Rewilding the Human Heart—Deepening Our Kinship with Nature

Rewilding the Human Heart—Deepening Our Kinship with Nature
Alternate Fridays (2nd and 4th week of the month), February to May, 2025
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm ET / 11:00 pm – 12:30 am CET
Saturday in Oceania 9:00 am – 10:30 am AEDT / 11:00 am – 12:30 pm NZDT

Join us for the Ziraat Spring Series, Rewilding the Human Heart—Deepening Our Kinship with Nature, presented by Sharifa Oppenheimer. 

The material for this course is taken from a new book Rewilding the Human Heart, to be published by Red Elixir Press, Spring 2025. Each session is a deep dive into one of the Elements (earth, water, fire, air, or ether) and one of the Realms of Nature (mineral, plant, animal, human, or unseen beings.) Sharifa takes us beyond an appreciation of nature to a deeply personal sense of kinship with all beings:

• exploring how to make lasting heart-connections with the living breathing Earth, through song, movement, story, breathwork, visualization and deep internal inquiry; 
• observing the interplay of these beings within our own inner-sphere – heart, psyche, soul and spirit; and
• providing a variety of deepening practices and resources to broaden and more profoundly inform your understanding of the class material.

Dates & Themes

• February 14th—Introduction and Overview
  This class introduces the arc of the program, gratitude offerings, rituals and the additional /optional deepening practices you can delve into between classes. These activities are designed to unfurl and integrate your body, mind and heart connections with the Elements and the Realms of Nature. 
• February 28th—Earth Element and the Mineral Realm
  Discover ways Earth can be a touchstone in our daily lives and “live-into” the foundational nature of minerals ~ within our own bones and bloodstream, as well as in the world of the Stone People.
• March 14th —Water Element and the Plant Realm
  Experience the essential nature of Water within the living systems of earth and within our own bodies and souls. We also explore and honor our symbiotic relationship with plants.
• March 28th —Fire Element and the Realm of Animals
  Learn how to create an inner “hearth” and “container” in order to work in dynamic relationship with Fire. We’ll also step into the intelligence and agency of the animal realm, discovering how our furred, feathered and finned cousins live directly inside our brains and bodies.
• April 11th —Air Element and the Realm of Human Beings
  Observe the vast spaciousness within our being and experience the “breath of Gaia” that moves through us. We discover ways to listen to the wisdom that is carried on the wind, as our earth-ancestors speak to us. We will also look into the complex and often divergent capacities of the human being. What ideals do we carry? Who models these Qualities for us?
• April 25th —Ether Element and the Realm of the Unseen Beings
  Explore Ether as the integrative force ~ that miraculous gathering-together of all Elements, Realms, and Beings into the coherent interdependent living being that we call Gaia. With the eye of the heart, we see and honor the unseen beings that are always teeming in the living atmosphere of our home, our mother, the Earth.
• May 9th—Integration and Reflection on the Journey
  This is an opportunity to share your REWILDING discoveries and “take-aways”. How will this course influence your daily relationship with our fellow Earthlings? How will you walk differently through the world?

This series is in English only. Sessions are on the second and fourth Friday of the month from 5:00 – 6:30 pm New York Time, 11:00 pm – 12:30 am Central Europe Time. Saturday in Oceania – Times for February are 9:00 – 10:30 am (AEDT-Sydney); 11:00 am – 12:30 pm (NZDT-Auckland). Please check for daylight saving adjustments in both March and April.

There are two tuition options to meet all needs: $49 ($7/class) or $28 ($4/class). Scholarships are also available. If you miss a class, video will be made available a day or two after each session. 

If you have questions about Ziraat, or about this series, please email us at ziraat@inayatiyya.org. For registration and scholarship information, please email astana@inayatiyya.org. 

Biography

Sharifa Oppenheimer has been graced to be a student of Sufism for fifty years. The daughter of a midwestern farmer, she has always been drawn to Murshid’s Ziraat teachings on the Sacred Manuscript of Nature. Her book of poems A Litany of Wild Graces: Meditations on Sacred Ecology explores humanity’s biological and spiritual inter-being with our other-than-human relations. She offers Kinship with Nature: Sacred Earth ~ Sacred Self gatherings both online as well as amidst the leaf-litter at the foot of the hickory and poplars that bless her Virginia forest land. She is interested not only in Nature’s growth, but also the growth of small human beings.  She is the author of several books on Waldorf Education including Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children; The Heaven on Earth Workbook: Create Your Family Culture Star; What is a Waldorf Kindergarten; as well as With Star in Their Eyes: Brain Science and Your Child.  

Website: sharifaoppenheimer.org 
Substack: Rewilding the Human Heart  https://sharifaoppenheimer.substack.com

Graphic:  Numinosity mandala – by Cristina Mcallister