My spirituality journal

Mudras - part 2

There is more to mudras than hand gestures that conduct energy.

If you’re a beginner, you probably have used a couple of these hand gestures in either yoga class or meditation. However, there are hundreds of different ones, and some do not only involve the hands but the entire body.

For instance, there are mudras that involve the eyes, the body, the breathing organs… and of course, there are hand mudras that use finger positions.

Different mudras mean different things. They symbolise different states of mind.

Tips for beginners

1.      When you practice a yoga mudra [list below] you should have only minimal pressure in your fingers and your hands should feel relaxed and without tension. At times this might be a challenge. Some mudras are quite complex. For instance, the Shakti mudra requires that you make a fist while extending your fourth finger upwards and your fifth finger outwards. The Shakti mudra is fine for young yogis, no doubt, but a challenge for older people and especially for people with arthritis. But thankfully, not all mudras are as complicated as the Shakti mudra.

2.      You may notice that you struggle to make certain mudras. Beginners might find some of the positions quite complicated.  Perhaps you can do a mudra with one hand but not with the other, or you need to use one hand to support the other before you can do the mudra.  In that instance, simply do what you need to do to perform the mudra comfortably. If you can only make a mudra with one hand while using the other for support, that is fine.

3.      The more you practice the mudras the more comfortable you will be with them and the less pain you will have in corresponding parts of your body.

4.      But bear in mind, they do not need to be performed perfectly to have effect. Do your best, and trust that the more you practice the easier it will become.

5.      When using mudras for meditation you can be either sitting, lying down or standing up, whichever you prefer. The only exception to this is when the mudra involves specific body positions.

6.      As with meditation, mudras require good posture. Make sure your spine is in good alignment and that your entire body is relaxed with no tension (except for some specific yoga mudras, like the Maha mudra above, that intentionally use tension in the body).

7.      Relaxation is important to the flow of energy around the body, whether that’s Kundalini energy, prana, chi, or any other kind of energy, the more relaxed you are the better your energy will flow.

8.      You might also like to use pranayama (rhythmic breathing used in yoga) to get more into the mudra.

Taken from www.thedailymeditation.com

I'll most likely forget about this website in the future, and it explained this very nicely, so I decided to insert  this part here ;) Hope you'll find it helpful! Peace ✌️