Your dedicated teaching staff
Ahura Grace Henke is teaching Zikr Allah!
I found the Sufi Path in 1982, and came to my first NWSC absolutely fresh, I had never been to a Zikr or dance meeting. That evening we danced maybe 3 “greeting” dances, and had orientation. I dreamed of a teacher that night who took me all over the world doing a practice I couldn’t identify until Thursday evening during Zikr. I woke with my feet firmly planted in the Sufi path.
Since then, I have taken on the study of Zikr as my life work. I never lead a dance until I had been dancing for 10 years, I never led a Zikr until I was doing Zikr for 20 years. I then asked Majida Inayat, my guide to train me. Sometime later when Sheik Ishaq died, I received his blessings and carried him with me for the next 17 years as he continued to train me from within.
About Chitara David Yager
Chitara has always been an athlete focused on Aliveness: in his youth, playing all the competitive sports of the day: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Track & Field; in his early adult life, Dance and Theatre Arts Training; in Mid-Life, Martial Arts and Dance Training; in his later life, Qi Gong supplemented with aerobic, strength and yoga stretch training.
Since 2016, David has been teaching a form of Qi Gong incorporating a number of the techniques, styles and elements of his diverse training in: Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Yoga, Dance, Spirituality and PsychoDynamic BreathWork Processes into a form he titled, ELF Qigong.
Christo Simpson (he/him)
Christo Simpson is an improviser, musician, clown, and facilitator. He produces improv shows with his group, Quackenbush Comedy, and has performed with multiple circus companies. He lives in Eugene, Oregon with his wife Mariko, their son Sage, his mother-in-law Kienda, and their three cats. He can ride a unicycle while playing the ukulele.
Majida Inayat Nelson (she/her)
I came to the Sufi path like many fellow students: through a friend, my college friend Irene Rokstad, in the early 1970’s and reading the teachings of Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan were like hearing my own soul speak.
After initiation with Murshida Qahira Qalbee Fraley, studies in meditation with Pir Vilayat Khan and immersion in Indian Raga, I found my heart teacher, Pir Moineddin Jablonski, who continues to inspire my life.
I have experienced the NW Sufi Camp as director, Board member and President, and as a staff member. I read the esoteric papers for students for over thirty years while leading classes in astrological walks, public zikr and Dances of Universal Peace meetings.
Retired from Sufi teaching public life, I am focused on Native plant habitat restoration in Birch Bay, Washington.
Mariko Korican-Pentagram
I first came to Northwest Sufi Camp as a young girl of twelve, and the experience shaped my heart and my life. Through the Dances of Universal Peace, zikr, witnessing the whirling dervishes, and full immersion in Sufism at an early age, I was deeply moved—and I have been walking the path of the heart ever since.
I am a certified leader of the Dances of Universal Peace, a semazen in the Mevlevi Order, a Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher, and a Certified Intuitive Rebirth practitioner. My work is playful, practical, and grounded, rooted in a deep belief in the Oneness of All Things. I love supporting others in exploring themselves with kindness and curiosity, and offering the gift of deeper self-love through embodied, heart-centered practice.
I live in Eugene with my husband Christo, our 11 year old son Sage and our three cats, Pebble, Fig and Twig.
Munajat Marti Dimock
Munajat Marti Dimock has a varied background in music and dance. She has been a semi-professional folkdancer, a Waldorf class and music teacher, a Nia and improv teacher, and a public school Music-and-Motion teacher. She weaves in many experiences from her lifespan, from Girl Scouts to campfire songs, from keyboard to guitar to drumming, from folkdance to improvisation, and of course leading the Dances of Universal Peace. She once directed a group of 9-year-old boys in African drumming. She believes in the maxim, “If you can talk, you can sing; if you can walk, you can dance.” And if you can’t walk, she believes that dance is more a movement of the heart than of the limbs. All are invited to participate in their own way.
Nur Mariam Simmons
Nur Mariam was guided by grace when she discovered the Sufi path more than 30 years ago. Through her love of the Service of Universal Peace, the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis, and the sacred path of Khilvat she has been blessed to become an ordained Cherag, a Khilvat leader and a recognized spiritual guide in the Ruhaniat. At this time where there is great suffering and angst in the world, Nur Mariam has been inspired to personally explore and integrate the practices and mindfulness of Mujahida and Pure Perception of the 5 Kleshas of Vajrayana Buddhism. She has been happily married to Chitara David Yager for 38 years, has two amazing daughters and the sweetest 3 year old granddaughter who has her Nur Mariam totally wrapped around her finger.
Pippa Rahima Breakspear
Rahima Pippa Breakspear is a retired therapist and filmmaker, a musician, artist, songwriter and humour generator who believes laughter is an essential daily supplement that nourishes the heart and deepens connection and joy with our beloveds. Let's play and laugh more and despair less - it would be difficult to subscribe to a spiritual path that didn't take this seriously! Rahima Pippa lives in Edmonds, Washington with her husband Jess, their two cats, and spends as much time as possible with daughters Victoria and Scarlet and new grandson Alden. (She's only willing to share about 100 photos of him. Well, ok, 200 if you insist!)
Raphael Rod Birney
In my essence I am a hard core mystic and consciousness explorer. In this world I am a psychiatrist, SoulWork practitioner, Sheik, Cherag, Healing Conductor and Mesa carrier in the Peruvian Rainbow lineage. I have a lifelong passion for integrating contemplative practice, depth psychology, neuroscience & modern physics.
“Sami” Sam Lee Zemke (they/he)
Sami, now approaching 40 years in this body, has been steeping in the tea of Sufism since age 6. As an adult, they have pursued the embrace of a universal Allah/Oneness, and the beauty of all the incarnate facets through intercultural, interspiritual, interrelational and interdisciplinary study, exchange, and collaboration. Forever a scout on the path, they roam far and wide to learn the wisdom of the world; in the neverending quest to return somewhere, and synthesize something for the benefit and liberation of all beings.
Sara Pelfrey (she/they)
Sara Pelfrey is a Sufi practitioner whose spiritual work is rooted in devotion, ethics, and collective liberation. She was a student of Murshida Khadija Goforth and continues to be shaped by the Sufi teachings of love and service. In her work, Sara invites others into a spirituality that is relational, embodied, and oriented toward healing both the self and the world.
Yahya Nadler
Sheikha Yahya Ali is an energetic catalyst who loves to awaken connection to the pleasure of being a fully alive, sensual being within nature, and in relationship to others. As a body focused counselor, dancer, SoulWork and authentic movement guide she invites you into a safe space encouraging the development of conscious/witness self through claiming and inhabiting your body and welcoming all of your inner parts to be cared for and understood.