Mudra means “seal” in Sanskrit. It’s a symbolic or ritual gesture using primarily the hands. Each position is believed to have a specific effect. Specific positions can lead to specific states of consciousness symbolized by the hand positions. For example, if a person frequently and with feeling does a position of fearlessness, they will also be freed from fearfulness in time. Mudras are said to engage areas of the brain and/or soul influencing them, sometimes physically, by their use—not unlike an affirmation, or reflexology for that matter.
“One way that all of us can better care for ourselves is by developing techniques for coping with the irritations and anxiety that are part of life…
Think of these gestures as self-talk for your hands. These simple movements, the gestures
that we often make unconsciously, can help us focus on our work, calm ourselves, release anger and energize us. Used for centuries by many different cultures, mudras are seen in Eastern dance and meditation, in ancient Egyptian friezes, even in Byzantine icons of Christ. Most of us use them today, too: we wave goodbye, we press a hand to our chest in distress, we wriggle our fingers to release energy, or press fingertips together to calm ourselves.
Easy to learn, mudras can be done anywhere, at any time: at traffic lights, in meetings, in airplanes, when we’re arguing, when we’re grieving, when we need to prepare for sleep. The word mudra can be translated from the Sanskrit as that which brings inner peace, and that s what mudras are: a physical means of quieting our bodies.” Product description for Mudras: Ancient Gestures to Ease Modern Stress by Emily Fuller Williams.
Mudra for Higher Consciousness:
This month’s newsletter is on ancestral healing. We carry the stories of our ancestors within our energy field. Unresolved conflicts, emotional wounds, damaging judgments, and other limitations held by your ancestors past or present will continue to influence generations to follow. This creates our “patterns”. Our ancestor’s memories lie within our DNA. Deep, unexpressed emotions such as grief, anger, guilt, shame and fear can also be passed to us from our ancestors, just like our eye and hair color. Energy from our ancestors passes through the family tree. This mudra is about being aware of “life’s lessons”—our ancestor’s lessons, and then recognizing and overcoming our patterns.
Description: Sit in easy seated pose (highlighted pose) with back straight. Bend elbows and bring hands at the solar plexus level, palms together and fingers pointed away from the body. All the fingers touch firmly except for the thumbs.
Tuck your thumbs in between the palms so their tips rest just below the little fingers. The pinky side of your hands touch firmly.
The author suggests concentrating on your third eye. In light of this newsletter’s focus on chakras above and below the body, and the featured pose, I suggest visualizing roots down into the earth connecting you to your tribe—your ancestral lineage—as well as visualizing your auric field energetically connecting to the heavens as though a funnel channeling energy from above.
Affirmation: I am aware of my life’s lessons; I can overcome my patterns.
Source: Power Mudras. Yoga Hand Postures for Women, by Sabrina Mesko
