A mudrā Sanskrit: मुद्रा, lit. "seal", is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. A mudrā is a spiritual and energetic seal in the spiritual practice of East Asian religions. Some mudrās involve the entire body, but most are shown with hands and fingers. Some important mudras are: Dhyani Mudra Gesture of Meditation Vitarka Mudra Gesture of Teaching Dharmachakra Mudra Turning the Wheel of Dhamma Bhumisparsha Mudra Gesture of Touching Earth - Enlightenment Abhaya Mudra Gesture of Fearlessness/Protection Varada Mudra Gesture of Granting Wishes Uttarabodhi Mudra Gesture of Supreme Enlightenment Anjali Mudra Gesture of Greeting and Veneration Vajrapradama Mudra Gesture of Unshakable Confidence Maha Mudra Gesture of Supreme Wisdom Dhyani Mudra In a special form of this mudra, middle, ring, and little fingers of both hand s lie on top of one another ande the thumbs and index fingers of each hand, touching each other, form a circle, which symbolizes the world of appearance and true nature of reality. Vitarka Mudra Dharmachakra Mudra The left palm is turned in (toward the body), right out, and circles formed by thumbs and index fingers of each hand touch. Bhumisparsha Mudra Left hand rests palm up in lap; right hand, hanging over knee, palm in, points down to earth. Sometimes left hand holds a begging bowl. This is the gesture Buddha summoned Earth as witness to realization of buddhahood. It is a gesture of unshakability; Akshobhya (the Unshakable) is depicted with this mudra. Abhaya Mudra Varada Mudra Right hand, palm facing out, is down. When Shakyamuni is depicted with this mudra, it symbolizes summoning Heaven as witness to buddhahood. In a variant, thumb and index finger of down extended hand touch. Frequently abhaya and varada mudras are combined: right hand makes gesture of fearlessness, left of wish granting. Uttarabodhi Mudra Both hands are held at level of chest, two raised index fingers touch, remaining fingers are crossed and folded down;thumbs touch at tips or crossed and folded. Mudra of Supreme Wisdom Right index finger is grasped by five fingers of left hand. This mudra represents the realization of unity in the manifold as embodied in Buddha. Anjali Mudra Palms held together at level of chest. This is customary gesture of greeting in many Asian countries. Used as a mudra, it expresses "suchness" (tahata). Vajrapradama Mudra Fingertips of hands are crossed. This is gesture of unshakable confidence.
In this mudra, back of right hand rests in palm of other with tips of thumbs lightly touching. The hands rest in lap. The right hand, resting on top, symbolizes state of enlightenment; the other below, the world of appearance. This gesture expresses overcoming the world of appearance through enlightenment, as well as the enlightened mind where samsara and nirvana are one.
Right hand up, left down; both palms turned out. The thumb and index finger of each hand form a circle. Right hand is shoulder level, left hand is hip level. A variant is left hand rests palm up in lap, and right hand raised to shoulder level with thumb and index finger forming circle. Another form is with index finger and little fingers of both hands fully extended, middle and ring fingers curved in. The left hand points up, right points down.
Right hand is raised to shoulder height with fingers extended and palm turned out. This is gesture of Buddha Shakyamuni immediately after attaining enlightenment.
Here's some pictures to share of the Yoga Festival in Bangkok!
So, it's day 2 in Thailand and I dont know what day it is or what time or even where I am in this jet lag haze... Today was the search for international telecommunications.
This has been particularly useful for my travels around the world. Even my great love for Apple products in general, and the iPhone in particular gets superseded by the need for connection. And connection at a low cost...remember I am from Hong Kong and born with the genetics of a bargain hunter!
Back to the hunt for international connections. So arriving last night in Bangkok, I discovered the iPhone didnt connect in any shape or form, and somehow, my Indian mobile had no charge at all! My iPhone had been apped up with all kinds of kool toys - currency conversions, Thai language tips, Lonely Planet guides and other fun and totally unnecessary tools for travel. In fact, I never had any of these tools or even looked at a guidebook in my backpacking days.
But now, I am lost without my connections, and that has added to my sense of being lost in space. I use the handy mobiles to keep me on time and to tell the time, and now 2 phones and a laptop later, and I have no idea what time it really is (Chicago songs singing in my ear...)
To add to this international confusion, my Indian mobile with the fancy devanagari numbers (sanskrit to you my friend), had been loaded with Euros in Ireland this summer. So...an Indian phone with Irish money looking for power in Thailand... is this becoming an international incident?
Charged the Indian/Irish phone and went to buy a SIM at the local 7/11...Yes, I said 7/11 - isnt that where YOU would think to go for a disposable phone connection? Think they always use that in Law & Order or CSI for the bad guys. This is where Ronald MacDonald gave me Namaste smiles, and I rather smugly and unyogically had all kinds of opinions and judgements about fast food, marketing imagery, and all the other politically correct, green, Yogi reasons to be smug! Indian/Irish/Thai phone resolved.
So on to the iPhone situ... And this is how a hi/lo tech geek yogini handles it - Call home!
Had a Skype to my partner Jack who called AT&T and I talked to them over Skype/mobile/wireless. Bangkok Yogini talking to Irishman in Cali talking to AT&T rep in call centerland (India..?!) Many moments later, iPhone connection resolved.
So now I am happy as a Yogi in Bangkok could be, right? Unless you manage to blow out the hotel electricity! Plugged one more little gizmo into the wall, and suddenly there is a fizz, bang and smoke coming out of the wall! Uuuuh, I think I did something wrong...now all the lights are out in the room!
Memories came flashing back of how I burned the wall socket in Delhi and blew out the entire hotel for our entire group...in TWO hotels! Wasn't as bad this time...I am in the land of smiles after all! The electrician came and fixed everything and gave me smiles and namaste greetings. And I was not smug with him or the 2 sweet Thai women who were helping to translate what happened. I didn't tell them about the smoke. Ssssh!
Maybe I shouldn't have been so smug to the Ronald MacDonald namaste giving smile. After all, he was smiling AND wishing me to see the divine in him seeing the divine in me, right?
So lesson is...the divine is Divine, whether dressed as Ronald MacDonald or in saffron colored robes. This Yoga practice can help to change us, shift us to become better, to become ourselves, to become happy in all situations.
I am leaving for Bangkok today to go teach at 2009 Yoga Journal Thailand Festival. Yes, that's right, there is a Thai edition of Yoga Journal and they have their own conference with Yoga teachers from Thailand, Japan, India and the US!
It will be amazing to return to Thailand and teach Asian yogis! I have had an opinion about different bodies and the cultural, emotional and anatomical differences in Asians, so there will be lots of bodies to see! And will blog about my observations, opinions and what I see, do and experience over here in the "land of smiles"
Yoga Journal tells me these conferences are set up differently, and there will be 200+ in each class...wondering if there wil be a translator? Or do I hope that my physical instructions suffice?
*************************
Just got off the plane after 22 hours of travel from San Francisco to Bangkok...uuuuhhh Where am I again? SO glad I booked an extra day to rest before teaching 200+ yogis as a fernagi in a distant land! But wait... aren't I Already a ferengi in the US!! Or am I always to straddle te two worlds and have to make sense of it all..
Here in Thailand, I will be a foreigner teaching about the tradition of Yoga, and in the US, I bring in my Chinese modalities and traditional wisdom and am seen as crossing the bridge... Are we ALL strangers in our own and other lands...?
Sooooo, my thoughts tonight are about the etiquette of the shared airplane armrest, and how to live in Yogic wisdom and kindness when the businessman and grandmother next to me are both spilling into the arm rest on the 18 hours of flying.
Do I smile and say Namaste, wishing all beings kindness? Or do I say what my loud inner American wants to and say "MOVE over...please..." and then nod and say Namaste...?
As my Tibetan friend Thinlay, the thangka painter said as I was bemoaning my unenlightenment and inability to sit still under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya... "I wish happiness for all living beings....except mosquitos!"
Tomorrow is a search to find a SIM card for my unlocked Indian mobile phone...cant get my super hi tech and groovy iPhone to work here without costing too many bahts! Will catch up with all y'all in the am!
Just spell this differently...
Are you interested in Chinese Energy Meridians? I have been fascinated since I was a child by the idea of energy running through my body, and have been feeling this energy in my Yoga Practice since I first started practicing. I remember sitting around as a child and putting my feet on my head and thinking - is This Yoga? And if it is, how Kool. And if it isn't... why are there currents flowing through my veins? As an adult when I started to do Yoga again, I worked on Rajakapotasana when you lay on the ground on your belly and bring your feet to your head.. and, again... it is an electric current. A thrill of Joy! Now I am playing around with these energy points and seeing how I can access them through my Yoga practice. Would love to hear about some of your experiences, so share some of your stories...!
