The Hand Meditation
The Hand Meditation: try my adaptation of this breathing meditation practice which has been passed by yoga student, to yoga teacher, to thousands of students including a compassionate doctor which uses it to change people’s lives.
Start your meditation sitting comfortably tall and relaxed for your meditation. Spread the fingers of the left hand out and place your right index finger at the outside of the base of your right little finger. (Use the left index fingers with the right hand spread out if you are left handed). As you inhale, trace your finger along your left little finger matching your breath and your movement so that when you have fully inhaled your are at the top. Exhaling, trace your finger back down to the base, matching breath and movement. When you have completely exhaled your finger is at the base. Continue like this, inhaling to the top, exhaling back down. When you reach your thumb reverse your direction and continue as you are. You can continue this breathing practice for as long as you want.
When you have settled into a pleasant, easy rhythm see if you can go a level deeper into your meditation practice by allowing the breath to start and the movement to follow a moment later. Breath first, movement follows right behind. It’s like you become a passive follower of your own, natural, relaxed, rhythm of breathing. This helps switch off your busy ‘thinking’ mind and allows you to dwell in your quieter ‘being’ mind.
“I use some of Sylvia’s tools EVERY SINGLE WEEK. In the past two months I have been able teach a woman to breathe through her anxiety using finger tracing and it enabled her to significantly lessen her pain medication use, which, through a series of systemic impacts, allowed her to leave the hospital, and do so with improved cognition, after a week’s long stay. Another one of my patients has been weaned off medications by also using this technique during her dialysis sessions!”
Christina Prather, MD.
Stay connected to your breath and go a level deeper when you really need to switch off that busy thinking mind and just simply be!