Hasta Mudras: 8 Yoga Hand Mudras and How to Do Them

Hasta mudras are yoga hand gestures: you touch, fold or press particular fingers together and hold the shape while you sit, breathe or meditate. Hasta means hand and mudra means seal or gesture. The eight below are the ones you meet most often in yoga classes, and each takes less than a minute to learn.

What is a mudra?

The Sanskrit word mudra (मुद्रा) means a seal, a stamp or a sign. In yoga it covers any held gesture of the body that is used to focus attention and, in the tradition's own language, to direct prana, the breath or life force. Most people mean the hand gestures when they say mudra, but the word is wider than that.

The Bihar School of Yoga sorts mudras into five groups, and it is a handy map:

• Hasta mudras: hand gestures. The eight on this page belong here.
• Mana mudras: head gestures that use the eyes, tongue, ears or lips.
• Kaya mudras: whole-body postures held with breath and concentration.
• Bandha mudras: gestures combined with the energy locks.
• Adhara mudras: gestures that engage the perineum and pelvic floor.

The five fingers and the five elements

Most modern mudra guides, this one included, rest on an idea from Ayurveda and yoga: that everything is made of five elements, and that each finger stands for one of them.

• Thumb: fire (agni)
• Index finger: air (vayu)
• Middle finger: space or ether (akasha)
• Ring finger: earth (prithvi)
• Little finger: water (jala)

In this system, touching a fingertip to the tip of the thumb is said to strengthen that element, and folding a finger under the thumb is said to reduce it. That is the logic behind the names you will read below. It is a symbolic system from the tradition. Nobody has measured an element in a finger, so read the "said to" in each section as it is meant.

How to practise a hand mudra

1. Sit comfortably with a long spine: on a cushion in Sukhasana (Easy Pose), kneeling, or on a chair with both feet on the floor.
2. Rest the backs of your hands on your thighs or knees, shoulders soft.
3. Form the mudra with both hands. Touch the fingers with light, even pressure. You should feel the contact, not squeeze it.
4. Keep the fingers that are not part of the gesture long but relaxed.
5. Breathe slowly through the nose and keep part of your attention on the points where your fingers meet.
6. Start with 5 minutes. Many teachers work up to 15-20 minutes, in one sitting or spread over the day.

Mudras fit into a meditation practice or into pranayama, the yogic breathing practices. That is where most of us learn them: the teacher asks you to take a hand position before the breathing starts.

1. Gyan Mudra (gesture of knowledge)

How to do it: touch the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb, so they form a circle. Keep the middle, ring and little fingers straight and relaxed. Rest the hands palms up on your knees.

Gyan (also Jnana) Mudra is the classic meditation gesture, the one you see on statues and in almost every picture of a seated yogi. When the palms face down, the same shape is usually called Chin Mudra. In the tradition, the index finger is the individual self and the thumb is the universal self, and the circle joins them.

What people use it for: focus and calm during meditation. The fixed circle of the fingers gives your attention somewhere to rest, and a slow breath does the rest.

2. Vayu Mudra (gesture of air)

How to do it: fold your index finger so its tip touches the base of the thumb. Lay the thumb gently over the folded finger. Keep the other three fingers straight.

Because the index finger stands for air, folding it under the thumb is said to reduce the air element. In Ayurvedic terms that means calming vata, the principle of movement. Teachers give Vayu Mudra for restlessness and a busy mind.

The old version of this page listed gout, sciatica and arthritis among its uses. There is no evidence that a hand position changes any of those, so see a doctor for them and use the mudra for what it can do: help you sit still.

3. Prana Mudra (gesture of life)

How to do it: touch the tips of your ring finger and little finger to the tip of your thumb. Keep the index and middle fingers straight.

Prana Mudra joins earth, water and fire, and in the tradition it is the gesture that gathers vitality. Teachers often use it at the start of a breathing practice or when a student feels flat and tired. Try it with a few rounds of slow, full breaths and notice how alert you feel afterwards.

4. Shunya Mudra (gesture of emptiness)

How to do it: fold your middle finger so its tip touches the base of the thumb, and press the thumb lightly over the middle finger. Keep the index, ring and little fingers straight.

Shunya means empty or void. The middle finger stands for space, so this gesture is said to reduce the space element. In mudra books it is linked to the ears and to a sense of heaviness or dullness. Use it as a quiet gesture for sitting practice. For earache, hearing loss or anything in the throat, go to a doctor.

5. Apana Mudra (gesture of downward energy)

How to do it: touch the tips of your middle and ring fingers to the tip of your thumb. Keep the index and little fingers straight.

Apana is one of the five vayus, the winds of prana in yoga physiology. It is the downward and outward flow: breathing out, digestion, elimination. That is why the tradition calls Apana Mudra the gesture of digestion and letting go. Many people pair it with long, slow exhales. The earlier version of this page promised relief from diabetes, kidney problems and heart disease. Those claims are gone.

6. Surya Mudra (gesture of the sun)

How to do it: fold your ring finger so its tip touches the base of the thumb, and press the thumb gently over it. Keep the other fingers straight. Some books call this Agni Mudra.

The ring finger is earth and the thumb is fire, so pressing earth down under fire is said to raise heat and lightness. Surya Mudra is traditionally practised in the morning. You will read online that it helps you lose weight. Holding your fingers still does not burn fat, so we have left that out.

7. Varuna Mudra (gesture of water)

How to do it: touch the tip of your little finger to the tip of your thumb. Keep the other three fingers straight and relaxed.

Varuna is the Vedic god of water, and the little finger stands for water, so this gesture is said to balance the water element. Mudra books link it to dry skin and to a fluid, open way of speaking. It is an easy gesture to hold for a long time, and you can do it anywhere: on a bus, at a desk, in bed before sleep.

8. Linga Mudra (the upright gesture)

How to do it: bring your palms together and interlace the fingers. Point one thumb straight up and circle it with the thumb and index finger of the other hand. Hold the hands in front of your belly or chest. Books differ on which thumb stands up, most often the left, so choose one and swap sides next time.

Linga Mudra is known as the heat gesture and is said to warm the body. It is the only two-handed gesture on this list, and it is a good one to try on a cold morning. Whether you feel warmer from the mudra or from sitting still with your hands clasped, you will feel the heat in your palms within a minute.

Where the eight mudras come from

Hand gestures are old in India. Buddhist and Hindu statues show them in stone, and classical dance has used them for two thousand years as a language of the hands. The Natya Shastra and the later Abhinaya Darpana name dozens of single-hand and double-hand gestures for dancers.

The mudras of hatha yoga are a different thing. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century) gives a whole chapter to ten mudras, and hardly any of them are hand gestures. They are body seals and breath techniques: Maha Mudra, Khechari Mudra, Viparita Karani, and the three bandhas, Mula Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha and Jalandhara Bandha.

The system on this page, with one element per finger and a list of health effects for each gesture, is mostly a 20th-century development. It grew out of Ayurvedic ideas and was spread by Indian mudra manuals and, from the 1990s, by popular books in the West. That does not make the gestures worthless. It does mean "an ancient cure in your fingertips" is a better sales line than it is history.

What mudras can and cannot do

Here the sources pull in different directions, and it is worth being clear about it.

• The tradition says each mudra seals and directs prana, and that the effects build with daily practice over weeks.
• Popular mudra guides go much further and promise cures: for diabetes, heart disease, thyroid problems, weak eyesight, obesity. The old version of this article did the same.
• Research has barely looked at mudras. The studies that exist are small, often without a proper comparison group, and usually mix the mudra with breathing or meditation, so you cannot tell which part did the work.
• Teachers on the mat use mudras for something simpler: a fixed hand position is an anchor. Your fingertips are sensitive, the contact is easy to feel, and when your mind drifts, the sensation in your hands brings it back.

What we can say with confidence: a mudra helps you hold still and pay attention, and it pairs well with slow breathing, which does calm the nervous system. What we will not say: that a hand position treats a disease. If you have a health problem, use a mudra alongside your treatment, never instead of it.

Other kinds of mudras in yoga

Beyond the hand gestures, yoga has mudras for the head, the whole body, the locks and the pelvic floor. A few you are likely to meet:

• Head (mana) mudras: Shambhavi Mudra, gazing at the eyebrow centre; Nasikagra Drishti, gazing at the tip of the nose (more in our guide to drishti, the yoga gaze); Khechari Mudra, the tongue turned back toward the soft palate; Kaki Mudra, the crow's beak breath; Shanmukhi Mudra, closing the eyes, ears, nose and mouth with the fingers.
• Body (kaya) mudras: Viparita Karani Mudra, the inverted seal; Yoga Mudra, a forward fold with the hands behind the back; Pashinee Mudra, the folded seal; Manduki Mudra, the frog gesture; Tadagi Mudra, the barrelled abdomen.
• Lock (bandha) mudras: Mula Bandha (root lock), Uddiyana Bandha (abdominal lock), Jalandhara Bandha (throat lock), and Maha Bandha, all three at once. Our teacher Guy Powiecki shows the first two in the Bandhas tutorial.
• Pelvic (adhara) mudras: Ashwini Mudra, the horse gesture; Vajroli and Sahajoli Mudra; Maha Mudra, Maha Bheda Mudra and Maha Vedha Mudra.

Two of these have short video tutorials with Guy Powiecki. Brahma Mudra is a slow practice for the neck and eyes:

Simha Mudra, the lion's gesture, is the face and breath of Lion's Breath (Simhasana pranayama):

To put a hand mudra to use, sit with Gyan Mudra through one of the meditation classes, or take it into the breathing work of Pranayama Level 1.

Frequently asked questions

What are the benefits of practising hasta mudras?

A hand mudra gives your attention a fixed point to return to, which makes it easier to sit still in meditation or breathing practice. In the yoga tradition each mudra is also said to have its own effect on prana and the elements. Claims that mudras cure diseases have no good evidence behind them.

What are the five hasta mudras?

There is no fixed list of five. The phrase usually refers to the five-element system, where each finger stands for fire, air, space, earth or water, or to five common beginner gestures such as Gyan, Prana, Apana, Surya and Varuna Mudra. All of them are described on this page.

Which mudra is the most powerful?

No mudra is more powerful than the others in any way that has been measured. The one used most in yoga and meditation is Gyan Mudra, the circle of thumb and index finger. The best mudra is the one you will sit with every day.

What are the 24 samyukta hastas?

Samyukta (or samyuta) hastas are the double-hand gestures of Indian classical dance, such as Anjali, the joined palms. They come from dance texts like the Abhinaya Darpana, and the number differs between texts and dance styles. They are a dance vocabulary, separate from the yoga mudras on this page.

What is Yoga Mudra?

Yoga Mudra is a body mudra, not a hand gesture. You sit, often in Padmasana (Lotus Pose), clasp your hands behind your back and fold forward on an exhale until your forehead comes toward the floor. It is a slow forward bend held with calm breathing.

How long should you hold a mudra?

Start with 5 minutes. Many teachers suggest building up to 15-20 minutes, and some mudra books recommend up to 45 minutes a day, split into shorter sittings. Stop if your hands cramp or your shoulders tense.

Can I do mudras while lying down or walking?

Yes. Sitting upright is the classic position because it keeps you alert, but you can hold a hand mudra lying on your back, on a chair or while walking slowly. What matters is that the fingers stay relaxed and you notice the contact.

Is namaste a mudra?

The gesture that goes with namaste is: palms pressed together at the chest is Anjali Mudra, the gesture of offering. Our guide to what namaste means explains the word and how to use it.