Making space for shifts……
Building presence in my own name….
Anjali (divine offering) Mudra (seal)
I bow to the divine in you.
Symbolizing honor and respect toward yourself and others with expressing love and gratitude.

Element–thought, water, earth
Chakras–Crown Chakra (Sahasrara Chakra), Sacral Chakra (Swadisthana Chakra), Root Chakra (Muladhara Chakra)
Doshas — Pitta (fire & water), Kapha (earth & water)

I grew up with a tradition of joining hands (Anjali Mudra) greeting tradition. A form of our cultural practice where we bow down and reach towards the feet of the elders. With a twist, I was told that girls don’t touch the feet so join hands and bow down. Not knowing the significance of this apart from understanding that it was our cultural practice plus a respected way to greet elders, I kept following this. And started to observe the hilarious part where many of them barely bend enough to reach the elder’s feet with no joining of hands.
As my yoga journey progressed it gave me more opportunities to bow down. The practice of yoga asana begins and ends with an Anjali Mudra. Not many speak about the significance of this gesture nor feel the connection of spirituality with this mudra.
Different areas of the hands are connected with areas in the body and the brain. By placing our hands in Anjali mudra, we are stimulating different areas of the brain and creating a specific energy throughout our body. And as the mind and body are connected, by doing this, we help generate a specific state of mind. This is an excellent way to induce a state of awareness representing the physical, mental and emotional balance between the right and left side reunited on our heart center. This Practice of feeling into the hands at the center of the chest reinforces the heart-hand connection and we are reminded that our greatest strength comes not from force but from compassion, for ourselves and for others.
Although Anjali mudra is often associated with certain religious beliefs, we must to remember that the practice presents the practitioner with a wonderful opportunity to experience a sense of gratitude and respect.
While understanding the duality of life, buried emotions play a part in each of our days. There will also be no’s and disappointments in life but that is not considered bad, the more we keep putting ourselves out there, the more layers are peeled back to our true selves and those no’s lessen. We will never get more than we can handle because we are the boss of our system. We shift and flow or we drown. Giving yourself permission to take time to breathe, to live life, to give, to love, to reflect, to be present, to forgive, to pause, and to just be….