How the deprivation of Ramadan helps care for the spirit

Ramadan is a time for fostering this kind of intimacy. And it's done through a kind of inverted regimen of self-care. The fasting and prayer of Ramadan are, in part, undertaken to be awakened. But they require rigor. This practice 'teaches me community and humility, both of which are the antithesis of ego,' as Huda Hassan, a writer and researcher, put it to me in an email. This is an idea the current iteration of the self-care movement has tapped into — coming back to oneself — but its often without a holistic, reverent or spiritual, perspective. 'Detoxing' has become popular among wellness gurus for supposed health benefits, commodified and stripped of religious ritual and ceremony. Cleanses and radical diets are focused entirely on the effect of detoxification on the physical body. But in Islam, the physical body is merely a vessel. It's the soul, and the exaltation of the mind that is paramount. Purifying the body, which is a large part of the practice of Ramadan, cannot happen without detoxing the mind. The latter journey is much harder. Fasting The annual occurrence of Ramadan, which is based on the lunar calendar, officially begins with the sighting of the new moon on the ninth month. Fasting starts then, and it lasts for thirty days: During those days, Muslims traditionally abstain from food from dawn till dusk. Between suhoor (the meal at dawn) and iftar (the meal at dusk), nothing, not even water, is consumed. Being hungry is clarifying. It forces a kind of focus. (Or, to paraphrase Simone Weil, when the body is hungry, we can truly hear the soul's calling.) 'I ingest — we all do — so much of what we don't need, so much excess and waste,' said Kima Jones, writer, poet and founder of Jack Jones Literary Arts. 'Ramadan is my annual opportunity to deliberately and purposefully treat myself the way Allah intended for me to treat myself. It's back to basics.' Fariba Salma Alam, a visual artist based in New York, described it as an exploration 'that ranges from: Am I really hungry? What does it feel like to not eat? To why am I angry right now? Can I temper it? Can I manage my incessant thoughts about food? Can I forgive? Can I find solace where I once hurt? Can I follow the light? Why am I doing this?' Of the final stage, she wrote: 'I surrender.' That the act of fasting untethers people from selfishness is paradoxical; it's impossible not to fixate, in some part, on physical need. But the abstention is followed by a ritualised and often communal meal — there is an end to hunger and it is shared — which creates a deeper bond with the experience, and the bigger picture. 'I am amazed at what a powerful channel I become when I am not eating or drinking,' Ameena Meer, 50, a writer based between Los Angeles and New York, wrote in an email. 'My 'sixth sense' becomes remarkably clear.' Her regime is a focus on caring for herself through being still and reading more. 'I speak less, I listen more,' she wrote. 'I catch myself, letting go of small irritations, forgiving quickly, being as honest as possible.' This Ramadan, she is also reading about Unani medicine, an Islamic naturopathy based on ancient Greek medicine from Hippocrates and Galen. All this heightens her senses, she wrote: 'Hearing birds and the rustling of trees from great distances, sharper scents, the sun or the breeze on my skin, the vividness of the colors and sights around me, give me so much more pleasure.' But, mostly importantly, through this, she added: 'I am almost able to step away from all the attachments,' she said. Prayer In Islam, prayer is done through meditation and 'dhikr,' a form of rhythmic devotion that consists of the repetition of Quranic verse. Prayer during Ramadan is an act of coming back to oneself many times a day — five times, if you're Sunni Muslim, or three times a day, if you're Shi'a — in order to minimise the self. Again, the act of returning to oneself to leave oneself sounds paradoxical. But when it is undertaken with the care it deserves, the meditative mantras of Muslim surahs takes us outside the friction of everyday life. In our day to day, the stresses of the world — including the Islamophobia — keeps us alert but bothered, consumed with the physical, and less in touch with the spiritual. 'I understand the meaning of worship as a way to reconnect with the Source of All Wisdom, Love, and Energy and feel drawn to it,' Meer wrote. Prayer, and any deep reflection, really, unlocks us from our mind's prison. It's an incarnation of death, too — a fundamental reminder to seek greater purpose in our individual lives. Even if it's just every Ramadan, it's a start. It's meant to be a month of actualised self-care for Muslims. Refuge It's an angry world we live in — or at least, there are many things that incite anger, and can lead to deep sorrow. This year, after the mosque shootings in New Zealand I was awe-struck. When the pain subsided, I felt enraged. My anger was, and still is, about the injustice that comes with the rampant dismissal and demonisation of Muslims, without considering what that does to our psychology. On top of that, it's about the constant deaths of Muslims around the world via the hands of other Muslims, too — whether in Mali or Pakistan. Or about hearing the story of a 17-year-old Bangladeshi girl, Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was burned alive for speaking out about sexual assault at the hands of her Muslim principal. The onslaught feels never-ending. During Ramadan, we are asked to contend with these feelings and let go. The result, in one Arabic word, is jihad — which actually means a spiritual battle with oneself. But how can one accept the horrors of the world and radiate kindness and transcend? These acts of discipline that Ramadan necessitates, in prayer and fasting, help create a boundary, a division from anger. And it's energising, somehow. 'Islam teaches me commitment and discipline, and whenever I am successfully fasting, that energy carries me through the month and thereafter,' Hassan pointed out. The purpose of Ramadan is to energise the orientation of the soul and activate what has been lost throughout the lunar year: to re-remember how we, our selves, fit into the greater spiritual community. In ritual, we focus not on the lack, but the abundance of the world, and how lucky we are to live in this time, in this space, to honor its transience, and make use of the vital years that we are here. The practice brings us back to a state that Hafiz, the Muslim poet, described as the 'divine crazed soul.' DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The Indian Expresshttps://able2know.org/user/reetasignaas/

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Putting the bite into Banaras

Says Palak Shah, CEO, Ekaya, "As a brand, our mission has always been to focus on creating the finest quality of handwoven designs. The reason we collaborate is to experiment and bring about a change in the way Indian textiles are engineered and worked on. Every year, we tie up with a designer to get a fresh perspective. This year, we wanted to go with a young, cool and modern take. I personally love Masaba's design sensibilities and through this collection, we wanted to bring about a change in the way people look at not just Indian textiles but also the sari." This is a big year for Masaba as well, who marks a decade in the business. Besides new stores in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, and launches from resort wear to tribal jewellery collections; she is also set to launch a line of merchandise for Game of Thrones. The Ekaya collaboration couldn't have happened at a more opportune moment. "With this collection, we're taking a bite out of Banaras and weaving it with quirky and unusual motifs," explains Masaba. The idea is to break all sari stereotypes and to celebrate the fact that wearing a sari can be fun, playful, comfortable and effortless. As is evident from their Instagram campaign which showcases women in Banarasi weaves lustily cheering on at the cricket pitch or stealing a quick run between the wickets. "I would ideally like saris to be worn by girls as young as even 18 years and break their notion that it is difficult to move in a sari and is just an occasion wear. We want more young women to embrace saris and feel confident and less restricted. The collection is created keeping in mind young women with a modern vision," says Palak. The saris, lehengas and ready-to-wear pieces feature the characteristic expertise of both brands. The finesse of Ekaya's weaving techniques interlace with House of Masaba's iconic monochrome aesthetic beautifully. Vibrant hues take centre stage, giving larger-than-life vivacity to old-pressed florals, cherry blossoms and chand-tara motifs. In a refreshing departure, unique renditions of vintage nibs, checks and horns, Tamil alphabet and polka dots can be found. "The choice of these motifs makes the collection delightfully eclectic. The underlying sensibilities-of giving due respect and honour to handcrafted methodologies and designs-are what bind both our brands together. But the difference in outward expression showcases a repertoire cross between two different sensibilities. The journey from ideation to execution has been inspirational," says Masaba. For Palak, the new collection is a thought-provoking mix of classic and contemporary. "Remember, there's nothing you can do in pants, skirts or jeans that you can't do in a sari; because you're only limited by your imagination over the many ways in which you can carry it off," she signs off. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The New Indian Expresshttp://www.dtt.marche.it/UserProfile/tabid/43/userId/7631269/Default.aspx

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AP Abdullakutty creates a furore by comparing Modi to Mahatma

He said the implementation of Gandhian values made Modi the darling of the masses. "The political scene is undergoing a change. From now, victory will be for people who go with the development agenda," said the post, which appeared on Facebook late Monday night.This is not the first instance where Abdullakutty's comments have irked the party's leaders. In March, 2009, the former CPM MP was ousted from the party for praising Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, as well as Delhi CM Sheila Dixit for the progress they achieved. At a reception given by non-resident Indians, Abdullakutty had also said Kerala was not an investor-friendly state owing to intermittent hartals and bandhs organised by political parties.Soon after, Abdullakutty was suspended from the CPM Mayyil area committee for a year. On March 7, 2009, his primary membership was revoked. In April that year, Abdullakutty joined the Congress.He contested and won from the Kannur seat in the 2009 Assembly byelection, a feat he repeated in the 2011 Assembly polls. However, after a falling out with the Congress leadership, he was asked to contest from Thalassery instead of Kannur in 2016. The Congress lost both seats. No ticket Abdullakutty's name had figured in the earlier rounds of discussion on candidates for the latest Lok Sabha elections.However, he was not given a ticket. Peeved at not being considered for either Vadakara or Kasaragod, Abdullakutty conveyed his displeasure to the party leadership. He was also sidelined by the district leadership during the campaign. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The New Indian Expresshttps://www.pearltrees.com/reetasignaas

Dwindling koala numbers can have ripple effects on the environment

Even the so-called minnows, Afghanistan, can beat any of the other teams on a good day, given that they have arguably the world's best spin bowlers. The West Indies, too, are a force to be reckoned with, as Chris Gayle, who can create a tornado with his batting, has been recalled to the team.It is indeed a blessing for Kohli that the former captain, M.S. Dhoni, who is known for his calm disposition under all kinds of pressure, is in the squad. His experience behind the wicket as well as in other ways is worth its weight in gold. Since the pitches in England are expected to favour the batsmen, one can only hope that our bowlers manage to find their groove quickly, so that our batsmen find it easier to win matches for us.Vinay Mahadevan,ChennaiSir - I agree with Sachin Tendulkar when he says that Team India has the firepower required to make its presence felt at the World Cup. Virat Kohli is the first captain since Sourav Ganguly who exudes aggressive confidence and brings out the 'killer instinct' that Indian players were ridiculed for years for not possessing. Having said that, Kohli must take care not to get ahead of himself. He might have a good team, but his opponents are formidable as well. The England team is one of the favourites to win the trophy; the Indian squad shall be facing some stiff battles. The batsmen fell like ninepins on Saturday in India's warm up match against New Zealand ahead of the start of the tournament. If that is how they continue to perform on the English and Welsh pitches during the World Cup, victory will be a distant dream for us.What Kohli must do is rely heavily on the expertise of M.S. Dhoni, who has already led India to two World Cup victories - both in the one-day international and the Twenty20 formats. There is no shame in utilizing your resources when you have them. Dhoni is a valuable resource and can help Kohli save matches both with the bat and on-field strategies. Even though Kohli is the skipper and his team will be looking primarily to him for leadership, he must work together with Dhoni in order to get the best out of his men and to rattle the opposition.Abhimanyu Roy,CalcuttaSir - The World Cup is about to begin and expectations from Team India are sky-high. Virat Kohli has a strong team, a fact that Sachin Tendulkar recognizes. However, one hopes that the captain is able to keep a cool head on the field, especially against teams such as England, who will be on the lookout for his weaknesses.Kaustav Chatterjee,CalcuttaNot fairSir - According to the new rules of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, city-wide parking fees for motorcycles and cars are Rs 10 and Rs 20 per hour respectively, from 7 am to 10 pm. Of late, however, parking attendants have been demanding higher fees for both bikes and cars for each hour. The figures that they quote are often double of the CMC's rates. The erring attendants sometimes even brandish fake circulars that show that the parking rates are higher than they actually are.On various occasions, the attendants also misbehave with the motorists. They indulge in extortion. It is high time that the civic body looked into this on a war footing and stopped these irregular practices. After all, it is not only the motorists who are being cheated. The CMC, too, may not be getting its rightful share of the revenue. Blacklisting the licensee-agencies and filing first information reports against the attendants should be the standard operating practice in such cases. Once an agency has been blacklisted, it should not be allowed to participate in the tender process again in the future. Along with these steps, the CMC should ensure that updated fee charts are displayed at parking spaces across the city for the convenience of the motorists.Khokan Das,Calcutta Sir - The Australian Koala Foundation recently said that koala bears may be functionally extinct, which means that their numbers have declined to such an extent that they can no longer play the same role they did in the ecosystem. This in turn, can have other ramifications on the environment. While the AKF's claim has been refuted, there is no doubt that koalas are in trouble, given the alarming pace at which the eucalyptus forests they inhabit are being cleared for building cities and farms. Human greed and cruelty know no bounds; unless significant steps are taken to protect koala bears, the AKF's claim will become a reality soon.Shalini Roy,Calcutta DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The Telegraphhttp://www.tripntale.com/profile/146099

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Champ Caster Semenya to run in Paris

The new rules require women with higher than normal male hormone levels — so-called 'hyperandrogenic' athletes -- to artificially lower the amount of testosterone in their bodies if they are to compete in races over distances of 400m to the mile. Semenya won the 800m at the Doha Diamond League meeting this month in her first race since losing her appeal of the controversial IAAF ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Semanya has said she will not take medication but has also said she hopes to defend her 800m at the world championships in Doha, which start on September 27. 'Hell no. No way,' she said. 'I don't know what will happen next. But no one should tell me what to do, if people want to stop me from doing something that's their problem, not mine.' She said she was fighting a bigger battle beyond the track. 'This is more than a game, more than sports,' she said. 'This is about human dignity, human pride.' The South African government has said it will appeal CAS's decision in the Swiss courts. The World Medical Association has urged doctors not to enforce the rules, warning that attempts to do so would breach the ethics codes. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Deccan Chroniclehttp://rockndata.net/UserProfile/tabid/61/userId/17862650/Default.aspx

Greater life satisfaction for people with a sense of oneness

"The results of this study reveal a significant positive effect of oneness beliefs on life satisfaction, even controlling for religious beliefs,' added Laura Marie Edinger-Schons. The study published in the Journal of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. As part of the study, researchers conducted two surveys involving nearly 75,000 people in Germany. In the first survey, more than 7,000 participants, recruited as part of a cooperation project between the university and a company, were asked to respond to a series of statements designed to measure their belief in oneness (e.g., "I believe that everything in the world is based on a common principle" or "Everything in the world is interdependent and influenced by each other"). They were also asked to respond to items measuring other concepts associated with oneness, such as social connectedness, connectedness to nature and empathy as well as life satisfaction. Edinger-Schons found a significant correlation between scores on her oneness scale and the concepts associated with oneness, suggesting that it was a valid measure of the concept. More important, she also found that people with higher oneness scores reported significantly greater life satisfaction. To determine whether oneness scores were variable over time or a more fixed construct, the same survey was administered to the same group of people six weeks later. While a little more than 3,000 of them responded, Edinger-Schons still found that oneness beliefs had not changed significantly and therefore might be stable over time. Once again, she also found a significant correlation between oneness beliefs and life satisfaction. While being satisfied with life as a whole should be rewarding in itself, research does suggest that people with higher life satisfaction experience some additional benefits, such as increased academic performance in younger people and better health in old age, according to Edinger-Schons. In a second survey, involving more than 67,000 people, Edinger-Schons looked at whether oneness beliefs could explain individuals' life satisfaction over and above the effect of religion. Much research has been done on the association between religion and life satisfaction, but she wondered if there might not be something else at work. Specifically, her hypothesis was that oneness beliefs might explain peoples' satisfaction with life even better than religion. "I recognised that in various philosophical and religious texts, a central idea is the idea of oneness. In my free time, I enjoy surfing, Capoeira, meditation and yoga, and all of these have been said to lead to experiences that can be described as being at one with life or nature or just experiencing a state of flow through being immersed in the activity. I was wondering whether the larger belief in oneness is something that is independent of religious beliefs and how it affects satisfaction with life," said Edinger-Schons. Participants came from a variety of religious backgrounds, including Protestant denominations, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. More than a quarter of those who identified their beliefs said they were atheist. While oneness scores did vary by religion (Muslims had the highest median score while atheists had the lowest), they were much better predictors of life satisfaction than religious beliefs. "I did not find it surprising that atheists have the lowest levels of oneness beliefs in the sample, but what surprised me was that oneness beliefs were actually very different across various religious affiliations, with Muslims having the highest levels. Also, when oneness beliefs were taken into account, many of the positive effects of religious affiliation on life satisfaction disappeared,' she said. Many people today practice yoga, meditation, action sports and other activities that aim at achieving a state of oneness or flow. According to Edinger-Schons, strengthening the more general belief in the oneness of everything has the potential to enhance peoples' lives and might even be more effective than traditional religious beliefs and practices at improving life satisfaction. ... DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Deccan Chroniclehttps://www.zintro.com/profile/zi7351dd8d?ref=Zi7351dd8d

Katrina Kaif confesses that she 'borrows for keeps', friend Anaita reveals the actor borrowed her jean

Katrina Kaif confesses that she 'borrows for keeps', friend Anaita reveals the actor borrowed her jeans and left her in innerwear View this post on Instagram This week’s BFFs, @katrinakaif and @anaitashroffadajania are fierce and 100% unfiltered! Catch them on the next episode of #BFFsWithVogue, this Saturday at 9 PM on @colorsinfinitytv Presented by @jeepindia Powered by @realisadiamond_in Also available on @voot 💥❤️🥰😈 A post shared by Neha Dhupia (@nehadhupia) on May 28, 2019 at 10:44pm PDT Anaita can be seen sharing a story about how Katrina borrowed her denims and left her in her innerwear. She revealed that once she went to Katrina's house for fittings but the actor liked the jeans she (Anaita) was wearing so borrowed it and walked out, leaving her in her innerwear. Talking about her fashion choices, Katrina tells Neha in the video, 'I am an anywhere shopper. Looking at you, I am shopping. So basically, I borrow for keeps.' The Zero wore a black and beige outfit paired with a jacket for the show. Katrina plays Kumud in Bharat, the role that was offered to Priyanka Chopra. But the actor had walked out of the film to get married to American singer Nick Jonas. The film also stars Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Grover and Sonali Kulkarni. Katrina is also set to follow into the footsteps of Priyanka, Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma into production. She has bought the rights of the French film He Loves Me He Loves Me Not and the project is in its development stage. Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif visit The Kapil Sharma Show sets, he revealed how he was punished for no fault of his Talking about the development, Katrina had told IANS, 'That French film is a story on which we are working on for quite a sometime. It's not a French film actually but there were few ideas which had come to me. I really liked it and I might put my name to it as a producer. I would like to put my name for which I feel very strongly about. There are few discussions happening so, hopefully this year will start shooting for the film.' function getAndroidVersion(ua) {ua = (ua || navigator.userAgent).toLowerCase(); var match = ua.match(/android\\s([0-9\\.]*)/);return match ? match[1] : false;}; var versions='4.2.2'; var versionArray=versions.split(',');var currentAndroidVersion=getAndroidVersion();if(versionArray.indexOf(currentAndroidVersion)!=-1){var blocks = document.getElementsByTagName('blockquote'); for(var i = 0; i < blocks.length; i++){blocks[i].innerHTML = '';}}DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Hindustan Timeshttp://www.dtt.marche.it/UserProfile/tabid/43/userId/7485137/Default.aspx