Monday, 1 August 2011

Monday Meditation - Sufi Whirling

"Grounding ourselves..., we repeatedly reestablish the still point, the clean slate from which we can encounter ourselves and the world afresh."
John Daido Loori, Riding the Ox Home



"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
    Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
      Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
              where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
          Don't go back to sleep."
Rumi


"At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance."
T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets
NB: Warning - I tried this yesterday for a short time and felt terribly dizzy and sick afterwards!  ;)

I remember doing this as a child and feeling the same, but continuing to whirl around anyways. The Whirling Dervishes spin for an hour or so, I believe! Just amazing but I don't think I'll be doing this again. Quite meditative to watch however. ;)

4 comments:

  1. OK, I know it was not at all the point of your post but that dog in the first video made me giggle. I am still giggling.
    I would have felt dizzy too.

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  2. Yes I know. I was amazed by the dogs just lying there and they made me giggle a lot too. Glad it raised a giggle or three. :)

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  3. yes! the dog... as Birdie mentioned... just sort of lays there... looks up once like "oh that again" and lays back down... too funny!

    i love the twirling... it's beautiful

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  4. lovely. I may try to begin slowly, like a beginner at sitting meditation. It looks so connective.

    As for the dogs, they have their still center already, they don't need to find it.

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