Sufi-Yoga

05/16/2025

Dear Beloved,

In these turbulent times, we are fortunate to have so many methods of meditation. The intentions around why we practice meditation can vary. For instance, one day, it can be just to relax the nervous system by breathing and activating our parasympathetic nervous system to relax and rest. Other days, we may return to meditation after an upset. We want to regain our emotional and physical equilibrium, and to find meaning behind the circumstances.

In Sufism, there is the practice of Maraqabah, a spiritual practice for being mindful of the Divine Presence, God, Allah, you name it. It is a chance to contemplate our connection to what matters most. It is a pathway to spiritual growth, ethical conduct and achieving peace and contentment through surrender.

In its origins, Yoga is considered a contemplative practice involving asana (postures) pranayama (breath) to bring awareness to the body, mind and ultimately spirit in connecting with The Atman. Jnana yoga is the yoga of knowledge, is a systematic journey of self-reflection and contemplation on the nature of reality.

Both Sufism and Yoga have the same ultimate goal: to experience oneness or Unity with the Divine which gives meaning to our place in this world.

In the next Sufi Yoga class, we will be working with the divine quality As-Shahid, The Witness, The All-Seeing, The All-Knowing. This divine name signifies that the God is ever-present and knows all that we think, feel and do. Being seen by God is not a about a guilt-trip. Rather, it is to experience the Divine lovingly and intimately knowing us, both the rose and the thorns in us. It is for us to examine our thoughts, feelings and actions with compassion and how we might strive for excellence.

We will do our yoga asanas with a witness consciousness through inquiry on how we are feeling, what we are thinking, what memories that may come up when we twist our torsos or lift our hearts to the heavens. For our meditation we will invoke As-Shahid as a portal to witnessing ourselves as we focus on each of the seven chakras, reaching the crown to experience that Oneness.

See you on the mat!
Online Sufi Yoga Class $15
Wednesday, May 21- 6:30 - 7:45 PM
Book Now

04/10/2025

Dear Beloved,

Do you sometimes feel you’re sleepwalking through life? It seems change is happening faster than anyone can process. How do we keep up when the world around us is confusing, especially since no one can agree on what reality is? We return again to our spiritual practices and tools to find clarity and peace which leads to the desire for a more elevated understanding of our existence.

The divine quality of Al-Baith, The Awakener, allows for deep introspection into the nature of your being. Who are you? What are you? How can you create value in the time you have?

Al-Baith provokes the desire to let go of your triggers and impulses. It encourages surrender to the Divine and to pursue what is the eternal within you. You carry a special quality to bring out into the world, no matter if that notion is popular or approved of by the people around you. Al-Baith helps us awaken to this quality and to use it to better ourselves and the community around us.

Awakening to this amazing inner world can prompt increased empathy and compassion. You may find your priorities and energy levels changing. Your body’s needs may change, such as needing more sleep or less. You may question old beliefs and may seek deeper, more meaningful connections. You may become more aware of heightened intuitive awareness, sight or hearing. Your yoga and zikr (chanting) practice can help you to balance these new sensations and stay grounded in your own being.

As you awaken to the deeper purpose of your individual nature, you can bravely step forward in to creating something that no one else has ever created. Your fitra - your specific purpose given only to you - can shine through this quality. As you awaken, you naturally embrace a larger perspective of how to serve your relationships and work. You can embrace this path of love having tasted a deeper knowledge of your own divinity.

In our next Sufi Yoga class, we will focus on this Divine Quality of awakening as it applies to our bodies’ responses to the asanas and our mindfulness, noticing what we are thinking and feeling as we move through the class. Finally as we meditate on this quality, we may find a portal into Unity consciousness, where we experience the gift of divine bliss with all.

Online Sufi Yoga Class $15
Wednesday, April 23 - 7:30 to 8:30 PM
Book Now

https://www.strikingly.com/s/sites/18871072/edit/manage/store/products?uid=f29a3c61-c4ae-43cc-9fb8-c34dc57a481c

02/27/2025

02/27/2025

THE MANIFEST MANIFESTED LAST NIGHT.
Last night we students gathered together to do a profound class of Sufi Yoga focusing on the divine quality of Al-Mubin,The Manifest. I teach a combination of yogas, so that we always have some gentle yin stretching to address the stiffness and aches from daily stresses and then some powerful Kundalini Yoga to move the energy to purify the self. We cleared the chakras and brought up the energy into the higher chakras and then invoked Al-Mubin. I suggested as homework to notice the signs of the divine all around us as we walk through life.

That night, I planned to go to a local dance class after teaching, but I was late and so decided to just sit outside and look at the stars. I had a perfect view of the clear mountain sky framed by tall palms and pine trees. I was looking up at the stars for maybe 10 seconds, when suddenly a ball of light shot across the sky and disappeared into the mountainous horizon. This ball of light appeared as bright as the moon and as round as a full moon. Normally shooting stars have trailing tails. But this bright ball of light had no tail and was bigger than normal shooting stars.

I gasped in awe of this very divine manifestation. How was it possible that I would be in the right place at the right time to see this heavenly sign? Tears of joy streamed down my face. I saw this manifestation as a sign that the divine is constantly showing me that the inner work we do i affects not only our inner world, our bodies and minds, but also affects the entire universe.

I thank you to the beloved students who attended. May you find the divine signs all around you, that you are loved, that you are seen, that you are heard, that you are significant on this planet.

I will be teaching again in early April. I am also available to teach private classes in your homes and individual sessions.

Feel free to reach out at elissa@sufi-yoga.com. I look forward to learning about your experiences. See you in

Send a message to learn more

02/22/2025

Dear Beloved,
Does this sound like you? You’re trying to keep up with all the information flooding our news, our social media, our bodies, our minds. You’re trying to sift through all the misinformation thrown at us daily. You wonder how to respond to the outrageous injustices and calamities occurring around us and even to us. How do we find information that is actually helpful and relevant to our lives?

As I was experiencing this issue, I was guided to a wonderful quality in the 99 Divine Names: The Manifest - Al-Mubin. This quality brings the clear light of God to allow us to source divine knowledge. As I have invoked this quality, I am finding more clarity and safety in accessing a higher knowledge that allows me to move through these times with insight, grace and peace.

Please join me in our next online Sufi Yoga class. We will first be clearing our chakras (seven spiritual centers) and then working with the breath to specifically address issues in our physical, mental and emotional bodies. Then we will invoke this divine name to illuminate our individual paths and join with others to experience the highest in what manifests collectively.
Online Sufi Yoga Class $15
Wednesday, February 26
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Book Now

02/22/2025

Dear Beloved,
Does this sound like you? You’re trying to keep up with all the information flooding our news, our social media, our bodies, our minds. You’re trying to sift through all the misinformation thrown at us daily. You wonder how to respond to the outrageous injustices and calamities occurring around us and even to us. How do we find information that is actually helpful and relevant to our lives?

As I was experiencing this issue, I was guided to a wonderful quality in the 99 Divine Names: The Manifest - Al-Mubin. This quality brings the clear light of God to allow us to source divine knowledge. As I have invoked this quality, I am finding more clarity and safety in accessing a higher knowledge that allows me to move through these times with insight, grace and peace.

Please join me in our next online Sufi Yoga class. We will first be clearing our chakras (seven spiritual centers) and then working with the breath to specifically address issues in our physical, mental and emotional bodies. Then we will invoke this divine name to illuminate our individual paths and join with others to experience the highest in what manifests collectively.
Online Sufi Yoga Class $15
Wednesday, February 26
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Book Now

https://www.strikingly.com/s/sites/18871072/edit/manage/store/products?uid=f29a3c61-c4ae-43cc-9fb8-c34dc57a481c

12/01/2024

DEAR BELOVED,
A Friendly Reminder…
DECEMBER 7 11-1:30
WOMEN’S LIVE SUFI YOGA
AND DANCE THE STORY PLAYSHOP
BOOK NOW
https://www.sufi-yoga.com/store/products/encompass
$25 before December 5; $30 after
In this live Sufi Yoga class on Saturday, December 7, we will be working with this fourth chakra Anahata, the Heart Chakra and a divine quality of the All-Encompassing to integrate the beneficial experiences of both into a blissful state of union with all. Spaces are limited as it is a live class in a physical location. Location given upon booking,
Sufi Yoga
Pure Heart
Pure Body
Pure Bliss

BONUS: I will also be introducing another transformative practice:
“Dance the Story”
It's a practice to transmute old pain into a newly experienced reality in the present. You’ll discover insights and find that you’ve not only let go of the past but have embraced a new identity of abundance, love and joy.
Then we'll enjoy a potluck meal together.

See you there!
Love,
Elissa Amina

https://www.sufi-yoga.com/store/products/encompass

The All-Encompassing Divine Heart Playshop Let's come together to celebrate each other and dive deep into the heart to expand into the All-Encompassing One. Breathing, yoga, Su

11/24/2024

Dear Beloved,

‘Tis the season. Some of us may be excited and happy to be celebrating the holidays with friends and/or family. Others may feel depressed about how a relationship went sour or how we feel cut off from ourselves, which can be exacerbated by the true and fake cheer around us.

We know we are social beings who need each other. Yet we can easily allow the slightest pettiness to creep in between us, dividing us, rather than coming to a deeper understanding of each other’s needs. So how do we hold on to the love during this exciting but often triggering and stressful time?

Yoga has an answer in the fourth chakra: the heart chakra or Anahata, which is the first true level of self-reflection and awareness. It is from this energy center that you can see yourself the way others see you and more fully see others for who they are without filters. It is the house of “we” rather than “me.” In the next Sufi Yoga class we will do pranayama (breathing) and asana (poses) that allow us to open the heart physically and energetically so that we may expand into a state of love naturally that overrides any division or stress.

In Sufism, the heart is the locus of all healing. It is here where we will concentrate on the Divine Quality of the All-Embracing. This quality invites us to remember the Divine’s boundless generosity and presence. It is the quality fo making space for everything and everyone. It widens the narrow, expands the limited, opens the closed heart. When we live inside this quality it can not only heal our hearts but influence those around us. By invoking this quality we can literally feel our heart expanding past our physical bodies into the realm of subtle bodies. Our expanding soul can then envelope and enfold others into the All-Encompassing love of the Divine. This experience results in joyous relating to self and others.

In the next live Sufi Yoga class on Saturday, December 7, we will be working with this fourth chakra and divine quality to integrate the beneficial experiences of both. Spaces are limited as it is a live class in a physical location. Location given upon booking,

BONUS: I will also be introducing another transformative practice:
“Dance the Story”
It's a practice to transmute old pain into a newly experienced reality in the present. You’ll discover insights and find that you’ve not only let go of the past but have embraced a new identity of abundance, love and joy.
Then we'll enjoy a potluck meal together.

The All-Encompassing Divine Heart
Sufi Yoga Women’s Live Playshop
$25 ($30 at door)

Saturday, December 7
11 am to 2 pm

BOOK NOW

The All-Encompassing Divine Heart Playshop
Breathing, Yoga Asana, Sufi Qualities meditation in a circle.
Introduction to "Dance the Story"
Potluck. Please bring something to share.
Spaces are limited.
BOOK NOW

https://www.sufi-yoga.com/store/products/encompass

07/07/2024

A poem from Hafiz...
When the Sun Conceived a Man

What could Hafiz utter about that day
When the Sun conceived a Man,
Gave birth to Itself
As Reality and Truth?

What justice could all the speech in creation
Ever say
About that resplendent morning
When the Eternal Handsome One
Let His face
Reappear by grace in form?

There is something I have seen
In the interior of Muhammad
That is the luminous root
Of all existence,
Independent of space and time’s
Novice dance
Across a single lute string
Of the Infinite.

What can even the love of Hafiz express
For the Ancient Sweet Man
Who forever begets compassion
And divine playfulness?

What can the vortex of my sublime wit,
Insight, and gratitude ever say
About the Father of the Perfect Ones,
When they, themselves,
Can turn you into God?

I carry gifts today
Fromthe kings of fish, beasts, birds,
And angels.

I carry gifts today
From rivers, seas, fields, stars,
And from every soul,
From every soul--
That will ever
Be!

Beloved
Let us know
What light first saw and said
When it discovered
You,

Then leaped and swooned
In such a wonderful laughter
That light became
This earthen floor
And sky.

O, Eternal One,
On this ever present holy day
Forget your divine reserve--

Throw wide the Tavern doors,
Give all your thirsty loyal rogues
A drink of your sacred vintage,
Free us from ourselves a while

With the blessed consuming knowledge
Of your Onmipresent Being.

We are you yearning brides, why hide it?
We are singed dervish moths.
Our souls know
Of that immaculate fire you keep
That belongs to us!

Even death now will have no power
To quiet your Name
From beating wildly in our hearts.

Wayfayer,
Now is no time to sit still

For nothing but a great clamor of joy
And music.

Can make any sense
Today!

06/11/2024

I'm so grateful to be teaching Sufi Yoga. Thank you to all 16 women who attended. Here are some comments from my students in Sunday's class:

“Thank you for a beautiful event. We all had the most amazing time. I would love to host another session in my home.” --ZK

“Salam and thank you so much for the beautiful awakening experience. How amazing it would be to feel like that all day long.” --KK

“Elissa, thank you so much for the most beautiful spiritually nourishing Suif Yoga event. I still feel the positive effects.” -- GM

I'll be teaching Sufi Yoga monthly. I can also come to your home for a class or private.

06/10/2024

What an exquisite event at Sufi Yoga yesterday. Special thanks to Zakia for bringing her family and friends.