with camp co-directors Abdullah Nik Strads and Vakil Forest Shomer

Throughout the week, we will attune ourselves to practices that open the heart and the healing potential within, and awaken our connection to the nurturing energy and sacred wisdom embedded within the natural world. We will attune to nature and cultivate healing vibrations through sacred practices such as dances, zikr, song, walks, stories, breathwork, prayer and meditation. Join us for a transformative experience in the magnificent Northwest, where we will sweep the chambers of our hearts, open to the beauty and infinite healing power of nature and divine presence. Whether you're seeking inner peace, physical healing, or a deeper connection to nature and spirit, this week promises to be an inspiring and life-affirming journey.

about Abdullah Nik Strads

Abdullah Arshad has been deeply immersed in the Sufi community since his early years, growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attending Mendocino Sufi Camp even before birth. He has been living in the Pacific Northwest--Portland, Oregon--for the past 13 years and has participated in Northwest Sufi Camp for over a decade. A devoted mureed for nearly 10 years, Abdullah is a Shaikh, Mu'alim for the Healing Collective of Sirat-i Inayat, and a cherished leader in local dance and zikr circles. He is also currently a Cherag in training. Abdullah’s spiritual practice is greatly inspired by Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings on healing, and he leads semi-monthly Healing Classes and Healing Services. As a naturopathic physician and founder of Integrative Environmental Wellness, Abdullah integrates medicine, spirituality, and human connection in his healing work, with a particular focus on environmental health and vitality.

about Vakil Forest Shomer

'Sweeping the Chambers.' That came to me about one or two breaths after we confirmed that I will co-lead this Camp. I just heard it inwardly, and found it makes perfect sense. The thought of being able to dance the camp theme early on is attractive to me and seems like medicine as we continue to reboot the camp from the trough of interruption of 2020-2022.

One thing I bring to my role is: a desire to have a camp success which includes boosting the camp bottom line, in the knowledge that the post-pandemic camps drew on the organization's financial reserves. In my two previous Camp Director roles, which were solo, we had very large attendance—so I consider that part of what I bring to my current role—to have a growing attendance and to refresh the organizational reserves toward the future.

I have twice directed NWSC (1986, and 1999) and was part of the founding group that presented NWSC in 1978, near Eugene. 

Pir Moineddin (Murshid Samuel Lewis' successor) tapped me for Ziraat leadership in 1975—so this Camp is a 50th anniversary for me in this work, one may say. He also empowered me to lead Dances of Universal Peace in that year. In 1996 he formally initiated me as Experienced Farmer for the Sufi Ruhaniat International (SRI) and I led that activity for the SRI for the next twenty years. For seven years, until his death in 2001 he was my Guide and mentor in the Sufi Soulwork activity. Since then I have given individual Soulwork sessions and occasionally, group sessions. 

I am a professional seedman with a bioregional focus, beginning in 1974 with the nonprofit Abundant Life Seed Foundation and continuing since 1992 with my sole-owned business, Inside Passage Seeds, in Port Townsend, Washington.  

with Basira Beardsworth

with David Yager

Is a Qi Gong class, at the NWSC which focuses on Waking Up the Body, Mind and Spirit to prepare the individual for a day of Practices: Dancing, Singing, Praying and Praising.  After Awakening, ELF Qi Gong Forms are designed for: Energy Enhancement, Body Structure and Movement Facility, Healing and Spiritual Transformation.

A  typical Class begins with prayers and songs of Gratitude.  We then move to an ELF Qi Gong Form, “The Awake Form” which is designed to awaken us starting from the outside and moving  inside and from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet.  It incorporates body tapping, slapping, rubbing, scrubbing, spinal stretching, flicking and shaking hands, arms and the entire body, shoulder rolling, sounding, growling, spinal rolling and twisting, Ki Ai’s, Hip circling and stretching, Laughing, Dispersing Emotional Energy and Centering.  

After “The Awake Form” we move on to a number of ELF Qi Gong Forms oriented to increase Energy Awareness, Movement, Longevity,  Energy Reserves and Fun.  Forms such as: Lower Dantian Development (a series of forms to contact, control and cultivate energy in a critical body energy center, the Lower Dantian); Shield Development (a series of forms developing awareness, command and protection of the Light-Energy-Body); and Healing Qi Gong Forms (incorporating the conscious direction of positive, loving energy to specific places or organs within the Body-Energy System.)

Each class is completed with a “Cultivating Form”, designed to Infuse and Contain the Energy freed and moved during the class into Centers of the Light-Energy Body which can Hold it.  We then finish with a song of remembrance.  

About David Yager

David Yager has always been an athlete focused on Aliveness: in his youth, playing all the competitive sports of the day: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Track & Field; in his early adult life, Dance and Theatre Arts Training; in Mid-Life, Martial Arts and Dance Training; in his later life, Qi Gong supplemented with aerobic, strength and yoga stretch training.

Since 2016, David has been teaching a form of Qi Gong incorporating a number of the techniques, styles and elements of his diverse training in: Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Yoga, Dance, Spirituality and PsychoDynamic BreathWork Processes into a form he titled, ELF Qigong.  ELF is an acronym referring to: Energy, Longevity and Fun. 

with Nina Matthews, Chela Sloper and Zahir Keith Moree

With every passing year, Chela and Zahir are learning about the power of uniting our voices with other humans. It is our hope that the songs we learn and sing together will enrich your overall Northwest Sufi Camp experience. All are welcome, regardless of previous singing experience.  Songs will be taught by ear, as they are in the Dances, no need to read music. We'll sing a variety of types of songs, including songs in unison, rounds, chants, songs with simple harmonies, and maybe a surprise or two! We aim to offer music that awakens the body, heart, and mind, and teach songs that you can take home with you. We'll also bring in care for the voice, and general singing tips. This year we are delighted to welcome Nina Matthews, who has a wealth of singing experience, and will serve as our apprentice. Nina will contribute to the content and tone of the class. Welcome, Nina! Welcome, all who love to sing!

About Nina Matthews

Nina has been attending NW Sufi Camp almost every year since she was in the womb! Her deep love for singing has blossomed from growing up in our community, from her exceptionally musical mother Raphaela Wendy, and from her many years spent in choirs. From a young age she has joyfully participated in Classical, Jazz, Georgian, Sacred Harp and Acapella singing groups. She is also an educator, and uses singing as a central teaching tool with her young students. She is currently working on a children's album that aims to build relationships between young children with their more-than-human kin.

About Chela Sloper

My spiritual infrastructure was built by the first 20 years of my life as a seeker, engaging in different flavors of protestant, mostly evangelical Christianity. Just a few months after completing my seminary degree with the Presbyterians I walked into my first circle of the Dances of Universal Peace (August 1991). In little time I felt that marvelous relief of finding home. (There is a better backstory about a mind-blowing synchronicity that pointed me to the Dances, but that’s a different story.) The depth. The music. The silence. The movement. All of it served up in one interwoven approach of living into Toward the One.

I returned to NWSC in 2019, hoping that this would be part of my retirement plan, to reconnect myself with the wider Sufi community, and to have a community to invest in for my spiritual life. After the interruption of the pandemic, upon returning to NWSC in August 2022 I applied to be on the Board. In 2023, hearing that Zarifah Spain was ready to hand the baton of Camp Manager to the next in the relay, after many weeks of discernment, I said, “Yes. I’ll do it.”

About Zahir Keith Moree

Zahir loves to sing and make music with others, and has been dancing, singing, and drumming on the Sufi path since 2003. Zahir sang in church, school and at home as a child, and in community choir and small groups as an adult. Zahir’s training as a speech-language-pathologist has allowed him to help others use their singing voices in as healthy and sustainable a manner as possible. Zahir leads Dances of Universal Peace and zikr in Portland, Oregon, and especially enjoys helping others experience love, harmony, and beauty through vocal music.

with Sára Rain and Maitreya Jon Stevens

Murshid SAM said that it looks like we're about singing and dancing, but we are actually about peace on earth. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan said that peace is found within oneself, independent of outer circumstances. Between these two great Sufi masters, we can find ourselves tuning our souls to the vibration of our highest God-Ideal, polishing the heart, unfolding the soul, singing, dancing, meditating, forgetting the limited self, and remembering the Infinite. We are invited to study nature as the only scripture that can enlighten the reader. Murshid SAM also said that to be "spiritual' is to be "natural." Discovering our true nature, the essence and potential for becoming truly human, is at the center of our spiritual work. Dances of Universal Peace and Zikr can bring us into this remembered wisdom individually together. Let's take a deep dive into the Dances as a living practice for studying nature, life, and the awakened heart. We'll remember the great teachers, wisdom keepers, and messengers, honoring lineage, strengthening our focus, and breathing fresh inspiration into our long-cherished traditions. 

About Maitreya Jon Stevens

Maitreya shares music and silence in retreats around the world, including dozens of original compositions and dances that fell directly into his heart. A guide in the Sufi Ruhaniat International and Mentor of the Dances of Universal Peace, Maitreya seeks to assist all in purifying their hearts as a means to know their true nature.

About Sára Rain

Sára Rain met Sufism through the Dances of Universal Peace 32 years ago. Love of music, movement, interfaith practice, the beauty of prayer woven through faith traditions, languages, cultures, and the heart of devotion all inspire and inform Sára's personal path and leadership. She facilitates Cherag training, guides mureeds, mentors dance leaders, offers Sufi classes, meditation, and retreats. Sára is a Spiritual Director, and the spiritual leader of Sirat-i Inayat Interfaith Sufi Path. Her spiritual path is a mingling of Paganism and Sufism, celebrating the cycles and seasons of nature along with timeless wisdom and love, always love. Sára lives in Colorado with her beloved partners Tim and Rahima. Their children live in Oregon and Pennsylvania.

with Majida Inayat Nelson 

Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan writes that ecology is:

“The science of relationships between organisms and their environments.”

Through exploring our standing, breathing and walking patterns in life, plus our unique take on planetary energies and personality, we can develop a harmonious relationship with our planetary and human ecology.

The class will involve movement as a group and as individuals. 

All participation is voluntary and accommodation is made for assisted mobility needs where possible.

About Majida Inayat Nelson 

I came to the Sufi path like many fellow students: through a friend, my college friend Irene Rokstad, in the early 1970’s and reading the teachings of Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan were like hearing my own soul speak.

After initiation with Murshida Qahira Qalbee Fraley, studies in meditation with Pir Vilayat Khan and immersion in Indian Raga, I found my heart teacher, Pir Moineddin Jablonski, who continues to inspire my life.

I have experienced the NW Sufi Camp as director, Board member and President, and as a staff member. I read the esoteric papers for students for over thirty years while  leading classes in astrological walks, public zikr and Dances of Universal Peace meetings.  

Retired from Sufi teaching public life, I am focused on Native plant habitat restoration in Birch Bay,Washington.

with Ahura Grace Henke

We will be doing sitting and standing Zikr. If you need to sit the entire time, you are welcome to do so. We will sing and chant, and experiment. I have learned Zikrs from so many teachers, as well as some that have come through me. We will also share some sacred poetry, and perhaps other readings. No two classes will be the same.

About Ahura Grace Henke

I found the Sufi Path in 1982, and came to my first NWSC absolutely fresh, I had never been to a Zikr or dance meeting. That evening we danced maybe 3 “greeting” dances, and had orientation. I dreamed of a teacher that night who took me all over the world doing a practice I couldn’t identify until Thursday evening during Zikr. I woke with my feet firmly planted in the Sufi path.

Since then, I have taken on the study of Zikr as my life work.  I never lead a dance until I had been dancing for 10 years, I never led a Zikr until I was doing Zikr for 20 years. I then asked Majida Inayat, my guide to train me. Sometime later when Sheik Ishaq died, I received his blessings and carried him with me for the next 17 years as he continued to train me from within.