7x7 Mindfulness Challenge - Day Six (Mudra)

Welcome to Day Six of our 7x7 Mindfulness Challenge! Today you’ll learn about using Mudra to help influence your mood and mindset. Mudra are shapes that your hands can take during mindfulness. These intentional positions are associated with specific meanings and purposes.

Transcript

Hey everyone and welcome back to the 7x7 Mindfulness Challenge. Each lesson introduces you to a one-minute practice for you to use just about anywhere and anytime to bring more mindfulness into your work in your life. We'll start by teaching you a little bit about the technique and then we'll go through a one-minute practice together and you can always come back to this lesson whenever you want a refresher. On day five you learned the technique of using your senses. Today we'll explore the technique of mudra for you to start to influence your own mood and mindset. It can be so easy to let our thoughts and our emotions take over. Mindfulness teaches us that we each have the power to create space between ourselves and these thoughts and as we begin to become more practiced we can even start to use this space to choose and direct our own responses and attitudes. Mudra are simply shapes that your hands can take during mindfulness to help cultivate an energy that supports this choice. We'll start by settling in to get the most out of our short practice. Take a second to get your body into a comfortable position in a place where you feel safe and there are no major distractions. You can also do anything to make you feel more comfortable like taking off your glasses or grabbing a sweater and as always closing your eyes is optional so if it's comfortable for you today you can let them drift closed or you can leave them open but still give them a little break by letting your gaze just rest gently somewhere in front of you and finally remind yourself that you're here to take the next minute to be mindful so give yourself permission to set aside any items on your to-do list or your schedule just for 60 seconds and now we'll get into our mudra practice. Today we'll provide two mudra options for you to explore. Option one is to place your hands comfortably with your palms up toward the sky. This position is intended to cultivate a sense of openness and welcoming toward anything that's coming your way. It's a good option if you're feeling closed off or isolated or stuck in some kind of rut so go ahead and give it a try and take note of how it feels to you today. Option two is to place your hands comfortably with your palms facing down toward the earth. This position is intended to cultivate a sense of grounding and stability and calm. It's a good option if you're feeling anxious or uncertain. Go ahead and give it a try taking note of how this feels to you today and for the rest of our practice simply choose whichever expression of mudra feels most comfortable to you today. If you have considerations around accessibility for your hands you can choose to use a different part of your body to express the intention of these options. For example you could lift your face up toward the sky instead of your palms or settle your hips toward the earth for a sense of grounding and then just sit in quiet taking note of any sensations arising as you keep your hands or your body in this position for the next 60 seconds. If you find your mind starting to wander as always just remind yourself it's part of the practice and gently bring your attention back. And now slowly start to relax your attention and bring your awareness back to the space around you. If your eyes were closed you can let them gently blink open and then gently bring your gaze back into focus. Take a second to thank yourself for devoting this minute to being mindful and then take a second to notice how you feel now that this session is complete. Congratulations for completing day six. You are so close to the finish line and then tomorrow we'll explore a technique to help you set intentions for your practice, Your day or anywhere else in your life that could use a little extra attention. We'll see you then.