Anjali Mudra is a hand gesture that promotes activation, harmonization, and alignment of the energy flows of our bodies. It helps to focus and maintain inner awareness and balance and helps to reconnect with your Higher Self, as well as intuition.
In this article, we will introduce you to this powerful mudra, will explain how to practice it, and will share with you all the benefits of practicing this mudra.
Let’s get started.
What Is Mudra?
‘Mudra‘ can be translated as ‘seal’ or ‘gesture’. When we do a mudra, it acts as a seal or bond which brings our whole body in alignment with the energy associated with the mudra.
Placing the hands and palms in a particular way, as in a mudra, regulates the flow of energy and redirects it to a particular area of the body, depending on the mudra assumed. By connecting the fingers in certain combinations, we activate the meridians and direct energy throughout the body. Different positions of the fingers can close or clear the energy channels. In addition, performing this or that mudra, we affect the biologically active points of the palms and fingers.
Mudras help us correct the direction of energy in the body, control prana, and improve the psycho-emotional state. Also, with their help, we can eliminate problems in the body and the mind by pressing on particular acupuncture points.
Each finger of the hand corresponds to certain energy. And each phalanx of each finger is responsible for a specific part of the body.
The index finger is associated with knowledge, wisdom, and self-confidence. It is connected to our life force.
The middle finger is responsible for patience and the ability to control feelings. This finger is connected to the heart and Anahata chakra.
The ring finger is responsible for health and vitality. This finger is connected to the respiratory and nervous systems.
The pinkie is associated with the creative component of the personality and the ability to see beauty. This finger is responsible for the pelvic organs.
The thumb is responsible for our ego, will, and logic. Also, this finger is associated with wisdom, mind, and awareness.
In addition, each finger is connected with different parts of the body and internal organs. For example, the upper phalanx of the thumb is a “projection” of the head. The ring and middle fingers correspond to the right and left foot, and the pinkie and index fingers correspond to the right and left hand.
By performing mudras with your hands, you definitely stimulate those parts of the body and organs that are directly connected to the energy channels that pass through the palms and fingers.
5 Fingers And 5 Elements
Did you know that each one of your fingers is associated with one of the 5 elements?
Thumb represents the Fire element (Agni).
The index finger is associated with the energy of the Air element.
The middle finger is responsible for the Ether.
The ring finger connects us to the energy of the Earth.
The pinkie represents Water.
Thus, by performing mudras, you redistribute the energy in your body. You regulate its flow through the opening and closing of energy channels as you do when practicing Hatha yoga. The only difference is that in Hatha yoga you achieve this effect by taking different body poses whereas in Yoga Mudras you do the same but with your fingers.
When in Anjali Mudra all fingers and their tips come in close contact with each other, all elements of the body are activated. When this mudra is practiced regularly, all elements of the body and all tissues and components made out of them stay balanced. This contributes to the balance of overall physical and mental health. It also keeps the entire physical and spiritual system of the human body energized and synchronized.
What Is Anjali Mudra?
If you ever have attended even one yoga class, this gesture should be familiar to you: the drawing together of one’s palms at the heart. You may see how yoga practitioners would bring their hands together while saying “Namaste” at the beginning or end of a class.
Anjali means “offering”. It is often accompanied by the word “namaste.”
Anjali mudra is used as a gesture of returning to one’s heart when people greet or say goodbye to each other. As you bring your hands together at your center, you are connecting the right and left hemispheres of your brain. This is the yogic way of unification, the yoking of our active and receptive natures (unification of SO and CHA in LAN). In the yogic view of the body, the energetic or spiritual heart is visualized as a lotus at the center of the chest. Anjali mudra is designed to nourish this lotus heart with awareness, gently encouraging it to open.
Thus, by practicing Anjali Mudra, we’re opening our spiritual hearts and performing offerings to the divine.
Anjali Mudra Benefits
The regular practice of Anjali mudra provides the following benefits:
- Promotes activation, harmonization and alignment of the energy flows of our body
- Helps to establish contact with your higher self, inner divine source
- Provides flexibility of the wrists and arm joints
- Creates a sense of harmony, balance and peace
- Enhances concentration
- Stimulates the Heart chakra (Anahata)
- Calms the mind
- Stimulates the Third Eye Chakra (Ajna)
- Boosts your intuition and psychic abilities
- Relieves stress
- Improves focus during meditation
- Promotes inner awareness and mindfulness
- Increases memory prowess
- Connects the hemispheres of the brain improves their coordination and functioning
- Optimizes brain functions and coordination
- Brings together intuition and logic, feminine and masculine, and the strength and sensitive energies of our being
- Balances glandular functions
- Improves the circulation of oxygen in the blood
- Balances breathing patterns
- Reduces depression, stress, and anxiety
- Boosts immunity
How to Perform?
Anjali Mudra is the easiest mudra to learn. To practice Anjali mudra, follow these simple steps:
- Come into a comfortable sitting position (alternatively can be performed in a standing position).
- Keep your spine lengthened while sitting comfortably straight.
- Extend the back of your neck by dropping your chin slightly in.
- Keep your palms open.
- Slowly draw your hands together at the center of your chest. The palms are placed gently against one another in front of the Heart chakra (Anahata). The fingers point upward.
- From inside, broaden your shoulder blades to spread your chest open.
- Bring your elbows into alignment with your wrists, into a straight line.
- Close your eyes and focus your awareness inwards. Feel the two different aspects of your energy coming together in balance and harmony (masculine and feminine, intuition and logic, and so on). Notice the vibrations in your body and how your heart center becomes a place of your connectedness. Focus on balance. Stay in this posture for some time and experience the balance.
- From here you can begin your meditation, yoga practice, mantra chanting, or other spiritual practice.
The Bottom Line
By calming the mind, improving focus, and promoting awareness, Anjali Mudra helps us to discover inner peace and our synchronization with the creation. When we practice this beautiful mudra daily, we become more balanced, more connected to our Higher Selves, and more aligned with our spiritual mission. By making this mudra our daily practice, we reconnect ourselves with the Divine plan and transmute our dualistic minds into the Higher forms of consciousness.