Welcome to the Mandala of Mudra Meditations A mudra is the natural outer expression of an enlightened inner state. Deriving from the Sanskrit from the root mud o to “delight” and the derivative dravay, 'to draw forth', these root meanings are key for our exploration of the daily practice of integrating mudra into one’s life for we want to enjoy meditation and a mudra “draws forth” our deeper flow of emotion and consciousness. Although hasta mudras – gestures of consciousness are often what people consider as mudras with the lesser known sharira (whole body mudras) being lesser known, the hasta mudras we will explore are also whole body experiences drawing us into a unified state that we can feel with all our cells. Whether you are a practitioner or a teacher, our transformation is based upon An intention to practice a mudra for 7-days everyday as it own micromeditation for 108 moments (five minutes) or as part of your meditation or movement practice. Alllow the positive shift, the sacred refuge that will deepen through the daily anchor of mudra sadhana. Week One Practice: How to Practice Hridaya Padma Mudra 1. Enjoy a few moments in hasta mudra with your palms facing up and open in front of your body. Allow your awareness to be become open and reflective. 2. Slowly bring your hands together at your heart with a sacred space in between with your hands representing the altar space of your heart. Connect to your ishta deva – your connection to the Source (see below). 3. Breathe into your heart from the crown down into your heart and now generate the “bhavana” or feeling awareness within your hands. 4. As your hands are in the shape of a bud or lotus, feel that potentiality within your own being – a state that is not easy sometimes as adults with the pressures of daily life. The Lotus Bud or padma is one of the visualizations of our heart essence – the pure vibration of our heart. Your bhavana is the qualities you both consciously generate and receive that connect, renew and awaken this feeling of renewal through the essence of the heart. 5. . Experience the generation of bhava—regenerative emotions such as compassion and gratitude—like fragrance rising from a
lotus bud. With each inhale you offer to your Heart Fire, silently repeat the quality that is arising: shanti (peace), prema</ (love), santosha (contentment). As you rest in these healing qualities, offer up any dissonant thought waves, subconsciously held tensions, or contracted emotions into the fire of your heart. 6. Make a final prayer or dedication, and then bring your hands gently overhead and let them move down your body in a cascade of renewal as you chant Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Mudra practice and your Ishta Devata Your ishta devata is your personal connection ishta to a shining source (deva), the intimate experience of connection to life, the source we call upon when we are at our greatest need or enraptured in our highest joy. This is the intimate space of our heart’s devotion, the heart of our prayer. Some people sense their ishta devata in the anthropomorphic form of a god or goddess or sagunaas sa (“with”) guna (“form”). Others have the non-anthropomorphic experience of the source as light, the fire of consciousness, or flame of love, which is referred to as <Ital>ni</Ital> (“without”) guna (“form”). The yogic traditions emerged in India within the soil of devotion, as the mantras (nama, or sound signature within a name or seed sound) and form (<Ital>rupa</ of the One are considered to be as innumerable as rays of the sun or pathways up the mountain.. Circulating the Nectar of the Moon during Heart Mudras The inhale is the cooling part of the breath cycle associated with imbibing the lunar nectar, the regenerative energy of the moon. The journey of the inhale begins with the new moon entering at the crown of the head, then waxing to full moon in the heart with the greatest concentration of lunar energy at the top of the inhale (kumbhaka). Then as you exhale, the journey reverses from full moon to new, and from the heart to the crown of the head. This waning energy gives us the opportunity to let go with every exhale. Open your heart as you embody this journey by cultivating your hridaya dristi, or heart gaze. With a long spine, feel your inhale (drawing down the moon) by visualizing a stream of lunar nectar flowing from the lotus at the crown of the head. As you gaze at the moon, draw your inhale from the crown to the heart as the expression of increasing light. This is a time to nourish whatever has been coming into being inside you.
Inhale from the crown of the head, slowly, down into the heart center. From the crown of the head (new moon) to your third-eye center (quarter moon). From the third-eye center to the palate of the mouth (half moon). From the palate of the mouth to your throat center (three-quarter moon) From the throat center through to your heart center (full moon) You can pause now in kumbhaka, retaining the breath, and circulate a mantra where the sun, moon, and fire of the heart align with the crown of the head. As you exhale, slowly release the breath, allowing it to pass through the throat, palate, third-eye center, and crown of the head as if exhaling the waning moon. Circulate one, two, three, or 108 rounds. Complete the process by resting in natural meditation. Mantra & Mudra You may feel inside a mudra practice that you are drawn to pur being and silence or you may want to circulate mantra. Mantra and the healing power of sacred sound offer pathways for experiencing the divine current. Those represented here are but a few of the primary ishata devatas within yoga and other world traditions. <Ital>Mantra japa,</Ital> or the circulation of sacred sound, is a universal expression that can be traced back to our lifted voices around the fire. All beings are being breathed by a natural mantra, hamsa, 21,600 times a day—the opportunity with each inhale and exhale to realize the inner meaning that is carried on the sound of the breath. As you inhale, you can hear the spontaneous mantra Ham which in Sanskrit means “I am.” As you exhale, you can hear the mantra Sa. Hamsa can be felt in a calm flow that embodies the unifying meaning of the mantra, the miraculous breath breathing us all—“all that is.” Circulating a mantra upon the breath is the most natural of mantras, a rhythm that ceaselessly courses through our being. As you inhale and exhale, listen intently to the ocean sound of your breath. You can experience this naturally as it comes, or through the technique of ujjayi breathing. As you circulate the cosmic breath, you can circulate the sacred sound of mantra along the pathways of the body.
Circulate the natural mantra of the breath for several rounds until you feel the calling for a more specific mantra that you can circulate with your breath along your body as an offering to your Heart Fire. You can offer universal mantras such as Om Namah Shivaya or mantras of your own spiritual tradition—“Shalom,” “Amen.” Or as you inhale, you can repeat several rounds of a universal mantra, such as Namah Shivayadrawing the mantra as one long flow— Naaaammmmah Shivaaayyyaaaor as a continuous, rhythmic flow with your breath. Visualize the mantra as being offered to your Heart Fire, inwardly chanting a few more rounds of Namah Shivaya, Namah ShivayaThen exhale and continue chanting the mantra along with the flow of the exhale. Feel the mantra resonating within you as you embody and delight in the universal power of mudra.