The Inayati Order Esoteric School leadership is made up of a worldwide community of authorized spiritual teachers & guides offering classes, public events, retreats, and individual guidance in their local communities and online.
If you are interested in becoming a leader within the Inayati Order, an application process and ongoing training are available to students who have been recommended by their guide. To learn more about Esoteric School leadership roles and responsibilities, and the application and training processes, or to nominate someone for leadership training, please visit leaderstraining.inayatiorder.org.
Inayati Leadership Training Opportunities
Leadership training also includes an annual Inayati Order Leadership Spring Training each spring, and a two-year Inayati Order Emergent Leaders Program.
Additionally, there is a series of in-person and online Inayati Order Leadership Training Modules, with details for upcoming modules shared below.
Inayati Order Online Leadership Training Modules
All existing Inayati Order Leaders, and candidates for Coordinator and Representative positions, are encouraged to complete Inayati Order Leadership Training Modules*, offered in-person and online. You are warmly invited to this course of study.
Modules usually run all day for two days and are taught via Zoom. Pricing is reasonable and usually under $150 per module. You may attend alone or share a computer with a registered friend.
Each program is full with teachings, practices, meditations, and includes dyads, sobhet, questions and answers.
Open to Inayati Order Leaders and leaders-in-training, Inayati Order Concentrations’ Leadership, Retreat Guides, and advanced murids with their guide’s permission. The Federation of the Sufi Message Inayati branches’ leadership or those in training are also welcome.
Upcoming Modules
- Breath Module w/ Tara Chishti and Naima Brown
March 14-15, 2020, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm EDT (ONLINE)
Join us for retreat like weekends as we dive deeply into the foundational practices in the Inayati Order. These are required for approval as a Representative, and are available to all in Esoteric School leadership program. Long time Murids and leadership from all Inayati Order activities are welcome to attend, or with a recommendation from your guide. There will be opportunities to share, ask questions and meet in friendship! Please also see the new refresher cost, for those who wish to retake the modules to further grow and enhance their skills. For further information and financial requests please contact: Widad. Click Here to Register
- Spiritual Guidance Advanced Class w/ Aziza, Suhrawardi, Amida, and Naima
Feb 23, March 22, April 5, and May 31, 2020 (they will be recorded), 11:00 am – 2:00 pm ET (ONLINE)
Join Aziza, Suhrawardi, Amida and Naima for another dive into the Guide/Murid relationship, the development of the Murid related to the nafs, fana-baqa, moral development, psychological health and pathology. Also small group and dyad sharing building our spiritual community across the miles! This module is for those who have already taken the Spiritual Guidance Module and are on the leadership track in the Inayati Order. Click Here to Register
- Sacred Sound Module w/ Aqdasi Newmark
March 28-29, 2020, 9 am – 5 pm PDT (ONLINE)
Click Here to Register
- Concentration Module w/ Kainat Felicia Norton and Naima Brown
April 18-19, 2020, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm EDT (Online)
Join us for retreat like weekends as we dive deeply into the foundational practices in the Inayati Order. These are required for approval as a Representative, and are available to all in Esoteric School leadership program. Long time Murids and leadership from all Inayati Order activities are welcome to attend, or with a recommendation from your guide. There will be opportunities to share, ask questions and meet in friendship! Please also see the new refresher cost, for those who wish to retake the modules to further grow and enhance their skills. For further information and financial requests please contact: Widad. Click Here to Register
Contemplation, Meditation and Sacred sound will be scheduled soon for Fall 2020 – Winter 2021!
Registering for Modules with Aqdasi Newmark:
To register, or for questions about registration and pricing, please use the Registration Links on the listings above. For all other questions, please contact Aqdasi at [email protected].
BIOGRAPHY
Aqdasi Newmark is an Inayati Order senior teacher and Retreat Guide. She is one of the developers of the Leaders Training Modules, teaches Online Inayati Esoteric classes, and mentors Retreat Guides, Coordinators, and Representatives. She has served as a mentor for Suluk classes and on the Steering Committee for the Online Suluk Class Nasim. Recently, Aqdasi helped to update the Esoteric School Leadership Training, compiling a detailed Mentor and Advisor Reference for current practices. With her partner, Hadi Newmark, she coordinates the Inayati Order Center in Half Moon Bay, CA. Aqdasi holds a doctorate in psychology and is a lifelong psychotherapist.
Registering for Modules with Naima Brown:
To register, or for questions about registration and pricing, please use the Registration Links on the listings above. For all other questions, please contact Naima at [email protected].
BIOGRAPHIES
Naima Brown serves as V.P. of the Inayati Order Esoteric School. She is a teacher, spiritual guide, retreat guide, educator and artist. Naima directs the program for training Coordinators and Representatives (teachers and guides in the esoteric school). She is a founding mentor of Suluk Academy and senior advisor to the program. Naima is an organizer, center leader and teacher for the Inayatiyya in the greater Boston area.
Aziza Scott, M. Ed., is the emeritus head of the Esoteric School and of the Retreat Program of the Inayati Order. She brings insight and experience gained from many years of leading meditation retreats and conducting workshops throughout North America, Europe, and India.
Suhrawardi Gebel has been a murid since 1971 and a guide in the Order since 1980. He is a mentor for leaders-in-training for the Esoteric School. He has contributed to the training of retreat guides and has offered individual retreats for many years. From 2004 to 2012 he served as Secretary General for the Order and is currently Chancellor for the Knighthood of Purity. Suluk Press has published two of his books, Root Speaks to Bud and Nature’s Hidden Dimension: Envisioning the Inner Life of the Universe.
Amida Cary guides the Inayati Order’s Retreat concentration and its Retreat Guide Training program, with the support of an international network of experienced retreat guides and trainee mentors. Her primary focus is encouraging all involved to enter the transformative depths of the retreat process. Amida is an experienced retreat guide and has worked closely with Pir Vilayat, Aziza Scott, and Pir Zia. She collaborated with Pir Vilayat for many years editing his curriculum and establishing the website www.universel.net. Amida has guided murids, and individual and group retreats in the Inayati Order for many years. She is also a founder of Suluk Academy, has served as Suluk faculty, and is the I.O. Regional Representative for Northern California.
Kainat Felicia Norton is International 1st Vice President of the Inayati Order Ziraat Activity, devoted to inner cultivation joined with sacred ecology. She is a Senior Teacher, Retreat Guide, Cheraga and Representative. Kainat has served on the faculty of Suluk Academy and has taught the segment on ‘Concentration’ in both the Shama and Jabalqa classes and served as mentor in the Gulzar class in North America. She offers meditation retreats and workshops in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia.
Lakshmi Barta Norton: Since meeting Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan in 1974, Lakshmi has followed the Inayati path of the heart, participating in its many activities and teaching. She is a regional representative of the Inayati Order, a center representative for Rhode Island, a retreat guide, and a minister (cheraga) of the Universal Worship; in addition, she is a member of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society. As sacred sound has been a major focus in her own practice, she looks forward to sharing.
Qalbi Melissa Tucker is a Cheraga and Coordinator in the Inayati Order and has been a student of Sufism for over thirty years. A certified and licensed Dalcroze teacher, Ms. Tucker serves on the faculty of Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA where she teaches eurhythmics, improvisation, and Dalcroze Pedagogy to an international student body. In addition, Qalbi teaches piano at Concord Conservatory and has developed a Music & Movement program for senior citizens living with dementia. Music, Sufism, and nature are her deep and eternal loves.
Registering for Modules with Alia Yager:
To register, or for questions about registration and pricing, please use the Registration Links on the listings above. For questions about the program please email Alia at [email protected].
BIOGRAPHIES
Mahdiah Esther Jacobs-Kahn, LCSW is a senior teacher and retreat guide in the Inayati Order and a Shafayat in the Sufi Healing Order. She has been involved in the appointing and training of leaders for the past 25 years as both an Advisor and a Mentor. She was on the committee that designed the Sacred Sound Module and has worked extensively with sound. She has a certificate in Sound Healing from the California Institute for Integral Studies. Mahdiah is an experienced psychotherapist and a teacher of the Diamond Logos work.
Alia Eileen Yager, MD is a senior teacher and guide in the Inayati Order and a Shafayat in the Sufi Healing Order. She is a former chair of the Leaders’ Training Committee and helped develop the Breath and Meditation modules. She also was the first chair of the Centers Committee, served on the Sufi Order Board of Trustees and received the Golden Heart Award in 2009. Professionally Alia is an almost-retired academic pediatrician running Integrative Pain Management Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She also presents meditation and stress reduction workshops at the U of CO Medical Campus.