02.28.08
Whirling - the experience
When I was a kid, I would spin and spin until I fell down dizzy and laughing. I think getting dizzy was the whole point.
In the summer of 2002 I attended a 10 day Dancemeditation retreat with Dunya (Dianne McPherson). It was there that I whirled for the first time. I was excited, apprehensive and curious. We were given basic instructions, but I was the only one of the group who had never whirled. When I first got up and began to whirl, I started slowly, but there was an inescapable force that seemed to will me to go faster. I was not prepared. When the dizziness hit it was accompanied by a severe wave of nausea and I staggered toward my pre-prepared pallet against the wall. My total whirling time was 5, maybe 7, minutes, from a 30 minute whirling session. I laid on my blanket, curled up on my right side, back pressed against the wall, watching. I watched the other whirlers in wonder and a little bit of envy. They all seemed so peaceful, serene and very powerful, all at the same time. I felt as though I had missed out on a great opportunity; completely unaware that my experience had been just as complete as anyone Else’s.
Later, after the session had ended and supper was finally cleaned off the table, several of us sat drinking tea talking about the experience. I listened, not completely relating. They spoke of releases and ecstasy, all I had experienced was sickness. It was then that I learned of the natural process of purification that whirling induces. Since then I have read several medically related articles about whirling, all in an attempt to better understand what I had experienced. Some have been helpful, to one degree or another, they have all been a bit confusing, but all in all, very interesting. One study suggests that if a person whirls for 10 minutes and then rests for a short period of time and then whirls again (for any length) that the second whirl will increase energy and the ecstatic results will be enhanced.
I will speak to that last bit with the story of a January 2007 whirling experience. We were using new music for the whirl - from the Fes Festival in Morocco; very powerful and moving. I whirled in the first group and I think that Dunya had forgotten that the piece of music was shorter than what we are used to using, so the session ended after 15 minutes and for whatever reason I was not tired. Typically I will fall out after a whirl and go into that beautiful sleep of annihilation, usually only achieved after very heavy meditative work; this time I could not even lie down I was so wired. I felt as though I wanted to whirl more, but the second group had gotten up and there just wasn’t enough room. After their session ended, Dunya (who is quite brilliant for picking up on the subtle energies of a group) said that if we hadn’t had enough we could get up and whirl again. I, along with two others stood up and began to whirl. At this time I felt a beautiful energy begin to take me over and my whole head was thrown back, involuntarily. I felt as though if I picked up my feet I would fly. It is not the first time I have experienced the ‘flying’ sensation while whirling, but it is the first time that I felt I would fly because someone had picked me up and was carrying me through space. I had only vauge recolections of my movements through the room itself, but afterwards people told me that I had circled the entire room again and again. I never close my eyes during whirling, but my gaze is soft and inward; this time as my head was thrown back, my eyes were looking up at the ceiling which began to melt away revealing the darkened night sky and all the stars in it. I felt laughter bubbling up from the deepest well of my soul and while the laughter did not escape into the night, the vibration of it resonated through my body and I began to cry. I had never felt so loved, so open, so beautiful, so a child of god and creature of the universe as I did at that moment. (After my first whirling experience, Dunya offered me the name “Shamsi”. She said that as she watched me whirl that was the name that repeatedly entered her thoughts. I accepted the name, perhaps not so graciously, but it took me a very long while to acclimate to it. Translated from Arabic, Shamsi means ‘Sunny’ or ‘Sunshine’.) As I whirled on this night, during that second session, I heard my name resonating in a deep baritone, from where I know not, but the voice continued to repeat, you are of the lineage of The Shams. The Sun….the lineage of the Sun…..I am still not certain of what that in particular means, but since that night it has happened to me again and always the feeling is the same; a deep embrace from a loving parent who has been with me since before this body was born. And that is why I whirl, because it always feels like going home.
Here is the spiel I now give prior to each session of whirling, regardless of the group’s experience:
“Whirling is the primary purification practice of most Sufi practitioners. When we whirl we always whirl to the left (counterclockwise) because this puts us in alignment with the spinning of the universe. As we whirl, our left hand faces down and the right hand faces upward, creating an electrical circuit that receives and gives energy which also passes through our hearts. The gaze of the whirler is not a piercing, outward focus, but rather a soft, inward gaze. If the whirler feels unbalanced, looking down at the back of the left hand allows a still, focal point through which balance is regained. In the Dunyavi order our foot work is very personal. Some prefer to pivot around the left foot, remaining in one place throughout the session while others use both feet to step around, which can often lead to revolving around the room while rotating around the self. Because it is the primary purification practice of the Sufis, if one’s body has been overly taxed with stress, toxins or poor nutrition the whirler may experience nausea or some similar discomfort. The important thing to remember throughout the whirl is to breathe, holding one’s breath can sometimes lead to feelings of nausea as well. The speed of the whirling does not matter. My favorite story is of an 80 year old woman named Ruth with whom I whirled one afternoon for 30 minutes. She had never been able to stay up the whole time in previous whirls, but this time she said, “I’m going to do it at my own pace.” And true to her word, I believe an entire revolution for her was approximately 45 seconds to a minute, but she did whirl for the full 30 minutes. Life happens at our own pace, whatever we decide that is, and whirling is no different. To begin, one crosses their arms over their chest to signify ‘the one’ that we are part of the one. Once the whirling has begun, the arms open (the state of ‘open-ness’ is also left to the practitioner, in our order) and the left palm faces down with the right palm up. To end, the whirler simply begins to slow the pace of their rotations, bringing the arms back across their chest until they can stop their movement completely. If the whirler wishes, they can remain standing in the spot where they finished until they are ready to move back into the physical space.
