Winged Heart Sufi Group
Our facilitator for this program is Melissa Clare.
Contact Melissa at melissaclare01@gmail.com to reserve a place in the class.
Check the Calendar on the Home Page for current offerings.
“There is a Secret One inside us – the planets in all the galaxies pass through his/her hands like beads…” Kabir
Sufism is not a religion, but a spiritual path. It is an exploration of the inner life experienced by mystics all over the world. The inner life is the life of the soul, felt in a unique way by each of us. To awaken to our inner life is to expand our sense of identity as well as to deepen our sense of peace, and to nurture balance in our lives, aiming towards the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty…
This group explores the ancient wisdom of the Sufis with particular reference to the challenges of our time. Programs may include guided meditations, listening to music, singing, dances for Universal Peace, exploring the poetry of Rumi, Hafiz, and others, sharing experiential exercises to increase our Healing capacity as well as the study of specific teachings on topics pertinent to our daily lives.
One evening a month is dedicated to a healing focus ( 2ndThursdays) and one to a “Harmony Session” where we joinin sacred songs and chants from around the world ( 4thThursdays) – participants are invited to bring musical instruments or their favorite sacred poems…
We look forward to seeing you and everyone is welcome!
Melissa also offers occasional workshops on a variety of subjects dear to her heart, depending on interest. Some such workshops have included a series about Spiritual Healing, and an Orientation to the Alchemical Retreat.
In the future she is feeling inspired to offer “Three Journeys– a supercharged vacation at home “ Dream Journey with a plant spirit, Ocean Journey with the dolphins and whales (guided visualization) and a Journey to the Sun (guided meditation from the mystic tradition ).
Melissa Clare first met her spiritual teacher and mentor Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan at a youth camp he was facilitating in the French Alps. She was struck by the respectful inclusiveness that allowed for teachers from many different paths to offer their wisdom, from the French Catholic Priest who was studying Buddhism, to Rabbi Zalman Schachter, to the young Lama Chime. Pir Vilayat’s guided meditations on light led the attendees into new perspectives and an expanded sense of identity.
She emigrated from England to the United States at the age of twenty two, in order to live in the newly formed community led by Pir Vilayat, where the ongoing study and practice of the spiritual path was experienced side by side with opportunities to work on the farm, the herb-garden, the children’s school, to help bag bread at the bakery, offer afternoon tea to guests, or help cook a meal for 75. Visiting teachers and musicians from around the world further enriched the life of the residents…and the ongoing effort to restore and maintain the seven Shaker buildings and to steward the 450 acres in upstate New York was all consuming.
A visit by the founders of the Findhorn Community, helped many to deepen the relationship and communication with the natural world that was already fostered by the beauty of the land inherited from the Shakers and original native people.
In 1981 Melissa embarked on her healing path after surviving a major fire and that destroyed her idyllic home in the woods. She became a conductor in the Sufi Healing Order and later the director of the Order in North America. This healing focus also led to her training and authorization in MariEl healing offered by Ethel Lombardi and to the study and authorization as a Plant Spirit healing practitioner with Eliot Cowan (author of the book “Plant Spirit Medicine”). She also studied Qi Gong with Master TK Shih, a fifth generation medicinal Qi Gong master.
After 17 years of community life on the east coast, Melissa lived on an organic farm in Northern California while studying Plant Spirit Medicine and developing a healing practice and eventually moved to Arkansas where she helped to found the Heart of Many Ways, as a spiritual collaborative in Eureka Springs. Here she offers to share some of the inspiration she received along the way, especially from the Sufi tradition.