What does Yoga have over Tahajjud?

Since the last few years the wellness industry has penetrated the lives of everyone in one way or the other.

Everyone is talking about Keto, Self Love, Yoga, Intermittent Fasting and Meditation.

More about Intermittent Fasting later, today I want to talk about Yoga and Meditation. Millennia old practices that actually originated from our region they have definite proven benefits to the health of Individuals.

However, and this post directly addresses Muslims, have you ever considered the actual reasons behind our Salat? We consider them only as obligatory prayers that we perform and mostly as an automatic ritual essential for maintaining our faith. However the actual reason is to forget the world and your surroundings and to give in to the feeling of standing in front of your creator. Now no matter how pious or religious we are, this is often hard to achieve during a working day and that is the reality for most of us. Now this is where Tahajjud comes in.

Tahajjud is a prayer we pray before Fajr and for a long time I have been offering these but unfortunately almost in the same manner as the ones during the day. But since the last couple of years I realized that I need to pay more attention to my Tahajjud prayers and not treat them like my other obligatory prayers because the Tahajjud prayers are not obligatory and that’s what makes them so unique.

So instead of waking up 20 minutes before Fajr I wake up 35 minutes before. Therefore I have a clear 30 minutes for Tahajjud before the morning prayers. Since then I give myself more time now so I offer my prayers with long pauses as they are meant to be offered. With no daytime activity around me, no cell phones or any other thoughts it’s an entirely different experience. The fact that I understand that this is a time for just me and my creator means I can feel the connection very strongly. Also I consciously block off and let go off of all my negative day time energy and thoughts which in turn gives me immense peace. Slowly but surely my Tahajjud prayers have become my time of reflection and connection and allowing the light of my soul to connect with the Divine.

The entire experience surpasses any that you can actually get at a yoga class because when we add God to the experience of meditation it transcends to another level altogether.

And it’s easily achievable. We just need to show up for Tahajjud, have faith in him and Allah will do the rest!