Mudra Mondays: Increasing Creative Thoughts with the Hakini Mudra

It's May! We want to turn our attention to two things that you can take into your asana practice in class as well as out into your home and lives - Mudras and Meditation!

Each Monday, with the help of our teacher Brianna Welke, we will introduce a mudra, what it means, and how it can be used.  As you dive into yoga and grow your practice you may have thought at some point, "What do I do with my hands!?" Even things like placing your palms upwards or downwards on your knees can shift the energy in your sitting from receiving energy or grounding energy. What we do with our hands can bring new intention to any part of our yoga and lives.

For today's Mudra Monday, Brianna teaches us the Hakini mudra:

"It is practiced by bringing all ten finger tips together (think prayer and pop the palms away from one another). It's a mudra for the search, for finding something. It's said to bring together the right and left hemisphere of the brain for both creative and rational thought power.

"This mudra can be held anywhere you'd like (heart, belly or set in the lap) but in front of the third eye for more intuitive and intellectual power, increasing your memory and concentration. In fact it's named after God Hakini who is said to be the ruler of the third eye.

"Reiki, qi gong, or other energy practitioners may feel palpable energy and heat between the palms." The Hakini mudra is wonderful for that 6th chakra, or Third eye. If you try this in meditation you can bring a slight gaze to your third eye and your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

I find it so interesting when learning mudras I begin to notice the way those mudras have made their way into our world. Does it seem familiar to see somebody deep in thought with their palms popped apart and fingertips together?

What mudras do you see out there in the wild? If you're doing some searching and needing some concentration, bring this thoughtful mudra into your day or into your next yoga class.

If you'd like to share a mudra that you bring into your asana practice or your meditation just tag #MudraMonday and #OneDownDog!