Salena Shaikh left five years of therapy work to build a spiritual coaching practice for Muslim women. She talks with Hiba about the viral video that drew both love and hate, why no one can take your faith away from you, the blue hair theory of triggers, and what it means to live an embodied faith: believing in Allah not just in your head, but in the leap.
Season 1 · Episode 3 · 40 min
Listen now: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Buzzsprout
Salena Shaikh spent five years as a therapist and loved the work. She sat with clients at a Buddhist psychology clinic, in psychedelic-assisted therapy, in women's groups. And then she noticed something she couldn't unsee: the spirituality had been removed from the healing, or had never been there to begin with. More and more Muslim women were waking up to their own journeys, and she felt called to work only with them, with faith in the room as a form of healing in itself. So this year she left her secure job and started a spiritual coaching practice. In this episode she tells Hiba what that leap cost, what it gave back, and what she has learned about living a faith that moves through the body instead of staying in the head.
A Reddit comment that became her first Muslim client
The pivot didn't begin with a business plan. It began with a post Salena stumbled on while she was still in school: a woman writing about anxiety in her marriage and how it was being overlooked. Salena left a comment offering to answer any mental health questions, free of charge. The original poster never replied, but a Muslim woman in Germany did, and she became Salena's first Muslim client for a full year. They worked through everything that was happening in her life while also drawing on her relationship with Allah. It was the first time Salena saw what therapy could look like when faith was part of the frame rather than something to set aside.
"No one can take that away from you"
The first video Hiba ever saw of Salena's showed her at different ages, dressed differently at every stage, with one message: I was Muslim here, and here, and here. It made Hiba feel seen. It also drew a wave of hateful comments. Salena is candid that it was terrifying. There were days she couldn't open the app. The comments were poking at the same wound that a dogmatic, rule-heavy religious upbringing leaves in many of us. But she noticed something underneath the anxiety: her faith didn't waver. She still trusted that Allah had put her in that position for a reason, so that other women would know they are still Muslim whether they wear hijab or not, whatever situation they find themselves in. No one can take that away from you.
Why people get so triggered
Hiba asks the question so many of us carry from childhood: why do online trolls and the aunties at the dinner table react so intensely to untraditional representations of Islam? Salena's answer is that it's their own stuff. If someone had been given room to explore who Allah truly is outside of rules, they wouldn't feel the need to put another person in a box. She describes watching one commenter return to her video every few minutes for twenty minutes, and realizing that the distress on display was theirs, not hers. Go pray. Go connect with Allah. Use that energy for something good. Her journey with Islam has nothing to do with anyone but her.
The blue hair theory
This is the part of the conversation Hiba kept coming back to. If someone walked up and told you that you have blue hair, you'd shrug. It isn't true, so it slides right off. A trigger works the same way in reverse. When a comment lands and stays, it is touching something you haven't fully met yet. Salena uses the hurtful things people say about her as a roadmap: here is where there is still work to do. And as she heals those places, everything changes with her, her videos, her clients, the way she sees her own work. She describes it as taking what people say and alchemizing it into something good.
The protector part
You don't have to be online for any of this to apply. Most of us get our hardest feedback from family, and Salena knows that one personally: her dad was upset when she chose this path instead of medicine or law. Hiba names the tenderness in that, too. For immigrant parents in survival mode, "be a doctor" is the most loving thing they know how to say. Salena's advice is to notice the part of you that comes out to protect all the old hurt, what she calls the protector part, and to learn to sit with it instead of pushing it down. It's a skill most of us were never taught.
Your relationship with Allah is based in your relationship with yourself
Hiba asks what Salena would say to a woman drowning in input, following a dozen voices that all disagree about what a Muslim should be. Salena's answer reframes the whole question. There has never been more information about Islam, and being Muslim has never felt more confusing. So start closer to home. If you feel far away from yourself, if you don't even know what is happening in your own body, how will you connect with the One who created that body? She lays out three planes that have to exist alongside each other: the physical, which is movement, nourishing meals, and real human connection; the mental, which is caring for your mental health however that looks for you; and the spiritual. The rules have their place, but they don't come before your own relationship with Allah and how you perceive His love and His mercy.
Embodied faith
When Hiba asks where Salena would be if she hadn't pursued what filled her cup, the practical answer is that she would still be working under someone in Connecticut, where there aren't many Muslim women looking for this kind of support. The deeper answer is the phrase that threads through the whole episode: embodied faith. It is one thing to believe in Allah in your head. It is another to take action knowing He is going to provide through the entirety of the path. It's like having a child, she says. You can be terrified the whole way through and still do it, letting Allah take the wheel. And if you want proof that this kind of trust is possible, look at your parents. Most immigrant parents left an entire country without the language or a job waiting for them. If they could do that, deciding to change a career path is nothing to be stressed over.
Salena's mind, body, and soul non-negotiables
Salena's answer to Hiba's closing question is a single practice rather than three, and it is the thread of the whole conversation: to be embodied as a Muslim, fully trusting in Allah and whatever path He has for her.
- Body: listen to the signals your body is always sending, and honor it rather than neglecting or abusing it.
- Mind: when your mind tells you it needs rest, or needs you to stop looping and overthinking, give it that.
- Soul: remember that Allah literally breathed into you. That is your soul, and your body and mind exist to protect it.
As Hiba puts it, the usual answer to this question is action-oriented. Salena's is an action too: listen to each of those callings, and lean into your intuition instead of away from it.
Stay until the end
This episode closes with an exclusive Araam Mind meditation, "Let Go & Release," a guided practice for setting down what was never meant for you to carry and surrendering it to the Most Merciful.
Find Salena
Instagram: @healingtimelines
Listen to Inspire with Araam
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Inspire with Araam is the podcast for Muslim women breaking barriers, hosted by Hiba Anjum (@hibaanjum) from Araam Wellness (@araamhq). New episodes every Tuesday. If this one spoke to you, a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify goes a long way for a brand new show.
This episode is sponsored by Araam Mind, the faith-based meditation app for Muslim women, built on psychology and neuroscience.