( InsyaAllah, sedikit masa lagi edisi International Buku BioMekanik Solat akan diterbitkan selepas setahun edisi B.Malaysia dan di ikuti edisi Indonesia, moga tersebar ke dunia global )
..........sebahagian petikan ( PART 4 )
The Bio-mechanics of Solah is a Therapeutic Method
The Health and Spiritual Effects of Solah
Let us compare the different alternative practices such as Yoga, meditation, Rieki, Tai Chi, Qi Kung et cetera, these practices take a longer time to perform when compared with one session of Solah.
If you are interested in their testimonials, you are welcome to visit the many websites on the internet. There are even practices which have been deeply studied and have had a journal published in the world of modern technology.
Compare Solah, which takes only 8-10 minutes, to these alternative practices which takes around 30 minutes to an hour per session.
Will the Solah that we perform everyday effect our health directly?
We are all informed that the Solah performed by the Prophet PBUH himself, especially the voluntary prayers gave him swollen feet, and many reports have noted that the Prophet’s companions stood for long periods of time without moving.
There have also been sayings that the learned men (tabiin) could read chapters of the Quran during the night prayers. They were engrossed in their Solah. The quality and quantity of their religious acts far outweighs ours. Adding that, even when our prayers are short, we still pray absentmindedly.
It is in full confidence that I state given the quality of Solah performed by the Prophet PBUH, his companions and the tabiin, truly affected their health, more so than the effects of those alternative practitioners. Additionally, Solah definitely affected their soul.
Surely with a focused mind, orderly breathing, focused eyes, ears, imagination and lengthened movement in every manner of Solah such as a lengthened standing, bowing, and prostrating positions will create a physical and spiritual therapeutic effect. Voluntary tasbih prayers can be performed in between normal voluntary prayers whereby the bowing and prostrating positions are held for a long time.
PRIMARY EFFECTS WHEN KHUSYUK
1. Regrets for the previous prayers which were done absentmindedly.
2. Feels closer to Allah SWT
3. Eagerly awaits the next obligatory Solah
4. Performs many prayers and attempt to maintain one’s hidayah and khusyuk
Bio-mechanic Solah Techniques as Therapy
1. The Therapeutic Bio-mechanical Technique of Mental and Emotional Stability
If a comparison were to be made between the said alternative practices that claims to vanish symptoms of migraine, sadness, panic, depression or unidentified headaches, the stability technique and the mind-emotion maintenance coupled with the blessings of prayers for one’s health would surely provide a greater effect for the physical body.
The du’a recited during the sitting position between the two prostrating position is translated as such
“My God, forgive me, bless me, complete me, elevate me to a better degree… provide me with guidance, give me good health, and forgive me”
As discussed before, people who are truly khusyuk are those who use both sides of their brain. Meanwhile, we ‘activate’ the left brain when managing daily routines. This means that the people who are khusyuk optimize the use of their brain.
You would all agree, and even motivational experts believe that constantly using the word focus and prioritizing is the basis for a successful career. The author would not want to explain any further. You should know more on this topic.
Among the main keys is finding the right mood, focusing more, doing it CONSCIOUSLY and being AWARE. All of these methods exists in Solah, but can ONLY be found in those who plan to be khusyuk.
After being consistent with the 17 or more rakaahs every day and have mastered khusyuk, we should be able to focus easily in our daily lives, because we have trained continuously without any break every single day.
We essentially do not have a choice other than to perform our Solah, whilst those other alternative practitioners can choose to not perform any Islamic conduct.
Many have failed in the industry that they are in, not because they made the wrong choice, but because they lack the focus in managing it. This includes the management of the Muslim missionaries, leaders, students and entrepreneurs.
There are certain great individuals who maintain their mission and vision but keep losing focus in the execution. They do not prioritize and have too many ambitions. They end up nowhere, not growing or failing tremendously.
We should practice our focusing ability in our Solah. Insyaallah, we will be blessed with the ability to focus in other aspects of our life.
2. The Therapeutic Bio-mechanic Breathing Method.
Many of us are aware that when we want to calm our anger, anxiety and stress we are advised to repeatedly inhale deep and slowly exhale. Normally, this technique can more or less calm the nerves. This is the physiological theory. The author does not intend to discuss in detail as it includes biological knowledge that can be hard to understand.
The ability to hold our breaths differ for each person. On average, an adult can hold his breath for 15-30 seconds.
With proper breathing techniques or if they are active in sports, this breath holding ability can be improved.
It has been said that there are divers who can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes without any breathing apparatus even when they are not previous athletes nor do they know how to swim or even like to play at sea.
There are many methods introduced concerning breathing control methods; even the Sufis and Quran experts (qari) have their own tactics. This include those that the alternative practitioners stated previously; to each their own techniques.
There are many volumes on book stands everywhere written on the breathing techniques; not including those articles online.
In sports science, there are equipments that can measure the capacity and the ability of an athlete’s inhalation. They can also run blood tests to measure the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in their blood.
People who can hold their breath longer are those whose oxygen has succeeded in entering every part of their lungs even down the base of the lungs compared to those who are unable to hold their breath for a long period of time, whereby the oxygen only enters the upper part of the lungs.
To test your breath holding ability, it is suggested that you read the Quran slowly or rhythmically and try to lengthen your pronunciation of the ayahs. With this breathing exercise and the repeated recitation of the same ayah with a uniformed beat, you will feel the difference and your breathing will improve.
A research was done on a group of students in a research centre in Moscow, Russia whereby the bright students were found to be able to hold their breath longer compared to the less bright students. This was related to the physiology of the oxygen capacity that is inhaled and flowed to the brain through the bloodstream.
Could it be that the Quran memorizers (hafiz) are brighter than normal students! This is because they indirectly get used to holding their breath during the recitations of long ayahs.
In the sports arena, the ability to hold one’s breath is, of course, vital for their stamina. They have been trained with various techniques and the quality of their lungs is constantly tested.
Those of us who know how to swim tend to wear out easily, not because our bodies can not bear the effort, but because we have short breaths. Similar to a Qari, a deep breath will assist them in reciting the Quran melodiously.
The conclusion of all the examples given above is breathing can be used to calm anxiety and compose oneself. Plus, the breathing ability can be improved.
Before each Solah, our mind set should be focused and we should be in a state of relaxation. This method of breathing technique will provide more tranquility and you will be more khusyuk.
Recite slowly and clearly. The main key is to inhale at the right places.
Be confident that your Solah will increase your ability to hold your breath longer and to increase the capacity of your lungs. Athletes on a break from practice are advised to practice inhaling and holding their breaths.
However, which type of Solah will increase your breath holding ability and provide maximum relaxation? Is it the type that lasts for 45 minutes for each Solah? Where as the alternative practices call for a long period of time just for the breathing technique.
3. The Therapeutic Bio-mechanic Recitation Technique
The ability for someone to speak and preach differs for everyone. Some people are naturally fast talkers that they are incomprehensible. There are those who talk too slow that it becomes a chore to understand the message that they are trying to send. There are also those who have a naturally loud, deafening or high-pitched voice.
The vocal melody also differs. There are those who have beautiful voices, and, no fewer are those whose voice can burst an eardrum. Similarly, there are people who use their voice for sinful activities under the name of entertainment.
The manner of speech can portray a person’s personality and the contents of his speech can illustrate a person’s knowledge.
When we recite during our Solah in an orderly and slow manner we are actually practicing our self to speak calmly and clearly. We are actually communicating with Allah SWT.
Reciting the ayahs so that it only reaches your ear is also a skill. This technique needs aptitude and precision. Many of us are unaware if our voice gets a bit too loud and can be heard not just by the person standing next to you, but a couple of people down the row. We can even disturb our ‘neighbors’ in our Solah. When we are looking for rewards we may also be sinning.
4. The Therapeutic Bio-mechanic Eye Concentration Technique.
The effects to our eyes have been discussed previously. There have been successful eye treatments for near sightedness even before the World War II, known as the Bate Technique. Nowadays there are even eye exercises to treat near sightedness. As discussed before, constantly focusing at the sujud area is a similar exercise. The difference is the period of time for the exercise is longer than staring at the sujud point. So, can keeping your eyes on the sujud point affect your visual health? The answer is how was the Solah? It should be the one with a lengthened prostrating position.
The eye exercises will certainly help. The author, who previously wore glasses for almost 20 years (since the age of 13) has not worn them ever since the year 1996. Five other siblings of the author still wear glasses. Other than the technique of focusing on the sujud point, one should also practice looking at green trees. Besides putting in great effort to read and drive at night without glasses, though still blurry, the author also worked at holding off the pain coming from the throbbing headaches. During that time the lens power for both eyes were quite high, at 2.5 diopter.
May the sujud-point-focusing-technique help the author to maintain and improve the vision till death, amen ya rabbalalamin. Be certain that the bio-mechanic focusing technique is also a therapy for the eyes.
From a spiritual point of view, when we are constantly focused and humbled during Solah, we should be more focused in seeing only good things outside of our Solah. The focusing during Solah can reduce our field of vision.
Similarly, outside of our Solah, we should reduce our field of vision. Control our eyes from seeing anything negative. During our Solah our focus is on one focal point. Hence, learn to focus on only one thing outside of Solah and try not to focus on too many things.
As a simple example, if we are looking for only two things in a shopping market, once we have found it, do not browse around or peruse any unnecessary items.
In other words, do not waste your time window shopping, as the womenfolk like to do, or ogle women for the few men who do. As soon as you get what you need, go home. There are many beneficial tasks to do and not enough time to do them. Do not waste your time on pointless matters.
The intuition, also known as the third eye or the instinct is said to be the sixth sense. Every individual will have their own experience concerning instincts.
Among the Sufis, it is known as qashaf or in modern terms, psychic. It happened once to Saydina Umar; while he was giving a khutbah in a mosque, he suddenly cried out “There’s an army beyond the hills!!” Obviously the vision of his third eye was real.
Those who are absentminded in their prayer, will they be able to attain a great instinct? There are many books related to the Sufis that discusses this topic.
5. The Therapeutic Bio-mechanic Listening Technique.
Our ears are affected when we concentrate on what we recite. The technique to recite quietly that only our ears hear what we say will, obviously, make our hearing more sensitive towards sounds that are low in frequency. This technique will be more efficient if done in the voluntary tasbih prayer.
There is a hearing treatment centre in California, USA that treats deaf people using the method of diverse type of sounds and frequencies. The result is amazing! The people who previously have hearing problems can hear well even though they had to go through a lengthy remedial sessions. They were as finely tuned as a baby listening to Surah Yusuf that was read to him when he was a couple of months old.
By practicing to fully focus on our own recitation and the imam’s recitation, one of the effects would be when we read the Quran; we will automatically try to listen to the recited ayahs of our own or somebody else’s. This is called a reflex and this knowledge exists in the human physiology.
Be confident that, with the effort of listening to our own or the imam’s recitation during Solah, our ears will be sensitive to the words of the Quran, to prayers, to wirid and to all virtuous matters outside of Solah.
6. The Therapeutic Bio-mechanic Body Movement Technique.
Actually, if we only do stretches without any exercises, the effects on our health will be minimal. For the public, the main objective of exercise is to increase the heart rate.
With exercise, the heart will beat faster than normal; meaning that more blood will be pumped to the muscles, joints and organs, including more blood supply to the heart itself.
During Solah, even though the stretches are done correctly as discussed earlier, only some areas of muscles will be stretched. What more if the stretches are done in mere seconds. It is similar with joint movements which mostly consists of extended (moved forward) movements or flexed (folded) movements. There are no circular movements, left and right movements, nor are there any repetitions.
Is there no direct muscle and joints effect during Solah? The answer is there is effect on the condition that the standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting positions are held for a longer time. We can do them during Solah repeatedly at one time.
As written previously, the position of the head facing downwards is the hardest position in Yoga. We, on the other hand, press our head to the ground 17 times a day. Physiologically, blood will flow to all parts of the brain and the position of our heart is lower than gravity.
Spiritually, the author has invited the reader to think of the need for the mannerisms in Solah instead of only standing erect throughout the Solah, like the prayer for the dead. You may interpret it as humans degrading the most valuable part of the body, the head, by bowing in the ruku’ position and bowing even lower so that the head touches the ground in prostration. It does not matter what position a person holds, Allah asks for every forehead to touch the ground. Every human being is equal in the side of Allah SWT, other than those who are high in taqwa and are close to Him.
Taking from psychological motivational terms, the emotional quotient, mental quotient, imagination quotient, visual quotient, verbal quotient, hearing quotient movement quotient and spiritual quotient can be elevated if we are khusyuk.
