Founder of The Raphaelite Work Himayat Inayati, Th.D. Himayat Inayati is a traveler on the path of the heart. He has been a member of the Sufi Order International since 1972, receiving the sacred transmission of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis. Himayat served as the International Head of The Sufi Healing Order for twenty years, and is the founder of The Raphaelite Work, a method of healing and transformational process rooted in Sufism and updated by modern psychology and body work.

Himayat has been a catalytic figure in the on-going dialogue between science, spirituality, and healing – organizing twenty-six conferences in support of this effort. He has taught mysticism and spirituality in fourteen different countries. His teaching is lucid, accessible and humorous – orienting the ancient mystical teachings of the major world spiritual traditions toward solutions of contemporary issues.

Currently, in his work as the founding president of Universal Awakening, it is his soul-desire that the forces that venerate life are able to be present to one another in a tent large enough to hold them – a vehicle of their own creation, that they thereby may be heartened and quickened in their service, and that fresh possibilities for life's greatest fulfillment may be born.

Himayat is happily married with two grown daughters and a teen-age son. With his wife, Shahida Whitney, he co-directs Light of the Mountains Retreat Center, near Asheville, North Carolina.
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Director of The Raphaelite Work Richard Martin Richard Martin, a certified Raphaelite Practitioner, One-to-One Processing Facilitator and Retreat Guide, has been the International Director of the Raphaelite Work since June, 2005. He brings to this position a rich and varied background in many disciplines, from spirituality to gymnastics. He has been involved with the healing arts for over 30 years, first studying shiatsu and later healing Qigong. He is a graduate of the Ohashi Institute, and taught Ohashiatsu for eight years.

For many years Richard has been combining principles of Qigong and the practices of Sufi mysticism. He has been a student of Sufism for over 30 years and has studied with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Shahabuddin Less, Himayat Inayati, and Pir Zia Inayat Khan. He is a Representative in the Sufi Order International and a Shafayat in the Sufi Healing Order International. Recently, he has begun to lead tours to China through David Less Tours.

Richard has been involved in movement his entire life. He attended college on a gymnastics scholarship, and competed in gymnastics events both nationally and internationally while earning a BA in psychology. He then danced professionally in New York City for several years and has been studying Tai Chi for the past 20 years.

Randallstown, Maryland is home for Richard and his wife of 27 years, Lynn Perrott. They have two daughters, 24 and 21 years old. Richard and Lynn own a gymnastics school and teach children ages two to sixteen the joy of movement through gymnastics. Richard is a twenty-year cancer survivor.
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