Magenta graphic with a faded photo of two open upraised hands and a butterfly above them. Text reads "Merudanda Mudra: live your alignment, embody integrity, and stand in your truth." Katrina Marie Yoga website listed below.

Alignment is not about outward perfection. It is about what is honest internally.

Merudanda Mudra is the gesture of the spine. Meru is the sacred mountain at the center of everything, danda is the staff, and your spine is your own central axis, your backbone of belief. It helps your breath travel the entire length of your spine. Rooting down into the earth and rising up toward the sky at the same time.

Merudanda Mudra connects you to all five elements, with earth and sky holding either end, and opens and aligns all seven of your chakras with a focus on your Manipura, your center of personal power. It creates space between each vertebra so every organ and system in you has room to do its own aligned work.

The lesson Libra energy wants us to learn to carry with us always is alignment. Self-alignment that then extends outward to how you align with others. Your values and your actions become the same thing. What you give and what you receive have a sense of balance. There is a felt sense of belonging to yourself that allows you to then connect with the others. You get to both support and be supported. Your body learns alignment before your mind can explain it, and once you have felt it along your own spine, you start to recognize when your life has (or does not have) it too. It is wonderful anytime you want to feel into Libra's influence and supportive anytime you want to come back to your own center.

That is integrity. Not a standard to meet, but something you already are.

Align with the energy of integrity and truth through this mudra and the practices that accompany it.

Check out ways to practice mudras live with our empowering yoga community on our live class schedule!

🫶🏻MUDRA: Merudanda Mudra

Benefits of Merudanda Mudra:

cultivates alignment, inside you and in how you move through the world
builds an integrity you can feel in your body
facilitates alignment of your values and actions
strengthens your conviction to stand in your truth
balances giving and receiving
facilitates a felt sense of belonging to yourself
grows optimism, confidence, and willpower
supports the health of your spine, creating space between each vertebra
creates space for every organ and system to do its work
improves circulation to your digestive organs
roots you down into the earth and lifts you up toward the sky
opens and aligns all seven of your chakras, with focus on your Manipura (solar plexus chakra) — your center of personal power
connects to all five elements

Why practice Merudanda Mudra:
Practice Merudanda Mudra to feel alignment in your own spine, rooted down into the earth and rising up toward the sky. Once you know what alignment feels like in your body, you can recognize it (or a lack of it) in your life too.

How to practice Merudanda Mudra:
Find your comfortable seat. Perhaps on the edge of a bolster, pillow, or folded blanket to balance your pelvis and spine. Bring your hands into fists with your thumbs out. Place your hands on your knees or legs with your thumbs pointing up if you are seated. Soften your shoulders and align your spine.

CUSTOMIZE IT: You can also practice this standing or lying down. Hold your hands comfortably next to your ribs if you are standing or rest them down by your sides if you are lying down.

🧘🏻‍♀️MEDITATION: Alignment Appreciation

WHY:
Practice this meditation to feel appreciation for the beautiful architecture of your own spine. Guide your breath to travel its whole length, up on the inhale and down on the exhale — five counts each way, one for each of the five segments. Your spine has a lot of important roles in your body, including keeping you upright, letting you move, and being a route for nerves and vessels. Notice it, and notice how the alignment you feel there reaches into everything else.

PLACE:
Find any comfortable place. Perhaps seated, maybe on a bolster or blanket to get your hips a little higher than your knees. Or choose to stand or lie down on your back.

MUDRA:
Find Merudanda Mudra by bringing your hands into fists with your thumbs out. Place your hands on your knees or legs with your thumbs pointing up if you are seated. Soften your shoulders and align your spine. Or hold your hands comfortably next to your ribs if you are standing or rest them down by your sides if you are lying down.

DRISHTI:
Let your eyelids feel heavy and close if it feels safe. Always permission to keep a soft gaze.

PRANAYAMA:
Let all the air out through your mouth. Bring your awareness to the very tip of your tailbone. Inhale deeply through your nose for a count of five as you imagine moving the breath up the length of your spine towards the top vertebrae in your neck. Pause. Exhale fully through your nose for a count of five as you imagine the breath moving back down the length of your spine. Pause at the bottom.

This five-count honors the five segments of your spine. Honor it as best you can. You can always adjust the count as needed, but try to keep the inhale and exhale balanced and equal.

SUGGESTED TIMING:
3-5 minutes

TO END:
After an exhale, release control of your breath and release your hands. See if you can feel into a deep sense of gratitude for your spine and the alignment it brings to all parts of your being.