Effectiveness of Mudras

[Birch]

I only understand some of what you post due to my own ignorance Mark, but I enjoyed your articles about different senses' influence on perception.

 

I had an idea (or I guess I could call it an understanding) the other day that the chi feeling between hands when making a chi ball was a result of the attention switching between the two hands, right and left.

 

I haven't gotten too much back into what I see as an attention/chi relationship. There seem to be ramifications to it that go further than what I'm comfortable considering (JB is likely a culprit in this consideration of mine!)

 

--2cts-not concierge--

[Maddie]

Mudras are extremely powerful. They all have different effects regardless of breathing or other factors, although adding a harmonious breathing pattern to them absolutely intensifies their effects.

 

Not a day goes by where I don't use mudras. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes then I start to feel the effects. I happen to be a very sensitive person though, and I know that many, if not most people, are quite numb and unaware and therefore will not feel the effects. This doesn't mean that there is no effect or benefit, just that most people may not be aware of any change at the conscious level.

 

For those who do not have teachers with this knowledge I would recommend the work of Mary Burmeister and her book on Jin Shin Jyutsu. The hand and finger work alone is worth the time and money spent on acquiring her book. Although I have been doing the finger holds for many years I am still blown away by the quick transformations they cause. A quick bathroom break during a difficult and stressful day (doing a mudra) makes instant energetic changes that for sensitive people will be quite dramatic. Then you can slowly start to expand your knowledge until your using the whole body. I can't say enough good things about her book and the effects of her Jin Shin Jysutu. The book I have and recommend is called:

 

The touch of healing

 

by Mary Burmeister with Tom Monte.

 

This book has been around the world with me many times and will always be close by until I finally memorize all the contents or scan it into digital format. It has helped me and my friends countless times.

 

know of a good one to strengthen the body?

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

Hello, I have a question about the use of mudras to enhance well being.

 

I am interested in their use in mostly non-meditative format. So holding a mudra during work, problem solving or walking etc. From what I understand, touching of fingers in a certain way activates different parts of the brain.

 

The more I look into it, the subject appears to be very complex. There are Hindu, Buddhist from India, China and Japan etc forms of mudras.

 

Could anyone please share their experience on the use of mudras? Thanks very much.

 

 

 

Hi! After a length of post, I found your question mark indeed!

 

Your interest is that of an increasing flood of awareness washing over the world; as certain waves and frequencies, that have polluted us, are left behind and other awareni are resurfacing.

 

Sound is Authorative, mantras are like initiations and affirmations, where mudras are like physical blueprints of authorizations which can be accessed and repaired by sound and touch, as well as inhibitted and damaged....

 

 

Posture plays a role, conscious intent plays a role, you could go on about any tangent and still be on the topic of mantras, mudras, sound, and authority. haha.

[cihan]

 

know of a good one to strengthen the body?

Google rin and kyo mudras of kuji in.Rin circulates energy through your backbone, kyo through the front channel.They will give you much more than strenght and energy if you are "clean". Mantras and any ceremonial stuff ls optional.

[JustBHappy]

know of a good one to strengthen the body?

 

 

Off the top of my head, one of the most effective overall tonic mudras is the standard praying mudra. You simply hold your palms and fingers together like you were praying. The has the effect of over-all balancing the body. This is an extremely powerful mudra but very few people give it a second thought and even fewer practice it.

 

There are also some great sequences of holds that you can do as part of your daily practice that will also help, but that's way beyond the scope of a simple reply on a forum. Get the book, it's the bible of Jin Shin Jysutsu as far as I'm concerned.

Edited April 28, 2013 by JustBHappy

[ChiDragon]

know of a good one to strengthen the body?

 

Tai Ji Chuan will strengthen your body. It has a combination of muscle and breathing exercise. As a matter of fact, initially, you'll start with muscles exercise by the slow movements; then the breathing will be guided by the movement after a prolong practice. The effect of Tai Ji Chuan will give you 勁(Jin) which is your body strength that you wanted.

Edited April 28, 2013 by ChiDragon

[JustBHappy]

Some wide open crazy views of what a mudra is on this thread!

 

From San Ti shi to full blown Tai Chi!

I've always known mudras as hand seals or hand gestures. Until now I've never heard or seen a complete martial art like Tai Chi, or a stance such as San ti be called a mudra.

On a side note, I think one of the things that makes Flying Phoenix such a powerful system of chi kung is it's use of mudras. I often like to just stop and hold the mudras within the meditations. There is something magical about these classic mudras and it's interesting to see them show up in different countries, times, and systems. They are universal, beyond the cultures they are found in.

[Mark Foote]

Some wide open crazy views of what a mudra is on this thread!

 

From San Ti shi to full blown Tai Chi!

 

I've always known mudras as hand seals or hand gestures. Until now I've never heard or seen a complete martial art like Tai Chi, or a stance such as San ti be called a mudra.

 

On a side note, I think one of the things that makes Flying Phoenix such a powerful system of chi kung is it's use of mudras. I often like to just stop and hold the mudras within the meditations. There is something magical about these classic mudras and it's interesting to see them show up in different countries, times, and systems. They are universal, beyond the cultures they are found in.

 

Agreed, magic. The mudra of Zen, that would be the lotus posture, no? Just a thought.

[hydrogen]

 

On a side note, I think one of the things that makes Flying Phoenix such a powerful system of chi kung is it's use of mudras. I often like to just stop and hold the mudras within the meditations..

 

During meditation, my hands are alwasy in one form of mudras or another.

[Maddie]

During meditation, my hands are alwasy in one form of mudras or another.

 

This morning during meditation I switched up the mudras a few times depending on what I felt I needed, be it concentration, patience, to energize a bit ect... it helped a lot

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

truly, there is no posture or pose that is not a mudra... experiment.

[joeblast]

correct, but some are a lot more constructively amplifying than others. signal:noise!

[寒月 Hanyue]

Some wide open crazy views of what a mudra is on this thread!

 

From San Ti shi to full blown Tai Chi!

 

I've always known mudras as hand seals or hand gestures. Until now I've never heard or seen a complete martial art like Tai Chi, or a stance such as San ti be called a mudra.

 

Mudra can mean 'seal', 'lock', or 'gesture'. There are always variances of opinion or interpretation in differing traditions.

 

However, classically a mudra was always viewed as physical manifestation or expression, and so it referred to both a whole-body or symbolic hand gesture.

 

A 'posture' can be viewed as a "mudra". And so yes, santishi can be considered a mudra, although in my opinion that is a stretch given what is being trained in santishi specifically. But standing or any posture/gesture can be a "mudra".

 

Martial training can be related to mudra (and 'esoteric' practice). But my view is the connecton is easily mis-understood and abused. So you are more likely to end up deluded and like that kiai chap who had a rude and public awakening at that martial art demo that is still on youtube.

 

The concept of the three and then bringing them together, is a hallmark of esoteric Buddhism and the Daoist lines that adopted such things. These three are body-speech-mind, and they are related to 'right action', 'right speech', and 'right thought'. Which can be understood as 'aligned' body-speech-thought. These are mudra-mantra-yantra.

 

In cultivation you go inwards, and this becomes expressed outwards. In martial art your focus is outwards, but this can become rooted inwards.

 

There are many reasons or explanations for what 'mudra' is referring to. But a common one is that it 'seals' or 'locks' the manifestation into the physical world, hence the concept of 'gesture'. So you have intent (trained through eidetic meditation often using yantra/mandala), breath/qi (trained through repititious use of mantra), gesture/manifestation (expressed via mudra).

 

Today people use a type of 'reverse' engineering, to move from mudra practice to the internal origination point of it. However seeing mudra emerging spontaneously and quickly from a kundalini yogi as an expression of the connection to shakti-kundalini as it moves through them, is quite a different thing indeed.

 

Hence, no juice, well....

 

So does practicing mudra do anything without that? Of course, but it is misunderstood. Mudra can help to shift the currents of qi, this is basic daoyin. But understanding this seems to bore people. Besides, if you want good qi and so on, how is your overall body alignment? if it is off, is tying the hands in weird ways going to help that? How much do you shut yourself off from the whole while focussing on mudra? Does it do that cool stuff that you were told it does, simply because you shift intent?

 

This is worth thinking about and considering in my opinion.

 

Best,

 

[edit] P.S. Just to throw something out. The I ching discusses 8 energies as the baseline ways energy is manifested in the world, the interplay of these creates change. Over time this understanding was also mapped onto the various aspects that make up us humans, so we have the 8 'layers' or aspects of ourselves and these can be viewed through the trigrams.

 

The martial art baguazhang uses the bamu zhang or '8 mother palms' which are eight statically held postures that relate to the trigrams. These are held while turning the circle. Later these become 'palm changes', or movements rather than static.

 

There are also schools of Daoist that use and teach 8 hand seals related to the trigrams as well as liturgies.

 

One uses hand seals, the other a whole-body posture or movement, both are physical expressions/gestures of the symbolic intent related to the 8 underlying energies of the world and mankind. Does it matter whether the "mudra" is a hand gesture or a whole body gesture if you can truly connect with those energies to express them?

Edited April 30, 2013 by snowmonki

[Trunk]

Finger knitting mudras, lots of 'em, pdf file

 

kuji-in mudras at wikipedia

 

yt video

[Mandrake]

Interesting. Many thanks for the pdf Trunk!

 

 

Mandrake

[rex]

Wow that Tibetan Mind Seal mudra is exactly the same as the Mandala Offering mudra representing Mount Meru surrounded by the Four Continents.

[Mandrake]

Finger knitting mudras, lots of 'em, pdf file

 

kuji-in mudras at wikipedia

 

yt video

 

 

Trunk,

 

Yeah, quite a list of 'em! Which one's have you found particularly interesting? And have you experienced mudras to work more potently the more arm-channels open? I'm very curious about the subtle body-physiology behind them but have a bit too little TCM under my belt at the moment to make educated guesses about it.

 

 

M

[Trunk]

Which one's have you found particularly interesting? And have you experienced mudras to work more potently the more arm-channels open?

 

In general, I find find the "finger-knitting" style of mudras to be very effective for opening channels, both in the core and the limbs. 

 

This style of mudra I find to be effective right away ... as in, "immediately", as soon as I do them, while doing them, lol.  And I find that friends usually experience results with these immediately (within 5-10 seconds of getting into the mudra).  It's fun to learn one or two stand-alone mudras to share w/ friends that way. 

 

Which do I use regularly, remember? 

- The kuji-in are indespensible, imo.

- There are several others that I know and enjoy (for instance the Mind Seal mudra in the yt video, and several other mudras that Sifu Matsuo teaches in his videos for sale).

- That's enough for me, lol.  The pdf I find over-whelming, but I might chip away at it for fun at some point.

[Mark Foote]

When I wrote on this thread in 2011, I copied in my approach to the mudra I was taught to adopt in sitting zazen.  The approach I copied in was not something I was taught, but something that came to me as I was writing, that turned out to be useful to me.

 

Discovering things that are useful to me through open-ended writing has made it possible for me to stay alive to what the lotus has to teach me, over the years.

 

Last December while reading the "Blue Cliff Record", I discovered that I missed the mark in my approach to the mudra when I described the awarenesses involved in keeping the little fingers against the lower abdomen.  I included activity in the rectus among those awarenesses, but I should have known better, as I was already aware of Bartilink's research.  

 

I posted about the case in the "Blue Cliff Record" and made my correction--here's the full correction, and my note about why I made the correction:

My writing titled The Mudra of Zen included a description of the correspondence between the placement of the arms and hands and a one-pointedness of self-location, a one-pointedness with an associated flow in the ability to feel. In light of D. L. Bartilink's research, I would perhaps modify that description now, as follows:

"The placement of the fingers near the centerline of the abdomen provides a sense of the ligaments of the internal oblique muscles, the muscles that run diagonally from the pelvis upward to the rectus; if the little fingers leave the abdomen, awareness of the forward and backward motion wherever consciousness takes place and relaxation of the activity of the body in awareness can restore the little fingers to the abdomen. Similarly, the placement of the little fingers provides a sense of the ligaments of the transverse muscles, the muscles that run horizontally from the abdomen around the sides to the fascia behind the lower spine; if the elbows lose their angle from the body, awareness of the side-to-side motion wherever consciousness takes place and relaxation of the activity of the body in awareness can restore the angle. Likewise, the placement of the little fingers against the abdomen provides a sense of the ligaments of the external oblique muscles, the muscles that run from the rectus diagonally upward to the ribcage; if the shoulders lose their roundedness, awareness of the turn left, turn right wherever consciousness takes place and relaxation of the activity of the body in awareness can help restore the round to the shoulders."

D. L. Bartilink measured activity in the abdominal muscles of weight-lifters, and determined that activity in the rectus muscles was not part of the activity that pressurized the "fluid ball" in support of the spine; that's the basis for the change in my instructions.

 

 

That's from Turning to the Left, Turning to the Right, Following Up Behind.   In the post, I describe two mechanisms for the support of the lower spine that I believe are coordinated in the autonomic movement of breath.  I would guess that the hand mudras can play a part in one of those mechanisms.

 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Mark Foote

[Trunk]

p.s.
A note about learning finger-knitting style mudras for the first time:

When I started learning them, they felt *completely* foreign. So much so that getting my fingers into the mudras was a little confusing and I forgot how to get back into the mudra pretty much immediately (like, as soon as my hands came apart, lol).

So, my advice is that - if your learning process is anything like mine was - start by just learning *one* mudra. Hang out with it, enjoy it, become familiar, feel it. Then, if you dig it, come back for more. If you try and learn bunches in the first go, likely you'll just overwhelm yourself. Keep it in fun, managable doses.

Finger-knitting mudras + Kwan Yin Magnetic Qigong (qi sphere work) has totally *dramatically* changed my experience of my hands for qigong, my own internal healing (including the core not just the limbs/hands), bagua and often in every-day situations. The inquisitive feeling of "something with my hands" that I felt when I was first introduced to meditation (mid 80's), decades later, these practices brought to fruition.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Trunk

[Trunk]

I’ve played a little with teaching friends finger-knitting mudras... at a very casual level, with friends who are *not* serious internal arts nerds. The nine mudras of kuji-in are *WAY* too much. I can walk someone through them, with good energetic results ... but it is just too complex, often leaves them intellectually overwhelmed. Obvious solution: just one mudra, lol. The “vitality mudra” is a good choice and today I was walking a friend through it. We ended up nicknaming it the “start-with-peace mudra” because putting both hands into the peace sign is a great setup for getting into the mudra. 

 

 

video courtesy of Sifu Matsuo

Edited August 12, 2019 by Trunk

[Trunk]

p.s.

... and, for those serious internal arts nerds here's a pdf document that a friend gave to me some years back: just lots and lots of finger-knitting mudras pdf.  I feel like I have plenty with kuji-in and several other mudras, but maybe some of you are hungry to chip away at the linked extensive doc.  Have fun. 

 

- Trunk

JohnDaoProductions.wordpress.com

[dwai]

I know its sort of off topic, given that you're discussing buddhist mudra practices, but thought I'd share the Hindu/Tamil Siddhar perspective. 

 

During my Siddhar yoga days, I used to combine Pranayama and mudras to raise the kundalini up the central channel.

Preparatory was learning to breathe properly.

1. How to attain glottis control so the inhalation and exhalation can become slow, steady and elongated.
2. Practice sitting in vajrāsana and do cycles of inhalation:exhalation of 1:4 ratio. 
3. Introduce holding after sometime for inhale:hold:exhale with 1:2:4 ratio.
4. Apply the 3 locks (bandhas) 
5. Introduce 4 mudras we would cycle through - chin mudra, chinmaya mudras, ādi mudra and merudanda mudra. 

It was powerful and resulted in kundalini rising to the crown. From start of the process to actually applying all the mudras it took more than a year of daily practice. 

 

WARNING -- Don't try this alone at home. Find a good teacher  

[C T]

Anyone interested in mudra instructional vids and other Buddhist resources can check out three-vajra.com

[Ancestor Paul]

The kuji in kuji kiri 9 seal Mudra holds all the energy of the universe and it will be a good place to start on mudras, however I believe that a Mudra must first be empowered through meditation and contemplation before a Mudra can be activated.