Yoga for your hands

Photo: Maria Mendola. https://mariaalive.com

Question: Why yoga for your hands?

Answer: The holidays are coming. We’re moving into them facing a global pandemic along with the social, political, and racial unrest that’s come along with it. This leaves us with questions to answer.

• How will we celebrate in the middle of masking and social distancing?
• Will the holidays be reduced to Zoom gatherings, or drive-bys with balloons, and signs?
• If we do gather in person will social distancing mean meals outdoors or in a rented hall with tables 12 feet apart?

Whatever your holidays look like, the garden-variety stress we feel during this time will be increased exponentially. Yoga for your hands can help you reach a measure of equanimity when you can’t drop to your knees and flow into Child Pose or do Legs Up the Wall in the middle of a difficult gathering with family and friends.

When Joseph LePage, my primary yoga teacher, first introduced yoga for your hands (mudras) into the Integrative Yoga Therapy Training program, I resisted. I simply did not get it. But having been raised a “good girl” with respect for my teachers; I went along with the program. He introduced them. I listened. I practiced. And I felt nothing. Nada. No energy shifts, no sensations, no nothing. So much for mudras, I thought.

Several months later, I found myself in a stressful family situation. My hands automatically moved into one of the grounding mudras I’d learned and WOW!!! There it was. My palms tingled, my breath slowed, and I felt a sense of calm in the middle of that uncomfortable situation. It actually worked. I was amazed and delighted.

What are mudras? The common English meaning of the word is “gesture,” or “seal.” In Sanskrit mudra means, “to bring forth pleasure or enchantment.” Mudras are thought to have arisen spontaneously from the deep meditative states experienced by the ancient Indian sages. Mudras can be used to recognize a quality, attitude, or energetic state that is already present and waiting to be awakened. Three desirable states we humans need to awaken during these times are calm, balance and focus. 

Once I grasped the basic principle of mudras, and felt them shift my energy, I searched for an analogy to make the concept mudras personal and memorable. It took a while but when I gave up my flip phone, bought a smart phone, and used the GPS function for the first time to get directions to a workshop I was attending, the light bulb went off. GPS! Global Positioning System!

Mudras can be thought of as a global positioning system for reaching and realizing a desired state. Consciously place the hands in a particular position, pay attention, and allow the mudra to take you where you need to go. 

Now I practice mudras regularly and can definitely feel their effects. Here are three related to the desired states of calm, balance and focus.

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Adhi Mudra 

​This gesture is said to bring the breath to the base of the body to help with anxiety and instill a sense of calming, grounding and stillness. 

Instructions:
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• Sit with your spine comfortably aligned. 

• Soften your chest and shoulders. ​
• Close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a downward gaze. 
• With both hands, form soft fists by placing your thumbs across your palms and folding your fingers around your thumbs.
• Rest your hands, knuckles down, on your knees or thighs.
• Hold the mudra and sit quietly for 2 - 5 minutes as long as you are comfortable.
• Focus on your natural breathing process. 
• When you are ready to come out, release the mudra and stretch your body in any way that your body needs to stretch.

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Hakini Mudra 

This mudra facilitates full deep breathing, supports overall health and healing and is said to bring forth a state of balance and integration.  

Instructions:
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• Sit with your spine comfortably aligned. 
• Soften your chest and shoulders.
• Hold your hands facing each other a few inches away from your solar plexus.
• Touch the tips of the fingers and thumb of your left hand to the corresponding fingers and thumb of your right hand.
• Create space between your hands as though you are holding a small ball.
• Relax your hands and forearms on your lap. 
• Close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a downward gaze.
• Hold the mudra and sit quietly for 2 - 5 minutes as long as you are comfortable.
• Focus on your natural breathing process. 
• When you are ready to come out, release the mudra and stretch your body in any way that your body needs to stretch.

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Jnana Mudra

This gesture is related to the ability to concentrate and focus. It is perhaps one of the most well-known meditation mudras. 

Instructions:
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• Sit with your spine comfortably aligned. 
• Soften your chest and shoulders.
• On both hands, touch the tips of your index fingers to the tips of the thumbs. Your thumbs and index fingers will form a soft round circle.
• Relax the backs of your hands on your knees, with the middle, ring and pinky fingers extended.
• Close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a downward gaze.
• Hold the mudra and sit quietly for 2 - 5 minutes as long as you are comfortable.
• Focus on your natural breathing process. 
• When you are ready to come out, release the mudra and stretch your body in any way that your body needs to stretch.

Try some yoga for your hands and realize benefits to your whole being.

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