Yogic Mudras For Health

9 months ago

In Yogic practices, Mudras have a special importance of being a blown form of asanas. These are advanced techniques in Yoga used for culturing the emotions and still the mind.

Depending upon their type these Mudras in general are used mainly in three fields:

1. Dance forms ( to express the feelings and emotions through bodily gestures)

2. Rituals (in performing certain worships) and

3. Hatha-Yoga (to help in stabilizing the mind)

Now, lets consider some of the important gesture mudras used in dance forms and also 4 most important and common Mudras belonging to the region of Hatha-Yoga.

Mudras used in Dance Forms:

1. GYNAN MUDRA:
Bring the tip of the thumb and index finger in gentle contact, not pressing hard, with the other three fingers stretched out and kept upright.

Benefits:
-> Enhances concentration power and cures insomnia & mental disorders.
-> Helps to build sharp memory and spiritual feelings.
-> With regular practice it helps in curing chronic headaches and depression.
To get further benefits, it is advised to perform Prana Mudra after this mudra.

2. PRANA MUDRA
Prana Mudra is formed by bringing the tip of little finger, middle finger and thumb in gentle contact, with the other two fingers stretched out and kept upright.

Benefits:
-> cures eye defects and improves eye sight
-> Improves the immunity power of the body
-> Can bring new energy to the body relieving from tiredness.
-> Particularly useful in curing Insomnia when done along with Gyan-Mudra.

3. VAYU MUDRA
Touch the base of the thumb with the tip of index finger and lightly press it with the thumb, and as usual all the other finger should be straight and stretched out.

Benefits:
-> Helps in curing blood circulation defects
-> With continuous practice it can help in preventing all types of disease that occur due to imbalance of air such as arthritis, paralysis, sciatica etc.,

4. SHUNYA MUDRA
Similar to Vayu Mudra(above), but here we use middle finger in place of index finger to touch the base of the thumb.

Benefits:
-> Doing it for atleast 1 hour daily helps in curing all types of Ear related problems.
-> Can reduce dullness in the body and also useful in thyroid related diseases.

5. PRUTHVI MUDRA
Bring the tip of the ring finger and the thumb in gentle contact, keeping the remaining three fingers stretched out and kept upright. (similar to Gyan Mudra expect for using ring finger instead of index finger)

Benefits:
-> Can reduce obesity
-> With continuous practise it can reduce dullness of the body and bring new energy.
-> Removes Vitamin deficiency related problems & fatigue.

6. APANA MUDRA
Tips of middle finger, ring finger and thumb are touched together gently, keeping the rest of the fingers Stretched out.

Benefits:
-> Continuous practice can help in reducing constipation, piles, diabetes, urinary problems and tooth ache
-> Helps in properly excreting the normal waste regularly keeping the body fresh.

7. APANA VAYU MUDRA
Doing Apana Mudra and Vayu Mudra at a time leads you to Apana Vany Mudra. Little finger will be stretched out and kept upright in this mudra.

Befinits:
-> Reduces Heart related problems and it is advisable for Heart patients to practise this mudra regularly.
-> Helps in reducing gastric troubles.
-> Helps in curing chronic headaches and also reduces high blood pressure.

8. SURYA MUDRA
Touch the base of the thumb with the tip of ring finger and lightly press it with the thumb. All the remaining fingers are kept upright.

Caution: Don't perform this mudra in hot weather conditions and it is not advisable for under-weighted weak people.

Benefits:
->Helps in reducing excess weight and keeps the body balanced
-> Continuous practise of this mudra can reduce diabetes.

9. VARUNA MUDRA
Bring the tips of little finger and thumb in gentle contact, with the rest of the fingers kept upright.

Benefits:
-> Particularly helpful in all skin related problems.

10. LINGA MUDRA
As shown in the drawing, interlock the fingers of both the hand keeping the thumb of the left hand vertically straight.

Caution: Don't perform this Mudra for longer durations as it generates heat in the body.

Benefits:
-> Helps in reducing the production on phlegm thus reducing cough, sinus and other phelgm related problems.
-> Useful in curing low blood pressure
-> Much benefits can be achieved when this mudra is practised along with taking milk, ghee, water, fruits and fruit juices more on a daily basis.

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Mudras of Hatha Yoga:
Here are the four most common Mudras practised by the Hatha Yogis.

1. MAHA MUDRA (Royal Gesture)

-> Sit with legs stretched, bend the left leg a the knee and press the perineum with the heel.

-> Inhale completely and hold the breath. Catch hold of the big toe of the stretched right leg with both hands by bending the waist forward. Keep the chest up.

-> While making a swallowing movement, bend the neck forward and press the chin on the chest. Inhale while doing this and very slowly exhale raising the head back.

-> Repeat this with the other leg also. Repeat for equal number of times on either side every day.

Benefits:
Many diseases of the stomach are cured by this. Very useful in curing seminal weakness.

2. ASVINI MUDRA (Horse-Anus-Gesture)

-> Sit erect in Padmasana or any other meditative posture and exhale completely

-> Hold the breath and pull the anus by contracting the sphincter; hold for about 10 seconds and inhale.

-> Release the anus.

-> Repeat this rhythmically about 10 to 30 times.

Benefits:
This Mudra is useful in evoking the spiritual forces dormant in the lower centers. Useful for pregnant women, and in curing urinary and anal incontinence. Also useful in treating piles and prolapse uterus.

3. SANMUKHI MUDRA (Six-faced Gesture)

-> Sit erect in any meditative posture.

-> Spread out the fingers of both the hands over the face, and close your eyes, ears and nose tightly using the following fingers:
Index fingers over the eyes,
Middle fingers over the nostrils,
Thumbs over the Tragus of the ears,
Ring and Little fingers over the lips thus closing all the orifices in the face.

-> Open alternate nostrils by releasing only the middle fingers, to carry on the breathing.(First inhale and exhale with one nostril then you close that nostril and open other nostril to do the same.) Repeat for 5 times on each nostril.

Benefits:
This Mudra is very helpful in taking the mind to meditation. It cuts off all external stimuli coming from the four special senses i.e., vision, hearing, smell and taste. Hence the mind can easily dwell in meditation by following the fine internal sounds of the breathing. Very Useful in persons suffering from tension headaches.

4. YOGA MUDRA (Yoga Gesture)

-> Sit erect in Padmasana, catch hold of the right wrist by left hand behind the back.

-> Bend forward and touch the floor by the forehead

-> Return.

-> This Mudra can also be performed by putting the palms in between the heel and the abdominal wall, before bending forwards.

Benefits:
This cures the disease of the abdomen and pelvis, tones up the nervous system especially the lumbo-sacral nerves. Helps in cases of seminal weakness.

***
According to Patanjali(compiler of yoga Sutras), the above Mudras when practiced regularly will bring about a transformation of the whole personality to move towards perfection.

Try it yourself and experience the benefits.

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