Shamsia prefers to be contacted by email sandrasunfire@gmail.com
- receive Zoom links
- details for in person Dances
- booking retreats and weekends
- mentoring and Dance leader's group
Khankah of the Heart
The Khankah of the Heart is a vision of a Sufi community, a Khankah, based not in a building of bricks and mortar, but in the relationships between the deep and loving hearts of its members. All fervent seekers are welcome to join, whether new to this or having been walking the path for many years. The core of this community will be the practices and teachings of Murshid Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti (Samuel Lewis) and the Sufi and Dance lineages that he birthed. Dances of Universal Peace will be central to our group practice. In our experience and understanding, the Dances of Universal Peace are rooted in the whole of S.A.M.'s teachings and practices including the Walks and that they will flourish more fully, firmly attached to their roots from which they can not be separated.
In 2024 Jilani Cordelia Prescott & Shamsia Sandra Sunfire initiated our gathering together with a shared purpose. The Khankah of the Heart is envisioned to meet in different places at different times with different people guiding us through retreats. We are living in the UK but retreats here will welcome those from other countries and future retreats could also be held in other countries. An annual retreat will happen around the time of the Urs of Samuel Lewis, the anniversary of his death, of when he returned to the Source from which he came.
There is a hope to expand this to a week long annual retreat, with other online and in person gatherings keeping us in touch in between. The retreats are envisioned to serve and nourish the Sufi community and friends, wherever we may call home, returning to our home in the heart, our Khankah of the Heart, where we can gather to "eat, dance and pray" together.
We are guided by our teachers. We follow in their footsteps, walking with them.
In 2024 Jilani Cordelia Prescott & Shamsia Sandra Sunfire initiated our gathering together with a shared purpose. The Khankah of the Heart is envisioned to meet in different places at different times with different people guiding us through retreats. We are living in the UK but retreats here will welcome those from other countries and future retreats could also be held in other countries. An annual retreat will happen around the time of the Urs of Samuel Lewis, the anniversary of his death, of when he returned to the Source from which he came.
There is a hope to expand this to a week long annual retreat, with other online and in person gatherings keeping us in touch in between. The retreats are envisioned to serve and nourish the Sufi community and friends, wherever we may call home, returning to our home in the heart, our Khankah of the Heart, where we can gather to "eat, dance and pray" together.
We are guided by our teachers. We follow in their footsteps, walking with them.
The next Khankah of the Heart Retreat at the Oblate Retreat Centre in Crewe will be in 22nd~25th January 2026. We will focus on the Winged Heart. In this retreat we are inspired by the Sufi winged heart: the symbol of spiritual liberty, expressing that the heart reaches upward towards heaven. In those paired wings we see the balance of known and unknown, impermanence and what survives,dancing on the threshold, the edge between the worlds, where we fly free, with the breath of God beneath our wings.
“Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birdwings” - Rumi.
We are very grateful to have received a grant from the Oneness Project to support an ongoing bursary fund to enable us in turn to support those encountering financial difficulties so that they can join us. We have previously been supported by Dances of Universal Peace International. This bursary fund will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people.
We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive.
If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.
“Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birdwings” - Rumi.
We are very grateful to have received a grant from the Oneness Project to support an ongoing bursary fund to enable us in turn to support those encountering financial difficulties so that they can join us. We have previously been supported by Dances of Universal Peace International. This bursary fund will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people.
We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive.
If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.
“…real meetings are mergings; they change the parties involved leaving them more fully themselves.”
-Samuel Lewis
-Samuel Lewis
We are committed to exploring sustainable ways to continue to gather as a Sufi Community, financially and based on caring for the Earth’s limited resources.
As Mentors and Dance Leaders we strongly feel that in order for the transmission of the Dances of Universal Peace to be healthy and complete, we need to provide opportunities for Dance Leaders and potential Dance Leaders, to deeply experience SAM’s Dances & Walks, teachings and practices. This can provide strong roots for DUP to grow and bloom anew, setting new seeds for future growth in our young people.
We have started an ongoing bursary fund to enable us to support those encountering financial difficulties to be able to join us. We are very grateful for DUP International for the small grants offered to us to assist people.This will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people. We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive. If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.
This venture has been unfolding in our hearts and our lives each and every time we meet, we nurture and pray for its past, present and future.
We have started an ongoing bursary fund to enable us to support those encountering financial difficulties to be able to join us. We are very grateful for DUP International for the small grants offered to us to assist people.This will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people. We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive. If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.
This venture has been unfolding in our hearts and our lives each and every time we meet, we nurture and pray for its past, present and future.
“One who has learned friendship has learned religion; the one who has learned friendship has attained spiritual knowledge. The one who has learned friendship need learn very little else; morals in Persian is friendship”
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
-Hazrat Inayat Khan