The disturbing pattern of sleep is common due to a busy lifestyle and over expectation of work from oneself. Hand mudras are so powerful techniques in yoga that when incorporated with natural breathing can induce sleep in just minutes.
Unlike any other yoga poses which induce sound sleep require you to bend or twist your body in this or that way, Mudras can be done at the bed in a sleeping position. To perform a mudra for sleep, you just need to arrange fingers in a specific pattern and then hold it for a few minutes while watching your breath.
Yoga mudras calms the mind and reorganized those disturbed sleep patterns.
How Mudras Promotes Sound Sleep?
Difficulty in falling asleep or hard to stay asleep is a common sign of being insomniac. According to sleep foundation, insomnia affects 30% to 48% of older people and reasons for it is linked with physical and mental health condition one already has.
Usually, seven to eight hours of sleep at night is considered sound sleep. Mudras therapy promotes sound sleep by revitalizing the brain wiring. It activates relaxing nerve centers which correspond to some acupressure points on our hands.
In the following ways mudra helps to alleviate insomnia, which leads to better sleep;
- Practicing shakti mudra in meditation clears mental thought patterns and stills the mind that reduces stress and anxiety.
- Yoga mudras cut down the physiological causes that give birth to sleeplessness. Diabetes is one such cause of sleeplessness. A diabetic person faces more challenges than a non-diabetic during sleep. Due to a change in the blood glucose level diabetic person suffers headaches, dryness in the eyes and mouth, and muscular pain. Mudras (such as Surya & Prana) fasten metabolism, which aids in weight loss and regulation of blood glucose. Ultimately, improves sleep.
- Weight gain causes the throat muscles to relax, which further blocks the airways. This condition is termed as sleep apnea, and it is one of the leading cause of sleeplessness. Regular practice of mudras (Surya & Prana) acts on the subtle points that transfigure body functioning to drop some weight. It helps in breathing, free from blockage, and in achieving quality sleep.
1. Surya Mudra
Surya Mudra is a gesture of ‘sun’. Practicing this mudra cultivates light that conquers the darkness within, which further aids in maintaining the sleep-wake cycle.
This mudra also enhances the fire element in the body that burns out the impurities and cleanses the mind. This introduces freshness on being wake up from sleep, which leads to productivity at the workplace.
- Sit in a comfortable pose Sukhasana or Siddhasana.
- from here, bend your ring finger and touch it to the base of the thumb. Apply some pressure on the top of the ring finger by the thumb.
- Stay still for few breaths and maintains posture.
2. Prana Mudra
Prana Mudra is a gesture of ‘life energy’. It has the ability to divert the flow of prana where it needs the most. This mudra vitalizes the factors due to which sleep is becoming a point of concern.
It strengthens the factors like immunity and calms the eyes, which somehow delays or causes sleeplessness. Regular practice of Prana mudra enables the body to get better control over issues of falling asleep.
- Sit into the Padmasana.
- Now, bring your little and ring finger together and place them on the thumb’s tip.
- Maintain the posture and continue deep breathing.
3. Matangi Mudra
Matangi Mudra is a ‘seal of harmony’, which nourishes various internal systems including circulatory, Lymphatic, digestive, etc. The constitutive effect of harmony between the following systems reaps outcomes that favor healthy sleep.
This mudra stimulates the Naval chakra (Solar Plexus), which improves metabolism, raises will power. Therefore, boost the sense of personal well-being, which reduces sleep issues.
- Sit in any comfortable posture.
- Join your hand and cross the fingers at the solar plexus region. Now, raise both the middle fingers to point on each other.
- Rest of the finger remain crossed and maintain the posture while breathing.
4. Shakti Mudra
Shakti represents the ‘Vital energy’. Regular practicing of this mudra calms the mind, harnesses the respiratory impulses. Therefore, improves circulation to the brain and assists in falling asleep.
This mudra also heals physical and emotional trauma causing certain anxiety, often results in insomnia. However, by energizing the respective aspects of a person’s body, shakti mudra offers an effective pathway to maintain the right sleeping pattern.
- First of all, come into sitting posture Padmasana or Sukhasana.
- After, wrap your thumb under the index and middle finger and try to make a fist with these two.
- Stretch the little and ring finger and join them with their other counterpart of the other hand.
- Stay into the position for few minutes and then relax.
5. Gyan Mudra
Gyan Mudra is the gesture of ‘knowledge and wisdom’ through which a person finds his peace of mind. More often, it is practiced along with the meditation, which multiplies the effectiveness.
Regular practice of this mudra also stimulates root chakra that destroys mental blocks of energy and tension causing discomfort during sleep. Chin mudra, a similar variation of Gyan mudra with palm down, gives a sense of grounding. It lowers overstimulated thought patterns causing a disturbance in the sleep cycle. Hence, beneficial regarding the ordered sleep cycle.
- Sit in any comfortable posture Padmasana or Siddhasana.
- Place your both hand on the knees. Now, place the tip of the index finger on tip of the thumb, make a circle indeed.
- Maintain the posture for few minutes while breathing and then relax.
Conclusion
Have you ever thought why do we need to sleep? well, our body interacts with tons of information during the day. It needs to be processed in order to perform the same on the next day. So, an inadequate amount of sleep can put our body in the midst of chaos, which could be further turned into a serious illness.
Therefore, by practicing mudras one can prevent this chaos from happening. One can also reduce the concerning aspects, that further leads to various sleeping disorders.
