By Umm Yusra

I recently had a few cases of fertility issues come into the clinic where I practise Aafiyah Healing as a healing therapy for pain and other health conditions.

I’ve been committed to Aafiyah Healing for just over three years and it has become apparent that once parents are out of survival mode, and they’re well into their retirement, their offspring bear the brunt of the upbringing around a childhood home where emotional and often physical abuse was present.

A month ago I explored the effects of toxic behaviour on mental health. Depression, anxiety, skin and stomach disorders are very common. But what isn’t spoken about is the effects of an overbearing toxic parent or partner on women.

The issue isn’t apparent straight away. However, come the time of ‘I’m ready to conceive,’ women suddenly find themselves unable to. In come all the help today’s professionals can offer – homoeopathy, nutritionist, womb health coach, acupuncturists, cupping and so forth. 

But what I’ve ...

By Rafet Khaliq

Discover your thing!

We all know about the benefits of exercise it is widely documented and there are endless pieces of research advice and information as to why should exercise. Yet, with all this information and constant bombardment, why is it that many of us still do not make a move to exercise?

Allow me to stir some thoughts as to why this may be, and what simple moves we can make to utilise this widely available and wonderful therapy called exercise. In this article I shall provide information as to the well-known benefits of movement, summarised in bite size text for you to easily absorb and I will finish with a challenge to you the reader, to discover YOUR thing and run with it!

We shall touch on behavioral blocks and why it is we don't do what we know will make us feel better, look better, and enable to deal with life and all the challenges that can come with it! So what is it that stops us from that little bit of beneficial movement? 

I believe that the bi...

By Rafet Khaliq

‘Oh Allah purify my heart of malice, my soul of the sins I’ve committed and purify my intentions for me- Ameen’

as Muslims our intentions should be to gain the pleasure of Allah SWT in all that we do, according to Imam Nawawi’s Forty Hadith, which states ‘Actions are according to intentions, and everyone will get what was intended’ (Bukhari, Muslim). The intention which is the ‘Niyyah’ refers to the spirit of doing deeds through which they may become religiously valid - sincere intentions turn permissible deeds into acts of worship. This process also highlights the connection between the physical actions and their spiritual consequences. Even though nobody else may understand us, and sometimes we are not correct in our actions even when our intentions were good, Allah SWT knows our true intentions and knowing this helps to bring peace within ourselves.

Intentions are the roots of every actions, they reflect the underlying motives of why we plan something, so even bef...

Recently whilst speaking to a fellow Psychologist, we touched upon the common ailments in households where female toxicity is present. These traits are but aren’t limited to:

•  Manipulation
•  Lying
•  Controlling behaviour
•  Coercive behaviour
•  Negative financial behaviours
•  Envy/jealousy
• Constant lack of support: dismissive of your needs and only supports you in return for something of benefit to her.
•  Resentment
• Constant negative communication (sarcasm, passive aggressiveness, micro aggressions, contempt, silent treatment).

The main one being stomach issues – IBS, Crohn’s, gastroenteritis, lactose intolerance, bloating, diarrhoea, heartburn and vomiting.

On looking through my case studies it became apparent that the most common ones were bloating and excess stomach weight issues in houses where a dominating and toxic mother in law were present.

Another was where the child had witnessed manipulation and controlling behaviours and IBS was present in children as young as 5. S...

HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

Plums are one of the most popular of the stone fruits. Earliest known data of plums indicates that Plums in Europe were only discovered around two thousand years ago, originating in the area near the Eastern Europe or Western Asia. In ancient Roman times, 300 varieties of European plums were mentioned.

IMPRESSIVE HEALTH BENEFITS

Plum Fruits for human body is very amazing, mainly for preventing cancer. You call it plum when it is fresh, and you call it prune when it is dried, but both of them are full of nutrients. So no matter which type that you eat, you can still reap the benefits.

• Regular intake of dried plums helps in promoting fluidity of blood in the arteries thus maintaining cardiovascular health.
• plum extracts have been proven beneficial in the treatment of cancer.
• Regular Consumption of dried plums exerts anabolic and anti-resorptive actions, which aid in maintaining healthy bones with can assist with preventing osteoporosis.
• Plums consist of ...

We often look at the mirror to give ourselves a quick glance to see if we are looking good, good enough to face the world; the connection with the mirror is usually on a surface level, but what if we were to go deeper…

If you were to look deep into your eyes through the mirror, what would you see? We can often be our own worst critics, negative self-talk and self-judgement which come from our conditioning holds us back from self-compassion. 

Mirror work was originally developed by transformational teacher and author Louise Hay as a way of getting in touch with the inner self. Hay said, ‘Mirror work is the most effective method I’ve found for learning to love yourself and see the world as a safe and loving place’.

Mirror work is when you look at yourself, focus on your eyes and embrace the reflection with love and compassion, using positive affirmations. Yeh, I know…sounds uncomfortable and at first it may well be, but with a bit of regularity you will overcome the discomfort and giv...

The new buzzwords in healing is mindful meditation. Everyone is talking about mindful meditation and reaping the benefits! 

Sometimes we may think, meditation? That’s not for me, I don’t have the time for that hippy whippy stuff. But it’s not about free time, it’s about understanding what we value and making time for it, right? Discovering how this prophetic practice can help you in many aspects of your life can be transformative to how you view the world.

So now about that free time, if you normally pick up your phone and start scrolling, turn on the TV or listen to a podcast – although this can help switch off from daily stressors – what is much better for your health and stress relief is Silence and Solitude which can also be labelled as Mindful Meditation.

“What is even better for your health and stress relief is Silence and Solitude”

Silence and solitude can bring higher consciousness to intuition, a greater sense of calm, listening to that voice within, what’s it saying? Are ...

Self care is the practice of taking action to preserve one's own health (Oxford Languages)

In life we get caught up with servitude to others, our kids, our parents, our jobs, as Islam teaches us to be selfless however there is also absolute importance to caring for our own wellbeing too.

It was reported by Aisha RA that the Prophet (SAW) said 'Verily your own self has rights over you, so fast, break your fast, pray and sleep' (Sunan Abi Dawud).

Have you ever addressed serving yourself, what would this look like? As soon as we serve ourselves, we can much more fully serve others, known as filling your own cup.

The Prophet (SAW) went to the Cave Hira regularly, the need for time to himself and reflection is key in taking away himself away from, others and a space to quieten the mind. 

Self-Care is not synonymous to being selfish or self-indulgence, it is taking care of yourself so you can be healthy and be well.

Self-care is part of the answer on how we can deal with our daily stre...

Recently at my practise I had a mother bring in a very hostile 7 year old; he spat, scratched and kicked.

We worked on his anger; I asked mum to engage in some EFT to calm herself. The vitriol being spewed by the child was extreme:

‘You are the nasty person who broke our family up.’

‘I’m angry because Daddy can’t stay because you threw him out.’

I have worked with the family for just over a year and when I first met the child, he was bubbly, confident and innocent. Our most recent session, reflected a child who had been exposed to adult themes and conversations and a very angry, confused young individual who did not have -quite rightly so- the ability to navigate the weight of adult issues.

It was soon brought to light that his father, who had recently been evicted from the family home due to his gambling and alcohol problems, was projecting their hostility towards mum onto their child. The divorce had not been sudden- the boy had been aware that he would now have two homes. Mum h...

Cherries derive their name from the Turkish town of Creases. Turkey remains the largest cherry producing region in the world. Cherries migrated with the colonists from Europe in the 1600’s. 

There are two major categories — tart and sweet cherries, or Prunus cerasus L. and Prunus avium L., respectively.

 JUICY FACTS ABOUT CHERRIES

• A cherry tree can grow 33 feet in height! 
• The cherry tree develops beautiful white flowers during the spring. Cherry production starts 3 to 4 years after planting 
• There are over 1000 different varieties.
• A cherry tree can survive and produce fruit for around 100 years.
• The World Record for cherry-pit spitting is 93 Feet set in 2004.
• There ae 2 main types of cherries: sweet and tart.
• A typical cherry tree produces 7000 cherries.
• A cherry tree can be harvested in seven seconds using a mechanical tree shaker.
• Japanese cherry blossom trees don’t produce fruit. 

Cherries are jam-packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that are good for ...