A friend emailed me these quotes below about healing with the hands and through other means from the great saint Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I really like them and they resonate with my own experience. I especially like the question and answer that talks about placing the hands on the patient for healing. Maharishi explains how the healing power flows through the hands and this is how the patient is healed. In my own meditation practice I often get the urge to do a Hand Mudra spontaneously and this helps with the energy flow that is running through my body.

Question: Some people have healing powers. They can cure other people.

Maharishi: Yes.

Question: Are these suggestive powers the strength of one mind over another mind, or someting else?

Maharishi: There is mental healing through the power of the mind. But this healing power is a quality of the body. Some rays are being emitted all the time through the body, sometimes through the hands or other extremities of the body. Some constitutions develop more of these energy rays in their body, and when they meditate, greater energy is produced and begins to flow through their body. It is just a quality of the particular body. Some bodies gather more of these rays.

Question: Placing the hands on the patient helps a great deal?

Maharishi: Because the healing power flows through their body. It flows through the hand, and if they touch the suffering part it seems to get relief. The healing power of the mind will not require any touching of the body; just a thought will do. There can also be healing through vision. A man comes before you, you look at him and he feels better–the same healing rays. Healing through speech–if someone has a headache one may say, ‘You have just a headache, go home, it will be all right.’ Some words are said and the headache comes to an end.

Question: It needs belief in the words spoken.

Maharishi: Belief or no belief, it depends on the force of the speech. This is a physical phenomenon. If he believes then he does not create a resistence. If he does not believe, then resistence is there, but if the power of speech is forceful it will break through the resistence. If the power of speech is low and the resistence is great, then it will not have any effect. Might is right in this case.

Question: If a person is born with an illness, can he be healed by Transcendental Meditation?

Maharishi: If the body is not healed, the soul will be healed. We cannot generalise, as it depends on the type of illness and the ability to meditate. But there is no doubt that psychosomatic diseases can be easily cured by Transcendental Meditation. We dont treat the disease as such; the cure is the natural result of Transcendental Meditation.

This comes from a new book from MUM Press called, ‘Transcendental Meditation with Questions and Answers‘.

Fifty years ago, Yoga was the province of a few isolated practitioners, who would hold local classes attended by a few dedicated enthusiasts interested in higher consciousness.

Nowadays Yoga is decidedly mainstream, offered as an option in all gyms and health clubs, and practised by housewives and businessmen who may have no particular interest in anything beyond improving health.

So what are the reasons for Yoga’s popularity? For one thing, the type of balanced physical movement that Yoga provides is more in tune with today’s sports science. There is a greater awareness of the need for gentler exercise that does not strain the body, and the importance of diet and generally healthy lifestyle rather than just ‘working out’ to develop muscles or lose weight.

Secondly the philosophy of Yoga, which aims not only at integration of mind and body but also alignment of the individual with the whole cosmos, appeals now to many people as a more suitable approach to the problems of the world. There is a far wider understanding that we are all interconnected, and everyone is aware of the importance of behaving in accord with the requirements of the environment, if only to safeguard the life of the planet and the human race. Old-style individualism is increasingly seen as selfish and potentially destructive: in its place, global citizenship is the order of the day.

Nowhere is this more relevant than in Africa, where the concept of Ubuntu emphasises that an individual is significant only in relation to others.

Of course, Yoga properly understood is more than just physical exercise. Yoga means union: the integration of individual intelligence with cosmic intelligence. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedic text of enlightenment and liberation, Yoga is described variously as ‘balance of mind’, ‘steady intellect’, etc. His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation, points out in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita that the description of Yoga given there is precisely the same as the process of meditation, which brings the individual mind directly to the source of the thinking process where the mind is restfully alert, completely at home in cosmic intelligence.

A state of restful alertness is also the goal of the physical postures of Yoga, but because this state can seem hard to attain through physical means, many Yoga practitioners have stopped concerning themselves with it, and prefer just to treat the postures as a series of physical exercises. For the mind, however, the state of restful alertness, is easy to achieve. This is because Transcendental Meditation doesn’t seek to control the mind but uses instead the mind’s own nature to move towards greater charm and happiness. Many doctors recommend TM for its health benefits, whether as general reduction of stress, or to relieve specific conditions such as anxiety, depression, or high blood pressure.

This article was written by a friend at the Transcendental Meditation center in South Africa.

Yogic techniques are being practiced all over the world now. With the ever-increasing pace of life in western countries, it’s great to see people using yoga as a means to turn within and experience some valuable ‘alone time’.

Despite the growing understanding of yoga in America, some skeptics still often regard it as a belief system – perhaps one that conflicts with their own spiritual or religious practices. Some even consider it a form of Hinduism. This always surprises me, because despite my long time love of meditation and yoga, I know very little about Hinduism. As much as I support everyone’s right to hold their own beliefs, I’d hate to see people missing out on the benefits of yoga simply due to a misunderstanding of what yoga really is.

The truth is, although yoga originated in the Vedic tradition of India, its techniques and benefits are universal to people of all ages, races, and religions. Nowadays, that fact is not only verified by the experience of millions across the world, but is also backed be extensive scientific research into the health benefits of regular yoga practice. As one friend put it, “yoga is as much Indian (or Hindu) as Einstein’s theory of relativity is German.”

Yoga literally means “union”, and all yogic techniques – be it meditation, asanas, pranayama, or others – deal with unity. They promote the experience of unified awareness, and deal with that aspect of life that is universal – that aspect not bound by race, belief, or religion. To me, the perfect definition of Yoga is given in the Yoga Sutras of Maharishi Patanjali, which states that “Yoga is the complete settling of the activity of the mind”.

The complete settling of the activity of the mind. That sutra always makes me smile… it’s so simple, yet so profound. This has become my own yardstick for effective yoga practice. During my deepest yoga sessions, all thoughts within my mind naturally, effortlessly dissolve into an unbounded ocean of silence. It’s not sleep though, it’s wakeful silence. The mind isn’t switched off, so to speak, it’s just completely settled. What’s left behind is yoga – just pure, unified awareness.

Although they might not have called it yoga, the same experience of unified awareness has been described by countless saints, philosophers and religious people, from all traditions across the globe. Is yoga a religion or belief system? Is it only for Hindus, or Indians? Not at all. If you’re after more proof, one experience of true yoga is enough to provide it.

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As a long-time advocate of meditation and yoga, no one is happier than me to see the rise in popularity of Eastern wisdom in the West. People are enjoying spiritual practices all over the world now – from meditation in Sydney to pilates in New York, and from yoga in London to pranayama in New Delhi. As more and more friends take up yoga, though, I often wonder about how their paradigm of “yoga” compares to my own.

To most, yoga means physical postures. They think of yoga as a particular style of stretching. Few people realize that the physical postures, or asanas, are very much distinct from other systems of stretching, and are just one aspect of a much broader field of spiritual knowledge. Yoga literally means union, and in the deepest sense, it refers to union of the individual self and the cosmic self.

The Yoga Sutras of Maharishi Patanjali, composed around 200 BC, are considered the most authoritative text on the philosophy of yoga, and they contain three sutras that I think every Western yogi should know:

1.2: Yoga is the complete settling of the activity of the mind.
2.46: Asana is steady pleasantness.
2.47: Asana is perfected by relaxation of effort and the dawn of unboundedness.

To me, these are the yardsticks for measuring up effective yoga asana practice. These are also what set yoga, and in particular, asana, apart from any regular system of exercise or stretching. Regular exercise actively engages the mind; Yoga results in the complete settling of the minds activity. Stretching is tough; Asana is steady pleasantness. Stretching involves strain and effort; asana is perfected by the relaxation of effort.

Next time you practice yoga, measure your practice up against these sutras – these yardsticks of true yoga. Does it result in the complete settling of your mind? Do you experience steady pleasantness? Does it involve the relaxation of all effort? And last but not least, the dawn of unboundedness… do you feel a growing affinity between your individual self, and the cosmos as a whole?

If so, you’re practicing true yoga!

Bharatnatyam is an ancient form of dance originating from South India. It is a very beautiful and spiritual art that is said to be one of the oldest in India. The Bharatnatyam routine includes many different hand yoga poses or mudras to symbolize other things such as birds, lizards and scissors etc. Bharatnatyam is said to be a form of “fire dancing” where the energy is manifested from the human body. There are other classical Indian dances that represent all the different elements which are also quite spectacular to watch. This style of dance cannot be performed properly by men. There is much spirituality represented by this dance and you can think of it like a cosmic dance of creation.

Below is a photo gallery of some of the various hand yoga poses performed by the expert dancer.

This hand yoga pose is called Pataka hasta (meaning flag)

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Here is the Bhramara (Brahmara) hasta (hand yoga gesture, also called mudra) (meaning “Bee”). This pose is also used in other classical Indian dances such as Odissi and Kuchipudi.

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This one is know as Alapadma hasta (meaning “Lotus”)

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This mudra is called Garuda hasta (meaning “Eagle”) and is also performed in the other classical Indian dances Odissi and Kuchipudi

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Here is the Mrigasirsha hasta hand yoga pose meaning “Deer head”. Again this pose is used in the Odissi and Kuchipudi dances.

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This hand gesture is known as Kartarimukha hasta (meaning scissors) Odissi and Kuchipudi dances include this pose in their routine.

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Padmakosha hasta hand mudra meaning “Lotus bud” performed in Bharatnatyam dance as well as Odissi and Kuchipudi.

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This is the Chandrakala hasta mudra meaning “Digit of the Moon” of indian classical dance Bharata Natyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi.

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Schukatunda hasta hand yoga gesture meaning “Parrot’s head” which is used in the dances Odissi and Kuchipudi as well.

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Finally this pose is showing Avahittha hasta (meaning “dissimulation”)

Over the ages there was a decline in popularity of Bharatnatyam but thankfully we are now seeing a rebirth. Now, it is not uncommon to see this wonderful form of ancient dance on TV shows and even in popular Bollywood movies. You can see a nice video of this beautiful type of hand yoga on our mudra page.

Recently via Twitter we came across some great spiritual healing articles by Tina Ranieri. She has been doing spiritual work for about four decades and has been writing a whole swag of great articles on various subjects. Some of the many different topics she writes on include: body mind spirit, enlightenment, mental health, spirituality and also healing mudras.

Her article on healing mudras was particularly nice and relevant to our blog here. Tina writes that mudras have been performed for thousands of years in different traditions such Buddhism but also in Christian prayer. Another interesting fact is that so many hand yoga (mudra) positions we all do spontaneously without thinking. The example given was the Hakini Mudra which is where one joins the fingertips of both the left and right hand so that they are all touching the corresponding fingertips. This mdura is often seen in movies when some business man is making a big decision.

A more recent post was titled “10 ways to protect your personal power” which gives a good list of things that can be done to help conserve your inherent energy. Some examples include: saying no to “energy vampires”, avoiding disputes and arguments, not trying to control others, and not taking the responsibility of the happiness of everyone around you. There is an ancient saying that says “all love flows to the Self” which means that there is nothing outside of you. You are self sufficient within your own being and all bliss will flow to you if you truly know yourself. By not just letting your energy fly off into space and be sucked by other people you will immediately feel better.

Thanks again to Tina for her insights – they are really inspiring and helpful for those on the path to enlightenment.

Check out this amazing yoga demonstration video. It is really quite beautiful to see the human body move and bend in the yoga asana poses. This video was shot in the picturesque setting of tropical India – the land of yoga and ancient knowledge of the Vedas. India is said to be the birth place of Yoga and is a wonderful place to visit for a spiritual journey.

Wasn’t that amazing? The music is a type of Gandharva Veda (Indian Classical music) which is said to balance the physiology and bring harmony in nature. This video really makes one want to go to India and practice Yoga in the serene and peaceful locations found throughout India away from the big cities.

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Theresa Murphy who is a certified yoga instructor explains simply how to do hand yoga massage to help reduce pain in the hand and wrists.

Theresa says that one of the first things that you can do to help release pressure in the wrists is massage. Everybody love massage and the hands are not an exception. If you’ve ever had a massage you’ll know that fancy technique that the massage therapist will do to open up the hand and wrist. What you can start to do with a partner is just gently start to massage and spread the bones of the wrist, the muscles, the femur muscle of the thumb. Just get a little bit of blood flow, a little movement. You can tell if your person has stiffness or tightness in the wrist – say if they hold a camera for a living. Or maybe they are keyboardest, a chef, a guitarist or a construction worker.

By doing massage of ones hands we instantly release stress and tension that may have built up over the course of the day or months. Massage of the hands is definitely a form of hand yoga that should done as regularly as possible – even everyday before bed. You can find more tips about here on our page about massage of the hands and feet.

You kind find a lot more information at Self Improvement from SelfGrowth.com- – SelfGrowth.com is the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement on the Internet.