Mindfulness Meditation (For Everyday Life)

If you go to a museum and carefully observe the
Buddhist paintings and statues, you will quickly notice
that in the hundreds of different depictions of
meditation, whether sitting, standing, or lying down,
the hands are in a range of different positions. In the
case of sitting meditation, sometimes the hands are
on the knees, palms down; sometimes one or both
palms are up; sometimes one or more ringers of one
hand are touching the ground, while the other hand is
raised up. Sometimes the hands are together in the
lap, with the fingers of one hand lying atop the fingers
of the other, the thumb-tips gently touching as if
circling an invisible egg to form what is called the
"cosmic mudra." Sometimes the fingers and palms
are placed together over the heart in the traditional
posture of Christian prayer. This same posture, in
Oriental greeting, signifies a bow in recognition of the
divinity within the other person.
These hand mudras all embody different energies,
which you can experiment with yourself in meditation.
Try sitting with your hands palms down on your
knees. Notice the quality of self-containment here. To
me, this posture speaks of not looking for anything
more, but simply digesting what is.
If you then turn both palms up, being mindful as you
do it, you may note a change in energy in the body.