Customer Reviews

Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book tells you all you want to know about mudras, what they symbolise, how to do them, when to use them and where they come from. It also gives you extra information about hands and the meaning of hands in different cultures. It contains about 60 different mudras and a few postures to accompany them. It also gives suggestions for meditation and herbal remedies for related problems.
It is well written, not too learned (although there is a lot of study behind the book), gently familiar and comforting.

It is a joy to read Gertrud Hirschi, a well-known Swiss yoga teacher and author of Basic Yoga for Everybody, who presents her material in clear, concise terms and uncomplicated pictures, along with suggested affirmations and meditation.

In Buddhism and Hinduism, mudras are a ritual of symbolic gestures, postures and body movements designed to aid one in preventing physical and emotional illness and in promoting spiritual development. It is believed to lock intensive and dense psychic energy into the body by engaging certain areas of the brain to exercise an influence on it. Our body language clearly reveals our attitudes and moods; whether we are slouching in defeat or head held high in victory. If that is so, then why not reverse the procedure and use these gestures to promote fearlessness, energy, sexuality and serenity? That is the theory and the effectiveness of this work. Just as athletes visualize their games in their minds before they play, so Hirschi will show you how to perform even greater miracles with your mind and body. Furthermore, you can perform these anywhere: at a stressful business meeting, sitting in a sauna, or commuting on a bus or train. (No, you can't drive a car, talk on your cell phone and do mudras at the same time.)

Gertrud Hirschi includes herbal and nutritional suggestions in appendices, and even suggestions for creating your own mudras for whatever purposes you desire.

After a year of growing in my physical yoga practice, I became interested in exploring more of the meditative aspects of yoga. I picked up Yoga in Your Hands, and have found this book to be an excellent tool for a beginner.

Hirsch clearly lays out a wide variety of hand positions, along with accompanying affirmations and herbal remedies, that can be used for a wide variety of purposes. The illustrations are focused directly on the hands, to show the correct positioning of each finger to make the mudras successful. The text very accurately describes both the position itself, the uses of the mudra, and when or how it should be performed.

Since purchasing the book, I have tried several of the mudras, with varying degrees of success. Overall, this book is an excellent introduction to this age-old method, and is recommended for anyone with an interest in the subject.

I originally purchased Sabrina Mesko's book Healing Mudras, but I was very disappointed. As much as I wanted to learn about mudras, I found the book annoying to read due to the layout, font choices (lots of italics) and red-colored print. I also found the mudras impossible to decipher from the photographs. So, with much disappointment, I put the book on the shelf along with others that collect dust. Then I discovered Gertrud Hirschi's book Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands, and I was thrilled. This book is so comprehensive but easy to read. The text is clear (black on white), the meditations are fantastic (and there is an incredible array to select from), and the line drawings are simple, direct, and very understandable. I was able to immediately dive in and make good use of the countless mudras and meditations. There are even mudras included to assist with healing physical ailments. I was highly skeptical of these from the outset, but I tried the bronchial mudra, and to my enormous surprise (and delight!), I was able to forego my allergy medication and could breathe freely through the night.

If you want the BEST book on mudras -- with a lifetime of exercises and meditations -- THIS is the one to get. It's clear, concise, and complete, and an absolute joy to read and use.

As an exponent of Indian dance, I have been taught hand mudras very systematically and thoroughly over a very long period of time, based on the ancient Indian text Natyasastra. Never have any of my masters mentioned the healing power of mudras (only once when my teacher told me not to cross my thumbs in Anjali because it would be bad for my heart). Mudras have become second nature to my movement, and I was sure they were great energy releases, but wanted more specific information. This book gives basic knowledge, which I appreciate, but not enough in-depth information. The author also mentions chakras, colors, etc. While my original review was a bit cynical, I've come back to this book again and again, and now am studying it seriously, and it has reconfirmed a lot of what I already knew, and has given me new insights as well, which has inspired me to come back to my review and change my original four star rating to five stars. It has initiated a quest for greater knowledge on the topic of healing mudra. I will seek out Keshev Das, one of Gertrud's techers, next time I am in India and thank her for stimulating my interest in a unique healing art.

As an exponent of Indian dance, I have been taught hand mudras very systematically and thoroughly over a very long period of time, based on the ancient Indian text Natyasastra. Never have any of my masters mentioned the healing power of mudras (only once when my teacher told me not to cross my thumbs in Anjali because it would be bad for my heart). Mudras have become second nature to my movement, and I was sure they were great energy releases, but wanted more specific information. This book gives basic knowledge, which I appreciate, but not enough in-depth information about the source of mudra theory. Was it developed out of ancient texts or sastras or an oral tradition passed down by teachers to students? I recently have taken the study of healing mudras very seriously, and keep referring back to this book for information. The author also mentions chakras, colors, etc. It's nicely put together, with generally clear illustrations, though a few of the illustrations are a bit confusing and I wonder if photos would have worked better than drawings. This book gets you started on some basic healing/energy releasing, non-exertive mudra exercises. Very good for beginners.

It is always a pleasure to find practical books where one actually feels like doing the exercises. This is one of them. In this book, mudras are simple yet powerful. Mudras are hand combinations which have various effects on the body. Although they are often used in yoga those presented in the book can be done anywhere (at work, commuting, sitting in the hot tub...). Experimenting with mudras does not take much time. The descriptions of each mudra are very informative and provide you with they are supposed to do for you. As with everything, hearing about things is never enough; try and experience! Enjoy!

Nothing earth shattering here. The mudras are well detailed and desribed but overall the book gave me the impression it was written for middle class women looking for something to do or be interested in. Worth having but don't expect any sort of advanced work here.