Everyone knows about yoga and the benefits it can bring to your life. This ancient form of exercise started in India and has reached far and wide across the world. While we are slowly unlocking, we’re looking for new ways to be fit and active indoors. I have few ways on how we can be more active during the day – Hand Yoga!
The importance of specific hand position is common in spiritual and healing arts tradition. India is home to perhaps the largest collection of such hand gestures. The Sanskrit word Mudra means gesture. These Hand gestures (Mudras) stimulates the flow of vital energy in unique ways, affecting organs, glands and nervous system of the body. Such gestures are mainly used while doing yoga postures (Asanas), Pranayama (breathing practices) and Meditation.
5 Hand Yoga Mudras & Their Benefits
1. Jnana/Gyan Mudra
In this Mudra, the thumb and index finger are touching and form a circle. The other three fingers are stretched casually. The palms are facing upwards. This Hand Yoga Mudra is known as the gesture of knowledge and wisdom. The Index Finger symbolizes the ego that is beaten by the universal wisdom, which is represented by thumb.
Benefits:
- Stimulates brain functions, the sense of touch and harmonizes the nervous system.
- Calms the soul gives inner peace, promotes concentration as well as memory and helps in insomnia and depression.
2. Aakash Mudra
To perform this, the thumb and middle finger are brought together. The other fingers are casually stretching. Aakash stands for the element of room or ether.
Benefit:
- It helps overcome obstacles and blockades related to stress in personal or professional life.
- It also helps with heart diseases, toothache, a stiff jaw, ear ache and weight regulation, strengthening bones, intuition and awareness are strengthened and feeling and thoughts are cleansed.
3. Shunya Mudra
In this Hand Yoga Mudra, you bend your middle finger until it touches the ball below the thumb. The thumb performs light pressure on the middle finger. The other fingers are stretched. Put your hands, palms facing up, on your thighs. Sunya Means “sky” or “zero”.
Benefits
- It has a healing effect on the ear area and helps with different issues such as ear aches, ringing in ears.
- It can help with imbalance, dizziness, travel sickness, sea sickness and nausea brought by movement.
- It helps in healing throat and nose infections.
4. Surya Mudra
It is formed by folding the ring finger so that it touches the lower end of the thumb. The thumb pushes the ring finger slightly down and other fingers are casually stretched upwards. Surya Mudra activates the fire element of the body.
Benefits
- It activates metabolism, therefore, suited for people who want to lose body fat/weight and improve their cholesterol levels.
- It helps heal cold by creating warmth inside the body.
- It helps in strengthening the eyes and improves eyesight.
5. Jalodar Nashak Mudra
To perform this, the small finger is bent towards the thumb. The thumb pushes the small finger slightly down. The name of this hand gesture (Mudra) is made up of from three words Jal for “water”, Udar for “ stomach”and Nashak for “finish”. The small finger represent the water element.
Benefits: It reduces excess water in the body. Swelling, excessive salivation, watering eyes, runny nose and heavy periods are all reduced.
Apart From these 5 main Hand Yoga Mudras, the other important ones are Dhanyi Mudra – which is a classical mediation gesture where hands lay causally in your lap which gives feeling of contentment and Atmanjali or Namaskar which symbolizes gratefulness or respect which leads to inner balance.
You can try these Hand Yoga Mudras anywhere, at any time. Just relax and be gentle. Activating the energy in your hands will in turn activate the corresponding energy in the rest of your body and evoke a sense of overall vitality. If you are new to yogic practices, then these Hand Yoga Mudras will be a great way to start practicing.
Do leave your thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on yoga, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE yoga sessions by experts on GOQii Play.
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Monsoons and the subsequent change in weather often result in low immunity and viral infections such as a sore throat, cold, fever, etc. which drain us. Yoga therapy has a holistic approach, works on 5 different levels i.e. Physical Body, Energy Body, Mental Level, Intellectual Level, Emotional level and Spiritual level, which can help you overcome these ailments. Let’s look at how these levels help viral infections. 
Many of us are worried about the impact of this disease on our elderly and physically vulnerable relatives. To top it off, the economic impact it has had around the world, right down to individuals being unable to work and ineligible for sick pay is huge. All this coupled with shortages in shops, cancellation of planned holidays and events have all caused some level of anxiety and distress. As these mental and emotional issues pile up, there’s a good chance that one might go over the edge. To avoid that, something must be done. During these trying times that we must spend indoors, there is something you can do to improve your mental and emotional wellbeing. That something is meditation! 
