Sapira – Journey with Purpose master guides have a solid experience with travel and pilgrimage groups. We work closely with other expert resources such as Egyptologists and our Bedouin friends who will provide you with the most authentic experience possible. All guides are CPR and First Aid certified, ensuring your safety and well being as a priority. Sapira guides are successful professionals who also practice a daily time-honored spiritual discipline such as the Noble Silence, meditation and/or various prayer practices. Our guides are able to offer our clients a full integration of the outer travel and the inner journey - a true pilgrimage experience.

Elvira Clare

Elvira Clare is founder of The Forest of Peace Community, an intentional community based on the principles of contemplation and service. The community draws upon both Eastern and Western spiritual traditions as a support for the spiritual journey. Elvira is a former nun of the Vedanta tradition and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is also a singer and songwriter whose songs are descriptive of the spiritual journey and reflective of the meeting point of music and the contemplative experience. Elvira facilitates workshops and retreats, combining her music with talks on contemplative practice and meditation. Her CD Daybreak in My Soul has received the highest accolades. Swami Chetanananda writes; “Elvira’s devotional songs create a thirst and hunger for God. The mood she creates is contagious and will touch the hearts of all spiritual seekers.”

Doug Conwell

Douglas Conwell is founder of EarthWalk for Health, an organization dedicated to connecting people with the wisdom of the earth. Through EarthWalk, Doug has worked with and learned from many native peoples. He has served as a family therapist and health educator in Santa Fe. Doug is also a founding member of a statewide health agency and has worked as a counselor in the public school system. He leads private retreats throughout the southwest for all age groups.   His writings are found in The Spirit That Wants Me: A New Mexico Anthology, as well as other publications.  Doug brings to Sapira the extraordinary gift of a universal wisdom grounded in his love for the Native traditions.  Doug's spirit radiates and is infectious!

Jan Day Gravel

Jan Day Gravel is the principal consultant of the Janus Development Group, a firm specializing in leadership development for individuals, organizations, and communities. Jan has over fifteen years of experience in helping people enhance and develop their capacity to be better leaders both personally and professionally. Her work in Emergenetics®, how one is born genetically wired with a tendency to think and behave in certain ways, has enabled hundreds of individuals to “lead with their brain in mind.”

A retreat leader, speaker, and consultant, her experiences with not-for-profit organizations, federal agencies, business, industry, and community coalitions provide unique insights into the many challenges faced in rapid change environments. Her own personal experiences in the desert with Sapira have formed her desire to guide people in experiences to reconnect themselves with the sacred within.

Regina Roman

Regina Roman, MBA, is founder and director of Sapira - Journey with Purpose, an organization specializing in journeys and study programs in New Mexico, Ireland and Egypt. She has designed study programs and led pilgrimages on the Native American, Celtic and Desert Traditions. Combining an outward journey with an inward spiritual intent runs deep in her soul. Regina developed and led her first international pilgrimage at age 18. She is a certified practicing Spiritual Director and has presented at international conferences and published on the Art of the Journey. Regina also develops and facilitates retreats and ritual programs for religious, monastic, and leadership organizations. She received her Spiritual Direction certification from the Shalem Institute of Spiritual Formation and has a lay degree in theology from Virginia Theological Seminary. Regina is co-author of Journey with Purpose, a Guided Journal to Discover Your Way.

Gary Sandman

Gary Sandman’s passion has been in the field of natural health care and spiritual growth. He has worked as a consultant to national organizations and is the former founder and director of Integrative Medicine, an educational organization matching the health needs of clients with accredited healers. Gary is currently developing a new technology to help identify an individual’s unique nutritional profile. His own journey led him to study with Rolling Thunder, a traditional Native American medicine man and pursue a study in early Christian spiritual practices. Gary is an active member of his local church serving on its board of Trustees and as a youth leader and educator to teenagers. Gary’s delightful spirit and wisdom of the wellbeing of body and spirit is an immense gift to Sapira and its pilgrim participants.

Dr. Rabia Tawfik

Dr. Rabia Tawfik has specialized in full-service tours and pilgrimages to the Sinai for over 20 years. After earning his medical degree, Dr. Rabia initially left the city of Cairo to spend time in the desert to ponder his future. There, in the silence and stillness, he discerned his life’s purpose, namely, to bring pilgrims to the Sinai Desert so they could experience the power of this magnificent landscape. His intimate knowledge of the land, its people, and their faith traditions has earned him the love and respect of the local people who offer Sapira pilgrims immense hospitality on all our journeys. Dr. Rabia, a Coptic Christian, also affords Sapira unique entry into the ancient monasteries in Wadi Natrun an opportunity to engage in conversation with contemporary Desert Fathers and Mothers. As a gifted teacher and storyteller, Dr. Rabia’s favorite saying is “slowly, slowly.”

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