Want A Good Work Out? Pray

Every time I see a Muslim pray I always think, "Don't they get tired?" I see them stand up, touch their hands to their ears, bend down, kneel on the floor, touch their forehead to the floor, sit up, touch their forehead to the floor again, and get back up. That's gotta hurt after a while, right? RIGHT. It does hurt. It's been two days since I went to the mosque with my host family and my thighs still burn.

On the third night of Ramadan, my ibu invited me to go to the mosque with her for evening prayer. She even gave me my own blue prayer rug. I wore a long white dress with a built-in hijab. I felt super special and cool until I tripped on my outfit on my way out the door. The neighbors laughed and held up the end of my dress for me.

The prayer ceremony is very peaceful. Everyone chants in unison, shakes hands, and of course stands up and kneels when directed. The whole session lasted about an hour, but my thighs started to hurt about 20 minutes in. To make things easier, I dedicated each kneel to someone special in my life. I would pray for family members, my boyfriend, ex-boyfriends, cousins, boyfriend's cousin, people I met at a frat party in college, high school teachers...everybody. That just shows you how many times I had to kneel and stand back up again. At one point I started listing off dead family pets (Rest in peace, Pooky the hamster. That last kneel was for you). Every time I was on my knees I would say, "Suck it up, Kruti, this prayer is for [insert name here]."

I'm going back to prayer tonight. I'm not a super religious person, but it's nice to pray with my community. Even though I'm not Muslim, I was welcomed into the mosque with open arms. That gesture in itself was enough to make me want to go back.