The Biggest Secret in Hatha Yoga

The Biggest Secret in Hatha Yoga - by Mehtab, Yoga Yoga's Founder

Hand positions in Hatha yoga are called "mudras" or energy seals, and when you discover their secret, you will always make them a part of your yoga practice.

Mudras allow you to develop an awareness of the currents of vital energy (prana,) within your body and eventually to gain conscious control over these forces. You can then learn to direct the currents of energy to any part of your body at will for the purpose of self-healing or to conserve and focus your own vital energy so you can meditate for longer periods.

Holding a mudra, or hand position, during an asana practice brings a steadiness and focus to your practice that is powerful and profound. They also take your breath deeper and slow it down.

In fact, mudras are said to be even more powerful and important than yoga postures (asanas) and breathing exercises (pranayama) for they help to generate a strong psychic effect upon the inner being and facilitate spiritual advancement.

The hand and finger positions of mudras make important connections in the nervous system and stimulate specific energy pathways (nadis). It is also said that they increase energy and blood circulation to different parts of the brain, to important nerve junctures and the glands.

Early yogis mapped out the hand areas and their associated reflexes, which relate to the different areas of the body or brain. They also represent different emotions or behaviors. By curling, stretching, crossing and touching fingers to other fingers and areas of the hand we can effectively talk to the body and mind.

Certain mudras control the involuntary physiological processes or the physical functions of the breathing. The mudra achieves this by uniting various nerve terminals in the fingers that in turn activate different areas of the brain as well as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

For example, when the hands are placed together palm-to-palm, as in Namaste position or Anjali mudra , the cranial nerve circuits in the head and the upper part of the body in the vagus nerve system are united together. This produces a physiological response that induces calmness and a deeper breath. No wonder we start so many yoga classes with this mudra!

The secret is that your hands are essentially an energy map of consciousness. Each finger has a quality that it represents and stimulates. In traditional yoga, the little finger represents tamas (inertia) the fourth or ring finger represents rajas (activity, action, passion); the middle finger represents satva (purity, peace). The index finger represents the atma or individual soul; and the thumb represents the Parmatama or Supreme soul.

Perhaps the most basic mudra in yoga is accomplished by touching the thumb and the index finger to Gyan Mudra, or the seal of wisdom. You can also say that this mudra symbolizes the union of the individual soul (index finger) with the Supreme soul (thumb).

There are hundreds of mudras in yoga, more than the number of postures or asanas, and for many years they have been kept a secret. Why? Because they are actually the most powerful part of the Hatha Yoga practice.

Mudras are also very therapeutic and used for healing in all branches of the Vedic sciences – yoga, Ayurveda, and Joytisha (or Vedic Astrology). In our teacher trainer classes when I teach the science of mudras, I have fun demonstrating one therapeutic mudra that has been used to treat constipation for a few hundred years.

You make the mudra by hold the middle finger and ring finger under your thumb and extending your index and little fingers up in the air. Try it.

Yes, that's right – Hook'em Horns!