I hear you say… what are Mudras!! A mudra is a hand gesture. The most familiar mudra is the image of a yogi with their legs crossed and their hands resting on their knees, their thumb and index finger touching. The hand gesture used is called Gyan Mudra.
When using a mudra we direction the flow of energy into the body. Each of our fingers correlates with elements in our body. It is said our body consists of 5 elements: Fire, Air, Ether (space), Earth & Water. The body remains healthy if these 5 elements are in balance, if they go out of balance it cause disturbances and sickness in the body. The diagram on the left represents each of the corresponding energies with our finger tips.
Mudras are most beneficial when meditating or practicing pranayam but can be done at any time: walking, standing and sitting. Initially practicing mudras for 10 minutes and if possible increasing to 35/40 minutes. Here are some of my favourite Mudras and their benefits.
Gyan Mudra – Mudra of knowledge
Technique: Touch the tip of the thumb with the tip of the index finger, the other fingers remain as straight as possible.
Benefits:
- Improves concentration and reducing negative thoughts
- Increases memory power
- Brain nerves become strong – headaches, insomnia and stress are removed.
- Destroys anger
- Helps insomnia
Vayu Mudra – Air Mudra
Technique: Joining the index finger with the root of the thumb and putting slight pressure on it with the thumb. The remaining three fingers remain still.
Benefits:
- Regular practice of this mudra improves gout, arthritis, joint pain, paralysis, Parkinsons, sciatica, knee pain and gas formation like diseases
- Relieves pain in the neck and spine
- Helps blood circulation disorders.
Prthvi Mudra – Mudra of the Earth
Technique: Join the tips of ring finger and thumb. The remaining fingers remain straight.
Benefits:
- Helps to cure weakness in the body, leanness(underweight) & obesity.
- Improves digestion and blood circulation throughout the body
- Increases patience & tolerance
- Develops vitality
- Removes the deficiency of vitamins
- Makes the body active, bright & glowing
Varuna Mudra – Mudra of Water (Aka the beautiful face Mudra!!)
Technique: Join the tips of little finger and thumb. The remaining fingers remain straight.
Benefits:
- Removes dryness of the body, making the skin soft and shinning
- Helps to cure blood disorders.
- Relieves and prevents any muscle pains that you may suffer from.
- Helps to cure skin diseases, pimples and diseases arising out of deficiency of the water element, making the skin & face beautiful!
Surya Mudra – Sun Mudra
Technique: Bend the ring finger and press it with the thumb. The remaining fingers remain straight.
Benefits:
- It sharpens and activates the energetic centre relating to the thyroid gland.
- Reduces cholesterol
- Assists in weight loss and maintaining a healthy balanced weight.
- Reduces anxiety
- Improves indigestion problems
Have fun playing around with the mudras!!!
Namaste
