Finger Yoga

Yoga is an ancient art - known in India for thousands of years.It's basic aims are "spiritual" in nature. However, as a basic component exercises were developed designed to gain and maintain good health - and to purify the body so it would serve as a suitable vehicle.

These exercises form one of the "limbs" of yoga - known as "Hatha Yoga" - which translates roughly as bodily yoga.

Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga is one of the most fundamental, and remedial forms exercise.
It is universal in scope - and can be practiced by anyone. Hatha yoga should be the foundation of any exercise program. In other words, regardless of whether you dance, play sports, practice martial arts, do resistance training - or whatever - you should learn and practice yoga first - for the sake of safety and in order to best attain and maintain good health.

Hatha yoga is centred around static stretching exercises. It includes passive and active stretches.

Finger Yoga
Finger yoga is hatha yoga for the fingers.
Extremities need yoga like every other part of the body. However hands are rarely given much attention in yoga classes - where focus naturally is concentrated on very important areas - such as the spine.

To a certain extent, hands represent a microcosm of the organs of action. They need a slightly different emphasis, perhaps from the other limbs. In particular, they are easier to apply excess force to, and potentially expose more connective tissue to stretching forces.

Mudras
"Mudra" is the traditional term for yoga poses involving the hands.
Mudras have a range of traditional uses - from meditation aids to symbolic gestures; from healing poses to dance moves; from invocations to prayers.

However relatively few of them correspond closely to the asanas of hatha yoga.

Much of the literature associated with healing and therapy using mudras deals with effects of mudras on distant parts of the body - in a manner rather reminiscent of reflexology. It seems unlikely that much of this material is very well founded.

While the yoga asanas map fairly closely to effective stretching and strengthing exercises, mudras covered by the existing literature do not appear to cover this ground very effectively.

Yoga Links: Yoga Positions Finger Yoga Yoga Types