We’re focusing on mindfulness this month at Mexicali, and exploring the practice of meditation in both stillness and motion. Throughout March, we’ll be exploring different mudras (sacred hand positions) to imbue meditative practices with a specific energy. Mudras help to guide the flow of energy (as well as reflex reactions in the brain) in ways that support your meditative manifestation, an outward reflection of inner intention.
The translation of “Anjali mudra” from Sanskrit shows us that anjali means “to offer” or “to salute”, while mudra means “seal.” Anjali mudra is indeed often used to both salute and seal a moment or a practice: we use it as a way to return to one’s heart center or to greet a person, often while saying “namaste,” or before or after a yoga practice. Another way to think of this mudra is that it symbolizes us honoring and celebrating the moment, from the heart.
How to do this mudra: Place palm against palm firmly against each other with your thumbs pressing into your sternum.
Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (known as “the father of modern yoga”) offers us this insight into the Anjali mudra:
“This gesture signifies the potential for an intention to progress to greatest spiritual awakening. When done properly the palms are not flat against each other; the knuckles at the base of the fingers are bent a little, creating space between the palms and fingers of the two hands resembling a flower yet to open, symbolizing the opening of our hearts.”
Ready to practice it? Join us in meditation with hands in the Anjali mudra while enjoying this uplifting heart-chakra-opening song and video from Christopher Lloyd Clarke:
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