Guest Article by Dr Elizabeth Rose

Welcome to Sufi Spiritual Healing!

Thank you so much for visiting. I hope that you will find something here that will bless your heart.

My name is Elizabeth Rose and I want to share with you the beauty of Sufism and Sufi Spiritual Healing. In my work as a psychologist and Sufi spiritual healer and master teacher I have seen so much deep healing and transformation in myself and many others, and I hope to give you a taste of it.

First of all, let me tell you a little bit about Sufi spirituality. You may have heard of Rumi, the Sufi poet, who is now the best-selling poet in the United States. Sufism is a spiritual path with deep roots in the Middle East that draws from all three of the Abrahamic faiths of the Holy Land, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It’s a beautiful path of love and unity that honors the prophets of all three spiritual traditions.

The Sufi way is about purifying our hearts so that we can reconnect with Divine Love and return to be the beautiful, loving, radiant beings we were created to be. Sufis seek to cleanse their hearts of their human flaws, false beliefs, and unloving behaviors and make themselves available to be vessels of Divine Love, Mercy, Wisdom, and Peace. Those who follow Sufism want to be the hands and voices of Divine Love in the world.

I have been exploring spirituality and mainstream and complementary healing modalities for nearly 30 years now. If there’s a spiritual path or healing technique out there, I have probably explored it, studied it, or experienced it. I’ve practiced transcendental meditation, Reiki, Healing Touch, shamanic healing, and Buddhist meditation, among many, many others, and obtained a Ph.D. from one of the top counseling psychology programs in the country. I have learned something from every spiritual path and every healing system I have studied, and from some of them I received a lot of healing and spiritual growth. I am grateful for so many wonderful teachers, experiences, healings, and insights.

Sufi spirituality is by far the most beautiful, direct, and love-filled spiritual path I’ve ever found to establishing a deep and lasting connection with the Divine. Sufi Spiritual Healing is the most powerfully transformative healing modality I’ve ever encountered, and at the same time the most gentle and loving.

From the first time I experienced Sufi Spiritual Healing I felt a sweetness and love and light unlike anything I’d known before. The healing sessions were powerful and deep, yet infused with love and gentleness. Issues that I had been working on for years began to clear.

I felt like I had discovered an great treasure that I needed to share with my clients. I immediately began to incorporate this way of healing into my psychotherapy practice. Even deeper transformations began after I met my spiritual teacher, Shaykh Sidi Muhammad al-Jamal (http://sufimaster.org), from Jerusalem, who brought these ancient teachings to the United States.

I soon became a student at the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism (http://www.sufiuniversity.org) and underwent a three-year period of intensive training. I studied powerful healing techniques that have been handed down for 1500 years. As I healed personally and integrated more Sufi Spiritual Healing into my work with my clients, I saw an amazing acceleration in their healing process. People started moving through their issues much more quickly. What previously took years to heal might only take a year; what formerly took a year to heal might only take months. I saw the same dramatic changes in myself and my classmates at the Sufi University – people healing old wounds, letting go of fear, anger, grief, addictions, becoming empowered, centered, radiant, joyful vessels of Divine Love, bringing much more light and love and healing into their own lives and the lives of those around them.

I am so grateful for the healing and blessings I have receive on this path that I want to share the teachings of Sufism and Sufi Spiritual Healing. That is why I have created this site, and I’m so glad you are visiting.

The Remembrance

Right now I’d like to share with you a very simple form of the most basic Sufi spiritual practice, which is called the Remembrance. Remembrance is about going within and opening our deep hearts to directly experience God’s love for us, using the name of God as a focal point. This is a beautiful and amazingly simple practice that deeply feeds people’s hearts. Of course, as you do the Remembrance, you can use any name for the Divine that holds the greatest love and beauty and light for you, but I invite you to taste what happens when you use the Sufi name for God, Allah.

So take a moment to get comfortable. You might want to set aside 10 or 15 minutes for this exercise, or even more if you like. Read through these instructions first, and then, when you’re ready, let your eyes gently close.

Now take a few full, deep breaths. As you slowly inhale and exhale, let your chest, upper back, and abdomen really expand and open, so that you can receive fully and deeply. With each exhale, let any tension, stress, or discomfort begin to melt away, so that your body becomes loose, limp, and relaxed.

When you’re ready, allow your awareness to begin to drift down and settle into your heart center, into that sweet tender place right in the center of your chest. Now let yourself travel inward, deeper and deeper into your heart, back toward your spine. You may notice an almost magnetic pull to this deep and beautiful part of your being.

Now take a deep breath, and as you exhale, gently repeat the Sufi name for God, Allah.

“Alll-lllaaaaah.”

Continue to softly repeat the name, and let the rhythm of your breath and the soothing sound take you deeper and deeper into your own heart. Allow your heart to gently open, like the tender petals of a flower unfolding to drink in the golden sunshine. Let all the thirsty places in your heart be filled.

If you find your awareness pulled up into your mind, that’s ok. Just recognize you’ve gone up into your head, thank your mind for sharing, and let yourself drop back down into your beautiful heart again.

Continue to breathe and very softly repeat the name. Allow yourself to pause from time to time to notice what you’re experiencing. Many people describe a sense of deep peace and serenity. Others experience light, love, joy, gratitude. Sometimes people feel a release of pent-up tension or emotion. Whatever happens for you, is just right, so I invite you to allow yourself to notice your experience from a place of compassion rather than judgment.

When you’re ready, gently reconnect with the physical reality around you. Move your body, shrug your shoulders, wiggle your toes, open your eyes, and enjoy the afterglow of whatever you’ve just experienced.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief taste of the Remembrance. It’s a foundational part of Sufi spiritual practice and Sufis make it a goal to eventually be in continual Remembrance of our loving and merciful Creator. The Remembrance is also a core part of the healing work that I do with my clients, so you are already on your way!

One of the many beautiful things about Sufi Spiritual Healing is that it can be done over the telephone; in fact many of my sessions are done over the phone. If you would like more information about Sufi Spiritual Healing, scheduling a healing session, or if you’d like to be on my email list so you can receive information about my upcoming workshops, you can email me at elizabethmrose@msn.com or call 319-337-3267.

Again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to share these beautiful teachings with your heart. I hope you will return often as I post more teachings and excerpts from Sidi’s books, the writings of Sufi masters, teachers, and poets, and my own thoughts about the jewels I have found on this path.

Love and blessings,
Elizabeth Rose

reprinted with gratitude from her Blog at http://ihsanelizabethrose.spaces.live.com/