Ring Finger Mudra for Temperature Control, Stamina and Equilibrium

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Another one of my favorite yoga mudras  is the Ring Finger Mudra.  It’s especially helpful in the summer since it helps control body temperature.  It does this since it works with the Chinese  “triple warmer. ” There are times when I get too hot as well as times that I get chilled due to air conditioning.  This hand gesture solves it.  In addition to temperature control, it is also good for increasing stamina and feeling balanced and a steady equilibrium.

How to do the Ring Finger Mudra

• Sit, stand or lie down
• Encircle your left ring finger with the four fingers of your right hand – the right thumb  extends to the middle of your left hand.
• Keep holding your finger for a while and feel the experience
• Next encircle your right ring finger and hold it for the same amount of time.

Benefits of the Ring Finger Mudra

• Gives stamina, staying power and the power to be assertive
• Associated with the deep meridian of the liver which provides patience, serenity, hope, and vision for the future
• Associated with the triple warmer which provides temperature control for the body, which in turn regulates cell function.
• Helps with maintaining equilibrium during stressful times

Reference:  Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands by Gertrud Hirschi

Kubera Mudra for Confidence, Achieving Goals, Finding Objects, and More

Here’s another powerful yoga mudra (hand gesture) to use.  It’s called Kubera Mudra and it is good for all sorts of things.  I’ve been adding it to my daily meditations and using it during my yoga posture practice.  I especially like using it when setting intentions.  Please don’t take my word for it.  Instead, try it out for yourself and let me know how it goes.

Benefits of Kubera Mudra:

• Focuses and concentrates energy for something strongly desired.
• Puts powerful strength behind future plans (goals and what you want fulfilled)
• Confidence, calmness and peacefulness
• It can also be used to find something (lost object, parking spot, etc.)
• Physically, it opens and decongests the frontal sinuses

How to do Kubera Mudra:

• Touch the tip of your thumb, index finger and middle finger together.
• Bend the other two fingers in toward the  middle of your hand.
• Do this with both hands.
• Hold for several minutes and repeat 2-3 times throughout the day.

Mahasirs Yoga Mudra for Headaches

I woke up in the middle of the night not long ago with a headache.  Ouch!  It was piercing me right between the eyes.  This is unusual for me and I was hurting and unhappy about it.

Well, it was one of the first chilly nights and I was snuggled under the covers and didn’t want to get up.  Luckily, I thought of the yoga mudra for headaches.  In no time at all, my head quit hurting and I was back sleeping once again.  Since I didn’t look at the clock (that’s too depressing in the middle of the night), I woke up once more with a headache so I repeated the yoga mudra and it worked just as fast.  The next morning I woke up feeling rested and no more headache.

How to do the Yoga Mudra for Headaches, called the Mahasirs Mudra (please don’t ask me to pronounce it)

1. Place your ring finger into the fold of the thumb.
2. Touch the tips of your thumb, index and middle finger.
3. Keep the baby straight.
4. Do this with both hands.
5. Hold it as long as necessary.

Benefits of the Mahasirs Mudra

• Relieves tension
• Balances energy
• Eliminates mucus congestion in the frontal sinuses
• Quiets the senses and calms the emotions

→ Good News!

Join us for a Yoga Mudra Workshop.  You’ll learn all about how to apply these simple hand exercises to boost your energy, prevent illness and support healing.

Sunday, Nov. 7
12 noon – 3 pm
Whatever Works Wellness Center in Silverton, OH.
$30 in advance / $35 at the door. 

Please call 513-791-9428 to preregister.

If you can’t make it to this one, check my schedule to see when the next one is.

Pran Mudra

One of my favorite yoga hand positions, otherwise called yoga mudras, is the Pran Mudra.
It is simple to do and very powerful.

What are the benefits of the Pran Mudra?

• Increases vitality and your life force
• Reduces fatigue
• Reduces nervousness
• Improves vision
• Builds self-confidence
• Gives the courage to start something new and follow through on it
• Balances and equalizes the functioning of the right and left hemispheres of the brain if you hold the fingernails instead of the finger tips of the ring and little finger.
  

How to do the Pran Mudra

1.  Put the tips of the thumb, ring and little fingers together.  Instead of touching the tips, another way is to put the thumb on the fingernails of the ring and little fingers.

2.  Extend the middle and pointer fingers

3.  Use with both hands.  It’s fine to have your hands down by your side, resting in your lap, or add it to a standing posture while practicing yoga

4.  Use it as needed for 5 to 30 minutes.  As a treatment, do it 3 times a day for 15 minutes.  As with all mudras, practice slow, deep and mindful breathing to magnify the benefits.

Julie Keefe at Magic Beans Workshop emailed me to say…

Hi Julie!

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve been frequently using the Pran Mudra that you taught us. I really enjoyed how it was incorporated into our yoga postures and really felt that it significantly enhanced my practice, energy and mood that night. I’ve been using it while on my morning walks. I’m very excited!

→ Join us for a Yoga Mudra Workshop.  Check my schedule to see when the next one is.

PS.   There will be one on Sunday, Nov. 7 from 12 noon – 3 pm at Whatever Works Wellness Center in Silverton, OH.  It’s $30 in advance or $35 at the door.  Call 513-791-9428 to preregister.

Please share your other ideas and comments below so we can all benefit.

Bhramara Mudra for Allergy Relief

Yoga Mudras were introduced in my last post.  They are gestures for the hands and body that aid healing for the body, mind, emotions and spirit.  Using hand positions in this manner can be found in the yoga, Buddhist, Chinese, and other traditions.

Here is one to practice to relieve allergies and related conditions.  It’s called Bhramara Mudra.

• Place your index finger at the base of your thumb.
• Touch the tip of your thumb beside the fingernail of the middle finger
• Extend your ring and little fingers
• Focus your attention and breathe as deeply, slowly and smoothly as possible
• Hold for several minutes and practice often

Even though I had my doubts, this yoga mudra has helped me a lot.  I use it during an allergy attack and as a preventative during allergy season.  For example, I will hold this yoga mudra with one or both of my hands while waiting, walking or sitting.

I’ve shared this with others and have been told that it stopped a sneezing fit, solved an allergy attack when out walking, and cleared up a runny nose from allergies.  Really!

Don’t forget to use common sense too.   Help yourself by doing what you can to boost your immune system and avoid what triggers your allergies (pollen, animal dander, dust, food triggers, etc.)

Please try it for yourself and then post your results!

Visit often since there are lots more yoga mudras to share with you for things like feeling more stable, calm, energized and uplifted.

Post a comment to let me know the ones you’re most interested in and I’ll do my best.  Better yet, come to a yoga class and/or to the next yoga slumber party to learn more in person.  Here’s the schedule for your convenience.

There will be a Yoga Mudra class on Nov. 7 from Noon to 3 pm at Whatever Works Wellness in Silverton, OH.  Call 791-9428. If that doesn’t work for you, then book something that will!

Yoga Mudras for the Hands

Have you ever needed the benefits from yoga (energy, relaxation, clear mind, emotional balance, etc.) but couldn’t practice a pose because you were in public, not dressed for yoga, or didn’t even know how to do yoga?  This happens to me several times a day!  Luckily, I have found another secret that really works.  It’s Yoga Mudras – yoga poses using hand positions and gestures.

I finally started taking these ancient teachings seriously while I was teaching relaxation training and guided imagery in the Bahamas last spring for the Easter/Passover Symposium on Yoga and Sacred Healing at Sivananda Ashram.  Amy Weintraub (Yoga and Depression) and Joseph and Lilian LePage (Integrative Yoga Therapy) taught them as part of their presentations.  This experience convinced me that Yoga Mudras are very effective, simple and profound.

As soon as I got home, I began investigating and practicing Yoga Mudras more and more.  One morning I was reading a book on Yoga Mudras by Gutrud Hirschi and it described amazing results and reasons to practice Yoga Mudras.  The results sounded too good to be true.  Since I was suspicious, I wanted to put it to the test.

Meanwhile, I was suffering from seasonal allergies -  my nose was running, my eyes were watery and itchy, and I was sneezing.  So I tried Bhramara Mudra.  It worked – and quickly too!  Naturally I shared this with my yoga students and they also reported positive results too.  We were so excited and it convinced us that Yoga Mudras have lots of valuable benefits to offer.

There are Yoga Mudras to help with allergies, feeling calm, lifting energy, headaches, chakra balancing and many more.

So, how can you learn more?

1.  My next 2 blog posts will show you wonderful mudras to practice. (use the RSS feed so you don’t miss out – it’s up in the right corner of this blog)

2.  Attend yoga classes.  See my schedule. There will be a Yoga Mudra class on Nov. 7 from Noon to 3 pm at Whatever Works Wellness in Silverton, OH.  Call 791-9428.  If that doesn’t work for you, then book something that will!

3.  Joseph and Lilian LePage have been studying Yoga Mudras for 10 years to write a book all about them.  Their book will show 108 hand gestures along with guided meditations and affirmations.  I am honored and excited that they have asked me to edit the guided meditations.  I will let you know as soon as their book is available.  It’ll be fantastic!