5 Mudras to Release Fear

How does being stuck in fear feel for you?

Maybe it feels shaky, like anxiety. Maybe it feels more sluggish, like dread. However fear manifests for you, we all experience it.

Maybe it comes up for you when you think about leaving your 9-5 to pursue your yoga business full time. Maybe it comes up for you in a relationship you have. Maybe it comes up for you when you think about doing something you really want to do— like travel or move to a new city.

Fear is part of the human experience.

The part where fear becomes damaging is when you start to allow it to control you and make decisions for you. When you’re choosing what direction you’re going to go in and what leaps you’re going to take, allowing fear to choose for you robs you of the power of your amazing, highest self.

There are many ways to shift from fear back into love, and today I’m sharing a few mudras with you to help you do just that.

1. Ganesha Mudra. Use Ganesha mudra to call on the power Ganesha to dispel your fear and achieve your true desires. This beautiful mudra also opens your heart chakra, helping you to receive abundance in the void created by your release of fear.

Bring your left hand in front of your heart with the back of your hand facing your body, thumb pointing down and fingers bent. With your right palm facing your body, hook the fingers of your right hand into your left with your elbows pointing out. Stay here, and breathe.

2. Abhaya Mudra. This powerful mudra symbolizes peace and detachment or freedom from fear. If you look at many statues of the Buddha, he is doing this mudra with his right hand— simply holding it up to his side, all fingers outstretched.

Use it to free yourself from fear and embody the peaceful non-attachment energy of the Buddha.

 

3. Uttarabodhi Mudra. Uttarabodhi mudra is the mudra of enlightenment, reminding you that you are divine and you need not fear anything.

Bring your hands to the front of your navel, the seat of your solar plexus chakra, your personal power. Join the tips of your index fingers and tips of your thumbs together (with index fingers pointing up and thumbs pointing more downward), and interlace your other fingers. 

4. Ahamkara Mudra. This mudra is all about confidence. Sometimes that's what we need when it comes to fear, isn't it? That reminder that we are strong. We are capable. We have everything we need within us. Overcome your fears and find confidence and peace with this mudra. 

Simply bend your index finger and touch your thumb to the outside of it about halfway down. Stretch your other fingers out straight as much as you can.

 

5. Hansi Mudra. Hansi mudra stimulates self-love and acceptance, and helps you access your courage to combat fear and anxiety. 

Touch the tips of your thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers together, extending your pinky finger up towards the sky.

Next time you feel that familiar fear returning, allow yourself to feel it. Then use one of these mudras to help you move through it and release it, so you can return back to your highest self and your highest good.