Yoga teaches us important skills to help us balance life’s demands. These two hasta mudras can help you sustain your own energy while giving to others. Many people, particularly those who are drawn to giving professions such as yoga teachers, struggle with maintaining a balance of giving and receiving. If that sounds like you, you might regularly incorporate these hasta mudras into your meditation practice along with setting the intention to find balance in your life.

This photo shows the varada and abhayaprada mudras. They can be practiced together or separately. The Buddha is often depicted with these gestures.

Varada Mudra

Meaning/Benefit: This mudra is for charity and compassion. To form this mudra is to give blessings or forgiveness to yourself or others.

How to form the mudra: Flatten the palm of the left hand away from the body with the fingers and the thumb touching.

Abhayaprada Mudra

Meaning/Benefit: The Abhaya mudra grants protection from fear. It represents strength and fearlessness.

How to form the mudra: The right hand is held at the chest level with the palm facing away from the body with the fingers and thumb touching.

(This is taken from my book, Hasta Mudras for Health & Healing. It’s available for immediate download or for purchase from Amazon.)

About Hasta Mudras

A hasta mudra is a gesture or positioning of the hands to channel and direct energy in the body. Mudras come from the over three thousand year old tradition of yoga originating in India. Hasta means “hand” in Sanskrit and “mudra” comes from the Sanskrit word “mud”, meaning to delight. A mudra is a seal as in sealing your connection with the Divine or sealing energy in the body. There are many forms of mudras, such as with the eyes and the tongue.

Yoga is a spiritual practice and offers practical healing applications that benefit even those who aren’t spiritually oriented. Hasta mudras work in a way that can be compared to acupuncture or reflexology. By activating parts of the hand, a hasta mudra opens up channels of energy and sends messages to the brain.

Try the mudras above during your daily meditation today. If you are sensitive energetically, you may receive immediate results. But if the benefit doesn’t come quickly, be patient and consistent in your practice. Keep in mind though that while hasta mudras can offer great healing, no mudra is a substitute for medication or medical attention.

Since hasta mudras work to change the energy in the body and spirit, it’s best if you incorporate conscious breathing with your practice. Breathe full and free on the inhale and exhale the breath out completely. Find a rhythm with the breath. Try to make the inhale and exhale the same length.

It also helps to set a positive intention as you form a hasta mudra and concentrate on this intention during the practice.

Mudras can be held for various lengths of time. You may find that today’s mudra may only need to be held for 30 seconds until you feel refreshed or try holding the mudra throughout your meditation. There are no set rules. Let your intuition guide you. Have fun and explore!