Dhyana mudra How to hold your hands in meditation

Picture almost any seated Buddha you've seen. The hands rest in the lap, one cupped in the other, thumbs just touching. That's dhyāna mudrā, and it may be the oldest meditation hand position there is. You'll find it in Indian yoga, in Theravāda, Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, and on thousands of statues across Asia.

It has lasted because it works. It keeps your hands still and your shoulders free, and your thumbs quietly report on your attention all sit long.

How to form dhyana mudra

1. Sit upright on a cushion or chair. On the floor, get your hips a little higher than your knees.
2. Turn both palms up.
3. Lay one hand in the other so the fingers overlap, knuckles roughly lined up.
4. Let the thumb tips rise and touch lightly, so thumbs and index fingers make an oval.
5. Rest the hands against your lower belly, a few centimetres below the navel, supported by your thighs or a folded cloth.
6. Let your elbows hang a little away from your sides and your shoulders drop.

Which hand goes on top?

Traditions disagree, and that's fine. Many Indian and Southeast Asian images show the right hand resting on the left. Sōtō Zen follows Dōgen's instructions and puts the left hand on the right.

Pick one and stay with it. After a few weeks your hands will find the position without you thinking about it, and that familiarity is worth more than getting the “right” side.

What your thumbs give away

Zen teachers have used the thumbs as an attention gauge for centuries. Glance at them, or just feel them, partway through a sit.

I love that last row. Awake without strain is about as short a description of meditation as you'll find, and it fits between two thumbs. If you keep finding a valley, read falling asleep during meditation.

Why hold the hands at all?

Hands with nowhere to be will fidget. Give them a fixed, comfortable place and you remove one of the biggest sources of small movements in a sit. Joining them at the centre also keeps your body symmetrical, which makes it easier for the spine to stay up on its own.

Over time the gesture becomes a cue as well. When the hands settle into the oval, the sit has begun.

You'll read claims that particular mudrās balance energies or treat specific conditions. No study I know of backs those up. The practical reasons are plenty.

Mistakes that make it tiring

The most common one is holding the hands up in the air. Your shoulders will ache within minutes. Let your legs or a cushion take the weight.

Next is gripping. The fingers rest in each other, loosely, the way you'd hold a bird you didn't want to crush. And if you find yourself slumping forward to reach your hands, raise the hands instead. Bring the hands to the body, never the body to the hands.

Last, resist changing position every sit. Half the value comes from the hands knowing where to go.

Other hand positions

Jñāna or chin mudrā, the index fingertip touching the thumb with the hands on the knees, is widely used too, especially in Indian yoga. It suits people who find hands in the lap awkward. Palms resting face down on the thighs is fine as well. The best position is whichever one you can hold, still and easy, for the whole sit.

Mudra and your Watch

If you meditate wearing an Apple Watch, a steady hold gives it a clean signal. With nothing to fidget, the Watch can see the moment your hands really settled. Dhyaan uses that to show when you arrived in each sit and how often you moved, and I explain the setup in meditating with Apple Watch and AirPods.

Tonight, before you open any app, just try the oval and see what your thumbs say.