THE HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF YOGA MUDRAS

 The History and importance of yoga mudra

Our hands are a source of tremendous power. With such profound dexterity, sensitivity, and utility, the human hands may be one of our most defining features as a species. Playing guitar, delivering a baby, knitting a sweater, building a house, wielding a sword, painting intricate figures: through the use of our hands we create and shape the world we live in. 

Hands can heal, hands can harm. One touch can convey a wide array of thoughts, feelings, or intentions. Hands tell the story of our mood or state of mind. When we feel angry, a clenched fist; when anxious, fidgeting fingers. Even plants and animals respond to the subtle nuances of our touch.

With the hands playing such a central role in our experience of being human, it comes as no surprise that many of the world’s great spiritual and artistic traditions have considered the hands as sacred. With five digits, twenty-seven bones, and fifteen joints plus numerous carpal joints affording articulation of the wrist the human hand is a masterpiece of nature.

 Perhaps, this is why many cultures throughout history viewed the human hand as a perfect microcosm of the universe. For example, the shaman kings (Wu) of ancient China viewed all things in the animated world as emanations of the changing relationship between five fundamental principles (commonly referred to as the Five Elements): Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. They viewed the human hand as one of the most poignant examples of these five principles, with each of the fingers representing one the Five Elements (Earth/thumb, Metal/index, Water/little, Wood/ring, and Fire/middle). These relationships, and the character of each finger based on the theory of Five Elements

According to the doctrine of Yoga Tattva Mudra Vijnana, all diseases in the body and disturbances of mind result from the imbalance of the Five Elements and disruption of the natural flow of prana. Through centuries of use and refinement, the techniques of the five classes of mudras have been shown to be a highly effective system of self-healing and spiritual cultivation. The passage below conveys the supreme importance of mudras in the yoga tradition

Be aware and be happiness