Nyasas: Turn Your Body into a Temple

Mudras are specific hand gestures that have symbolic, energetic, and healing qualities. Most mudras are static gestures. But you can also make them dynamic when the actual act of moving into a mudra is infused with symbolism.

How to Practice Yoga’s Chin Mudra

In Deity yoga, your thumb, which makes most manual tasks easier for us, represents the Divine. Your index finger represents your sense of Self; your middle, ring, and little finger represent the three gunas, three fundamental energies, and their representation within us. The middle finger represents sattva, the ring finger represents rajas, and the little finger represents tamas. Together, they represent your conditioning—your experiences, beliefs, and daily concerns.

Moving into the traditional Chin mudra, for example, has deep symbolic meaning. When you hold the fingers of your hand together, this symbolizes your identification with your conditioning. This is a normal human state when we define who we are through our past experiences and the roles we play in our daily lives. Therefore, the first stage is to separate your index finger (your sense of Self) from your conditioning. Symbolically, this means that you are breaking your identification with your daily ups and downs.

The second stage of the mudra is to begin to move your index finger (representing your sense of Self) and your thumb (representing the Divine) toward each other. This reflects your movement toward the Divine and the movement of the Divine toward you. In the final, third stage, your thumb and index finger connect, symbolizing your connection to the Divine. This reflects the process of “deification,” becoming one with the Divine. Once you arrive at this stage, you can hold Chin mudra and meditate on your chosen deity and your connection to something greater than yourself.

What Are Nyasas?

Another way of “deification” through gesture is to use nyasas, dynamic hand (or body) gestures. These mean to place the essence of the Divine into your body. Nyasa means to “place, put, install.” Every deity has a mantra, a sacred sound that represents its essence. When you chant the mantra for a specific deity and touch different parts of your body, you are symbolically placing that mantra into your body so that your body could become a seat for, or a temple of, your chosen deity. We practice nyasas with deep absorption in both the meaning and feeling of the mantra. They connect multiple layers of our systems, including the body, speech, and mind, for a more integrated experience.

How to Practice Kara Nyasa

Kara Nyasa, for example, picks up where Chin Mudra leaves off. It uses the same symbolism of the fingers that we’ve discussed earlier. Still, the purpose of Kara Nyasa is to evoke the energy of the Divine (your chosen deity). Then we use that Divine force to purify each layer of your system. You begin Kara Nyasa by sliding the tip of your index finger along your thumb, from tip to base. This symbolizes the surrender to the Divine force, the deity of your choice.

Once you surrender, the deity can take over and clean out all the impurities within your sense of Self and all three gunas that are part of you. To purify, you slide your thumb along each finger, starting with the index finger, from base to tip, and then flick it at the end.

Once we complete the purification, we distribute the resulting positive energy throughout the hands. Slide the left palm over the back of the right hand, and the right palm over the back of the left hand. In some traditions, this whole sequence is done simultaneously with both hands, and in some, it is done with each hand individually.