Apanvayu Mudra

Namaste, welcome to my favorite mudra, Afan value mudra. This is the heart mudra, it's one of my faves. So it's a little interesting, and we're going to come in and out of it several times, and some of my classes in previous seasons include this mudra, and you're using it in the asana, you're coming in and out of it, it's super powerful. So to start, you're going to take your index finger, remember what that meant? The individual soul, and you curl it into the thumb pad, God.

So you're already, it's like you're snuggling in, right? Then the thumb touches the ring finger and the middle finger, and the pinky extends. Again there's the hollow of the palm, that's very important. There's a sense as you develop this mudra, that hollow will just deepen, it sort of will end up feeling like there's an egg sitting in there, it's really amazing, and that does happen over time. It could happen right away with you, who knows, like these mudra are so magical.

So you're going to rest the hands for just a moment, extend the pinky fingers for a moment, and then go ahead and open the hands back up. Let's do it one more time, and I'll tell you a little bit more about it. So you roll the index finger into the thumb pad, the thumb pad touches the middle finger and the ring finger together, and then the pinky finger extends, and you rest it on your body. Now this mudra is brilliant for any type of physical heart condition, anything from high blood pressure to low blood pressure, because it is a balancer. It's considered in India, like they do this instead of a nitro pill, this is the one.

But the only way for this mudra to work in that way is for you to work it. You have to develop the channels, the channels to the nervous system. Remember that our nervous system ends in our feet and our hands and our ears, and that's why these are so powerful. And the practice of them is like strengthening the banks of a river, so more and more energy can flow through them, it's very helpful. So in this position, allow your eyes to close, sit up nice and tall, have that sensation that you're not only sitting up tall, but you're resting back, so that you can feel space all around your heart.

This mudra also helps with the other aspects of the heart. It's wonderful for the heart chakra, it's great for if you're going through a lot of grief, it's a great balancer, if you're going through a lot of excitement and happiness, you know how you get so happy that you forget things, or you get a little manic, it helps to bring you back to a state of stability. It's one of my favorites, as I said before, it's very effective, you can feel the effects immediately once you start to practice it on a regular basis. It has a practice as the others do, you can practice it several times a day, this one I'm always in during my meditation practice, I love it so much, and I'm often in it when I'm under stress, even if I'm not under grief, that type of stress, just stress in general, this one is very helpful to me. So you could take it for up to 15 minutes a day, even longer if the hands will allow, the hands will initially get tired in this mudra, it's quite a mudra.

The more rigid you are in your mind as well, and the more rigid you are in your chest, even physically, the more difficult this mudra will be initially. But it's a great sign, like if you get in this and it's hard, it's telling you a secret about yourself, maybe you didn't know, and you want to listen to that. So go ahead now, open the hands up one more time, since it's a little more in depth mudra, I want you to go back into it one more time. So the index finger tucks in right into the lap of God, and then the thumb, the middle finger and the ring fingers join, the little fingers extend, and then you rest those on your lap. Now be advised, because this is working with the heart chakras, also working with the arms, it's extremely important that your elbows are dropping right out of the shoulders.

So to bring the arm forward, the hand forward, it actually is taxing to the heart chakras, taxing to the arms and the shoulders, even the neck. So bring the hands back, so that you can sit simply, and the weight of the arm can release right out of the shoulder. Close your eyes one more time. Make sure the touch of your fingertips is light. There's that element of intention, so you are intending to create freedom and space for the heart.

There's the breath, moving through the body. Up on value literally means bringing the spiritual energy down into the heart. So it's the spiritual wind coming down into the heart. So let your heart fill with that. Allow the hands to open, palms come together.

Thank you very much. Enjoy the heart mudra. Namaste. Peace out.