Hakini Mudra (Gesture for Focus)

Hi everyone, welcome to Yoga & You. I am Sanjana Prasad. In today's episode we are going to be practicing asanas that helps to improve our focus, concentration, breathwork and mudra to better our memory. Let's get into our practice.

We are going to start with your feet hip width apart. Ensure that your spine is neutral. Your feet are carrying equal weight. There is activation from the toes all the way through the heels. So these are very small aspects but when you start bringing awareness to these small aspects, it betters your focus and it brings your entire awareness and attention to your practice. So engage your toes, spread the toes and grip the mat. Let there be equal weight. You are going to keep your thighs active, roll the shoulders back. Your pelvis is neutral, lower abdomen drawn in. All your facial muscles relax, eyes closed. I want you to scan your body one more time. Start from the top of the head and go all the way down to the tips of your toes. Just checking in with your body, acknowledging all the different sensations and ensuring that you have this active Tadasana here. It might look like you are just standing but your body is quite present, active.

Now take your awareness to your breath. You are going to move your right palm towards the belly, left palm to the center of your chest and I want you to feel as you inhale your belly and your chest expand. And as you exhale the belly and just completely relax. Inhale, expansion, exhale and relax. Inhale, exhale, inhale deeply, exhale completely. Inhale deeply, exhale completely. Inhale, stay connected with your breath. Exhale, if your mind wanders anywhere else, bring it back to your breath. One more breath. Inhale, expansion, exhale and completely relax. Slowly release your hands, open your eyes. Now that you have connected with the body and breath, you are already bringing your focus, you are bringing that one point into your practice, your concentration.

I want you to now bring your feet a little closer to each other, place your palms on your waist. Now from here you are going to press firmly into your left foot, extend your right leg forward and we are going to do some ankle rotations here. One, two, three, four, five opposite direction. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly bring your right foot down. Now ensure you are fixing your gaze at one point. I like to look at a point in the floor diagonally, but if you want to look straight up that works absolutely fine. If you are struggling with the balance here, try to go closer to the wall or closer to the point of focus. It will help you to balance and focus better. You can also stand close to a wall just in case you need that support.

Let's switch to the other side. Fix your focus, not going to let the mind wander. Extend your left leg forward now and you are going to start with the rotations here. One, two, three, four, five opposite. One, two, three, four, and five. Slowly come back down. We are starting with a minimum of five, but if you feel like you can push yourself over the weeks to do eight, ten repetitions, go ahead and increase.

We are going to stretch the right leg forward again for a flexion and an extension. You are going to flex the ankle point. Let's go. Extend your right leg forward. Flex, point one. Flex, point two. Flex, point three. Flex, point four. Flex and point five. Switch. Balancing on the right foot. Engage your toes. Fix your gaze. Extend the left leg forward. Flex, point one. Flex, point two. Flex, point three. Flex, point four. Flex and point five. Super. Release the leg. Pedal out your feet. Shake it up.

Now the next thing we are going to do is to lift the legs a little higher. We are going to start by lifting the right knee up and then down. Left up, down. We will do this five times on each side and then we are going to hug the knee and hold it there. Once again, fix your gaze. Palms can be on your waist. Lift your right knee up. Exhale. Hold there for a second. Inhale and down. Exhale, left knee up. Inhale, down. Exhale, right knee up. Inhale, down. Exhale, right knee up. Inhale, down. Exhale, left knee up. Inhale and down. Exhale, left knee up. Inhale, down. One more on each side. Exhale, right knee up. Inhale, down. Exhale, left knee up. Inhale and down.

Next, we are going to hold the leg and balance. The reason why I am also telling you what we are going to do next is so that you are getting a recollection of whatever you have done and it is a reminder of what is coming next. Because I want you to remember this entire flow like a small memory game at the end of your practice. So let us go into the hold now. We are going to lift your right knee up into the chest. Stay there. Hug it close. Breathe. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly down. Exhale, lift the left knee up. Hug it close to you. Breathe. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly come back down.

Now if this was comfortable for you, we will do one round of Vrikshasana. I am going to turn towards you to show you this one. You are going to start by balancing on the left leg. I am fixing my gaze at the floor. I am going to lift my right knee up. Heel coming towards the groin. Your palms can remain at the heart center. Stay there. One, two, three, four, five. Bring the palms to the waist first and gently release the foot back down to the mat.

Let us switch to the other side. When you are doing Vrikshasana, when you are balancing on one leg, I don't want you to stick your other hip out. Ensure that the standing leg is pushing into the floor and you are staying up tall. So you are going to lift the left foot up. When I am doing this, I am not going to sink into my right side. It will make me tip over to the side. So I am going to keep the standing leg really strong. Engage the glutes, tuck the tailbone and then I am going to lift the left knee up. Heel towards the groin. Standing leg is still strong. Stay there and breathe. One, keep pushing the knee out. Two, fix your gaze. Three, four, five. Palms to the waist first and then you gently release the foot down to the mat. Shake out your feet. Relax.

Now you are going to go into a wider stance. We are going to play a little bit more with the balance over here and also remember and reminding you to keep remembering the order of our practice. So I am going to run through the practice quickly from start to finish at the end of today's asana practice. So you are going to turn your right toes out completely to the right side, left toes in. Your heels are in the same line. Now take your arms up, shoulder level. As you exhale, bend towards the right side. Look up at the left fingertips. One, two, three, four, five. Bring the left palm to your waist. Look down. Bend your right knee. Take the right fingertips slightly ahead of the right foot and it helps to take it more to the right side.

Now lean forward. Lift the left leg up. One, two, three, four, five. From here you are going to bring your left hand also down and I am turning my hips so I am squaring the hips here. Stay here. One, keep lifting the leg up. Two, three, four, five. You can soften the standing knee. Slowly bring one hand up, other hand up. Come into a balance. One, two, three, four, five. Bring your fingertips down again. Drop the left foot all the way back to where it was.

Start walking your hands to the center. You are in a wide-legged forward fold. From here, allow the top of the head to come down towards the ceiling. It is allowing some blood to flow up towards your face because when you come up you feel the blood rush coming back. You just want to stay here hanging loose. One, two, three, four, and five.

From there, come back onto your fingertips. Turn your left toes out. Start walking the hands towards the left foot. Turn the right foot in. Now take your right arm up. You will get into Trikonasana on the left side. Look up. One, two, three, four, five. You can bring your palm to your waist. Look down. Bend the left knee. Take the fingertips ahead of the left foot more towards the left side. Lean forward and lift your right leg up. Ardhachandrasana, you can look at the flow for focus or look forward whichever is more comfortable for you. Two, three, keep this leg active. Don't let it sink. Four, five. Bring your right hand down and watch my hips. I'm turning my hip so that my body is more parallel to the floor. Two, three, four, five. From here, we're going to slowly lift the chest up. See if you can bring the palms to the heart center. Stay there. One, two, three, four, five. Bring your fingertips down with control. Drop the foot all the way back to where it was.

Walk your hands towards the center. Now from here, lift your chest up. Bring your palms to the waist. Inhale, come up to standing. Gently push your hips forward out your back. Exhale, come back neutral. Slowly bring your feet together. Shake the legs out.

When you're practicing these balancing postures, your focus is fixed. Really feel your legs working. Your mind does not have space to move anywhere else. So it really helps to bring your focus and your concentration to your practice. And you will start applying that focus in your everyday life as well.

Now we're going to come down to the floor. We'll take a few seconds in child's pose. So push your hips back. Stand the hands forward. Breathe here. One, two, three, four, and five. Roll your spine up, vertebra by vertebra.

We're going to practice a beautiful inversion here. It's a very stimulating posture. It activates your sympathetic nervous system. So it wakes you up. It brings in that energy, that presence. We're going to practice it with the help of a wall today. So we're going to start off by sitting against a wall. My hips are actually touching the wall here. I'm going to mark where my ankles are. Not my heels, where my ankles are falling. I'm just going to mark that spot on the mat. And then I'm going to place my head here.

So how are we going to place the head? I'm going to interlock my fingers. First, measure the distance between the elbows here. Some of us hold here. It becomes too wide. You have to hold the elbows. Then you interlock the fingers. Make sure your elbows don't slide out from this position. You have to firmly press into the floor. If we sink like this, all the weight is going to go to your neck. So you have to push away from the floor. Let your neck be free.

So now you're going to place your head on the mat. It's not going to be resting on your palms. So your palms are going to be supporting the back of your head. Okay? Freely comfortably. So push the floor away with your shoulders. So know this. You're creating space here. From here, lift your hips up first. Then walk your feet up on the wall. Just halfway. You're in an L shape. Okay? If you're comfortable here, lift your heels up. Let's hold this position. One, two, three, four, five. Try to lift one leg up carefully. Stay there. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly down. Other leg up. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly down. Walk your feet down. Bend your knees and get into child's pose. If you keep pushing the floor away, your neck will feel free. No weight at all over there. Relax in child's pose now. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Vertebra by vertebra, roll your spine.

Now, to counter your modified headstand, we're going to lie down on the back. You're going to bend your knees. Place your feet hip width apart. From here, lift your hips up. Interlock the fingers. Bring your elbows closer. Stay there and breathe. One, release the neck. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Slowly bring your hips down. Hug your knees into the chest. Bring the forehead up towards the knee. Tight hug and then let it all go. Feet apart, eyes closed and relax in your Shavasana. You're going to take about two to three minutes in Shavasana. Once you're done, bring your legs together. Take both your arms above the head. Interlock your fingers and give yourself a big nice stretch. Turn towards your right side and let's come up to a comfortable seated position. Slowly open your eyes.

We're going to be practicing a mudra called Hakini Mudra today. It goes like this. You're just going to join the tips of all of your fingers. The tips of the fingers are very, very sensitive. A lot of nerve endings here and when you join them together, they create a connection. Mudra itself is a seal and it helps to seal the energy and allow the energy to flow within the body. So this Hakini Mudra is for focus, memory and concentration. If you notice, when people are thinking, naturally you see some people going like this. They will rest their head on the fingertips or their elbows on the table and they will be thinking like this. So the body itself naturally kind of goes to that gesture. So we're going to use this today along with our breath and see how that helps with our memory. Of course, this takes time. You have to keep practicing it every day but it can really help you to feel a different kind of energy and vibration.

So we're going to join all the fingertips together. You can rest your hand comfortably, close your eyes. We're not really squeezing the fingertips but it's not loose either. There is a little bit of pressure over there. I want you to bring your focus to your breath. We're going to just do a very simple practice, box breathing. We're going to inhale for three counts, hold for three counts, exhale for three counts, hold for three counts. Let's go. Inhale, one, two, three, exhale, one, two, three. Now we'll introduce the retention. Inhale, one, two, three, hold, one, two, three, exhale, one, two, three, hold, one, two, three, inhale, one, two, three, hold, one, two, three, exhale, one, two, three, hold, one, two, three.

Continue practicing by yourself. Few more rounds. I will tell you when to stop. Maybe you start feeling some energy, some vibrations through your fingers, through the palms. You gradually allow this energy to spread throughout the body. Don't lose track of the count of the breath. Keep bringing your awareness back to the breath. Your focus and concentration lies with your breath. You're also aware of the fingertips touching each other. You complete your next retention after exhalation, and then slowly you can open your eyes. You can also release the mudra, release the hands, shake them out, relax and come back to your natural breath.

Now I just want you to take a moment, mentally run through your entire practice. From the start to finish, what are the asanas we did, what is the flow that we followed without replaying this video. I just want you to see, play a tiny memory game to see if you're able to recollect the entire practice. And once you do that, you are free to finish.

So that was your practice for focus, concentration and memory. Definitely try it out, not just once, but multiple times. You can also give this practice to your kids. And this Hakini Mudra is very, very useful for children, especially during their examinations. Not just for memory, but also they get very, very stressed and it really helps to calm down, combined with this box breathing. It helps them to come back to a more neutral state so that they can focus on studying and their exams. So try this out and leave a comment and let us know how you feel. Thank you.