Yoga for the Fingers

I have known for a long time that there is such a thing as yoga for the fingers: my mother told me about it years ago, and to this day she remains, in my eyes, the wisest woman in the world. Back then her accounts made almost no impression on me - that nearly every illness of ours is the consequence of a disturbance in the bioenergetics of one system or organ or another, and that a healing effect can be achieved by «closing» the blocked channels with a particular arrangement of the fingers. And no wonder! In those days I was indecently young and therefore in perfect health, so some sort of figures made out of fingers, restoring eyesight one moment and relieving pain in the heart the next, simply stood no chance of catching my attention. The only finger combination I knew at the time was the ordinary «fig» sign, which, as it later turned out, is not so ordinary at all but thoroughly medicinal. Because if you «use» it actively enough, it can not only raise the body's defences but also strengthen the concentration of energy and stimulate the work of the heart, the lungs and the intestines. So what, one might ask, are we telling our children off for when we catch them at this healing session? It is simply beyond understanding. And so I only remembered those strange finger combinations, used by yogis since time immemorial, when an ache began to nag under my left shoulder blade from time to time, when my eyesight gradually lost its sharpness, and when my intestines, worn down by a sedentary life, quite literally revolted. Willingly or not, I had to open the notes written in my mother's hand and draw out of them the information I needed - the information I use day after day. And if it were not so good, I would never have offered it for your attention. In truth, there is no sense in memorising all the mudras, since there are a great many of them. But having a few of them at your disposal - the most common and the most effective ones - will do no harm. So here are a few of them: The first mudra, called the «Mudra of Life» It is especially useful for children, because the enormously increased strain on their eyes leads to short-sightedness developing early. To avoid this, it is enough to hold the fingers in the following way for 40-60 minutes a day (this stretch of time can be broken up into shorter spells): bring the pads of three fingers together - the ring finger, the little finger and the thumb - and straighten the index and middle fingers, raising them upwards. The hand should not be tensed. Besides its beneficial effect on the eyesight, this mudra can increase stamina and capacity for work, and help you deal successfully with quick fatigue and low spirits. The second mudra, called the «Life-Saving» or «Heart» mudra In the East it has been used for a very long time, and - most importantly - used successfully, for sharp pain in the heart, for heart attacks, and in some cases even at the moment of a myocardial infarction. For this reason the mudra is called nothing other than resuscitation. To perform it, bend the index finger so that its pad touches the end phalanx at the base of the thumb. After that, bring the pads of the middle finger, the ring finger and the thumb together. The little finger stays free, pointing upwards. The hand is relaxed. Sometimes a few minutes of this mudra are enough for the pain in the heart to subside. That is why the mudra is called the resuscitation mudra. After it, to consolidate the effect and to act more deeply and more effectively on the pain in the heart, you can perform the next mudra, which helps not only with ischaemic heart disease and angina but also with arrhythmia, and is called the «Temple of the Dragon» mudra. To «assemble» it, bend the middle fingers of both hands and press them against the inner surfaces of the palms. Leave the remaining fingers of both hands straight and bring them together, closing the index fingers and the ring fingers against each other above the bent middle fingers. And here is one more simple exercise for the fingers, easily used by anyone who has run into trouble with the digestive tract. It is called the «Bowl of Chandman», and it promotes stronger digestion and clears stagnation in the intestines. This mudra is very simple to perform: the four fingers of the left hand wrap around and support the four fingers of the right hand. Both thumbs, relaxed, point upwards, so that the hands held in this way begin to resemble a bowl with handles. As you can see, all the exercises given here are simple and very appealing in that they can be done absolutely anywhere: on the underground on the way to and from home, sitting on the sofa in front of the television, or during an ordinary evening walk. Any of them will help to restore the circulation of energy in the body. But of course none of them should be treated as a medicine, since the finger yoga described above is only an additional help to your body. And naturally, if you expect instant healing from it, that will not happen: illnesses build up over years, after all! Which means you should be patient and practise hand yoga every day. And then you will certainly begin to feel better.