 So, as we get started, I just wanted to check in, how are you all today? I'm hearing some Alhamdulillah's, I'm hearing some good. You know, one of the things that I think helps us connect to any talk or any sort of presentation is understanding why am I here today? What's my intention? And it's always important to remember, our intention is what determines the outcome of any sort of action, right? And Allah's mercy is with us. And His Rahmah, it encompasses us. And with any good intention that we have, that can be a source of reward. So you're just sitting here today on a rainy Saturday afternoon. This can be a source of blessing and Rahmah for you, insha'Allah. So, you know, I just want to start off with the fact that there's something really beautiful and pure about waiting for Ramadan. There's something very sincere about all of us driving in any way we can to connect with Allah and Ramadan. We all are coming from diverse backgrounds. We may be a student, we may be a professional, we may be a parent, we may be struggling in different ways. And to be in this state of longing for Allah, it is one of the most beautiful times of the year to be waiting for that. So I thank you for being here. And today, I want you to start off, and I will start too, with setting an intention for what do you want to get out of today? And what do you want to get out of Ramadan? A lot of us, we go into Ramadan thinking, okay, I need to check off all of these things in my checklist. I'm going to do all of these prayers in the car. I'm going to, you know, donate this much, right? We have this list and come towards the month of Ramadan with a very structured approach, which I'm not saying is wrong by any means. I think today my hope is to instill, like what is the spirit of Ramadan as well, and how can we each take it in terms of a very personalized approach for where we are at with our mental health, with our capabilities right now, with our schedules, because we all have different schedules and needs. So ask yourself today, what is one thing you'd like to take away from this workshop? Maybe think about it. And I also invite discussion during this workshop, and I hope you'll share if you feel comfortable. So can anyone raise their hand and share what's one thing you would like to take away today? Or why did you decide to come today? And I know I can share a little. That's a beautiful summary, soul searching. I think when you get to know more about your faith, you get to know more about yourself. And I think it's a bidirectional relationship. The more you learn about Islam, you also learn more about yourself. And how am I doing? How are these habits going? How am I able to do more? And that sort of thing. And you're right. The nafs is a very, very big topic in Ramadan, right? How do we learn about our nafs and then control our nafs more in Ramadan? Yeah, yes. Jazak'Allah Khair. And thank you so much for your honesty there. So many of us, we jump into Ramadan without the proper preparation. We don't, for example, know, hey, how am I going to adjust to waking up this early and then doing all of these things throughout the day? And there's a spiritual component of how am I doing with my connection with Allah? Sometimes you also have judgments about where we might be at and some of us may feel that Ramadan, pre-Ramadan anxiety, like, oh my gosh, I have all this stuff to do. Am I ready for it? Or we may come into Ramadan with a sense of guilt or shame. Maybe we're not exactly where we want to be spiritually. And then those emotional aspects of our psyche, right, which we all have, they may interfere with our process of connecting with Allah in Ramadan. So I'm hoping today to just bring awareness to some of those topics so that we can maximize our Ramadan and our worship, inshallah. So thank you all for being here and hope we get some participation from brothers down the road too today. So the outline for today, it's a bit ambitious, but we'll try to get through it with quality, not going through it quickly. I'm hoping it'll be, you know, substantive. So the first is taking care of our mental health without burning out. A lot of us go into Ramadan a few days into it. We're already tired. It's so natural. It's a tiring experience. I think that's part of the Ibadah too. Waking up early, going to sleep late. We're really maximizing our potential every single day with the output we're doing. But then how do we sustain that with a sense of connection with Allah and not being too hard on ourselves either? So that's the first topic. The second is using psychological tools that we have through the science of psychology, through also what we know from Islam to maximize our Ramadan experience. And like I said, I want this to be a discussion. I want to hear your questions, inshallah. So please, you know, engage, ask questions. And I'll leave some time and some of the slides to pause and reflect. So if you have a notebook, you have paper, please feel free to jot down a few notes for yourself. For example, I'll ask you, hey, what's one of your intentions for Ramadan this year? Or what is a judgment you might have about yourself as you go into Ramadan so that you can be aware of it and kind of work on that, inshallah, so that when Ramadan arrives, we are a bit more ready to be a part of the beautiful experience of Ramadan. I want to give a disclaimer. This workshop cannot be a replacement for treatment, support that you may need for mental health challenges or for your specific circumstance. So I want to clarify that that would require more one-on-one, you know, with a medical professional or a psychologist, a therapist. And also, I'm not a religious scholar, so there may be questions you have that would be better suited to ask a religious scholar or any mom, inshallah. So with that said, let's get started with how to take care of our mental health in Ramadan. First of all, mental health. We hear it, I think, all the time now, a lot more than probably a decade ago. And let's just connect about what is mental health. So mental health is a state of well-being. We're really trying to maximize and optimize how we feel, how we are on a day-to-day basis in terms of our ability to cope with stressors in our daily life, our ability to be productive and fruitful and whatever we would like to do in our lives and make a contribution to our community. And in terms of Islam, we have a very rich legacy of mental health and wellness, which I'll get into. One of the things to know before we get into our legacy is that Muslims are not immune to mental health challenges. We currently are in a post-COVID world where we've experienced global trauma. We've experienced isolation. You know, children and teens have gotten out of their school environments and now they're reintegrating. A lot of you may be going into work and you're still figuring out how many days do I go into work? How do I connect with my coworkers? How do I build social connections? One of the reasons I'm so happy to see you all here is because face-to-face connection is something we were missing. So a lot of factors combined have really impacted our mental health as a community and individually. One in five adults in the U.S. will experience a mental health challenge in their life at some point. This could be anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment challenges, relationship problems. So none of us are immune to that. And it's about how do we take a proactive approach so that we are ready when that will possibly come to us in our life? And stress is a part of the human experience. So how can we be ready for that with coping strategies, inshallah? One thing I also want to highlight, this is a very eye-opening research piece by Dr. Rania Awad. So she and her colleagues found that Muslims were twice as likely as people of other faith traditions to make a lifetime suicide attempt. So let's just sit with that statistic for a moment. I mean, to me, it really just highlights we need so much more in terms of awareness, access to services. We as a community are facing a lot. So we need to be humble and also kind to ourselves when we are seeking help, inshallah. One of the reasons the authors posited that maybe there were higher attempts of suicide is religious discrimination at that systematic level, but then also the stigma related to mental health. So which is why I'm so happy you all are here and that we have programs now within Maristan, our organization. Please check out our table back there. Another organization is too here, such as Khalil Center. We just have a lot more access now and I hope it will be easier for everyone to seek those services. There are effective treatments for mental health, including therapy, medication, lifestyle and behavior changes. Like I said, we have a growing number of Muslim mental health professionals. As we sit here, there is a very large Muslim mental health conference happening in Michigan and a bunch of pioneers of this field are over there presenting on their research. They are remembering a long time ago when there are just a few mental health professionals who are Muslim and now in Mashallah we have so many more. So we are in a space of more resources and then how do we internalize those resources? How do we personally access those? That's kind of what I hope they shed light on today. To keep in mind about Islam and mental health, therapy can incorporate Islamic principles. Therapy can be what you would like for it to be. Can you guys hear me okay? Okay. Can you all hear me? I think the larger mic just shut off and I didn't have the small one on. Is it back here Dr. Zahra? Okay. So therapy can be what you would like for it to be. If you would like for it to incorporate Islamic principles, you can ask for that and you're a therapist. Just like a little here. And if you would prefer to work with even a non-Muslim therapist, a lot of Muslims actually would prefer that and it's totally up to you. But just know that there are many resources out there for what you're seeking. Now how to understand Islam and mental health? One is to remember we'll all be tested in this life no matter what and that is one of the elements of being a human being in this dunya. Allah says in the Quran, He's created death and life so that He may test you which of you is best indeed and He is the Almighty, the Offer-Giving. And then as Muslims, we are encouraged to seek help and treatment. So we have a hadith from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam where he says, Allah sent down the disease and the cure and for every disease He made a cure. Similarly, there's no disease that Allah has created except that He has also created its treatment. So whether that's medical, whether that's spiritual, whether that's psychological, it's all connected. So one thing I appreciated learning about was that Aisha Adilallah Anha who was very knowledgeable in many fields, medicine, Islamic jurisprudence, a lot of other fields, she used to make a dish called Talbina which the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that would relieve some people of their sadness. So if you think about it, how revolutionary is that concept? 1400 years ago the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam acknowledged that we have psychological and medical conditions for which we can take medication or some sort of physical substance in order to help us, right? And in this case it was like an herbal remedy of sorts, right? So basically as Muslims, we are expected by, you know, our faith to be proactive, to seek whatever treatment is helpful to us, inshallah, whether it is talk therapy, whether it's group therapy, whether it's medication if we need that, inshallah. There's no shame in that. In fact, it can be an act of ebadah to take care of yourself. And raise your hand if you've heard about what was a Maristan for some of you who've learned about Dr. Rania's work in this kind of mental health history field. Has anyone heard of what was a Maristan? Okay, I'm seeing a couple of hands. For those of you who don't know, Muslims have a rich legacy of mental health. In fact, Muslims were the first, believe it or not, in the world to develop comprehensive treatment centers which included psychiatric wards. This is as early as the 8th century in places such as Iraq. So in, I believe it's Farsi, the word, and also Urdu or Hindi, like the word bimad means sick. So they used to call these comprehensive centers bimadistans. This would include hospitals which have a psychiatric ward. And then to shorten it, that's why the organization was called Maristan. And it's just a reminder of our legacy that mental health was integrated into physical health and into other health conditions. So not only do we have a history of institutions that had treatment centers essentially, but Muslim physicians and scholars helped develop early treatments for mental illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, in the 13th century. And if you look at now the DSM, which is like the standard book of all of the different mental illnesses, the criterion for OCD looks so similar to what al-Balkhi in the 13th century said, hey, these are the symptoms and criterion of OCD. And the treatment looks very similar too. So it's just mind-blowing and fascinating, subhanallah. So I hope in Ramadan, you know, we're able to remember some of these things and take pride in our legacy, inshallah. And remember, if you are seeking treatment and support now, keep it up in Ramadan. And Ramadan is a time of continuing to take care of our mental health and wellness. The common model is the biopsychosocial model in medicine and also psychology. So it's basically saying wellness includes our biological health, our social connections, and our psychological well-being. In Islam, we add in that spiritual side because we are spiritual beings first and foremost, and we know all of those aspects are connected. So today as I speak, I also want to weave in that Islamic reminder of, you know, why do we kind of seek out mindfulness as an intervention and then how does Islam already weave in mindfulness? So I'm really going to try to weave both of those together. So Ramadan and the Qur'an. You know, I'm sure a lot of you have heard of this ayah already. You know, the month of Ramadan is that in which the, which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people. And then, you know, it keeps going, and Allah's Panod Allah says, Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship. He wants for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that to which He has guided you and perhaps you will be grateful. So we have many beautiful ayats about Ramadan and the Qur'an. And one thing that sticks out to me is Allah is always so gracious with His mercy and that is His quality, right? That really defines Allah. And He always talks about, there are exceptions. If you cannot fast, if you are ill, if you are traveling, these are the ways you can still connect with Allah. You know, you can still be grateful. Allah does not intend for you hardship. So when you think about the messages about Ramadan, just remember Allah wants for us to complete this month and also to remember His ease on us. And, you know, going into Ramadan, it's not about pushing ourselves to the point of we're going to be burned out. Rather, how can I sustain this practice, inshallah, during Ramadan and after? So I want to leave you with a few practical tips today. There's so much we can talk about. This is a well of knowledge about mental health and Ramadan. But one of the things I've already said is continue to do what you're already doing for self-care outside of Ramadan. So if you're going to therapy, if you're taking medication, wonderful, continue to do those things. If you rely on social support such as your friend group, your alaqa, going to masjid events, continue to do that to make sure you have that support, even in Ramadan. And consult with a doctor if you are not sure you can fast. This is a really important piece for a lot of reasons if you have, for example, a medical condition, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, if you have an eating disorder or have had a history of that in the past, there are a lot of reasons where you may not be required to fast. This takes a lot of consultation between you and your doctor as well as a religious scholar to determine your individual case about, do I qualify? Am I required to fast? And listen, if you can't fast, know that Allah has given us so many different options for what kind of ibadah to do. Giving charity, right? So you have to feed another fasting person and you get the same exact reward. Just remembering that Allah's mercy is so great that every one of us is welcome in Ramadan, every one of us is worthy of Allah's love in Ramadan. So one thing I'd like you to think about now as we pause is think about or write down one thing that you're already doing now for self-care that you'd like to continue in Ramadan. So maybe just take a few seconds to think about this. Does someone on the brother's side have something they would like to share? The sisters have already shared a bit. Something you're already doing for self-care that you would like to continue in Ramadan. Yes? Okay. Yeah. Wonderful. So the brother said journaling and he likes to go back and reflect on his day and that can be a really great practice for mental health. Just kind of being aware of our thoughts and reflecting on those. And in Ramadan, I think this is a way to reflect on what our goals are and also where we add with those goals. There are Ramadan journals available now if you search online on Amazon, you know, bullet journals that are focused on Ramadan. So I hope you'll look into those. Now this slide for me is one of my favorite slides, actually, that I was working on. Anticipate stress and prevent it early on. Prevention is better than cure. So with Ramadan, a lot of us have other things going on and that's just part of being human, whether you have children, whether you have a high workload, whether you are a student and have a lot going on. Try to reduce your workload as early on as you can, whether that means getting your projects done early. Doing meal prep, so you don't have as much to do during Ramadan with like cooking at a far time or at a bada. Get that done early and then try to simplify what you have going on in Ramadan. And everyone's different with that. Everyone needs to do different types of preparation. Let your family, friends, your boss, your teachers know that you will be fasting and observing Ramadan. What that can do is create a sense of ease when you are in Ramadan. You won't be hopefully as anxious when you're telling them, you're tired, you will already prepare for that and reduce your anxiety beforehand, inshallah. Or they may give you some accommodations or push forward some sort of deadline if that can help you. Another part of coping ahead or preparing ahead is setting boundaries if you feel you will be overwhelmed or triggered during Ramadan. This can be by certain situations. This can be being around certain people. You may feel like triggered for some reason. Just make sure you're already thinking about what are the boundaries I need to set around that. Ramadan is a time of healing for me, a time of connection with Allah. An example I can give you is lots of social events in Ramadan and some people can get really overwhelmed when they have an ifthar to go to multiple times a week. Raise your hand if you've been in that position. Maybe you got invited to so many ifthars and you're like, do I say yes? Do I say no? I don't want to look bad? Just think about what is it that I need if I have a lot going on this week just thinking about being able to say no if that's good for me or maybe choosing a few ifthars to go to or a few events to go to and I know I can do a better job with that too because I love engaging in Ramadan with the community but I also need to think about what's going to sustain my energy level and help me get my work done as well as getting some of the ibadah done. With setting boundaries and also being I am going to be eating certain things in Ramadan telling your family if you have a certain meal plan that you would like to abide by and just letting them know beforehand so it doesn't turn into you should eat this or why are you not eating this or that kind of thing. Is anyone able to relate to that? There are so many opinions in Ramadan so being able to share what you need to get the maximum out of it and then as I said, taking time off taking time off delegating responsibilities and saying no to certain commitments so as we reflect on this I'd like you to write down one thing that you can do to reduce your stress in Ramadan. Does that mean planning to take some time off? Does that mean saying no to certain social events maybe just write down one thing or think about it in your mind inshallah I know for me I like to tell my colleagues like I'm fasting I'm going to be low energy can we plan not to do a 9am meeting I'd really prefer 10am or onwards if possible and I'll personally try to schedule myself a bit differently Ramadan. So other parts of taking care of our mental health identifying a schedule that works for you sleep is one of the most disrupted aspects of our daily routine in Ramadan and that's natural with waking up early for sohoor staying up late for prayer knowing what works for you with getting the most sleep that you can and knowing okay I'm not going to be at the same level a pre-Ramadan I'm not going to be getting my 8 or 9 hours and that's normal in Ramadan but can I squeeze in a short nap in the middle of the day can I make sure I sleep right after Isha and not stay up late watching my screens and scrolling because we know that light exposure from bright lights is going to affect our sleep even more and discuss your routine with your family friends and community so you can prepare ahead of time and cope with what you need to get done inshallah. Moderation is something I've already talked a bit about. I'd really like to recommend support in Ramadan and that's one of the beauties of our Ummah as we all lean on each other we are all connected and you know when one part of the Ummah hurts another part of the Ummah is hurting so there are some really nice support groups that are able to find online from an organization called Amali and they have a support group for spending Ramadan alone if you're experiencing loneliness or new to the community if you're a convert and don't have family participating in Ramadan there's another one called Coping with Addiction support group Ramadan edition and there's an online eating disorder recovery support group so know that there are people in your corner who may be going through and you don't have to experience that alone in Ramadan. I remember myself when I went away to study in Atlanta I was doing my PhD I didn't know a lot of people in Ramadan and I would go to the Masjid in Ramadan and go to their Iftars and that's really how I made some friends I'd go to MSA dinners I had like maybe one or two roommates and we made sure we'd check in on each other as a Ramadan buddy so do what you need to do to get that support in Ramadan and like I said there's a lot of information we don't have too much time but I'm going to prioritize some aspects of psychological tools to maximize our Ramadan mindfulness right one of the huge benefits of Ramadan and fasting is developing that tahwa and awareness of Allah you're constantly remembering oh I'm fasting therefore I'm going to control my temper or I'm fasting let me control what I'm watching what I'm listening to to make sure I get the spiritual maximum benefit out of Ramadan and the benefits of mindfulness are many as listed here stress reduction, focus less emotional reactivity relationship satisfaction and how can we do that I'd like to give you two simple tools one is building awareness of Allah tahwa so when you remember Allah is near you at all times which is one of the goals of Ramadan as I mentioned in the previous slide you will be mindful and that will also lead to positive mental health inshallah so you're thinking Allah is near me Allah is watching me Allah loves me right you're always thinking about how close he is to you that builds a sense of awareness as much as possible and we know scientifically mindfulness works because our brain is focused on the present moment our brain is not thinking about the past which can lead to depressing our depressive thoughts or constantly thinking of the future which can induce anxiety we're really just bringing ourselves to this moment right now so it really does rewire the brain in that way scientifically and then mindfulness of remembering our intentions that can help us be in a constant state of ibadah no matter what we're doing if we're commuting to work if we're feeding our child or our pet you know if we are even making ifthar ibadah worship so don't undermine whatever you're doing if you feel you know I'm not able to read as much Quran as my mom is or as my friend is that's okay you are doing the best you can inshallah and we can always do better of other slides such as acknowledge your emotions notice the link between your feelings and your thoughts so for example noticing thoughts such as I'm not good enough I'm not bad Muslim I'm not worthy of Allah's love notice those judgments and negative thoughts that's another thing I want to leave you with as we wrap up today is notice the judgment and then try to rephrase or reframe that judgment such as I am doing the best that I can and I know I can do better or even though the first few days were really hard that doesn't mean the whole of Ramadan is going to be you know terrible for me I don't know what else is that he forgives all sins if I just do my best in Ramadan so those can hopefully help us challenge those negative thoughts which can lead to guilt and feelings of depression inshallah build a personal connection with the Quran du'a is in the vicar I really encourage a personal du'a list so that you are talking to Allah throughout your day and this will help you be more mindful as you are worshiping Allah connection we already talked about build mastery through small good deeds rather than trying to do this much I am going to read the Quran like three times I am going to read one page in the morning and one page at night because that's what I know I am capable of and if I do more great but when you set a small goal a specific goal as you may have heard of smart goals you are more likely to feel good when you complete it and you may even exceed it rather than setting it too high if you don't achieve it set some smart goals for Ramadan last but not least don't forget to cultivate joy and celebrate this beautiful month with others around you this could even be with non-muslim friends and colleagues by sharing about Ramadan with them there is so much misinformation out there this is a time to really feel joy in your faith inshallah I wish you all a beautiful Ramadan and a time where you can cultivate your wellness and get closer to Allah if you have more questions reach out to me I don't know if we have time for Q&A at all we don't but reach out to me, come talk to me and we have the Maristan table on the back inshallah subhanakallahu ma wabihamdika nashaduan la ilaha illa anta