During this journey into sacred dance and your sublime and sensual divinity, you’ll:

• Explore the Sufi Path as the path of living love
• Awaken loving awareness in your whole body
• Experience an intimate connection with the transcendent and immanent Divine-Beloved through dance
• Learn how moving in spirals brings you into balance — and teaches you how to remain present, grounded, and centered in the midst of chaos
• Receive direct transmissions from the Source through Sama
• Walk with loving awareness, correct alignment, and beauty — bridging the seen and the unseen
• Gain tools to get out of your head and direct your energy down into the rest of your body to be more fully yourself — and to live with more capacity
• Cultivate a true sense of belonging in your body, feeling ease and joy in your skin regardless of pain or restrictions
• Activate and balance your root chakra and begin to develop an intimate bond with the Earth as the basis, root, and foundation for all your movement, as well as your bonds and relationships
• Activate your pineal gland to receive higher insights and intuitive guidance
• Learn how to whirl without getting dizzy and persevere in the spin for a sustained period of time
• Embody your true strength as you burn away unworthiness and begin to express yourself with courage, compassion, responsibility, and stewardship toward the greater eco-field
• Activate and open your heart chakra — and experience your heart as the gateway to the quantum field of infinite consciousness
• Cultivate inner detachment and tune in to the power of dance to influence and shape consciousness
• Discover the sacred and the unfathomable in the still depths of your being beyond concepts, dogmas, conditioned activity, and all preferences
• Be here in the NOW and surrender to what is as you access inner peace and joy, regardless of circumstance

You’ll begin your journey with an initiation into the root chakra’s sacred truth: All is one. This is your link and your interconnection with all of life, as we are all part of one divine family. Every choice you make and every belief you hold exerts influence upon the whole of life.

Your wellbeing and your dance are dependent upon your connection with the Earth as Gaia, one of the supreme manifestations of the Great Mother — the more you revere and honor the Earth the healthier and more vibrant you will feel.

When you don’t honor the Earth, you are unable to honor your body and your bond with others… you’re actually unable to be.

As most of us are focused in our heads, the goal of this opening week of class is to actively remember you have a body and are one with the Earth.

During your initiation into the sacred truth of the root chakra, you’ll also:

• Awaken loving awareness in your whole body with The Weave, designed to ground you and bring you into presence
• Explore walking with loving awareness, correct alignment, and beauty — bridging the seen and the unseen with Dance Your Walk
• Activate and balance your root chakra and begin to develop an intimate bond with the Earth as the basis, root, and foundation for all your movement, as well as your bonds and relationships through tribal dance
• Gain tools Gain tools to get out of your head and direct your energy down into the rest of your body to be more fully yourself — and to live with more capacity
• Let go and relax into the now, releasing the tension from external stimuli through the Active Relaxation method
• Cultivate a true sense of belonging in your body, feeling ease and joy in your skin regardless of pain or restrictions

The sacred truth of the sacral chakra is that sexual energy is sacred, a key aspect to your relationship to power.

Shame and guilt make you powerless, creating an energetic armor around your hips that traps your life-force. You’ll begin to loosen the armor this week to liberate your life-force and free energy in your body and your energetic field.

The sacral chakra is also the realm of duality — male and female. The imbalance between masculine and feminine energies has tilted in favor of the masculine for eons, leading us to value doing over being… the active principle of yang over the receptive principle of yin.

You’ll dance to harmonize and marry the two flames — the intuitive, life-bearing, being aspect of your psyche with the active and intellectual doing aspect.

Ultimately, your dance becomes a lovemaking with the Beloved — the union of spirit and matter in your body in ever-expanding, sublime, wild, and tender ways.

As you reconnect with the sacred sexual energy of the sacral chakra, you’ll:

• Shake to purify and clear yourself of yourself — and disidentify with the limited “separate” self
• Awaken your life force and let it ignite your whole body, energizing and uplifting you through Shake to Liberate
• Open yourself to the sheer radiance of eros, reclaim your sexuality as sacred, and freely, ecstatically express your sensuality as natural and holy
• Activate and open your sacral chakra, and begin to balance the energies of yin and yang — feminine and masculine inside yourself
• Feel and begin to embody your own beauty with radiant confidence
• Elevate yourself and feel energized throughout the day

Rumi said, “life is the sound of your inner dialogue.” In other words, your life amplifies how you feel about yourself — and echoes your thoughts and feelings back to you.

This week, you’ll explore the solar plexus’ sacred truth that self-love is your anchor… and learn to activate your center to access a point of light that can expand into a sun — whose radiance rests upon how you feel about yourself.

The more you regard yourself and your body with kindness and love, the warmer, and more radiant will the sun emanate in your body, your life, and out into the world. This is why when you don’t feel good about yourself, the world appears dim and gloomy.

You’ll also learn movements inspired by fiery flamenco that activate self-authority. As you claim your power you will realize there is no room for victimhood and blame.

As you dance with the awareness of your solar plexus chakra, you’ll:

• Find your center, your womb–dantian, and develop the ability to initiate your movements from your center with Activate the Inner Sun
• Activate self-authority and sovereignty as the Queen of your own Queendom and the King of our own Kingdom through the fiery and empowering movements of flamenco
• Boost your confidence and self-esteem
• Build resilience and adaptability through your nervous system
• Awaken and enliven your inherent joy regardless of the circumstance
• Embody your true strength as you burn away unworthiness and begin to express yourself with courage, compassion, responsibility, and stewardship toward the greater eco-field

Love is divine power and the most powerful state of being. This is the sacred truth of the heart chakra.

The midpoint of chakras, your heart chakra mediates between body and spirit where you can tune in to your subtle body, become more energy than matter, and enter the quantum field of oneness.

In this module, you’ll learn about the sacred physiology of the heart, and be introduced to the Sufi Path. For the Sufis, life is a love affair with the Beloved and the heart is the home of the Beloved — the “I AM” presence. Through falling in love with the Beloved, you polish your heart of the debris of separateness and step into your true self.

Your heart has an electromagnetic field that extends beyond the physical heart by about five to eight feet. What you create in your heart influences yourself and the world around you. This is why all healing begins in the heart.

As you journey deep into your heart, you’ll:

• Explore the Sufi Path as the path of living love
• Experience your heart as the gateway to the quantum field of infinite consciousness
• Learn from the wisdom of your anatomical heart
• Activate and open your heart chakra through the Waves of Love — and experience light as liquid
• Dance to let your body become an instrument playing a love song
• Learn how to maintain an open heart by remaining grounded and centered, and create balance between giving and receiving love

The throat chakra teaches us to surrender personal will to Divine will. It is about finding your authentic voice, and listening — attuning to inner guidance. It bridges the head and heart to create coherence.

One of our toughest armors is around our throat. This week, you’ll learn to loosen this armor to activate your voice and creativity.

You’ll be initiated into Sama (whirling dance) through a simple method that allows everyone access to this profound Sufi practice. An inner journey to the Beloved, Sama dissolves the limited mind into the unlimited ocean of presence, and you begin to simply be… a channel for compassion and wisdom.

The science of physics states that matter is actually space spinning. How profound to spin consciously, activate supernatural powers, and upgrade ourselves!.

Rumi’s poetry flowered while whirling in perfect rhyme and meter — a testament to the power of Sama to receive direct transmissions from the Source, and create body-heart-mind coherence.

As you activate your throat chakra and its sacred voice, you’ll also:

• Ground and center yourself in preparation for whirling
• Learn how to whirl without getting dizzy and persevere in the spin for a sustained period of time
• Learn the philosophy and short history of Sama as a spiritual path
• Create unity, harmony, and coherence between your body, heart, and mind through the profound Sufi movement meditation of Sama
• Begin to surrender your mind and become empty
• Become silent and still enough to listen to your inner voice of guidance through a seated meditation following the Sama

The Third Eye chakra teaches us to see only the truth. Considered the mother of all the chakras, this is where you are beckoned to open yourself to the unknown and expand your mind to gain wisdom that can guide your actions. As the center of intuition, you can access profound inner vision and insight when your pineal gland is awakened and activated… including dissolving the illusion of separation between you and the world.

“Walk with the universe,” say the Navajo. Walk in beauty, feeling the harmony between yourself, the world around you, and all of existence.

As you deepen your journey into Sama, you’ll activate intuition and insight, and begin to experience the stillpoint at the center of all movement at the core of your being.

By approaching dance as invisible architecture and becoming aware of the patterns as you move, your dance will become a powerful way to shift, influence, and shape consciousness.

In dancing with your Third Eye chakra focus, you’ll:

• Explore and activate the pineal gland as your inner or Third Eye through special focus, as well as the Sama
• Deepen the practice of Sama and begin to receive direct transmissions from the source
• Dissolve the illusion of separation between yourself and the world, and loosen your identification with the limited self through Sama
• Begin to surrender the patterns of your limited mind to become empty and silent through Sama and seated meditation
• Learn to observe yourself moving, becoming aware of the shapes that you create
• Cultivate inner detachment and tune in to the power of dance to influence and shape consciousness
• Realize the stillness that is always already present at the core of your being

The sacred truth of the crown chakra is to live in the present moment. It requires courage, trust and a constant disidentification from our limited self… for to be in the present moment is to lovingly release the past.

Your crown chakra is your connection to spirit — the greater field of consciousness — that motivates you to seek an intimate connection to the Divine in everything you do. Sacred dance is about experiencing this connection.

During the concluding week of class, you’ll learn to move in spirals and integrate the learning from previous classes. The spiral is a sacred pattern seen in all living forms — from galaxies to our DNA molecules. It is the way nature resolves conflict and restores balance.

The visible world flowers from the invisible through the spiral. At the innermost level is divine mystery, and at the outermost, physical forms of matter.

The spiral is the most advanced human movement, engaging all the chakras — which are spiraling themselves.

As you embody the sacred truth of the crown chakra, you’ll:

• Learn how moving in spirals brings you into balance — and teaches you how to remain present, grounded, and centered in the midst of chaos
• Discover the sacred and the unfathomable in the still depths of your being beyond concepts, dogmas, conditioned activity, and all preferences
• Activate deep inner surrender, and being thoughtlessly present beyond sensations of comfort and discomfort, pleasure and aversion
• Experience an intimate connection with the Beloved through dance
• Be here in the now and surrendered to what is as you access inner peace and joy, regardless of circumstance
• Integrate all teachings from past weeks

“Her dancing is more than a feast for the eyes, it’s a joy to the spirit and an opening of the heart.”

Banafsheh uses dance as a holy ritual. Her dancing is more than a feast for the eyes, it’s a joy to the spirit and an opening of the heart.
— Marianne Williamson, internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer

“Banafsheh is one of the greatest sacred dancers I have seen.”

— Deepak Chopra, bestselling author and founder of The Chopra Foundation

“Banafsheh is the quintessential professional in her field…”

In watching Banafsheh dance, I knew I was witnessing a master performer in action. Banafsheh is the quintessential professional in her field not only as a dancer but as an artistic interpreter of Rumi and in explaining the brilliance of that renowned Sufi mystic.
— Caroline Myss, bestselling author, medical intuitive, and founder of CMED (Caroline Myss Education)

“… when Banafsheh teaches or performs, she moves with an attitude of liquid gold pouring over silk velvet.”

Master of mystical Persian dance, when Banafsheh teaches or performs, she moves with an attitude of liquid gold pouring over silk velvet. She embodies what it means to dance with abandon, what it means to fully live the ecstatic poetry of Rumi, of luminous moonlight on radiant silver clouds.
— Felicia Tomasko, Editor-in-Chief, LA Yoga