I’ve been suffering from back pain lately but it comes and goes. So I’ve been looking up some stretching exercises and yoga poses to help alleviate what feels like pressure on my lower back. One of the yoga poses I came across is the cat-cow pose. As I was reading the instructions for the stretches, it dawned on me that they were a bit similar to the pose we strike while we’re in sujood. Here are the instructions:

Begin on your hands and knees; shoulders should be directly over your wrists and hips directly over your knees. Inhale and slowly arch your back into cat pose (marjaryasana), lifting the chest up and away from the belly and extending your tailbone toward the ceiling. On the exhale round the back into cow pose (bitilasana), gently contracting the belly, then bring the chest down to rest on the thighs in child’s pose (balasana). Repeat six times, increasing your range of motion.

While I’m not saying that the move is exactly like being in Sujood, it just reminded me that every move we do in Salat can be considered a stretch that increases our range of movement and flexibility.

That’s the beauty of Islam, every aspect of our worship is good for us. Whether it’s due to spiritual benefits, emotional currency, or even our physical health. Five times a day we have the opportunity to not only be thankful to our creator, but to seek forgiveness and mercy as well as get healthy. Which is why it is very important that when we pray, we pray correctly and do our prayer as precisely as possible.

[image source: Stock Xchng]