The French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan focuses on the role of the word in psychoanalysis, considering it the fundamental starting point in therapy. Language is the means of understanding what happens within the human psyche, and it serves as the psychologist’s tool for treating the case, enabling the person to reach self-awareness through language.
According to Lacan, language is part of the human unconscious. Therefore, decoding the psyche is impossible without language. The mother tongue plays a crucial role in shaping thought, and consequently, in forming the relationship between a person and their surroundings, nature, technology, art, and literature. In other words, it determines the nature of human interaction with the environment. Even if a person travels or moves to another place and learns a new language, the unconscious remains active, reflecting thought patterns in the mother tongue. Hence, one cannot think in an entirely abstract or neutral way that is detached from their culture and mother tongue.
Research has shown that the mother tongue also holds emotional significance in expressing and understanding feelings and accessing memories stored deep in the mind. Therefore, language plays an important role in the therapeutic process.
The mother tongue occupies an important place in psychotherapy due to its role in memory retrieval, description, and emotional understanding—all closely tied to the therapeutic context.
When psychotherapy is conducted in a language learned later in life, emotional communication may be limited compared to therapy in the first language. The new language can sometimes serve as a defensive tool to avoid painful feelings and memories—elements that need to be addressed rather than avoided for therapy to be effective.
The mother tongue is the optimal way to reach a person’s inner world, thoughts, and emotions. Arabic is distinguished by its richness in vocabulary, where a single word can have multiple synonyms. Certain words can inspire creativity and reflection, whereas other languages may not encompass the same variety of expressions, which ultimately influences the culture of its speakers.
Based on this, Tawazon chose Arabic to be the first mindfulness and meditation app in the Arab world to provide guided meditations and mindfulness exercises in the mother tongue. It offers its audience a scientifically curated collection targeting all age groups, using the latest meditation techniques and innovative content.
The choice of Arabic also ensures that every Arab can connect with their inner self, understand the coach or therapist, grasp the overall approach, and interpret cultural and developmental contexts. Meditation in Arabic speaks directly to the self and penetrates deeply, enabling Arabs to benefit from the exercises and achieve their intended goals from meditation.
It is worth noting that Tawazon aims to improve the quality of life for Arabic speakers around the world.
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