Yogi Ashwini Ji of Dhyan Foundation

Are you disturbed? Most people will say yes to that question. Don’t worry you are not alone. The bondage that keeps us entangled in the world outside and disturbed in the world inside – are Desires.

Aware of this fact - the ancient rishis gave us a technique, that holds true even today, for untying ourselves from the clutches of these desires and moving inwards into the inner world. Try it for yourself and feel the difference.

Shanmukhi Mudra
At any point of time, any one of your senses is always at work, all the time running after objects of desire. The doorways to these desires in the human body are our sense organs.

Shanmukhi mudra is the technique to shut these doors to maya to be able to experience the real world, which lies within.

Sit in Siddha asana keeping your back absolutely straight. Then slowly raise your hands towards the face keeping the elbows at shoulder level. Put the thumbs inside the ear holes blocking any external sound. Then close your eyes and gently press your eyelids down with the index finger. Ensure that no light enters.

Then with the middle finger tip slowly press the nasal passage. Keep the pressure soft and release the pressure on the nostrils at frequent intervals to take in some air. using your little finger to shut the mouth. Once all the doors are shut try and listen to the sound within, observe where it leads you. Do not stretch the breath beyond your limit

Caution: In the beginning do not try and strain yourself by closing the nostrils as you might suffocate yourself. Breathe in after frequent and comfortable gaps.

With the ring finger and the little finger press the upper lip and the lower one thereby closing the 7 doorways to Maya. The 7 doorways being the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth.

Once you close these 7 gates or these indriyas then you tend to close the doorways to the external and artificial world and you begin exploring the reality within. The calmness and the peace experienced through this practice is amazing. This is an extremely effective technique for people with high stress life, suffering from insomnia and depression.