As Mental Health Awareness month draws to a close, let’s spend a minute on understanding why it is so important to pay attention to this aspect of life. Not an easy task, though. Greater the responsibility or goal — greater the need to succeed. Hence more time spent working, and the more we work, the more emotional weight we end up carrying. We all know what happens next: Build up of stress and anxiety.
In such a case, what does one do? We can look inwards to reflect, contemplate, and meditate to bring back mental balance. With so many thoughts running through our mind and distracting us, any form of meditation becomes an arduous task. Pushing our mind to focus inwards is called “dhyana” (attention). While meditating, a simple hand gesture or mudra is all it takes to enhance attention span. This mudra is called Dhyana Mudra.
As per yogic science, Dhyana Mudra is a hand gesture that paths the mental road to achieve stillness. The use of both hands in this mudra engages all the fingers, thus bringing a balance in all the five elements. It’s the most common mudra used in meditation.
The mudra’s formation symbolises the shape of the chalice or bowl. The bowl is a representation of an energy storage vessel. Seated in meditation, in Dhyana Mudra both sides of the body are active — the right side (pingala — solar) and the left side (ida — lunar). The 'pingala' and 'ida' are also referred to as the two hemispheres of the brain. Therefore, this mudra brings union and harmony between both sides of the body (left and right), including the brain (intellectual and creative), which help in staying focused for meditation.
A key effect of this mudra is that it has a strong impact on the correction of the second or sacral 'svadhisthana' chakra, which is the centre of feeling, emotion, pleasure, sensuality, intimacy, and connection. The sacral chakra is usually the first to collapse in the seven figurative energy centres within our body, thereby throwing the entire holistic system of energy out of balance. With imbalance of sacral chakra, the person becomes incapable of fulfilling responsibilities, which in turn cause stress plus anxiety.
This mudra also has a major impact on the pelvic portion of the body, which include the bowel and reproductive systems. We all know how important the functioning of both these functions is on our overall well being.
To perform Dhyana Mudra:
Sit with your spine straight, body relaxed and comfortable.
Place your left palm facing upwards on the lap.
Now, place your right hand inside your left hand with fully stretched fingers aligned to each other.
Now bring the thumbs of both hands together, touching the tips to each other.
The structure with your hands and thumb creates a design similar to a triangle.
Now take deep and slow breaths while you close your eyes gently.
Remain in this position for about fifteen minutes without moving.
Open your eyes slowly and smoothly release the Mudra once you are done.
Practice this mudra for 10 to 15 minutes, three times a day if you are a beginner. Slowly increase the time to 45 minutes per day.
(There are about 350 diseases that could be prevented/cured by practicing various mudras. You can know more about them by visiting: www.artofselfhealing.in)
