Easter Retreat 2026 with Pir Zia

Forgiveness, Healing, and Wholeness

Discourse, Meditation, Music and Universal Worship

w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan

Holy Thursday until Easter Monday, April 2nd to 6th, 2026

In-Person & Online via Zoom

 “If you could turn back the clock would you fly back and change the past? Of course, we cannot change what we have said and done, or the actions of others — but we can change the way the past and present live in us. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are all creating a world within our heart, a world destined to outlast the seemingly objective world outside. The inner world becomes a Garden to the degree in which old enmities are transformed by means of fortifying insight, the circulation of life’s vital sap heals our most enduring of wounds, guilt dissolves and coagulates as wisdom and acceptance, and the body-mind-soul nexus is made lucid and whole in the light of the All-Encompassing One.” Pir Zia Inayat Khan  

The Easter Retreat will take place in the Stadthalle Gersfeld (in person) – alternatively you can participate live via Zoom (online). In addition, the entire retreat will be recorded and published as a video. You can therefore take part in the retreat in real time or at any time you wish.

Seminar fees:

Suggested Tuition: 315 €
Discounted Tuition (low income): 215 €
Early bird discount until March 1st, 2026: minus 20 € on all prices
Further reductions are available on request.

Program (Times are CET)

Thursday, April 2nd

9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan

Friday, April 3rd (in Silence)

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation
Break
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Concert

Saturday, April 4th (in Silence)

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation
Break
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Zikr evening

Sunday, April 5th

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation
Break
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan

Monday, April 6th

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation
Break
10.00 am – 12.00 pm: Universal Worship

Accommodation:

The tourist information office in Gersfeld will be happy to help you with your search: +49 (0) 6654 – 1780
Online via www.gersfeld.de

Youth Hostel:

The youth hostel can now be booked online. Click on the “Availability” button. When booking, the available rooms (single, double, small and large multi-bed rooms) are displayed for the desired period.
Lunch and dinner (also vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc. possible) must be booked in advance.
There is the possibility of a subsidy of 15,-€ / night for people with low income (at the secretary’s desk in the Stadthalle on presentation of the youth hostel invoice)

Meals:

A high-quality and reasonably priced lunch buffet (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free) is provided in the Stadthalle gallery. No pre-registration required, payment on site.

For further information, please contact the seminar organizer Nura Silvia Kunkies: seminare@inayatiyya.de / Tel.: +49 (0) 5506 999 11 6

Teachers

Pir 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

Mehmet Ungan is a sociologist, musician, lecturer and chairman of the board of the Oriental Music Academy in Mannheim, Germany. As a lecturer at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Mehmet Ungan teaches Islamic-mystical music. At the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, he teaches transcultural music in social work. With his Sufi music group Hosh Neva he gives guest performances at intercultural and interreligious events all over Europe. He owes his virtuosity on his instruments Ud and Ney to his two teachers Necati Çelik and Ömer Erdogdular (pupil of the legendary Ney master Niyazi Sayin). Mehmet Ungan studied with Oruç Güvenç and for decades has dedicated his life to healing through sound.

Ophiel Maarten van Leer is a conductor, singer and music teacher with many years of experience in the fields of music and meditation. He comes from a musical family; His mother introduced him to the Sufi message. At 17, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan became his inspiring teacher. He studied conducting and school music-teaching in Utrecht. For many years he has led seminars in ensemble singing, musical improvisation and meditation. He teaches music at a Rudolf Steiner School and directs various choirs in the Rhine-Main area around Frankfurt, Germany.