Postneshin Jelaleddin Loras, spiritual director and president of the Mevlevi Order of America, conducts a Sama ceremony in the ritual hall of his house in the central Anatolian city of Konya January 28, 2012. People who named themselves whirling dervishes or semazen, share the teachings of the 13th century poet and mystic Mevlana, known also as Rumi, and perform Sufi whirling regularly. Sufi whirling is part of a formal ceremony known as Sama, one of the many Sufi ceremonies performed to try to reach religious ecstasy. It has even become a tourist attraction in modern Turkey, while a group people still retain it as part of their religious practice. Picture taken January 28. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: SOCIETY TRAVEL RELIGION)