Do you ever wonder why you are asked to hold your hands or fingers in a certain way during yoga postures or in meditation? The reason is you are performing a mudra. The translation of the Sanskrit word mudra is ‘gesture’. Mudras are a combination of subtle physical movements which can alter your mood, attitude and perception and can lead to a deepened awareness and heightened concentration. A mudra can involve the whole body in a combination of posture, pranayama (breathing), bandha (locking actions), and visualization, or it can be a simple hand position as shown to the left in baivara mudra. The reason why mudras are effective is they manipulate prana (energy) in the body. Our body is made up of energy, and performing a mudra helps to redirect the energy within rather than have it leak out of the body.
A brain research paper published in the National Academy of Sciences in November 2009, demonstrated that hand gestures stimulate the same regions of the brain as language.
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