Fall Training
Online with Dunya
Pure Focus Tuesdays
weekly, October 15 through November 12
10 – 10:45 am ET US
Deep Dance Saturdays
monthly Oct 26, Nov 16, Dec 7
11am – 12:15pm ET US with Tea Talk following
“I am in love with the journey…I’m learning something very deep, something words would never cover…” – K.
It is with delight that I envision moving with you, to share that special deepening in a wordless sea of music, carried by awareness of breathing. We pass through our crust of harried worries into an enormity of being that can heal and inspire us. Join me for embodied self-care and inspiration live online, feeling one another's presence and energy in the Present Moment.
If you are a seasoned practitioner, I can’t wait to see you again soon. If you are new to Dancemeditation, welcome! I look forward to your company. —Dunya McPherson
“Dancemeditation is like exploring a dark but safe cave where I discover gems of indescribable beauty.” —Chava
This autumn I feel called to offer a Sufi training online comprised of two components with different purposes. The Full Course escalates our development by offering two different modes of practice and more frequent work that still fits within our daily lives. Pure Focus Tuesdays are weekly, short and concentrated. Deep Dance Saturdays are monthly, longer, and more expansive. I recommend the Full Course! (And you are welcome to take the sequences individually.)
Whether you do the Full Course or one or the other of the components, you will receive the bonus of a monthly follow-up email or video posted to YouTube with reflections and music resources. In addition, this autumn, for those taking the Full Course, I propose an optional Fireside Chat zoom for Q & A, or to discuss passages in ‘Sojourn the Inner Heaven’ — a time that is just for conversation. I haven’t yet scheduled that time; I’ll sort that with those who sign up for the Full Course and are interested.
“When the pace of movement is slowed and complexity distilled into/towards simplicity, I have the opportunity to see and experience the essence of it all … what is before, around, surrounds and permeates the actuality of doing moving shines through, & I see what is always there, ever present and everywhere.” – Jane Surya Schmidt
Pure Focus Tuesdays are a new component for our online practicing group. I’m ramping up our work together. These short 45′ sessions of Slow Movement and unalloyed meditative focus engage us in a contracting, deepening energy and include an integrating period of Rest. The purpose is of Pure Focus Tuesdays is lineage Transmission, Transformation, and Presence.
Deep Dance Saturdays embrace the Shattari Sufi energetic arc of Contraction and Expansion. The purpose of Deep Dance Saturdays is self-care, refreshment, and creativity. After an optional 30′ music prelude for us to get settled, Dunya guides contracting practices to sink within, followed by time to unfold and explore on our own. We then progress into group Lead and Follow and individual Intuitive Dance. Always we take time to Rest. The optional Tea Chat at the end has become a valuable resource to our community, allowing us to share our experience and hear one another.
Please note: None of the online material will be recorded. We meet in real time to build meditative energy together as a practicing group. If you would like movement practice support on your own time, please enjoy the free Move with Me course modules on my YouTube channel Dunya Dancemeditation. They are there to help ~
Pure Focus Tuesdays
weekly, October 15 through November 12
10 – 10:45 am ET US
Deep Dance Saturdays
monthly Oct 26, Nov 16, Dec 7
11am – 12:15pm ET US
with Tea Talk following
Sliding Scale Donation
Full Training $75 – $250 (eight sessions & extras) Sign Me Up!
Tuesdays Only $25—$60 (includes five sessions) Sign Me Up!
Saturdays Only $50 – $100 (includes three sessions) Sign Me Up!
Pure Focus Tuesdays are a new component for our online practicing group. I’m ramping up our work together. These short 45′ sessions of Slow Movement and unalloyed meditative focus engage us in a contracting, deepening energy and include an integrating period of Rest. The purpose is of Pure Focus Tuesdays is lineage Transmission, Transformation, and Presence.
Pure Focus Tuesdays
weekly, October 15 there November 12
10 – 10:45 am ET US
Sliding Scale Donation
Tuesdays Only $25—$60 (includes five sessions) Sign Me Up!
Session Guidelines
Meeting Prologue & Login: I’ll open our meeting room 10′ before we start. Your mic will be muted.
Session Format: I will guide concentrating practices. I expect this will involve some following interspersed with closed eyes to continue the focus for about 30′ followed by rest.
Process Support
Gallery View: You may use any zoom view that supports you. I will probably spotlight myself or, as a group, we may decide Speaker View is best. Though we do most of our movement with closed eyes, a glimpse at others can be comforting. Be at ease.
Our Time Together: Create an undisturbed, comfortable, spiritual ambience for yourself with reliable WiFi. Please turn off your phone. You’ll need to be close enough to your computer to see and hear me.
Deep Dance Saturdays embrace the Shattari Sufi energetic arc of Contraction and Expansion. The purpose of Deep Dance Saturdays is self-care, refreshment, and creativity.
Deep Dance Saturdays
monthly Oct 26, Nov 16, Dec 7
11am – 12:15pm ET US
with Tea Talk following
Sliding Scale Donation
Saturdays Only $50 – $100 (includes three sessions) Sign Me Up!
Session Guidelines
Meeting Prologue & Login: I’ll open our meeting room a half hour before we start. Log in any time during the Prologue period, making sure you have enough time to check your connection and get settled. Your mic will be muted to support a peaceful ambience as we prepare for our meditation. It is a lovely time to connect with others. An additional option, since music is playing, you may like to use this prologue time to “do your own body.”
Session Format: I will guide the initial concentrating practices for us to sink within. We typically follow this with time to unfold and explore on our own. There may be interpersonal group Lead & Follow, then unfolding into individual intuitive movement flow. Always we take time to Rest.
Tea Chat Conclusion: You are welcome to stay for a concluding conversation period of 30′ where we share our nonverbal session experiences. We ‘witness’ one another here. And we relax together, floating back up to the surface of our consciousness.
Process Support
Gallery View: I suggest using Gallery View throughout. Once we begin, I will spotlight myself for the instruction period so you can see me clearly. I may return us periodically to Gallery View during the session so we know we are side-by-side virtually as we move. Though we do most of our movement with closed eyes, a glimpse at others can be comforting.
Our Time Together: Create an undisturbed, comfortable, spiritual ambience for yourself with reliable WiFi. Please turn off your phone. You’ll need to be close enough to your computer to see and hear me. I hope you’ll choose to keep your video on so that we may see each other. This means your background – house, closet, walls, doors, windows – will be visible to others. Be mindful of your privacy. You might want to have your journal & pen nearby, as well as a veil if you have one.
“This morning I found gravity or gravity found me…I was feeling the plasma of life force. The waves. My head started to draw circles and I found a whole new world to move in.” — D.A
“Dancemeditation is to the body what dreaming is to the mind.” —Dunya McPherson
“During tonight’s session, I noticed how much I lean into your presence and anchor, Dunya, to find the courage to be alone with myself, to venture into my inner world. If it weren’t for your commitment to this work, I would have missed out on knowing the depths of myself and feeling the intimacy of being present. I would have skimmed the surface of so many moments, afraid of the void, the pain, the vastness of everything. I feel I can trust the authenticity of your movements and your expressive soul. Because I know you are there, I dare to be here.” – G. M., psychotherapist
“Thank you for returning me to myself. I’ve felt lost. My veil skimmed the carpet as if I were an octopus floating, being carried, wanting to touch and play. I lost the space between movement and breath. They got lost together. The space filled with healing nectar. “ – DLA
“The work transcends the therapeutic— it’s profoundly finding the self as part of the spiritual path.” – P.
“I was tickled…by ‘it all,’ the infinite in everything…Especially me & my experience.” – J.
“These Dancemeditation sessions have meant so much to me. I am deeply grateful to you for making them possible for us all to be together while going down deep. It is hard to describe what I have been experiencing. The work helps me access my heart body. Nurturing myself, feeling the softness of my animal self.” – S.
“The continuous flow took me deep within. I experienced myself from the inside out. Time stopped. It seemed like we had just begun when you said it was time to ‘rest.’ I actually checked my watch because I couldn’t fathom that so much time had passed.” — K.
Dunya Dianne McPherson is a pioneer in the field of embodied mysticism and the founder of Dancemeditation™. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Juilliard and a Masters in Writing from Leslie University. She trained for two decades with Sufi Master Adnan Sarhan and did significant study in Middle Eastern Dance with Elena Lentini and Anahid Sofian, and in yoga with Shri Dharma Mittra.
A critically acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Dunya Dianne McPherson has been described by Jennifer Dunning in the New York Times as “…a modern day Isadora Duncan…approaching Ruth St. Denis…a vibrant performer…an unusual and talented choreographer.” Carman Moore in the Village Voice called her, “…killer creative choreographer…”, and Elizabeth Zimmer in Dance Magazine, has said “…she evoked something essentially female, essentially powerful…the pure, solid dancing has never seemed so welcome…”
She was awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, as well as commissions which include Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Dance Uptown, Barnard College, Victoria College of the Arts, Santa Fe Performing Arts Center, and she is the recipient of numerous grants including the CETA Artists Grant.
She has been a faculty member at Barnard College, NYU, and Montclair State University, and the Chair of the Modern Dance Department at Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia. Artist-in-Residencies include Swarthmore, Hunter, Oberlin, Amherst, University of Texas, and Princeton University.
She has been a featured presenter at major healing arts centers including: Kripalu, The Contemplative Studies Institute at OSU, the Netherlands Mystik Festival, and for the late Claudio Naranjo’s Institutes in Mexico, South America, and Europe. She was a Featured Presenter at the global 2020 Embodiment Conference.
Dunya’s first book Skin of Glass: Finding Spirit in the Flesh, a memoir of her journey of dance and mysticism, is admired and beloved. She is a contributing author to several books on healing and spirituality. Her new guidebook and practice companion is Sojourn the Inner Heaven: Movement Meditations for Awakening