Mudras, a set of certain posture combinations, are practiced to channelise a particular force to a specific area of the body

Balancing at fingertips

Mudras, a set of certain posture combinations, are practiced to channelise a particular force to a specific area of the body. By way of certain permutations and combinations, they have an effect on both the physical and the etheric layers of a being. In a healthy body, the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) are in a state of equilibrium. Any imbalance in these causes disease in the body. Such imbalances can be corrected simply by using our fingertips. The thumb represents fire element, the index finger represents air, middle finger, space or ether, ring finger, water and the little finger, earth. Thus, forming a particular mudra using your fingers will help control, guide and balance the flow of prana in your body. Any finger, when touched with the tip of the thumb, increases that element in the body, and touching a fingertip with the base of the thumb decreases that element. A mudra is a combination of different forces — it has the ability to change the composition of elements in your body. Never fall for the “interesting” but misleading pictures showing people in different mudras. Mudras are very potent tools and should only be practiced under the guidance of your Guru; otherwise they can create imbalance, especially if you and your body are not prepared for those kinds of practices. Sanatan Kriya tells us that initially a sadhak is supposed to sit with the palms lying open, symbolic of accepting whatever the Guru thinks is required by the sadhak. No mudra is adopted. After initiation, the sadhak will sit in the Bhairav or the Bhairavi mudra. In this mudra, the sadhak sits with palms overlapping each other. This completes the circuit of prana, which prevents prana from flowing out during dhyan. Men sit with their left palm over the right one and women sit with their right palm over the left. This is done in order to balance the forces of Shiva and Shakti. The left palm represents the feminine force, Shakti, and the right palm represents the male force, Shiva. The Guru knows when to change the bhairav to bhairavi and vice versa, and ultimately both have to be balanced to achieve yog. Yogi Ashwini is an authority on the vedic sciences and the author of ‘Sanatan Kriya—The Ageless Dimension.’ He can be reached at dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com.