Salat, the ultimate mind-body connection
My goal in life is to be a balanced and stable individual. To live in constant recognition of my state of being. How my body and emotions feel and why, being able to regulate my emotions and extending empathy to the people around me – physically and online.
In my Trauma Healing trainings, I learned about the power of awareness, 3 minutes of silence in meditation. “Breathe in, feel the air pass through your nostrils, your throat. Into your lungs as your chest opens up to welcome the air. Now, breathe out slowly, feel your chest go back to its original state. Feel your lungs as they become empty. Feel the air leave your throat through your nostrils.” I feel good, I feel thankful that I can breathe, I can feel all of these sensations, I can hear the birds outside and an overwhelming emotion of gratitude takes over me. My body is doing its thing.
My body also does its thing when I pray, it moves into different postures and remains in each one until my joints feel relaxed in that position.
Breathing as I move, my body is in harmony with my thoughts and the verses of the Qur’an being recited. I call it an ultimate mind-body connection. Being able to do that 5 times a day is having 5 opportunities to center and realign myself from all the worldly distractions.
Salat leads me to not just show up, but also pay attention to the present moment. I am staying present, relaxing into each posture.
Was I The Only One Who Felt This Way?
Curiosity led me to ask the women in Ruky’s Emeralds WhatsApp group if they made connections between salat and awareness/meditation. It is a community of Muslim women created for the sole purpose of sadaqah. We make contributions to assist the lives of people in need in our immediate environments.
My text read: Assalamu alaikum ladies, has any of you ever thought of prayer as a form of meditation? I would love to hear your thoughts. Responses matched my existing feelings: “yes, especially dhikr” “For me, it is reading the Qur’an” “Quran, during fajr”. And how do they feel? “There is calmness one feels, positive vibes” “istigfar, I find it really calming”.
Even though one person mentioned not being aware of it as a form of meditation. She recently decided to drop yoga and pick-up Dhikr (for personal reasons) because in her words “it actually calms me”. I received one response in the form of a voice note “tahajjud prayer relaxes me especially when I am making dua in Sujood. I pray thinking that Allah is on a throne in front of me. And this calmness that comes with one tahajjud prayer usually lasts me a week”.
Science has also demonstrated that salat influences the human mind and body in a positive way. According to this research, during salat, our minds and bodies are in a balanced condition. There are experiences of an increase in relaxation, reduced tension and sustained focus. The activities of the brain during salat are same as what is seen in a person who is in meditation.
But not just in salat do I practice this awareness.
To be Muslim is to be in constant awareness of the presence and oneness of Allah and knowing that Allah is aware of me inwardly and outwardly. An awareness of myself and my roles in my relationship with Allah in my mind, body, heart and through my actions.
*Salat: Islamic prayer *Tahajjud: Voluntary night prayer *Dhikr: An Islamic act of repeating phrases/words of prayer *Fajr: Dawn (prayer) *Istighfar: Prayer for seeking forgiveness
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