Namaste greeting, or Anjali mudra

[Rosie Sayer]

I was just doing some reading on the Internet about the Namaste greeting (http://www.flex.com/~jai/articles/namaste1.html). I knew that it was a gesture of greeting and reverence, but I was interested to read that it is also a psychically protective mudra. The joined palms cover the solar plexus and the gesture is often combined with crossing the legs when used as a protective mudra. I imagine that this is the same purpose for which Wiccans would imagine themselves surrounded by a circle of light or trace a pentagram in the air, and Catholics would cross themselves. (I'm not speaking of the Namaste greeting now, but of the protective gesture.)

I was meditating today using the Anjali mudra and coincidentally had my legs crossed, and also coincidentally, I was dealing with some intense feelings. Well, maybe not so coincidentally. I've been very emotional lately. I listen to certain music and I cry. I feel like I'm in a whirlpool of emotions, on a knife's edge sometimes between pain and bliss. My husband and I have been having intense discussions, and this seems to be a time of transition (and I hope growth) for us. The Anjali mudra seemed to ground me a bit.

Now I'm trying to integrate the self-protection/self-soothing of the Anjali mudra with an openness to all the intense feelings that are in there. I don't want to suppress those intense feelings; they make me feel alive and connected to the divine. I just need a way to navigate them so that I can ride them to an expansion of consciousness rather than to gloominess and pain. I've managed to keep my head above water so far and am keeping faith in divine love. But it's a challenge sometimes.