Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury on prostrating with the heart

Bismillah.

I found this lesson forwarded by Hajjah N of Cape Town, extremely beneficial. When you read this, imagine a thoughtful friend who lives 6,000 miles away who is always sending this needy soul, timely reminders. What would we do without friends who pull us up when we fall, who help heal our wounds? Allah blesses all the beautiful people in our lives. 

I reproduce verbatim the message being a lesson on prostration. 

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Having good expectations and hopes from your Rabb is one of the best forms of relieving anxiety and stress. For no one who hopes for good from the Creator of the heavens and the earth gets anything less than what he expects.

Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury defines 12 ways to prostrate with your heart.

• Don't lift your head off the floor until you get at least one Subhana Rabbiyal 'Ala that comes from the heart, mind, tongue, and limbs. 
• Zoom out, picture yourself like there's a camera over you that goes up and up and help yourself with feeling and becoming small in front of Allah 'Azza wa Jall.
• Ask for at least three things you want in each sajadah.
• If Syaitan comes to you telling you that you're showing off if you make a long sujood, make it even longer.
• Eliminate the thought of time from your mind.
• Picture yourself making sujood in Makkah or imagine every single believer making sujood on the Last Day.
• Realize that Allah the Almighty has complete power and right to destroy you right then and there for the millions of times you've slipped made mistakes etc.
• Put yourself in the shoes of a Muslim prisoner. 
• Picture yourself doing sujood in a small, dirty cell with four walls closing in on you.
• Do sujood in random places and vary as much as you can, as every piece of ground you've prostrated on will testify for you on the Day of Judgment, InshaAllah.
• If you can't shed at least one tear in sujood or during prayer, remember the sunnah of Umar radhiallah hu anha when he would pretend to cry if he couldn't.
• Imagine RasulAllah salallah alaihi wasalam making sujood.
• Do sujood al-Shukr (the prostration of thankfulness). The Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam prostrated frequently in response to a calamity or a blessing that came to him salallah alaihi wasalam. Revive this forgotten sunnah in your daily life InshaAllah.

• Let's end with a beautiful incident from the seerah:

Rabi'a bin Ka'b radhiallahu anha a companion of the Rasul Allah salallah alaihi wasalam said:

I was with Allah's Messenger salallah alaihi wasalam one night and I brought him water and what he required. 

He said to me: "Ask [anything you like]." 

I said: "I ask your company in Paradise." 

He said: "Anything else besides it?" 

I said: "That is all [that I require]."

He said: "Then help me to achieve this for you by devoting yourself often to prostration." 

[Muslim]

• Sujood is the greatest thing a Muslim can do; it's the one thing Syaitan wouldn't do.
• O Allah, make us of the saajideen, make us increase our sujood, make our hearts present, elevate us through every sajadah and erase our sins. Ameen.

Kindly forward as much as you can. If someone's khushu' in sujood or qiyam increases after reading this, InshaAllah, Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala will reward you too of experiencing/tasting khushu' in your ibadah.