Dance of Oneness with Banafsheh Sayyad

Feminine Embodiment, Sacred Dance, and Whirling

Enter the field of the Divine Feminine—the wise, noble, fierce, tender, and creative energy of life—through sacred movement, breath, whirling, the poetry of Rumi, and deep embodied presence.

Drawing from her new book, Dance of Oneness: Embody Love and Luminosity to Transform Your Life, Banafsheh will guide you on a journey to reconnect with your sacred sensuality, reignite your aliveness, and release constriction and heavy emotions held in the body. Through movement and embodied awareness, you will learn to consciously transmute these energies into grounded strength, clarity, resilience, and life-affirming vitality.

Connecting with the Divine Feminine is a profound initiation that restores reverence for the body and awakens both individual and collective well-being. As you deepen your relationship with the wisdom of your body, you become more closely aligned with the truth of your soul’s purpose and path.

This day-long workshop will include dance, and Sama, the sacred Sufi practice of whirling, taught through Banafsheh’s distinctive feminine approach. Sama offers not only a sacred movement form, but also a living practice for remaining centered, receptive, and responsive amid uncertainty and turmoil.

Ancient mysticism and modern science alike reveal that life unfolds through rotation and spiraling movement—from atoms to galaxies. Through whirling, you will learn to attune yourself to this universal force and cultivate the capacity to meet life’s challenges without losing your center. The practice awakens a profound sense of inner balance, belonging, and participation in the greater dance of creation.

Banafsheh’s approach is designed to prevent or minimize dizziness. Through surrender, deep listening, and guided instruction, you will learn to access the embodied wisdom that supports clarity, trust, resilience, and centered presence.

This mixed-level, day-long workshop is open to everyone: from beginners to returning students and advanced practitioners. You will be invited to move at your own pace, honoring your body and attuning to where you are.

Instruction will be offered in English, with Persian translation available as needed.

The schedule of the day:
11:30am - 2pm Dance and whirling
Lunch
3 - 5:30pm Dance and whirling

3 - 5:30pm Dance and whirling

Preparation:

• Don’t eat within one hour of the workshop
• Bring a water bottle
• Bring socks or soft-soled dance shoes (important for whirling). Recommendations for appropriate shoes: Capezio, and SoDanca
• Bring a yoga mat and a cushion appropriate for meditation

Bio
Banafsheh Sayyad MFA, Choreography and MA, Chinese Medicine, is a visionary teacher of spiritual embodiment, master sacred dancer, award-winning author, and choreographer whose life’s work is devoted to helping people activate greater health, awareness, and resilience through conscious movement and embodied wisdom. Internationally acclaimed for her pioneering fusion of spirituality and sensuality, she is the founder of Dance of Oneness®, a Divine Feminine lineage of healing and transformation uniting Sufi whirling, Persian dance, flamenco, mysticism, and Taoist wisdom. Her book, Dance of Oneness invites readers to rediscover the body as a portal to presence, vitality, and joy. Drawing from her own awakening through dance that transmuted the pain of exile from Iran, Banafsheh weaves Rumi’s poetry, feminine mysticism, and embodied healing into a radiant call to live as a channel of love and light. Born in Iran to legendary filmmaker Parviz Sayyad, she defied cultural taboos to create a feminine expression of Sufi whirling, transforming dance into a pathway of liberation, divine communion, and activism. Through her non-profit NAMAH and her transformative teachings at centers such as Esalen, Kripalu, Omega, and Hollyhock, Banafsheh has inspired thousands across the world to awaken, embody love, and dance the divine into being. Visit https://danceofoneness.org/ for more information.