We’re surrounded by the myth that if only circumstances were exactly as we’d like, we’d be happy…

The truth is, happiness and freedom come from the process of transforming ourselves…

In this opening session, you’ll explore why breath, sound, and attitude are the greatest transformative tools to help you on your path to limitless freedom.

In this module, you’ll discover:

• Pir Shabda’s musical introduction to ground you as the course begins
• The roots of Sufi mysticism
• How mysticism is based on direct experience, rather than philosophy
• Your compass point and skillful means that lead to inner happiness
• How to deconstruct the notion that we’re separate beings

Breathing is a powerful source of healing, available to us in every moment. In this second class, you’ll dive deep into breathwork as a spiritual practice, and Pir Shabda will guide you to find the rhythm and natural swing of your breath.

In this module, you’ll:

• Learn to make a habit of a rhythmic breath
• Understand the unique blessings of both inhalation and exhalation
• Discover refined rhythmic breathing as a source of healing
• Experience how disturbing emotions always interrupt the flow of breath

Why are sound and music so appealing to human beings? Indeed, humanity has been given a gift — the mysticism of sound.

In this class, you’ll practice the recitation of sacred phrases… and learn how they can transform your consciousness when coupled with devotion.

By reciting sacred phrases, you can transform your consciousness — and transcend your experience of your inner and outer worlds… even in the midst of turmoil.

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover why sacred sound has profound effects
• Recognize the universality of religious ideals and practice the sacred phrases from many of the world’s greatest mystical traditions
• Understand at a profound level that the soul is music
• Learn how to bring daily mantra practice into your life
• Use the 99 Beautiful Names of God as medicine for your wounds

What is your attitude while you’re breathing and chanting?

We’ve been falsely trained to believe that what we do will bring satisfaction and happiness. However, it’s actually how you do things that profoundly opens your heart and allows you to be of great benefit.

During this integration session, you’ll explore how the ability to be in tune with the Infinite can put you on the path to fulfilling your life’s purpose…

In this module, you’ll:

• Recognize how the challenges and struggles of life are really your greatest teachers for transformation
• Explore how to cultivate an inner sense of strength, courage, kindness, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, patience, gratitude, and integrity
• Discover how to release anger, self-loathing, and jealousy by understanding causes and conditions
• Explore the paradox of living with passion and being at ease with whatever arises

In this session, you’ll return to and deepen the practice of breath to help you strengthen your capacity to be present with whatever arises. Pir Shabda will guide you as you unite your meditation with the breath.

In this module, you’ll:

• Experience a right and left nostril breathing practice to help you make meaning of your condition
• Explore the lunar and solar aspects of the left and right nostril
• Learn why your right nostril’s breath is hot (sun breath) and generates body heat, raises metabolism, and accelerates bodily activities
• Discover the ways that your left nostril’s cool breath (moon breath) lowers the temperature of your body, slows your metabolism, and inhibits bodily activities
• Enhance your decision-making capacity by learning to read the breath

As this class opens, Pir Shabda will guide you in a dance for universal peace, as you put spiritual practice in motion.

Drawing on the sacred phrases, scripture, and poetry of the many spiritual traditions of the earth, the dance for universal peace combines chant, music, and evocative movement — creating a living experience of unity, peace, and integration.

This taste of your true nature will unlock the possibility of the deep spiritual revolution that can take place within you…

In this module, you’ll:

• Dive deeper into the 99 Beautiful Names of God as medicine for your life
• Access ancient sound technologies in integrity with experiential spiritual lineages
• How the spiritual lineages you explore can help you understand the infinite nature of God —and discover the divine potential in every soul
• Learn sacred phrases from Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, Aramaic, and Greek

The goal of spiritual practice is to merge yourself with the Oneness of all things. The path toward this Oneness is called surrender because we relinquish the concept of separateness so that we can become the Whole Universe… where everything is interconnected.

In this final class, you’ll explore how to deconstruct the notion of a separate self — of the “I.” You’ll learn to embrace your inner world — your home — as you navigate your outer life experience. And, you’ll discover that honoring mundane tasks of life is equal to peak spiritual moments.

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover what it means to adopt the consciousness that God is everywhere — “La Illaha, Il Allah”
• Learn to practice the path of the lover and the Beloved
• Practice negotiating the gap between your ideals and your current experience as you receive permission to embody the path of the love

This beautiful live recording, done in Boston at the Music of Life retreat in 2003, features several Dances of Universal Peace songs, some teachings and stories, and of course a few wonderful zikrs.

In this wide-ranging interview, Pir Shabda Kahn chronicles with depth and heart his immersion into a multifaceted life, reflections on his teachers, and the essence of the spiritual journey, including musical excerpts as performer, Zikr leader, and teacher. Pir Shabda talks about his first meetings with Murshid Samuel Lewis, his Tibetan teacher, his music teacher, and his wife. He tells about the early days of the Ruhaniat, the teacher-student relationship, and the path of Sufism. He shares with us his love of music and the Dances of Universal Peace, and how he became Pir.

In every sacred language, the word for breath and the word for soul is the same word. The natural swing of the breath is the most natural essence of every being.

This dialogue will show you:

• How to approach living in the breath
• Why the loss of the rhythm of breath is the chief cause of every dis-ease
• Ways to free the natural swing of the breath
• How to make a habit of a natural rhythmic breath to unlock health, wisdom, and your ability to be of benefit

Jim Morningstar is a licensed clinical psychologist. He has pioneered the integration of psychotherapy with mind/body techniques such as breathwork and biospiritual energetics. He’s the director of Transformations Incorporated, the co-director at the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance, and the founder of the School of Integrative Psychology, the Transformations Breathworker Training Program, and InWellness. The author of five books, his lifelong quest has been to discover and teach the highest quality tools for human transformation.