About Radiyah Wellness
Together we can work on:
Relationship challenges, navigating life transitions, religious/spiritual support, questions or doubts, reconnecting with yourself and your heart, grief, loss, stress, life challenges, anxiety, depression, nervous system regulation and safety, cultural issues, identity issues, discrimination, sleep issues, pain relief, post-traumatic stress, burnout, overwhelm, self worth and self love, attachment wounds, spirituality, beginning or deepening a relationship with Allah, working through a strained relationship with Allah, and addressing and healing religious/spiritual trauma.
More About Radiyah Wellness:
The word radiyah comes from the last verses of Surah al-Fajr in the Qur’an:
يَـٰٓأَيَّتُهَا ٱلنَّفْسُ ٱلْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ
ٱرْجِعِىٓ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةًۭ مَّرْضِيَّةًۭ
فَٱدْخُلِى فِى عِبَـٰدِى
وَٱدْخُلِى جَنَّتِى
O soul at peace! Return unto your Lord, content, contenting (well-pleased with Allah
and well-pleasing to Allah). Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden (Qur’an, 89:27-30).
Cultivating this contented soul at peace, which rests in the heart, is something we journey towards for the entirety of our lives, through gentle turning and walking to Allah.
In the Islamic tradition, the heart (qalb) is the center of who we are and is where we connect with Allah and perceive Divine Truth and Presence. It contains both the nafs (our soul with various stages of development named in the Qur’an) and the ruh, the spirit that Allah breathed into each of us (Qur’an, 15:29).
The word qalb itself comes from the root Q-L-B, which means to change, transform, to turn upside down, and Allah is Muqallib al-Qulub, the Transformer of Hearts. Thus, through the mercy of Allah, Muqallib al-Qulub, our hearts by their very nature can be cleansed, transformed, and illumined with Divine Light and Presence.
Insha'Allah through sincere intentions, small steps, cultivated presence, and remembrance, our soul can journey towards contentment, peace, and gentle, loving surrender. Allah tells us in a hadith qudsi, when we go towards Allah walking, Allah comes to us running:
I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him/her when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself, and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm's length, I draw near to him a cubit, and if he draws near to Me a cubit, I draw near to him a fathom. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed. (Sahīh al-Bukhari, Hadith 7405; Hadith Qudsi)
Thus, each step we take in life is significant, and I hope our time together can be a step in your journey towards a content soul.
More about the heart and a content soul
The wound is where the light enters you:
This oft-repeated saying attributed to Jalal al-Dīn Rumi may not be an exact quote, but this theme of our wounds becoming places of Divine encounter is an ever-present one in his Masnavi.
Our wounds can become places of meeting with the Divine – not in such a way that we spiritually bypass and explain away our pain and suffering, but through the process of being present with our emotions and bodily sensations. It is through this presence that we can begin to heal, and also discover that Allah was always there with us through our hardships, calling us and drawing us closer, cultivating our souls, and imparting purposeful lessons. Insha’Allah in this presence, processing, and healing, we can begin to rest in Allah's nearness, and uncover what Allah is teaching us and how we might find meaning in and transform through our suffering.
Recognizing my Teachers:
In addition to my chaplaincy training, I have also studied various holistic healing modalities grounded in the Islamic tradition with Hakim Salim Khan (College of Medicine and Healing Arts), Hakimah Hafsa Hasan (Ihsaas), and Zuhair Girach (Aafiyah Healing), and have taken courses and workshops with Hakim Archuletta, Hana Pauls (The Garden Clinic), Dr. Abdallah Rothman (Dar al-Shifaa), Thea Elijah (Perennial Medicine), and Dr. Arielle Schwartz (polyvagal theory and somatics). I have also continued pursuing knowledge of the Islamic tradition and walking the lifelong journey to Allah, with various teachers and scholars in my life to whom I am forever indebted for their selfless generosity and the knowledge and guidance they have gifted me.
This work blends their rich teachings to support you on your healing journey. All of my learning comes from these teachers, as well as the practitioners I have worked with over the past several years on my own healing journey, and my fellow chaplains. All of the good in this work is through all that they have taught me, and through the healing of Allah, al-Shāfi, the true Healer.