ANALYZING THE COMMON FEATURES BETWEEN MOSQUE ARCHITECTURE, RITUAL MOVEMENTS OF PRAYER AND YOGA MOVEMENTS

Mahya Ghouchani (Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran.)
Arian Babaei (Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art & Architecture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran)
Fatemeh Kordafshari (Department of Architecture, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran)

Journal of Islamic Architecture
Vol 7, No 4 (2023): Journal of Islamic Architecture

An architectural work contains wide aspects and is not limited only to the body made of materials. What adds value to the building is the spirit breathed into this body. Prayer (Namaz) and Yoga are mental and physical activities that cause peace in body and soul. The purpose of this research is to analyze the common features between mosque architecture, ritual movements of prayer and yoga movements in order to achieve human mental and physical health. Therefore, the relationship between the physical movements of prayer and mosque architecture was analyzed, and the amount of movement in prayer was evaluated using the OWAS method. Then, based on the previous step's results, the relationship between body ergonomics in prayer and yoga movements was descriptively analyzed. Finally, the common features between mosque architecture, ritual movements of prayer and yoga movements are presented visually. The results show that there are common features between the architecture of mosque spaces, the ritual movements of prayer and yoga movements, and the shape of the body in prayer and yoga is similar to the shape of the architectural components of the mosque.