Updated Leader Guidelines: introduction from the Guidance Council
Dear Leaders,
Last year the Guidance Council (GC) further refined the Mentor Guidelines. This past year the Council has refined the Leader Guidelines, focusing in particular on the section 'Dance Leader's Journey'.
The substantive changes are printed here, with the changes in red so you can easily identify them.
The new Guidelines are also now posted online here.
We have further emphasized the importance of direct experience and on-going relationships with mentors, and more clearly defined what it means to be a certified leader and how certified leaders continue developing as leaders once they have been certified. We emphasized in the Mentor Guidelines that mentoring is not necessarily a trajectory of an advancing Dance and Walks leader, but a separate concentration best done by those who feel that affinity. And in these Guidelines we delineate more clearly just what is the natural trajectory for an evolving leader. As we see it the mark of an advancing leader is increased presence, transparency, magnetism, and balance.
The Guidance Council is grateful to all of you for your participation in the Dance and Walk lineage and hopes you will be encouraged and inspired by these new changes.
Darvesha, Halima, Munir, Farrunnissa and Saadi
A new 2016 edition of the Leader Guidelines, incorporating all of the recent changes, has been prepared as a pdf document designed to facilitate two-sided printing. Members are encouraged to download
(click here) and
print a copy for their own easy reference.
Leader Recognitions
The Guidance Council would like to congratulate and acknowledge all the Walks and Dance leaders who have been certified or recognized as Mentors in Training or Mentors over the last several months, since our last letter.
In the Garden
What is the InTheGarden Yahoo Group?
"InTheGarden" is a moderated electronic email forum which we invite and encourage all mentored Dance leaders to join. InTheGarden provides a means for us to communicate with each other about our development and training as leaders of the Walks and Dances of Universal Peace. Periodically, the Guidance Council may introduce discussion topics for our collective exploration, and will also use this email forum to announce administrative and structural changes. You may also access the emails of past discussions through the group's home page.
How do I subscribe to the group?
You will receive a reply from Yahoo with a link asking if you wish to create a user name and password for Yahoo groups. You do not need to click the link and do this if you simply want to receive emails from the group. If you wish to be able to read past emails sent from the group and adjust your settings for IntheGarden group emails, then follow the link to establish a user name and password for Yahoo Groups. If you have a spam trapper, make sure that you include InTheGarden@yahoogroups.com as
an exception.
How do I send messages to the group?
Do I need a Yahoo email address in order to subscribe?
Once an email address has been subscribed to one of the Yahoo Groups, you can send messages to and receive messages from the group WITHOUT a establishing a Yahoo account.
How do I access the InTheGarden group home page?
When you subscribe to the InTheGarden group, you will receive a reply email from Yahoo asking if you wish to establish a Yahoo Groups user name and password. If you follow the links and complete this process, you will then be able to manage and revise this and any other of your Yahoo groups and subscription settings at any time. For more information, see
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/manage/manage-17.html
. If you elect not to establish a Yahoo group user name and password, you will simply receive group emails when they go out but will not be able to read past InTheGarden emails, etc on the group home page.
I sent my email, but it did not show up right away. Why?
This is a moderated group, which means Darvesha MacDonald, Chair of the Guidance Council, reviews all emails sent to the group for accuracy and appropriateness before they are allowed to go through.
Why does the IntheGarden Yahoo Group not show up when I search for it within Yahoo Groups?
We created the group as a private group that wouldn't show up via the Yahoo search feature to prevent it from being found randomly, and to avoid the moderator from having to deal with requests from those not qualified to join it.
Making it a private/hidden type of group does make it more difficult to locate for those leaders not already subscribed. We ask that mentors direct their mentees to this page so they know the actual details about joining the Yahoo group. It would help us if mentors also follow up on whether their mentees have successfully connected!
Mentor list-serve - calling all mentors
Mentors and mentors-in-training are eligible for the Mentors Guild Yahoo Group so they can receive information about and discuss topics of interest to mentors. To confirm access to that group, please contact Darvesha MacDonald at
victoriadarvesha@gmail.com.
Further details:
Dances of Universal Peace Logo Policy
It seems helpful to mention again the policy on the use of the DUP logo.
Details are to be found on our website here.
The circle of hearts logo is registered to Dances of Universal Peace International. The logo may be used by all members of the Leaders Guild of the Dances of Universal Peace, as well as for official business of the organization. The words "Dances of Universal Peace" should appear near the logo whenever it is used. In the United States, the 'sm' (service mark) must appear with and near the circle of hearts; in the rest of the world (c) (copyright) should be shown.
Please do not alter the
logo as presented on our website, for example, making the hearts different colors. The logo was designed to be recognizable whether rendered in color or black and white. Altering the logo in such a way weakens its design and waters down the strong association that the Dances of Universal Peace have had with it since 1983.
Dance update
The Guidance Council has recently learned that this Korean Zen mantra is chanted Kwan Zeon Bosal, and not "Kwan Zeon Bosai''. This change is now reflected in this write-up. The recording and videos will be updated in the future. In the meantime, leaders may want to begin leading this Dance using the correct pronunciation
.
Information about the Murshid SAM Dargah project
by Sufi Ruhaniat International
The dream of a beautiful and functional shrine at the gravesite of Murshid SAM is well on the way toward becoming a reality. The
Murshid Samuel Lewis Dargah
("dargah" being the Arabic word for the shrine of a Sufi saint) is planned for completion in the spring of 2017.
In keeping with his request, Murshid SAM's body was interred on the mountain at
Lama Foundation
in northern New Mexico, USA. Many devotees have made pilgrimages to this site over the past 45 years, but until now Murshid's grave has remained exposed to the elements. The intensity of the sun and snow at 8,700 feet above sea level has posed difficulties for individuals and groups wanting to remain for any length of time, e.g. for Dances of Universal Peace or to sit meditation. When completed, the Dargah will solve these practical problems, and through attention to
sacred geometry and beautiful materials
, do so in a way that inspires pilgrims and supports their intention to be in Murshid SAM's barakah.
Murshid SAM said, "The connection between the teacher and the disciple is in no way dependent on one or the other being in the body." Appreciating this paradox, we find living presence at Murshid SAM's grave; there is an opening and expansion that occurs when we are able to sit and listen.
Murshid SAM had the unique ability when visiting the shrines of saints in the East to empty himself and receive their direct guidance. His inspiration for the Dances of Universal Peace came at the Dargah of Hazrat Salim Chishti, in Fatehpur Sikri, India. Before his passing he predicted that his own resting place would become just such a touchstone, a place where pilgrims could receive guidance and answers to Life's question. For his disciples, he stressed the importance of creating such shrines and pilgrimage places in America.
Thanks particularly to the vision and
c
ommitment of the Pir of the Sufi Ruhaniat, Shabda Kahn, and the generous donations of
many
su
p
porters, this
three-quarter million dollar project is steadily coming into manifestation.
