Often, mindfulness, a cornerstone in mental health practices taken from Buddhism, is understood as a state of nirvana or an all-encompassing peace that is only practiced by perhaps the shaoilin monks. In an era of constant distraction and incessant stimuli, it does seem to be an unachievable goal.
But mindfulness can be better understood as a redirection of attention to the present moment when one notices the mind wandering.
Ironically, when scrolling, I came across an Islamic concept that mirrored this concept, Tawbah, often described as repentance but more accurately defined as the act of redirecting your attention to God, to his mercy, to his blessing when you feel like you have strayed from it. It is a repetitive redirection to who you are in the context of who made you.
In a recent counselling session, I found myself telling a client: “You mentioned you were able to process your emotions better when you are sitting at the shrine of Lord Shiva, do you think you could use that space more?”
Often, the concepts of psychological well-being and concepts of faith mirror each other so closely that one could say they are etched on the same side of the coin.
This interconnection is often utilised by different schemes across India, as observed by the Dawa-Dua model (Medicine-Prayer) an intervention conceptualised by the government of Gujarat. It aims to offer to the visitors faith based healing. While these centres have shown promising results, they do suffer from inadequate funding and maintenance. Other faith-based healing centers are documented in Mad in South Asia’s special report.
As a deeply spiritual nation, it is integral that mental health practitioners understand the elements that shape and define the mind of our clients, including the practices that have held them afloat for so long. I’d argue that in its absence, mental health practitioners would risk alienating the clients. A simple conversation with anyone who is not familiar with this field would reveal such sentiments.
As much as this field of psychology is a science-backed field, it is also a field of faith.
In India, therapy is often considered a Western practice, and there is a closely held belief that you do not make a stranger privy to your problems. If the language of therapists mirrored the existing spiritual and religious healers or acknowledged existing practices and incorporated them into their practice, it could reduce the resistance.
Faith often is driven by a need to attain healing, similar to how healing requires substantial faith in the healer, therapists, doctors and the process. People approach counselors and therapists seeking solace and sanctuary. Their commitment to the unsteady journey of healing could be strengthened if it is aligned with their faith, as a collaboration to their existing attempts to heal and survive instead of those attempts being labelled as a bogus.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that each community here needs a healer versed in their way of living. But where does one start?
By the most common scientific practice: Questioning.
Are we willing to question the sources of these practices, which are often Eurocentric and a product of colonial rule?
Are we ready to step away from well documented theories and intervention to explore beyond scientific journals and into the people themself?
One can explore how their own faith approaches healing. And when you have your reservations, as is normal, approach those texts and scriptures with benign curiosity. When I was listening to an islamic psychology introduction by someone conveniently named Dr. Rasheed Skinner, I had to pause before he talked about the definition of trauma because I feared it might get watered down. However he described it as violation of someone’s Fitrah, their natural disposition and mainly their rights, such as the rights of safety a child has on the parents. Which made me stop clutching my pearls. Though I have not gone further in the course, due to nothing but my own procrastination, it continues to run in circles in the back of my head and has currently manifested into this blog write up. I do believe it will guide me into more places and hopefully aid in my attempts at helping my client work towards their healing.
About the author
Ms. Maryam Hameed
I’m Maryam Hameed, an emerging counselling psychologist, and a poet when poetry briefly possess me in rare bouts of inspiration. My work niches are oriented towards Neurodiversity and trauma informed care.
