About the Team

Darvesha Victoria MacDonald is a Murshida in the Sufi Ruhaniat International lineage, a Ziraat Experienced Farmer, and a Buddhist practitioner.

What Darvesha teaches is based on her understanding and experience of interdependence arising originally in her Buddhist practice. Her teaching encompasses themes of sustainability, deep ecology, simplicity, sensory awareness, movement awareness, mindful eating, and feminine spirituality. When it comes to personal growth practice she tries to create a space in which students and mureeds are able to look at where there is self-deception blocking their direct experience of the Ultimate. She draws on practices from all 3 branches of Buddhism and from the Inayati lineage of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Darvesha is a Senior Mentor of the Dances of Universal Peace. She served as Chair of the Guidance Council and as President of the DUP International board of directors for more than 15 years.

She has travelled extensively worldwide teaching and leading the Dances. Her major focus for the last 20 years has been seeding the Dances in South America and encouraging local leadership and mentorship.

Her areas of special interests in leading are the Aramaic work of her Sufi guide Saadi Neil Douglas Klotz, the dances of the divine feminine, and zikr.

(From Murshida Darvesha’s Website)

Chilean, is a prominent actress, peace activist and defender of women’s circles, sahumadora, fire bearer and guardian, initiated in various spiritual lineages, provides accompaniment and guidance in ceremonies and rites of passage. Grandmother of the Moon Dance, healer and spiritual midwife.

Nur Jaham is a certified leader and mentor of the Universal Peace Dances, and her commitment to peace and spirituality has led her to become a Sheikah and Cherag of the International Sufi Ruhaniat.

For years she has been traveling around the world teaching, offering rituals, courses and sharing the DUP.
Currently, she is part of the Beyond Initiative, a group committed to the expansion of the Dances of Universal Peace in the Middle East.

Munira has walked the path with the Dances of Universal Peace for decades, offering her heart and service as a Senior Mentor, Guidance Council and Board of Directors and its Ethics Committee. Her particular love is the Aramaic and Native Middle Eastern lineage of her mentor, Saadi Neil Douglas‑Klotz, as well as the sacred feminine traditions and goddess dances of the region. Over the years, she has been invited to share this work throughout the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and through the Beyond Initiative, in Turkey, Tunisia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India.

Munira’s life has woven together many roles: psychospiritual therapist, workshop facilitator, clergy, nonprofit director, and long‑time student of the world’s wisdom traditions. She holds a BA in Psychology, an M.Div. in Theology, and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on psychology, theology, and women’s spirituality. Growing up in the Deep South during the civil rights era shaped her lifelong commitment to justice, inclusivity, and interspiritual peacemaking.

She has published numerous articles, two online meditation courses, and an educational manual. Her current writing explores the goddesses of the first‑century Middle East.

Born in Spain, Juan Nuraddin has hosted and guided DUP gatherings across numerous countries in South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. With a deep passion for traditional music, the clarinet has become an integral part of his journey, accompanying his work with various Sufi communities worldwide in cultivating the language of the heart.

He lived in Istanbul for several years, where he participated in the sema ceremonies organized by TUMATA and its founder, Dr. Oruç Güvenç. For several years, he has also been coordinating regular sema ceremonies in Valencia. He was initiated into the Ruhaniat Sufi path by Murshida Darvesha Macdonald.

As a DUP mentor, he works with students in multiple countries and is currently nurturing a vibrant community of practitioners across different regions of Spain, particularly in and around Valencia. Together with his DUP mentor, Jorge Arjun Calero, and other teachers, he is part of the Beyond Initiative team, a project dedicated to planting the seeds of DUP in new countries throughout Asia and Africa from 2018. That same year, he began organizing DUP summer camps and retreats in Spain.

DUP mentor-in-training

A life celebrator, through various ways, including DUP practice and expressive arts therapy.

Dance leader in training, and organiser of DUP Hyderabad. Collecting stories, songs, herbs, and friendships along the way.