The Sufi Garden
Institute for the Contemplation of Life and Inner Ecology
Meditate on nature. Inhabit presence. Return to the living.
Our vision
We believe that healing the world begins with healing our way of seeing.
Relearning how to see.
Relearning how to listen.
Relearning how to inhabit.
The Sufi Garden accompanies this rebirth through meditation, contemplation, listening, and direct contact with the forest and its cycles.
A school of breath and silence, where nature becomes a mirror of the soul and a source of knowledge.
Our mission
Cultivating an inner and spiritual ecology.
Through retreats, immersive workshops, study seminars, and educational programs, the Sufi Garden weaves a living dialogue between spiritual wisdom, deep ecology, and meditative practices.
The Institute welcomes adults, youth, and children in a spirit of presence, beauty, responsibility, and gratitude towards all living things.
About
The Sufi Garden is a space for study, contemplation, and meditation rooted in nature.
Born in the heart of the forest, it invites us to rediscover the bond between the human soul and the earth, between breath and sap, between prayer and presence.
Here, nature is not just a backdrop.
It is a teacher.
Every tree, every silence, every breath becomes a verse in the Book of the Living.
Hamdi Ben Aïssa
Our Founder & Visionary
Born on April 15, 1979, Hamdi Ben Aïssa is a teacher, spiritual companion, and community guide. His work weaves a living connection between the legal, social, and spiritual dimensions of human existence.
He began his academic journey in Tunisia, where he obtained a degree in Law and Social Sciences from the University of Tunis in 2002. He then pursued a Master's degree in International Law at Laval University in Quebec, graduating in 2005, before completing a law degree at the University of Ottawa in 2009.
Between 2009 and 2013, Hamdi worked in the field of family law and mediation, supporting families through periods of transition with compassion and legal rigor. In 2013, he joined the Correctional Service of Canada as a chaplain, serving incarcerated individuals until 2017. This experience intensified his commitment to inner transformation and awakened in him a calling to serve beyond institutional structures.
Since 2017, he has dedicated himself full-time to teaching and spiritual guidance within the Rhoda Institute in Ottawa – a space he helped shape as a sanctuary for reflection, healing, and the awakening of human potential. His approach is anchored in Islamic spirituality, universal principles of wisdom, and a particular focus on inner trust, the awakening of the heart, and sacred presence.
Hamdi's spiritual journey intensified starting in 2003, when he began to study and transmit the wisdom of the Sufi tradition. Over the years, he has benefited from meetings and extended training with masters and teachers of the Sufi path – encounters that marked his soul and shaped his art of guidance. His practice combines meditative silence, sacred sounds, Quranic contemplation, and heart-centered presence rooted in prophetic compassion.
In 2022, he founded the Alchemya Institute for Contemplative Studies, an initiative rooted in the Sufi tradition but open to all seekers of truth. The Institute offers a space where ancient wisdom meets the urgencies of the contemporary world: inner healing, coherence, spiritual maturity, and ethical responsibility.
Hamdi's teaching style is both contemplative and embodied. He speaks from lived experience, not from abstract theory. He invites us to slow down, listen deeply, and reconnect with the original Source. His message is a call to radical trust, spiritual integrity, and conscious evolution – an invitation to embrace our common humanity while awakening to our divine origin.
Today, he continues to accompany individuals and communities on their path of reconnection – to themselves, to the Divine, and to the Whole – in a world thirsty for meaning, grounding, and wholeness.
Discover his journey and vision in depth:
