The Health Benefits of Pran Mudra.
The mechanics of Pran Mudra are simple: extend your index and middle finger, then lightly place the fingertips of your ring finger and pinkie finger to the fingertip of your thumb. Do this with both hands, then sit quietly and feel the sensations of Pran Mudra.
There are very few scientific studies about the health benefits of hand mudras, but the traditional and anecdotal claims are overwhelming. According to some sources, Pran Mudra is practically touted as a cure-all, able to affect everything from eyesight to fatigue to skin rashes to vitamin deficiency. Pran Mudra is said to improve your immune system, reduce muscle cramps and remove numbness, as well as increase your self-confidence and improve your memory. Does it work? The best proof is to try it yourself. Pran Mudra is said to have no negative side effects, so it's safe to try.
What makes hand mudras work? One possibility is that hand mudras provide health benefits through their meditative nature. Only the most devoted of skeptics still deny the benefits of meditation, and numerous recent scientific studies have found that regular meditation practice can beneficially alter your brain structure and affect your body chemistry. In practicing hand mudras, the mudra itself and the physical and energetic sensations of the mudra become your meditative focus of concentration.
Another possibility is that hand mudras affect your nervous system through the stimulation of nerve endings in the hands. According to the Reflexology Research Project, nerves in your hands and feet are connected to nerves throughout your body, and manipulating these peripheral nerves can interrupt stress signals in other parts of the body. Mudras generally do not use the kind of deep pressure associated with reflexology, but similar principles may be in place.
According to yogic tradition, prana is the mysterious energetic life force that animates living beings. Pran Mudra is said to generate and redirect this life force. If we buy into this idea that Pran Mudra redirects life energy, it may explain why the benefits of Pran Mudra are so diverse: the prana goes where it is most needed. The benefits of Pran Mudra can be achieved after holding this mudra for only a few moments, though you may choose to hold it up to half an hour.
If you are interested in the traditional Eastern logic of mudras, check out Healing Hands by Acharya Keshav Dev or Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha by Swami Satyananda Saraswati. The sources listed below also offer additional information about the benefits of Pran Mudra and other hand mudras.
Have you experienced the benefits of Pran Mudra? If so, please leave a comment below to share your experience with the community.
Sources:
Exotic India; Healing Hands (Science of Yoga Mudras) http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IHE015/
MUDRA VIGYAN: The science of finger postures; Vijay K. Bansal http://www.mudravigyan.com/Mudra.html
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