Breathtaking Revelations Author Chat
Breathtaking Revelations Author Chat
The Science of Breath in Yoga and Sufism w/ Dr. Carl Ernst, Dr. Patrick D’Silva & Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Saturday, April 27th, 3:00 pm EDT / 9:00 pm CET via Zoom
Join us for an author chat with Carl Ernst and Patrick D’Silva as we discuss their forthcoming book Breathtaking Revelations: The Science of Breath from the Fifty Kamarupa Verses to Hazrat Inayat Khan, coming out this April. Pir Zia will also be with us participating in our discussion on breath and the intersection of yoga and Sufism.
For centuries, mystics and seekers in the region of South Asia have pursued techniques of watching the breath, bodily disciplines of yoga, and visionary experiences. The two texts presented here illustrate how adepts of Sufism internalized and explained these practices, starting with an anonymous Persian translation of the Fifty Kamarupa Verses in the fourteenth century, and concluding with the Science of Breath composed in English by Hazrat Inayat Khan in the twentieth century. The long tradition of Sufi engagement with yoga, illustrated by these writings, reveals surprising intersections between Hindu and Muslim spiritual practices, and it poses a fascinating challenge to conventional assumptions about interreligious boundaries.
This event is free and open to all yet does require pre-registration.
If you have questions about the content of the event, please email sufism@sulukpress.com. Questions about registration and logistical details may be sent to astana@inayatiyya.org.
Speakers
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Pir Zia Inayat KhanPir Zia Inayat Khan, PhD, is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice. He is the author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest; and the editor and compiler of Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan, for which he also wrote the critical introduction. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France. inayatiyya.org
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Carl W ErnstCarl W. Ernst is an academic specialist in Islamic studies, with a focus on West and South Asia. His research, based on the study of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, has mainly been devoted to general and critical issues of Islamic studies, premodern and contemporary Sufism, and Indo-Muslim culture. He studied comparative religion at Stanford University (A.B., 1973) and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1981). He has taught at Pomona College (1981–1992) and has been on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1992–2022); he is now William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies.
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Patrick J D' SilvaPatrick J. D’ Silva specializes in the study of Muslim engagement with yoga with an emphasis on the Persianate world. He completed his B.A. in religious studies and classics at Macalester College, his M.A. in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill. He is currently researching the rise of yoga in the West, as well as the interplay of race, religion, and cultural appropriation in science fiction. He is a Visiting Teaching Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Denver. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his family.
