Hear the call of the open heart!
Dancing in Paradise
February 4-9th, 2025,
Pahoa, Big Island, Hawaii
with Sufi teachers Leilah Be, Bodhi Be,
Gayan Long, and Amara Karuna.
Join us in co-creating nurturing, inspiring sangha, with a concentration on the beauty of the volcanic land.
"Come, come, whoever you are, this caravan has no despair, Even though you have broken your vows 10,000 times Come, come again." -Rumi
Join our third annual retreat!
- Dances of Universal Peace
- Sufi Zikr (singing)
- Teachings on death and dying
- Breath and Walking Meditations
- Ecstatic Dance and Yoga
- Group music making
- Rumi Cafe talent sharing
- Healing Ritual
- Spiritual Discussions
- Rest and Rejuvenation
Join us in Hawaii!
Escape to the jungle!
Escape to the jungle!
Escape to the jungle!
Deepen into the Dances of Universal Peace, meditation, zikr, Sufi and other spiritual practices for a weekend, or 6 days.
Each practice will be fully taught, no experience is necessary. If you cannot dance, sit and sing!
Sharing hearts: Enjoy the company of those inclined to a spiritual path, with deep discussion and connection
Relax: and really enjoy a renewing vacation in paradise, with time for meditation, song and interfaith prayer.
Explore: the lush natural wonders of the actively volcanic Big Island of Hawaii.
Enjoy a journey to a nearby warm pool one afternoon.
Experience: Land based intentional community life on an established permaculture farm!
WE welcome you!
Escape to the jungle!
Escape to the jungle!
Guest Dance leaders are welcome!
You can join in creating shared afternoon Dance sessions almost every day.
We have spaces in the early mornings for participants to lead morning practice/ yoga.
We welcome all people, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, vaccination status or socioeconomics.
We strive to make this a safe and welcoming spot for all those in our community.
We are not set up to accept children at this camp, so the minimum age of attendance is 14. People aged 14-20 can apply for scholarship funds.
The Site
Escape to the jungle!
Samples from the program:
We will be meeting at a Permaculture Community near Leilani, south of Pahoa on the Hilo side of the Big Island.
We have 25 acres of lush rainforest land, including a small crater, and are located close to hot steam vents, a lovely black sand beach, and the wonderful natural warm ponds.
We will be providing wonderful organic meals, and everyone helps a little with cooking and clean up. We have a great indoor dance space, and also a large outdoor covered space. The site is rustic, with composting toilets and solar electric. There are short walks between all the buildings. Most cabins do not have running water, but most have electric. There will be a more deluxe cabin option at a nearby BnB.
We are a successful 20 year group that operates by consensus and shares leadership equally, and emphasizes communication skills. You will have a great introduction our community lifestyle.
Samples from the program:
Samples from the program:
Samples from the program:
We have many wonderful offerings to delight you, presented by our very skilled leaders and other guest teachers including:
Dances of Universal Peace
Singing and chanting sacred, ancient phrases creates a heart opening, full body healing vibration, and when conscious movement is added it becomes a powerful spiritual practice.
Ecstatic Dance
(with Amara and others)
Ecstatic Dance is a time to drop into your body and move with the music freely, in your own time, in your own creative rhythm.
Dance alone or with others, stretch, recline, watch or participate.
All levels welcome, no previous dance experience necessary.
Connection Pods- a chance to connect and share hearts with a small group
Rumi Cafe and Creativity Sharing
Come and share your songs, poems, dance, stories or skits! Let's entertain and inspire each other!
Community Service: Everyone contributes one or 2 hours of Karma Yoga service to help camp run smoothly. This can include tidying shared spaces, etc. Performing Karma Yoga service offers the opportunity to bond more deeply with each other as we share in the joy of co-creating community and making camp happen.
Early Departure: If you can't stay for the entire time, Paradise retreat can still be a powerfully transformational experience. There is no discount for leaving early.
Logistics and details
Samples from the program:
More details for Locals
We ask that people give an amount that is both generous and joyful.
If you are unable to contribute at bottom of the sliding scale, please contact us – we may be able to work something out! We have a few openings for part time work trade.
Those of you who are able to pay at the higher end of the sliding scale enable us to hold this retreat in a spirit of generosity and inclusiveness. Then we can give some discounts to others.
*Full Retreat Residential ticket: $775- 925 sliding scale, includes 3 great organic meals a day, and dorm or camping space, and all programming. Cabins cost extra.
Youth Tickets Full Retreat ages 14-18: $600 Please attend if you want to participate in the main program, as there will not be a separate youth program.
We may have some scholarship funds available, and can recommend other places to apply for scholarships such as:
Ruhaniat's Next Gen Sufi's has a scholarship fund for Dance Camps - apply six weeks ahead: https://nextgensufis.org/scholarships
TO APPLY:
After we send a confirmation, send in a $350 deposit as soon as possible,
Final payment is due by January 3rd 2025.
You can use Venmo, Credit cards or Checks. We prefer checks.
More payment info will be sent when you register.
Extra nightsYou can choose to spend an extra night before the retreat for additional charge. at the cost of $85 per night for camping or $100 per night for indoors. Arrange this with the venue by contacting Amara.
More details for Locals
Samples from the program:
More details for Locals
Do you live in Pahoa area or want to rent a place off site? See below
Kamaaina Prices
(Off Site locals only)
*Offsite full event with meals:
$600 -750 sliding scale (you stay somewhere else, but have meals with us.)
*Offsite full event no meals:
$500-650 (you stay somewhere else, and bring your meals.)
Weekend Options
for Local Residents Only
*Offsite Weekend with meals:
Fri evening- Sunday before dinner,
$325 non-residential tickets including 6 meals
*Offsite Weekend No Meals
Fri evening- Sunday before dinner, $225 non-residential tickets
(We are not set up for you to make your own food. No kitchen or food storage space. You can bring a cooler if you like.)
There are no weekend residential tickets because of limited space, unless you sleep in an RV.
No one day drop in tickets.
Please come at the beginning of the event only.
We want to build a container of love and trust. However the first evening will be open to the community.
*Youth Weekend Tickets aged 14-18:
Friday evening - Sunday before dinner,
$250 residential tickets including 6 meals
Safe Container: It is essential that everyone attend Orientation which begins the first. evening. This puts us all on the same page with our group agreements.
Refunds
Deposit is refundable up to one month before the event until January 3rd, less a $50 admin fee.
After that we will refund all your payment less $50 if we can fill your spot, or half of it if we cannot.
Deluxe Housing
Housing in cabins or private huts
Housing in dorms
Deluxe lodging option: An offsite option of a private room in a nearby vacation rental is also a possibility. You could rent a shared room in a nearby BnB for an extra $65 per night per person for the 5 nights.
A private single person room is $130 per night. These rooms have bathrooms and electricity and are a 10 minute walk from the venue. Rides can be arranged.
Housing in dorms
Housing in cabins or private huts
Housing in dorms
Dorm accommodations on site
Women's dorm is upstairs in our Main House
Men's dorm is in our outdoor enclosed quonset hut tent large dorm.
Housing in cabins or private huts
Housing in cabins or private huts
Housing in cabins or private huts
Rent a space in a cabin, we have several available at an extra cost. ($250-350)
Please inquire to Amara for the list of available places.
If you would like a more roomy and private option, you can rent a Quanset hut, which is a large walk in rounded tent cabin, which houses 2 to 4 people on single and double beds, for an additional $200 cost.
Housing In RV or tents
Housing In RV or tents
Housing in cabins or private huts
You may also bring your own RV. We have a few electrical hookups.
You can also choose private tarp covered camping (bring your own gear and rent our tarp).
Weekend Tickets are only in your RV or offsite.
Rent one of our private tents, bed, bedding and tarp for an extra $100.
Weather: Typically changeable. Expect hot to cold and wet to dry. Mostly wet.
travel, Health
Housing In RV or tents
travel, Health
Airport Pickups: We can provide pick ups from the Hilo airport, which is 1 hour away from the site, for $50 per trip for one person, or $30 per person if more than one. This provides a benefit to those who can arrive on the afternoon of the beginning of camp. If you arrive at an odd time, expect to get an Uber or Taxi.
We cannot provide rides from the Kona Airport, which is a 3 hour drive, one way. If you must come in to Kona, please plan to rent a car or have a friend pick you up.
We will be taking steps to insure all of our health, including:
*requiring a period of you moving in a relatively tight bubble at least 5 days beforehand:
*refraining from risky practices such as going to large events with people you are not familiar with,
*avoiding anyone who is sick,
*We may do a rapid testing of everyone the day the event starts at the site, regardless of vaccination status. this depends on the current events.
*If you have any symptoms of illness, please do not come to the event.
*No vaccination required.
Foods, music
Housing In RV or tents
travel, Health
Personal Foods: There will be limited room for personal food in one refrigerator and some coolers. You will have access to a Personal Foods Kitchen (PFK) during camp. Our menu is omnivore with focus on organic and humanely raised. We provide a rich variety of dishes to cover the various dietary needs of today's health issues, but we are not able to cater to all special diets.
Please list special requirements on the registration form and our kitchen coordinator will reach out to you as needed. There will be several town trips for special needs grocery shopping. Bring extra cash to cover your requests.
Leave at Home: Alcohol or recreational drugs, valuables of any sort, pets of any kind or size.
Participatory Music: All music-making is encouraged & greatly appreciated. Bring your instruments, voices, and talents. Be the live music & let's celebrate you! There will be a quiet time curfew of around 10 pm, because of our neighbors.
Murshida Leilah Be
In 1985, a very strong vision of and inner direction from Murshid Samuel Lewis guided Leilah to receive Bayat with one of his direct disciples, Pir Moineddin Jablonski. She then experienced the blessing stream of the lineage more fully opening to her.
Leilah began leading the Dances of Universal Peace and the practice of Zikr (Remembrance of God) in the early 80’s. She has composed many beautiful circle dances and Zikrs, danced the world over, and is appreciated for her depth of devotion.
She lives on the Island of Maui with her husband, Bodhi. They are the parents of five grown children and one grandchild. Leilah and Bodhi live a rural home life with gardens and an orchard and serve the local community as counselors, cherags/ministers, and also help educate and serve in the field of death and dying. They also travel widely, sharing the fruits of their practice in retreats worldwide.
Sheikh Bodhi Be
Bodhi is an ordained interfaith minister and teacher in the Sufi lineage of Sufi Sam and Hazrat Inayat Khan. He is the founder and executive director of Doorway IntoLight, a nonprofit organization on Maui, which provides conscious and compassionate care for the dying, their families and the grieving, and has been offering community presentations and trainings since 2006 in the fields of awakened living and dying and the care of the dying.
Bodhi is a funeral director providing before, and after-death care; an end-of-life and bereavement counselor and educator; a hospice volunteer; a home funeral guide; a teacher and trainer of death doulas; a speaker and workshop leader and a ceremonial guide. He hosts a weekly streaming radio show, ‘Death Tracks’, on a Maui station.
Bodhi guides memorials and funerals and leads grief rituals. He facilitates grief support groups for teenagers. He has trained hundreds of doctors, nurses, hospice staff, social workers, ministers, chaplains, therapists, artists and lay people in the spiritual, psychological, emotional and logistical care of the dying and the care of the dead, and for 4 years has taken dozens through a certification program to be death doulas. Bodhi has written a column called “Ask the Death Professor” for a local Maui magazine. He is a notary public, a coffin maker and a Reiki practitioner.
Bodhi and his wife Leilah lead spiritual retreats in Hawaii and around the world.
Sheikh Gayan Long
Gayan is an acclaimed drummer, composer, leader of the Dances of Universal Peace, spiritual mentor, retreat leader, and storyteller. He has dedicated his life to awakening human potential through music, devotional practices, pithy teachings, and community celebration.
Gayan is a direct disciple of Pir Shabda Kahn, the lead teacher of the Sufi Ruhaniat International’s school of western Sufism.
He has shared the Dances world wide and and led retreats with some of the foremost spiritual leaders of our time.
Sheikha Amara Karuna
Amara has been leading the Dances of Universal Peace since 1985 and is a Senior Dance Leader, and has been involved in mentoring new Dance leaders.
She has been on teaching staff for five NW Sufi Camps has led many weekend retreats, zikrs and rituals which included the Dances.
She served as Secretary, and then President, on the Core of the International Council for the Dances of Universal Peace, working as a volunteer to oversee the organization for several years.
She specializes in Dances from the Goddess and Earth traditions, and leads with lively humor and devotion. She is a Sheikha in the SRI lineage of Sufism.