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Home > Books & Reviews > Pagan > Healing Mudras Search

Book Review:
Healing Mudras: Yoga for Your Hands


Author: Sabrina Mesko
Trade Paperback, 137 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Wellspring
Publication date: February 2000
ISBN: 0345437586
Price & More Info: Click Here


 

I anticipated working with this book for quite some time. While I still think there are things to look forward to in working with it, I must admit that I am largely disappointed with it.

Mudras are hand asanas or postures that have specific meanings and uses. The idea is that there is significance to how these positions affect the nadis or energy channels in the physical and energetic body. The author refers to the difficulty she had in finding information on the art of mudra, and sadly has chosen to boil it down to single-page instructions with no suggestions for further research.

Even more of a concern to me, however, is that the book specifically states that no prior experience with yoga is necessary. While for about 95% of what she presents, I agree, though certainly the deeper one’s understanding of yoga the more one is likely to get out of the practice of mudras, there is one specific practice that concerns me. That is called the “breath of fire.” As a lay person with only about a year and a half of experience as a student of yoga, I am very concerned that anyone would be encouraged to try this breathing practice on their own with about a paragraph of instruction. At best, they simply would not get it. At worst, they might get just enough of it to end up hyperventilating. I really do not think it is wise to attempt this practice without first having some in-person instruction, and believe it is quite irresponsible to present it as something one can easily attempt with the minimal instruction given.

With this concern in mind, I do still think the book has value as an introduction to the art of mudra. However, for more in-depth research, the reader is left on their own to find either print or live resources.

Reviewed by Diane DancingFirefly


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