Olivone, Ticino, Switzerland, 24th July–19th August 2017

www.zenithinstitute.com

where the rivers meet

zenith

Sufi Summer Camp

“ In joining together, may we all be strengthened and inspired to discover the spiritual liberty that exists in us”

Welcome

Dear Seeker,

Welcome to the Zenith Summer Camp, where your fellow seekers from around the world have been gathering for nearly 30 years, to learn, share, and participate in our life’s journey.

Here in this alpine meadow of Ticino, we create a sacred space that allows you to drink deeply of nature’s beauty and power, and inwardly tread the path that leads to the soul’s awakening. You can dive deep into your inner life and – through spiritual practices, silence, prayer, music, and dialogue – reconnect with your timeless essence.

Our programme is rooted in the teachings of the Inayati Order, a Sufi path of spiritual liberty.

During Zenith’s four weeks of programming, you will find an abundant offering of workshops and retreats. You have the option of taking part in seminars or doing a guided individual or group

retreat in our very special silent retreat area. We have a wonderful camp for children – and offer special workshops for teenagers and young adults – so you can come as a family. You can stay for one week or four.

You can experience Camp’s magic before and after the four weeks of the programming, during the work camp and the takedown sessions. The work camp starts in June when there is nothing more in this setting than the mountains, the trees, the astounding flora, and the animals. A group of people of all ages, and different skills, gathers to build the structures and spaces for our Camp. Alongside the physical work, we engage in spiritual practice and the cultivation of community.

At the end of Camp’s main session, another group gathers to dismantle everything that was built and return the land to its original state.

Do come and join us! You can come to participate, retreat in silence, build, take down, or just visit. In joining together, may we all be strengthened and inspired to discover the spiritual liberty that exists in us through our connection to the Divine. As Camp founder Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan said, “Freedom gives infinite power, it can move mountains.”

Theme for this Camp: Where the Rivers Meet

“When there is one river, they call it sacred, but the most sacred place is where two rivers meet.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan

Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates, Ganga, Jumna, Narmada, Kaveri – these names, and many others, evoke the majestic and cease-less passage of water through the sacred imagination of humanity. Christ said that from the heart of the believer will come “rivers of living water.” The water that comes from the spring of the heart is for the greening of the world. The purity of the Earth’s oceans and rivers is inseparably linked to the clear running of the spiritual water that flows in the hearts of human beings.

This year, meeting beside the mountain stream that lends its gentle murmur to our Camp, we will unite many rivers: the rivers of sacred traditions, the rivers of our lives’ journeys, the rivers of various cultures, and the rivers of the energies of Earth and Heaven. There is a special blessing, we know, in the meeting of waterways.

Pir Zia Inayat-Khan

A day at the Camp

Our day starts with early morning meditation.

We have two teaching sessions in the morning and afternoon.

After lunch we have additional activities: walking meditations, the telling of stories and dreams, yoga, whirling, and a chance to sing in a choir.

Our evening programmes usually include “zikr” (a practice of remembrance which involves chanting) or “sama” (music, poetry, and spiritual dances).

“ the most sacred place is where two rivers meet”

24th–29th July

Seminar 1A Confluence

Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, Shaykha Hayat Nur Artiran and Reverend LuTimothy May

The Sufi mysticism of Hazrat Inayat Khan is a vital spiritual force in the West and the guiding philosophy of the Zenith Camp. The Sufi mysti-cism of Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi is a hallowed tradition in Turkey and increasingly a transformative presence in the West. Representing these two traditions, Pir Zia and Shaykha Nur have been meeting each summer and opening a space for contemplation, conversation, storytelling, prayer, music, and remembrance. This year they will be joined by Rev.LuTimothy May, an inspiring Baptist minister from Pen-sacola, Florida, who applies the teachings of Christ to the problems and opportunities of contemporary life.

Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, PhD, also known as Sarafil Bawa, is a scholar and teacher of Sufism in the lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayati Order and founder of Suluk Academy, a school of contemplative study with branches in the United States and Europe. He is editor of A Pearl in Wine and Caravan of Souls and author of Saracen Chivalry and Mingled Waters (forthcoming, 2017). Pir Zia divides his time between the USA and France.

Shaykha H. Nur Artıran is a researcher, writer, scholar and educator on the path of Rûmî. She is the founding president of the Şefik Can Interna-

tional Mevlâna Education and Culture Foundation, a founding member of The World Foundation for the Disabled, and a member of the scientific board of the International Mevlânâ Foundation. She is on the board of directors of the Universal Sufi Council and on the advisory board of The Global Future College.

Rev. LuTimothy May, Sr. M. Div. is a 3rd generation Pastor in Pensacola, Florida, where he is also the Executive Director of Dixon School of Arts. His musical talent has been acknowledged with several awards and he has received a Master of Divinity degree from Morehouse School of Religion. He is passionate about working with young people and is respected for his compassion, commitment, and incredible wisdom. Pastor May has been selected to multiple civic and governmental boards throughout the greater Pensacola area.

Seminar 1B Mingled Voices: The Art of Polyphony

Ophiel Maarten van Leer

In polyphony, every choir voice seems to act independently of each other, but it is in the meeting and mingling with other voices that a unity and dynamic whole is built. Singing in polyphony, concen-trating on one’s own part while simultaneously hearing the whole can become an inner journey of how to offer part of one’s identity to a greater purpose – and generate the harmony that results in an experience of inner freedom. We will sing and study music of Ockeghem, Victoria, Palestrina, Schein, and others, alternat-ing with periods of meditation.

Participants in this programme are asked to have previous choir and note reading experience.

Ophiel Maarten van Leer has been a student of Sufism for over three decades and has been leading musical activities at Zenith Camp for over 30 years. In 2016, he conducted “Music for Peace and Mutual Understand-ing: Bach’s Mass in B minor” in Jerusalem.

Group Retreat 1C On the Path of Enlightenment

Munir Voss and Malik Hirschberg

“Again and again look into your own mind. Your own mind is translu-cent, without form. It is from the Clear Light of the Void, it is like the immaculate sky. It is no multiplicity and it is all-knowing. . . .”

In silence, we will together walk the path of awareness, of peace, and inner mastery. Deeper and deeper we will tune in to the music of the soul and the silence in the heart of all things. We will work with our breath and with concentration, and especially with wazaïf (divine names) and zikr. This is a silent week

Deeper and deeper we will tune in to the music of the soul

Munir Voss has studied philosophy, physics, psychology, astrology, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. He leads the Heidelberg Sufi Centre. His work’s main focus is training retreat guides and leaders in the Inayati Order.

Malik Hirschberg is a retreat guide and representative of the Inayati Order of Austria. He bears responsibility for the Inayati Sufi Centre in Vienna. Malik is also a practicing dentist.

31st July–5th August

Retreat 2A The Cloud of Witnesses

Pir Zia Inayat-Khan

The prophets and prophetesses of the world’s great traditions are personifications of the Divine Qualities that dwell within all human beings as potentialities. The purpose of life is fulfilled in actualizing these potentialities to live a life of truth, beauty, remembrance, and service. In this pursuit, the seeker’s guides are the prophetesses and prophets who, working in unison, form the spiritual constellation that watches over the sanctity of the universe. In this retreat, utilizing breath, sound, contemplation, prayer, and meditation, we will attune to the bringers of the Divine Message individually and collectively, and witness the Divine Qualities they herald.

This week will be a silent week.

24th July–19th August

Individual Retreats

Tucked away in one corner of Camp is the silent retreat area, where you are surrounded by the soothing sound of water and held in the beautiful container of the mountains. The atmosphere that has been created here by all those who have been on retreat over the years makes this one of the most sacred spaces in the camp. When doing an individual retreat, your stay can be as short as a week or as long as four weeks. The retreat process is carefully structured and led by a qualified retreat guide. We have a wonderful group of guides from around the world who come for the summer. You can find more about them and the retreat process on our website: zenithinstitute.com/retreat.

7th–12th August

Workshop Inner and Outer Limbs of Yoga 3A

Munir Voss and Special Guest

In our workshop, we will explore what in the Yoga Sutras is described as “the inner limbs of yoga”: pranayama, the science of breath; pratyahara, renunciation; dharana, concentration; dhyana, medita-tion beyond form; and samadhi, perfect realization, culminating in “samadhi with open eyes.”

In combination with the inner limbs, we will also be doing physical yoga, to deepen our inner practice.

Seminar 3B Joy and Wisdom

Zamir Roehrs and Ulrike Greenway

Joy and wisdom can be considered two streams of the Sufi and Zen paths. Our minds operate with these characteristics as a result and fruit of spiritual practice. When both unite into one big river, some-thing very powerful can emerge.

In our everyday life, we long to find fresh access to joy and to develop wisdom. Both are important conditions to cultivate so that we can overcome the challenges of daily life, in a way that moves us beyond a state of paralysis and supports us in acting responsibly in the world.

Ulrike and Zamir will use the enriching depth of their respective tradi-tions to explore this territory together with participants.

Dr. Ulrike Greenway has dedicated most of her life to science and teach-ing. After studying the Sufi path with Irina Tweedie, she started a Zen practice in the lineage of Zentatsu Richard Baker, who ordained her as a priest in 2007. She feels inspired when different traditions meet and likes to explore the interconnectedness of spiritual practices and everyday life.

Martin Zamir Roehrs has spent most of his life working for and within various Sufi-related organisations. He was cofounder of Zenith Institute and Secretary General of the Sufi Order; he was Pir Vilayat’s assistant, secretary, and friend during the last 15 years of his life. Today he is a senior teacher in the Inayati lineage, and his focus has shifted to finding ways of embodying and transmitting what he describes as “Joy, Wisdom, Harmony, and Acceptance of Life in its many facets.”

Seminar 3C Becoming Pilgrims of Freedom: Participating in the Creation of the New

Sarida Brown, Zumurrud Butta and Ta’lim Knobel

“In love we all unite.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan

In a world of conflicts, fear, and confusion, the quest for freedom takes us on a journey that leads us to dive deeply into the sphere of the liv-ing heart, where we discover the source of a pristine creative power.

Through music and poetry, through zikr and attunement with the divine qualities – inspired by the masters, saints and prophets and by the beauty of nature – we will explore the mystery that spurs us to join in building a beautiful world for all.

Early bird price, before 1st May

Basic weekly price, when bringing your own tent:

CHF542 €498

Young Adults Camp: CHF452 €415

Daily Price: CHF113 €104

Price after 1st May

Basic weekly price, when bringing your own tent:

CHF602 €553

Young Adults Camp: CHF502 €461

Accommodation

Tent rental per week: CHF136 €125

Dormitory per night: CHF15 €14

Supplement for weeks 1A, 2A, 4A & 4B: CHF82 € 75

Price table*

*Prices may vary according to the exchange rate

Payments by bank transfer, PayPal or credit card/cash on location. For transfers please use: Zenith Institute, Banca Raiffeisen Olivone (Switzerland) For paying in Euros: IBAN: CH61 8035 0000 0010 0626 2 SWIFT/BIC: RAIFCH22 For paying in CHF: IBAN: CH84 8035 0000 0010 0623 6 SWIFT/BIC: RAIFCH22 For general inquiries: Phone: +49 (0) 40 18158997 E-mail: secr@zenithinstitute.com

If you stay for two or more weeks, there is a 5% discount on the additional week(s).

Sarida Brown guides the Inayati Healing Order worldwide. She has been on the Sufi path since 1975, and she teaches and guides retreats for heal-ing and inner life training. She is an acupuncturist and healer who works with Jungian body-mind psychotherapy. Sarida founded and edited Caduceus Journal. She believes that healing is about embracing with love our earthly limitations along with our yearning for wholeness.

Zumurrud Butta guides individual and group retreats, teaches Sufi mysti-cism, and serves as Vice President of the Universal Worship in Europe. She loves to weave Sufi perspectives into her work in human rights, and sees the Universal Worship as a path of love and a service of peace. This path works towards building a more beautiful world with enhanced under-standing, benevolence, inspiration, and joy.

Ta’lim Knobel has followed the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan for over 30 years and leads a Sufi center near Basel, Switzerland. He is Vice Presi-dent of the Kinship concentration in Europe and the President of the Hope Project in Switzerland. He is interested in what unifies different people and religions; he is dedicated to working with and supporting refugees. Ta’lim works as a physicist.

Group Retreat 3D Creating Sanctuary: A Sufi Alchemical Retreat

Saki Lee, PhD

“Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love.” – Rumi

During this week’s Sufi alchemical retreat, we create sanctuary for the sacred in our hearts. We practice hospitality and witnessing presence with the strangers and friends living within and outside us, which leads to greater authenticity, healing, and transformation for the benefit of all.

Saki Lee, PhD, has been guiding retreats as a way to tune body, heart, and soul to a spirituality of living with meaning, depth, and truth. She sees retreats as a way to enter into an ever-expanding circle of belonging where solitude, community, and sacred service meet as one.

“inspired by the masters, saints and prophets and by the beauty of nature we will explore the mystery that spurs us to join in building a beautiful world”

14th–19th August

Seminar 4A The Abrahamic Reunion

David Shahabuddin Less, Dr. Anna Less, PhD and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra

The Abrahamic Reunion is a group of women and men in Israel and Palestine who have dedicated their lives to bringing about a peaceful resolution to the conflicted energies of the Holy Land. During this week, members of our peace-making team will share stories and lessons learned in promoting peace. We will meditate, listen to and make profound music, learn the art of compassionate listening, and hopefully become inspired to help with this work. Participants will feel the deeper emotions and develop the consciousness necessary to have a peaceful life and be a real peacemaker.

David Shahabuddin Less has taught meditation, conflict resolution, and interfaith dialogue for over 40 years. For the last decade, he has been the Vice President of the Universal Worship, an activity of the Inayati Order in over 30 countries that honours the commonality in all religions and respects their differences. He promotes understanding instead of blame as a path to peace in the Holy Land via the Abrahamic Reunion, an interna-tional, interfaith peace-making non-profit he helped cofound in 2004.

Dr. Anna Less, PhD, cofounded the Abrahamic Reunion in 2004; she is a peace-maker, speaker, presenter, and the organisation’s International Co-Director. As a young woman, Anna realized her life’s work would centre on healing, as well as bringing harmony and balance to both individu-als and communities. She was the first Westerner to receive a PhD from

the prestigious Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China. Anna teaches the principles of healing in classes all around the world.

Sheikh Ghassan Manasra is the Abrahamic Reunion’s International Co-Director and one of its co-coordinators in the Holy Land. An ordained Sheikh in the Qadiri Sufi Order, he is the founder of Anwar-Il-Salaam, the Lights of Peace Center, and Director of the Islamic Cultural Center, both in Nazareth. Ghassan is a trusted expert and lectures on Islam, Islamic his-tory, Sufism, and contemporary Muslim issues in the Middle East, Europe, and the US. Ghassan has received multiple awards and accolades for his peace-making work.

Seminar 4B The Sacred Waters

Robin Becker

The body continually offers us teachings of transformation. It is the portal through which we can develop our awareness to experience the intersecting streams of ancient planetary processes, wisdom from the sacred traditions, and the ever-present spiritual intelligence that informs our beings. When we honour and care for the fluid intel-ligence flowing within us, we access a quality of timelessness and profound interconnection with all life.

In this retreat, we will investigate how our physical bodies and the way in which we move are the expression of unfolding life deeply linked to universal processes. This week is appropriate and safe for ALL levels of mobility. No previous movement experience is required.

Robin Becker, MA, RSME, is an internationally recognized teacher, dancer, choreographer, and founder of Robin Becker Dance. Her teaching weaves together her lifelong experi-ence in dance, 35 years of experience as a student of the Inayati Order, 26 years of studying Continuum with Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper, and 14 years of training with Gary David in Epistemics and Affect Script Theory. She has served as both a Guiding Voice and member of the Wisdom Council for Seven Pillars House of Wisdom.

Seminar 4C Relaxing into the Flow of Existence (ages 18–29)

Deepa Gulrukh Patel and Jacob Ellenberg

Life can be a challenge, yet it can also be glorious! We’ll spend our time together embracing both dimensions of our experience. Com-bining traditional practices from various world faiths with modern tools, we’ll explore the inner life and our individual work in the world. The practices and tools will help us deepen and build trust in our intu-ition and capacity to flow with all that life brings us. In so doing, we’ll navigate the edges of the human and the divine, the heart and mind, and seek that mode of being that relaxes into the purpose of life.

“ we’ll navigate the edges of the human and the divine, the heart and mind, and seek that mode of being that relaxes into the purpose of life”

Deepa Gulrukh Patel is a campaigner and facilitator with a special inter-est in the arts, interdisciplinary collaboration, contemplation, diversity, and equality. Deepa has been a student of the inner life since her teens. She is Director of Zenith Camp and is also the international coordinator and a representative of the Inayati Order.

Jacob Ellenberg has been a student of Sufism for 20 years. He has 15 years’ experience in founding start-ups and working with them and Fortune 250 companies in the fields of organizational strategy, video production, marketing, and storytelling. Jacob holds a BA from New York University in Mysticism and Organizational Behaviour.

Group Retreat 4D Awakening on the Path of Love

Himayat Inayati and Amat-un-Nur Hayat

Himayat Inayati and Amat-un-Nur Hayat offer an exploration of the soul’s journey in the realm of love as embodied by the prophets Jesus and Muhammad. The sacred path offered by these two prophets, and by Hazrat Inayat Khan, stands upon the essential premise of the Real beckoning us to surrender our self through love – that we may become truly alive through the love of the Beloved. Participants will explore this journey of love, human and divine, as it applies to their sacred pilgrimage through life.

Amat-un-Nur Hayat lives in Lahore, Pakistan. She is the regional rep-resentative and second Vice President of Kinship for the Inayati Order in addition to being a Shefayat in the Inayati Healing Order. Her passion is reading Murshid Inayat Khan’s teachings in the context of the universal message of the Quran, Prophet Muhammad’s (s.w.) tradition, and the teachings of the classical Sufi masters. She also supports the uncovering of gender-egalitarianism within Islam along with an accent on the value of the Divine Feminine within the spiritual tradition.

Himayat Inayati, MS, ThD, has studied Universal Sufism for 45 years. He has been a catalytic figure in the ongoing dialogue between science, spir-ituality, and healing, organizing 27 conferences in support of it. He is the founder of The Raphaelite Work™, a method of healing based on Sufism. He has served as International Kefayat of the Inayati Order for 20 years. Presently he teaches the online class “Keys to the Divine Treasury.”

24th July–19th August

Other Programmes

Children’s Camp

Majida Heiss and team

During the Camp’s main programmes, children aged three and up are wholeheartedly invited to join the Children’s Camp! Majida and her team will be available during all four weeks of the main session, offer-ing children the chance to sing, dance, play, and be creative together.

During Zenith’s four weeks, we will be providing a special afternoon programme for young people aged 14–17.

Family Programme

Between 24th July and 5th August Majida will be running daily ses-sions after lunch for families.

Working at Camp

We need help building the camp structures and then taking them down again. Come and join our diverse and energetic group of volunteers!

During the main ses-sion, we also welcome additional help. There are vacancies in differ-ent areas: the Children’s Camp, driving, kitchen, administration, and technical support. You can work either full-time as staff or part-time in work-study positions.

Important: To build the camp, work as staff, or help as work-study, it is mandatory to apply and register in advance.

General information

Accommodation: You can bring your own tent; rent a tent; or stay in our dormitories. Individual rooms are also available.

Food: We offer simple nutritious and delicious vegetarian and vegan food.

How to book a programme: Please find our registration form online at: zenithinstitute.com/registration-form/.

Please check our website for more information, updates, and detailed descriptions of our seminars and teachers: zenithinstitute.com.

www.zenithinstitute.com