Pushan Mudra

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Pushan Mudra

Pushan Mudra is the mudra dedicated to the sun god, Pushan who is also the god of nourishment. This mudra utilizes two different versions for your right hand and the left hand is practiced the same in both versions. For your left hand, you practice this mudra by connecting the tips of the thumb, middle and ring fingers and extending the index and pinkie fingers. For version 1: the right hand connects the tips of the thumb, index and middle fingers and extends the ring and pinkie fingers (shown in photo). For version 2: the right hand connects the tips of the thumb, ring and pinkie fingers and extends the index and middle fingers.

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Kalesvara Mudra

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Kalesvara Mudra

Kalesvara Mudra is the mudra of the deity Kalesvara. Kalesvara is the god who rules over time. You practice this mudra by curling the index, middle, ring and pinkie fingers in, allowing the main knuckle joints to touch along the front of the fingers until the tips of the fingers, even allowing the fingernails to touch. Then extend your middle fingers and connect the pads of your middle fingers together. Allow your thumbs to touch and turn the hands so that the thumbs face the chest with the elbows akimbo.

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Dharmachakra Mudra

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Dharmachakra Mudra

Ganesha Mudra is the mudra of lord Ganesha. To practice this mudra, hold your left palm facing towards your body at the level of your heart. Begin to bend the fingers of both of your hands, and grasp your fingers together with your right palm facing away from you. As you exhale, pull your hands apart while keeping the grip of your fingers, creating tension between your left and right sides. As you inhale, release while keeping your fingers grasped and soften the tension.

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Ganesha Mudra

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Ganesha Mudra

Ganesha Mudra is the mudra of lord Ganesha. To practice this mudra, hold your left palm facing towards your body at the level of your heart. Begin to bend the fingers of both of your hands, and grasp your fingers together with your right palm facing away from you. As you exhale, pull your hands apart while keeping the grip of your fingers, creating tension between your left and right sides. As you inhale, release while keeping your fingers grasped and soften the tension.

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Shankh Mudra

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Shankh Mudra

Shankh Mudra is the shell mudra. When you practice this mudra, your hands resemble a conch shell one of the 4 things Dhanvantari holds. Dhanvantari is the god of Ayurveda sometimes called the celestial physician. To practice this mudra, encircle the thumb of the left hand with the index, middle, ring and pinkie fingers of your right hand. Extend the remaining fingers of the left hand and allow the right thumb to make contact with those fingers. Your hands should rest at your heart space.

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Yoni Mudra

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Yoni Mudra

Yoni Mudra is the mudra of the divine feminine energy and of the womb. When you practice this mudra, your hands resemble a womb. Press the pads of your thumbs together as well as the pads of your index fingers. Turn your middle, ring and pinkie fingers in towards the tala hridaya or the heart of the palm and connect the middle part of each of the middle, ring and pinkie fingers to each other so they rest evenly on each other. Turn your index fingers towards the earth and your thumbs towards the sky.

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Lotus Mudra

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Lotus Mudra

Lotus Mudra is the mudra of purity. When you practice this mudra, your hands resemble a lotus flower in bloom. Place your hands together at your heart center, your anahata chakra. Allow only the edges of your palms to touch one another as well as the thumbs and pinkie fingers. Your palms should be open with your index, middle and ring fingers are free and extended outward.

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Ksepana Mudra

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Ksepana Mudra

Ksepana Mudra is the mudra of letting go. Interlace all of your fingers and extend your index fingers and allow them to touch. This mudra has playfully been called the “Charlie’s Angels” mudra since it resembles the hand gesture the women in “Charlie’s Angels” use. To aid in the process of letting go, allow your index fingers to point towards the earth or towards your feet if you are supine. When you practice this mudra, focus on your exhalations and allow the breath and the mudra to enhance the feeling of letting go.

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Shivalinga Mudra

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Shivalinga Mudra

Shivalinga Mudra is the mudra or gesture of energy and transformation. The right hand makes a “thumbs up” sign and rest in the left hand which is shaped like a bowl. Make sure the fingers of your left hand are touching. Your hands should rest in front of your abdomen at the site of the manipura or solar plexus chakra. The thumb represents this chakra as well as the fire element associated with pitta, the dosha of digestion, absorption, assimilation and transformation.

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Dhyani Mudra

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Dhyani Mudra

Dhyani Mudra is the mudra or gesture of contemplation and meditation. The left hand lies in the right hand and the thumbs touch. Just like our feet are a map of our internal and external body in reflexology, our hands are also a map of the body. The thumb is the reflex area of the pineal gland. Philosopher Rene Descartes believed that the pineal gland was the "principal seat of the soul" and viewed it as the third eye or the point of connection between the intellect and the body. I feel that mind body connection when I practice this mudra.

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Learning How to Surrender

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Learning How to Surrender

Pondering the mantra, "From my roots, I surrender to the earth." Surrender is hard for me. I think for a long time I wasn't aware or able to face my competitive drive. I remember when a friend mentioned the personality test, Enneagram, and after I took it, I got varying types depending on the test. But when I took the test on the Enneagram Institute's site, I got the "individualist" and the "achiever." I don't think the test can fully encompass all that is me and definitely had some limitations; however, I do think I wasn't recognizing my achievement mentality.

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