It is well-known that one can use yoga for many physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. The practice of yoga deals with awakening and guiding the life force or prana to achieve moksha. The path to this liberation passes through the achievement of health and discipline in all aspects of your life. Thus, you can practice yoga for enhancing your immunity too. Now, there are many many yogic practices that can help you do that. This includes asanas, mudras, bandhas, kriyas, or even by following the eight limbs of yoga. But here, we will discuss how to use yoga mudras to help boost your immunity.
What is a Mudra
Mudra means a seal or mark in Sanskrit. A mudra is a gesture or poses that you form with mostly your hands and fingers. It helps the prana flow in a particular manner through the nadis and interacts with the chakras for specific effects. Most yoga mudras are performed in a static manner and in conjunction with other asanas. However, their impact is powerful enough to strengthen your immunity and general health.
How to Use Yoga Mudras to Increase Immunity
The way mudras affect our body is already explained in yoga in terms of the pranic or energy system. Our body consists of five elements. Each of the fingers in our hands is associated with one on these elements. These are:
- Jal (Water) – Little Finger
- Prithvi (Earth) – Ring Finger
- Akash (Space/Aether) – Middle Finger
- Vayu (Air) – Index Finger
- Agni (Fire) – Thumb
By creating different gestures with the fingers, one can affect the different elements in different ways. Scientifically speaking, people believe that mudras influence the body through selective exteroception. The following yoga mudras condition our immune systems and build up resistance against many of the conditions that make us more vulnerable to the Coronavirus. Make sure to include them in your yoga teacher training course.
Linga Mudra
The linga mudra helps in increasing the fire element in the body. This creates heat in the body, which destroys all pathogenic elements. Since the thumb is the fire element-related finger, this mudra puts focus on it. Doing the linga mudra requires you to intertwine your fingers together. The left thumb should point upwards while the right thumb and index finger encircle it. The benefits of this mudra include the control of common respiratory ailments like cough and cold, phlegm, and asthma. It also gives you enhanced vigor and energy.
Prana Mudra
The prana mudra or mudra of life, as the name implies, helps in improving general health and immunity. It invigorates the life force and keeps you in peak health. To do this mudra, touch the ring finger and the little finger with the thumb. They should point forward while the other two fingers will stretch upwards. This mudra helps the body fight off diseases. Not only that but it also reduces vitamin deficiency, which is important in increasing immunity. Another beneficial effect is that it helps you sleep at night. Since doctors opine a good eight hours of sleep is necessary to stay safe from the virus, this is important.
Purna Hridaya Mudra
Purna Hridaya means full heart. Thus, this mudra helps open up the heart, or, scientifically speaking, the chest cavity. As a result, you achieve the fullness of breath, which, in turn, helps to breathe in more air. When that happens, the oxygenation of cells also increases, which improves metabolic activities at the cellular level. This boosts energy levels and makes it easy for the body to deploy the immune system rapidly when germs attack. You can practice it by holding your hands, palms facing each other and fingers upward, in front of your heart. Now interlace your fingers through each other. Stretch the thumbs down and touch the tips of each other to form a heart shape with your hand.
Bhramara Mudra
Bhramara means bee. The bhramara mudra is done by rolling your index finger to touch its tip to the base of the thumb. Stretch the thumb and the middle finger forward so that their tips touch over the index over. Keep the ring and little fingers stretched upwards. This mudra helps tackle all kinds of allergies and respiratory conditions. Hence, it helps reduce your chances to catch the COVID virus. After all, doctors have said that people with allergies are more vulnerable to the virus.
Prithvi Mudra
The prithvi or earth mudra, obviously, stimulates the earth element through the ring finger. This is evident in the nature of the gesture. In this, you have to bring the tips of the thumb and the ring finger together and hold them with light pressure. The rest of the fingers will stay straight out. This mudra has a grounding effect and helps increase the stability of the body systems. In addition, it improves vitamin assimilation, eases diabetes and ulcer, reduces fevers, and improves blood circulation.
Agni Mudra
This mudra increases the fire element over the earth element You do this mudra by folding your ring finger to touch its tip to the base of the thumb. The thumb itself should press over the middle phalange of the ring finger. The rest of the fingers will stretch out straight. This mudra can increase body temperature and fire up the metabolic and immune activities in the body. It also helps control diabetes and cholesterol levels.
Sankh Mudra
The shape of the hand in this mudra resembles a conch shell, hence the name. This first step of this mudra involves encircling the four fingers of your right hand around your left thumb pointing upwards. Keep the four fingers of the left hand also stretched upwards. After that, stretch the right thumb up to touch the tip of the right middle finger. The benefits of this mudra include alleviation of allergies, throat problems, thyroid problems, and digestion issues.
Make Sure Your 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Highlights the Importance of Mudras
Yoga Alliance requires teaching mudras in the 200-hour yoga teacher training course under the “Meditation” module of Techniques, Training, Practice. Therefore, every yoga school should adapt their individual curricula to include immunity-boosting asanas and mudras.