland

Kamae is a writer, artist, MA (Creativity and Spirituality) and teacher of sacred movement in the Sufi tradition.  She has facilitated workshops on women's spirituality, dance, walking meditation, and creativity in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, and Australia.  Deeply devoted to harmony in the human family and for this planet she has been engaged since her teenage years in being an active voice and body for Peace.

Berlin, Germany

Gita Sophia is a senior teacher in the Ruhaniat.  She was born in Germany and now lives in Berlin with her partner and five other Sufi friends in the Sufi Khankah Pankow.  For a long time she worked as a Gestalt psychotherapist, subsequent to teaching art in school.  During this time, she also raised her daughter Tanja.

Kansas City, KS

Allaudin was born in Kansas City, Missouri.  A lifelong dedication to music, gathering people together and pursuit of the miraculous, led him to a study of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.  This in turn led him to find "Sufi Dancing" in the college town of Lawrence, Kansas circa 1976.  More experiences in Sufism followed, which led to a deep darshan with Murshid Moineddin in the spring of 1978.  Later that summer he again had the experience of darshan with Murshid Moineddin at the Mendocino camp.  At this camp Allaudin met many of the mureeds of S.A.M. and one of his music mentors, Hamza El Din.