A new meditation centre in Abu Dhabi is attracting hundreds of Emiratis and other Muslims, offering a unique mix of Eastern culture imbued with Islam.
For Arif Dawood, who was born into a Muslim household in Tanzania, meditation helped him get a better understanding of his own faith.
"Now if I did a ritual prayer I would be more flowing in that. My mind and my actions are aligned with my thoughts. Everything is connected.
"I also notice that sometimes we tend to do things out of fear, but now I do things out of love. Now I do things because I want to, not because I am expected to."
Growing up in the predominantly Christian and Muslim country, Mr Dawood says he was exposed to a variety of ways of practising religion but didn't feel particularly connected with any one method.
"There are so many different sects in Islam and as I grew up I started appreciating the differences that there are in the religion.
"Then I found people of multi religions and they were wonderful, that's how my journey began, it was the connection to the kind of energy that I liked. I called these people spiritualists. They can also have religion too."
Mr Dawood, a married father of two who works as an operations manager at an international company, discovered the Inner Space Centre for Training in Meditation and Self Development in Abu Dhabi three years ago, when it was based in its older and much smaller premises. After taking some of the course, he now teaches his own classes.
"You might have a class where you have five or six different religious backgrounds," Mr Dawood says. "They all come at the end and say they understand more about life. And many people have told me they are better Muslims, Buddhists or Christians.
"It complements your religious life. Traditionally I used to do a lot of rituals. But when you do a ritual you just do the ritual not necessarily understanding what it means. So I'm trying to bring sense out of these rituals.
"This has helped me. I can understand more of what is written in the scripture, and feel the essence of what we do."
The centre, which has recently opened in much bigger premises near the Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, offers classes free of charge thanks to its Emirati backers. The official opening last month was performed by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development.
Speaking to The National about his interest in the centre, Sheikh Nayhan said meditation and religion complement each other "in the stresses of our busy lives".
"Meditation has an immense effect on people and a positive impact on people who take it seriously.
"Everything is so fast moving and rapid that people don't have time to reflect and do any soul searching. Many problems, like health problems, are because of the fast pace of life."
The federal minister, who himself regularly practises yoga and meditation, says he encourages his own family to use spirituality to help with their religious duties.
"People should see it as a good healing process. It has no mediation and no interference. And people sometimes lose track of the small things.
"I always make sure I can find time to do it. Everyone has a responsibilty to himself or herself and if we plan our days well we always find time."
For Maryam Al Balooshi it was the stresses of her busy family life in Ajman - where she lived with nine families - which forced her to seek solace in something other than her religion.
"I wasn't happy and I was angry with everyone around me. I was very busy and very stressed. I used to organise things for my family and I wanted everything to be perfect, it was too much."
The IT department project manager, who was born in 1979, moved to Abu Dhabi from the family home two years ago and discovered the Inner Space centre, and meditation.
She is now one of the most popular Emirati teachers at the centre, usually delivering about three classes a week.
"Now I am like a different person," she laughs. "Internally I am fine and happy. It has ben an incredible change, amazing."
An argument levied by those who don't believe spirituality can blend with religion is often that religion is too divisive as it can encourage people to differentiate between others based purely on their religion.
Meanwhile, spirituality, they argue, joins everyone.
But Ms Al Balooshi says that, while she understands why some people are hesitant about blending meditation with religion, she insists that people should not judge it until they have tried it.
"For me, meditation is a totally different thing. My mind is clear and that improves all aspects of my life. When praying they ask us to be in silence and still. Meditation helps with this."
Many of her students, she says, are Emiratis or Arabs.
"They all say their relationship with their families or their husbands or their kids has improved. It is very popular here."
Fellow Emirati Nouf Mohamed, from Abu Dhabi, started meditating in December last year and describes herself as being "in the very first stages of the journey". But unlike some of her compatriots, she chooses to differentiate between spirituality and religion.
The 27-year-old says in her mind, yoga and meditation are simply exercises and have nothing to do with a person's religion.
"As long as they do not entail acts which may symbolise shirk, or any non-Islamic religion symbolism then there is no harm in practising them," she says.
"Of course as Muslims, we are not allowed to practise what other religions practise, so you just have to think and act wisely, and be cautious."
While meditation is no substitute for daily prayers, she says, it can help free one from whatever stresses the day has thrown up.
According to the Inner Space website, the centre "provides a space for individuals from all walks of our community to experience inner stillness". It offers self-development workshops as well as meditation classes. Most of the lessons are offered by people who took courses there themselves.
Mohit Sibal, a director in a multinational company, is one such teacher. The 45-year-old was born a Hindu but says he has never really practised "the ritual form of Hinduism".
His mother was Sikh and his father Hindu, and growing up in India he says he was exposed to a lot of different religions and different forms of practising the same religion.
He started meditating when he migrated to Australia more than 20 years ago.
"To me, meditation is something which a lot of religions have included. It is a practice rather than a ritual. Lots of religious traditions have incorporated meditation over the centuries.
"In my personal opinion it's something I could have benefited from if I had been exposed to it as a youth or child. It brings control of the mind, it's an inner discipline.
"I have instructed people that have commented to me that 'I'm a better Muslim or Catholic since I have started meditating, I really enjoy going to church now."
One of the benefit of blending meditation with religion, he, is the chance to bring more meaning to the religious rituals.
Once people learn to be "more present and more focussed" their rituals can have greater meanings on a personal level.
The topics covered in Mr Sibal's lessons are simple ones, such as 'how you can make your mind your best friend'. "You don't have to be a religious-minded person to be attracted to something like that. It is something for everyone."
