"As documented in peer-reviewed journals, when your hands—each carrying opposite bioelectric charges due to hemispheric brain dominance—come together, you create the precise conditions for...
... scalar wave formation: two coherent biological oscillators meeting in phase opposition. The phenomenon is real and measurable."
“Our hands are an extension of our hearts”
Hasta mudras—literally meaning seals, stamps, or gestures—are sacred hand movements that have been used for thousands of years in many different traditions as a way of deepening one’s practice and awakening the power of the divine… Our hands are an extension of our hearts and connect our innermost thoughts and prayers to the outside world. “They are how we reach out, touch, express, heal, work, cultivate, cook, paint, write, play music, and hold one another,” Teixeira writes in her book Yoga and the Art of Mudras. Hasta mudras can help you positively direct your thoughts and actions to bring beauty into your life and the world around you. They can also help you “evoke the presence of a great goddess within you so she can empower you physically, allowing you to feel her force and echo her voice. With this personal experience imprinted in your heart, you can then be empowered to be your strong, true self,” Teixeira writes.
Linda Sparrowe & Nubia Teixeira, Yoga Journal
Contents
Mudras Lesson Series: Overview
About Hand Mudras
Mudras at a Glance
Anjali Mudra
More Mudras
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Mudras Lesson Series: Overview
The lesson series on mudras has been vastly expanded, drawing from more than 100 sources.
Mudras Introduction — Be familiar with the five classes of mudras, plus their historical and philosophical context, purpose, and significance in Hatha Yoga and Tantra Yoga.
About Hand Mudras — Be familiar with the energies represented in the hand and guidelines for practicing hand mudras.
Mudras at a Glance — Identify more than 20 mudras visually and by Sanskrit name, and be able to quickly look up more than 60 mudras, including alternate names.
Anjali Mudra — Be familiar with the naming and translations, techniques, and intentions for Anjali / Atmanjali Mudra.
More Mudras — Be familiar with naming, techniques, and intentions for more than 20 mudras, plus be prepared to explore more than 30 additional mudras.
In this post, you’ll find an inspiring excerpt from the Mudras Introduction lesson. Following are excerpts from the other lessons.
About Hand Mudras
How & Why: Rationale & Evidence
Energy Philosophy
The hands are our seat of pranic connection and expansion in Ayurvedic medicine, and much of healing is through the hands. Mudras can help direct higher pranic energies into the body and link us with beneficial pranic currents in nature and in the universe as a whole. Mudras relate to the marmas and nadis, the energy points and currents in the physical and subtle bodies. This can afford them tremendous healing powers and the ability to change how our energy moves and works… The mudra forms a vehicle for one’s prana, and helps both activate and exercise the prana that one has… Mudras can also serve to focus the mind and direct its power of attention.
Dr. David Frawley
Scalar Waves, Modern Science
According to this model, documented in peer-reviewed journals like the International Journal of Applied and Advanced Scientific Research, when your hands—each carrying opposite bioelectric charges due to hemispheric brain dominance—come together, you create the precise conditions for scalar wave formation: two coherent biological oscillators meeting in phase opposition.³ Whether we call these measured effects ‘scalar waves,’ ‘longitudinal waves,’ or simply ‘coherent biofields,‘ the phenomenon is real and measurable.
Sayer Ji
Guidelines
Use anytime. — Most sources state that mudras can be practiced at any time and during any activity, including standing or walking, in addition to seated.
Choose to meet intention. — “Each mudra has a particular purpose and moves energy in a specific way to create subtle physical, mental, and emotional changes. For example, if you come into your meditation practice feeling agitated or anxious, placing your palms face down on your thighs is thought to calm and ground your energy. If you feel sluggish or sleepy, a palms-up mudra is thought to energize you.” [source]
Practice with both hands. — Unless a mudra requires both hands to create, it’s typically recommended to practice the same mudra with both hands. But it is acceptable and beneficial to practice using only one hand when necessary.
Use gentle pressure. — “Exert enough pressure to feel the flow of energy through the nadis (psychic channels) up the arms but not enough to whiten fingertips.” [Kundalini Yoga]
Most Sensible with Meditation and Sometimes with Asana When it Supports the Focus
It makes the most sense to do our mudras during meditation to optimize their effect… There are also times when we can do mudras throughout the practice. For example, we can use Anjali mudra at different points of the practice to punctuate it with points of stillness and internal focus to pay attention to how the body responds to different parts of the practice… Adding Jnana mudra in the Dancer pose won’t hurt anything, but the question is – what is the intention here?… If you add a mudra to it, the question arises – where should your attention go? Should you focus on the action of balancing, on the action of back bending, or on the mudra?… On the other hand, it can be really beneficial to use Hakini mudra in Tree pose, for example. Hakini mudra helps with concentration and improves coordination between the right and left brain hemispheres. Holding this mudra in the Tree pose and gently pressing the fingers of your hands into each other can serve as a centering point and can actually help you balance in the pose. – Olga Kabel, SequenceWiz, Mudra in a supporting role: How to use mudras to help manifest the intention of your practice link
Mudras at a Glance
“ABHAYA MUDRA” – Gesture of Fearlessness
“ABHAYA HRDAYA MUDRA” – Gesture of the Fearless Heart
“AGNI MUDRA” – Gesture of Fire
“AGNI SHAMAK MUDRA” – Another name for Prithvi Mudra
“AGNI VARDHAK MUDRA” – Another name for Surya Mudra
“ANAHATA MUDRA” – No English translation for the mudra; “anahata” = “unstruck”, “unbroken”, “whole”
“ANJALI MUDRA” – Salutation Seal
“APANA MUDRA” – Gesture of Elimination
“APANA VAYU MUDRA” – Heart Mudra
“ATMANJALI MUDRA” – Reverence to the Self Seal; another name for Anjali Mudra
“BHAIRAVA MUDRA” – No English translation for the mudra; “Bhairava is a Hindu deity associated with annihilation and considered a ferocious manifestation of Shiva the Destroyer”
“BRAHMA MUDRA” – Supreme Spirit Gesture
“BUDDHI MUDRA” – Intellect Seal or Seal of Mental Clarity
To continue with this glossary, and to see a visual gallery: Mudras at a Glance
Anjali Mudra
Image source: Sayer Ji
Press your palms together right now. Feel that warmth spreading between them? That subtle tingling, as if something invisible is gathering in the space between your skin? You’ve just created what researchers in bioelectromagnetic medicine call a ‘coherent field node’—a zone where the measurable electromagnetic emissions from your left and right hands create an interference pattern… When two coherent electromagnetic waves meet in perfect opposition (what physicists call ‘destructive interference’), the standard model says they should cancel out. But researchers like Tom Bearden and Konstantin Meyl propose something else happens: the transverse electromagnetic components cancel, yes, but the energy doesn’t disappear. Instead, it transforms into what Tesla called ‘longitudinal waves’ and what modern researchers term ‘scalar waves’—a different form of electromagnetic potential that mainstream physics is only beginning to acknowledge.² According to this model, documented in peer-reviewed journals like the International Journal of Applied and Advanced Scientific Research, when your hands—each carrying opposite bioelectric charges due to hemispheric brain dominance—come together, you create the precise conditions for scalar wave formation: two coherent biological oscillators meeting in phase opposition.³
Sayer Ji has gifted us with leading-edge coverage of the emerging science behind Anjali Mudra. See his article linked above to delve into an extensive body of knowledge that adds a vast new level of understanding to the yogic techniques that have passed the test of time.
See Anjali Mudra for more.
More Mudras
Here’s a sample from More Mudras.
Prithvi Mudra
Naming
“prithvi” = “vast one” and the earth in element theory [source]
Earth Gesture
Prithvi Vardhak Mudra [source]
Agni Shamak Mudra [source]
Surya Ravi Mudra [source]
About
When the earth element is in balance, we are both mentally and physically strong, confident and stable. Earth is a major part of the physical body, and so this element plays a vital role in health and wellbeing. Prithvi mudra is primarily used to increase the Earth element within an individual as a means of healing. However, since the ring finger symbolizes earth and the thumb symbolizes fire, this gesture can also be used to bring balance between these two elements. It is considered to be a powerful mudra, capable of healing many ailments, such as chronic fatigue, osteoporosis, weight loss, convalescence or paralysis, burning sensations throughout the body, ulcers, and nail, hair or skin issues. – Yogapedia, Prithvi Mudra link
Technique
Touch tips of the ring fingers to the thumbs.
Extend the other three fingers in a relaxed position.
Relax shoulders and face. Focus on the breath.
Intention / Benefits
Calm the mind. [source]
Increase confidence, stability, grounding. [source and source]
Stimulate muladhara (root) chakra. [source and source and source]
“Bring wellness, energy and positive transformation” [source]
Promote health and wellbeing. [source]
Stimulate energy, vitality, circulation. [source]
When to Avoid
Summaries like this for 20 more mudras here.
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