BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga What's the deal with yoga mudras

I've been practicing yoga regularly since 2004 (not so regularly since 2000) and one thing I've noticed is that I catch myself doing mudras at all hours of the day but this has nothing to do with my yoga practice.

I've been doing this since I was a kid just doing it more now. I wonder why I have always felt drawn to this. Maybe my dance background (ballet, flamenco) had something to do with it. Maybe playing the piano and clarinet from an early age through college contributed too. Weird!

Dear Monica -

That's interesting, none of my DVDs uses them really, nor does the class I take, so I haven't gotten used to doing them. I imagine it can be very centering to get in that habit!

Shiva's big on mudras and they do help you focus especially when doing harder poses. I have days when I'm OCD with the mudras but I just go with the flow as she says!

Hi Monica! I'm willing to bet that your dance background is influencing your hands here, at least a little, because we use our hands to express lines and emotions while dancing. The hands are also known as direct extensions of the heart, and with the heart being the seat of emotion and intuition, it makes sense that your hands are being expressive in mudras.

I LOVE mudras! There is a really great book by Gertrud Hirschi called Mudras - Yoga in your Hands. I've had several copies of this book because I reference it quite often. If you consider that yoga asanas create actions and reactions in the body, mudras are literally postures that you do with your hands and fingers and they work to unlock energies and qualities in your body.

I'm willing to bet that the mudras that you do spontaneously are expressions of what your body is feeling or they are signifiers of what you're thinking of. Very cool!