Using Mudras

Mudras are hand gestures that are thousands of years old. Steeped in Buddhist and Hindu traditions, they often accompany a mantra and can express complicated meaning or help to physically connect us to ourselves. Is there a way to draw on this rich dance tradition, where some mudras can express more than 500 different meanings, to aid in our creative processes? First of all, many mudras can be used for meditative thoughts (Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands by Gertrud Hirschi) while others are great for redirecting a certain type of energy (Mudras for Awakening Chakras: 19 Simple Hand Gestures for Awakening and Balancing Your Chakras by Advait). What I like about using mudras is the physicality of the intervention. Instead of trying to rewire our thought patterns -- which is hard and not as easy as the 1-2-3 affirmation approach we are sometimes inundated with -- we can connect with our nervous systems and our bodies. After all, it is the body driving a lot of this. Our body remembers our stuck patterns and too often keeps throwing us back to our pasts. Simply choose a mudra that seems to apply to your situation, hold the pose for several minutes and see what emerges!