Rumi's Whirling Dervishes

Setting the theme/tone:  The most fundamental condition of our existence is to revolve.  Everything in the known universe takes part in a continual play of cycling, recycling and revolving.  When you spin, you take part in a re-enactment of this play.  The Whirling Dervishes are followers of the great Sufi poet Rumi and the tradition is about 7oo years old.  After a 2 year period of not talking following the death of his spiritual master, Rumi began to spin, and as he spun, entered a state of trance.  Born from this trance were all 200,000 of his sacred poems.  The Whirling Dervishes re-enact Rumi’s divine moment of inspiration by spinning to the left.  To the whirling dervishes also believe that spinning is a spiritual journey and when you partake you not only cleanse the bodies energetic system, you also pray.  

Deep Breathing Pranayama: from Supta Badokonasana place hands first onto belly and breath into your hands, then onto ribs and breath into your rib cage, then onto collar bones and breath into them.  Fill lungs to full capacity!!

Asana:

From Supta Badokonasana stretch one leg at a time and then take it into core & a supine spinal twist, then switch sides.

Sun A x 5

Sun B x 4

1-3) From Utkatasana open left & right and then go into airplane, then open right as you step left foot back (so now you are into Crescent lunge with a twist), Take Crescent and then go into Airplane, arms forward and then Warrior 3 with Airplane Arms, then full Warrior 3, Half Moon, Chaprasana, Standing Splits, then Crescent to Warrior II (hold 5 breaths), then Reverse Warrior.  Other Side starting from Utkatasana.

1. Sun B for Hip openers and with seated spinal twist

Sun C for quads, psoas, hamstring & Hanumanasana

Backbends at the wall

Spinning: Start spinning to the left with arms crossed and after a few rounds release the right hand skyward in prayer awaiting God’s beneficence, while the left hand turns down bestowing God’s gift to earth.  The gaze is at the left hand.  

Warm-down

Meditation:

Rumi Poem: This World Which Is Made of Our Love for Emptiness
Praise to the emptiness that blanks out existence. Existence:
This place made from our love for that emptiness!
 Yet somehow comes emptiness,
this existence goes.
 Praise to that happening, over and over!
For years I pulled my own existence out of emptiness.
 Then one swoop, one swing of the arm,
that work is over.
 Free of who I was, free of presence, free of dangerous fear, hope,
free of mountainous wanting.
 The here-and-now mountain is a tiny piece of a piece of straw
blown off into emptiness.
 These words I'm saying so much begin to lose meaning:
Existence, emptiness, mountain, straw:
 Words and what they try to say swept
out the window, down the slant of the roof.