Speakers

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  Gayan Macher
  

  Gayan Macher

  Gayan Macher is a companion and guide to those who are called to the courageous path of love. He has practiced and taught the universal Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan his entire adult life. In addition, he has studied Buddhist practice, the Diamond Approach, and psychology, where he explored emerging understandings of the formation of the ego. Gayan leads group retreats and has guided scores of individual students. He collaborated with Pir Zia Inayat Khan in designing Suluk Academy, and taught at Suluk for eight years. Along with Taj Inayat he created Sufi Retreats, and then New Rain, which became laboratories for the process of awakening and spiritual maturation. Gayan also has a 40-year career as a consultant to executives of organizations, having worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profits of all sizes. Among Gayan’s great loves is music. He plays guitar, and as a singer-song writer has recorded two CDs of original songs.

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  Taj Inayat
  

  Taj Inayat

  Taj Inayat is the spiritual director of the Hurqalya Center and an initiate since 1967 in the Sufi Order International, now the Inayatiyya Order, a mystical and ecumenical fellowship rooted in the visionary legacy of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Three years after initiation she met Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, head of the Order, and became his spiritual partner. They collaborated in the work until his death in 2004.

  Taj served as Vice President of the Sufi Order International, as teacher/guide for many years before co-creating Sufi Retreats and New Rain, programs that carried on the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan.

  Taj’s work is founded on a lifetime’s attention to the human heart. Her capacity for supporting mystical awakening and self-knowing has grown out of her long experience as a spiritual guide in the transformative traditions of Sufism, Diamond Approach and Tibetan Buddhism. She is a minister in the Universal Worship Church and holds an MA in Counseling Psychology.

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  Shams Kairys
  

  Shams Kairys

  Shams has been a student and guide in the Inayatiyya for over 45 years, with ongoing engagement in the Kinship activity. He has worked with many innovative organizations and projects, including Berkeley Area Interfaith Council, Meeting of the Ways, Creating Our Future, Seva Foundation, ReachingOut Project, EarthSave, Youth for Environmental Sanity, and Seven Pillars House of Wisdom. His love of the natural world and growing awareness of its degradation led him to focus on shedding light on the roots of the ecological crisis and the profound challenges it presents. He has advanced ways to deepen our sense of intimacy within the web of life and to cherish and protect it. He enjoys outings in nature with his son and friends, occasional flirtations with his violin, and working with authors as an independent editor.

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  Saki Santorelli
  

  Saki Santorelli

  Saki Santorelli has been a student in the Inayatiyya for 50 years. A Healing Conductor and Shafayat in the Inayatiyya Healing Activity, he has pioneered the integration of meditation and mindfulness in medicine, psychology, and the broader society. As a Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, he served as director of the internationally-acclaimed mindfulness-based stress reduction clinic and executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Saki loves gardening, writing, hiking with his family, and baking. Intent on infusing the teachings and fragrance of the universal Sufi lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan into the wider world, he is the founder and director of the online spiritual community Guest House Awareness. He is the author of Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine now translated into 14 languages. Saki guides programs and retreats internationally.