Hakini. a yoga mudra for balance - and healing!
by Cathy
This morning, as I sipped my coffee curled up in a blanket on the couch, Atmadarshan came in, placed my cup on the table, and asked me to do a mudra that represents balance for this week’s MailChimp. I chose Hakini Mudra as you can see in the photo. It’s an amazing mudra that balances all 5 elements, balances the hemispheres of the brain, and allows for clearer thinking. It’s a universal gesture and very easy to create.
I held the mudra for a while longer and eventually returned to my coffee. Seems rather uneventful, doesn’t it? Turns out, it was an incredibly powerful experience, one of those moments that confirms the healing potential inherent in yoga and all energy work.
So, what led up this moment? Two nights ago, I started experiencing deep pain on the upper right side of my neck, shoulder, and back, to the point that it woke me up several times. Yesterday, I poked and prodded with my Back Buddy tool, rolled on a foam roller, held a variety of poses, used a heating pad, and asked Atmadarshan to massage the area. While all these palliative measures felt good, the pain quickly returned. I wanted a quick fix, but also knew that this pain was related to ongoing mental turmoil.
This past week has been interesting. On Tuesday, I took concrete steps toward what retirement will look like, something I’ve been resisting for years. We moved forward on several home improvement projects, making decisions I couldn’t agree on before. From an energetic perspective, the right side of the body holds the active, masculine, solar energy, so it’s not surprising that these steps created physical pain as resistance and stuck-ness started releasing.
Why upper back pain? Historically, it’s been my lower left back that manifests pain when I’m experiencing stressors – left side of the body holds nurturing, feminine, lunar energy. This area seems to have resolved now that I’ve moved past several major life changes – children leaving the nest, divorce, relocation, and reinventing my life. The lower back, right or left, is related to first- and second-chakra energies – stability, security, creativity, pleasure.
On the other hand, the upper back corresponds to fourth- and fifth-chakra energies – love, compassion, purification, communication. On Friday morning, I had welcomed the new moon with meditation and a card reading: “feel more, think less,” “communication is key,” and “now is the time to take action.” Hmmm. I then recorded two chakra mudra meditations, working with the energies of the whole system for balancing and integration. By that evening, I was in a lot of physical pain, concentrated in the area of action and communication! I had to laugh even though I wanted to cry, seeing how clearly my physical body was reflecting all that messy mental turmoil and resistance. The Buddha says, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” I choose not to suffer.
Returning to this morning: after I released the gesture and returned to sipping my coffee, I realized that the pain in my neck and upper back was gone! What?!? Hakini Mudra resolved the pain? Yes, I was feeling the experience of “no-pain,” but more clearly, I was hearing the whispers to keep the energy moving and to keep taking action or the pain will return. The skeptic in me wonders how this is possible. The feedback from my body responds, “how is this not possible?” And so, I observe and play with the mudra. Each time I bring my fingers together in this gesture, I feel such ease across my whole upper back, neck, and down my arms. Wow…
It’s now afternoon and I can attest that the physical pain is resolving. I am amazed and humbled by this experience. Restoring balance is an ongoing process regardless of how big or small the deviation from center has taken us. We all must navigate through the challenges and changes that are part of our human experience in order to grow.
Heraclitus is credited with saying that “the only constant in life is change.” Pain is typically a messenger for change because relief from that pain is a powerful motivator. Never underestimate the healing potential of energy work, whether you are experiencing physical pain or mental angst. These subtle practices help resolve imbalances from the inside out while other modalities offer relief from the outside in. Working together, we may return to a place of balance, comfort, and ease.
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