Keep your hormones hale and hearty

Keep your hormones hale and hearty

April 2023

Abhay Kumar Shah suggests mudras for balancing your endocrine system, which  helps regulate the body’s complex functions 

The endocrine system is a complex  network of glands and organs. It uses  hormones to control and coordinate our  body’s metabolism, energy level, reproduction,  growth and development, and response to  injury, stress, and mood. 

The following are integral parts of the endocrine  system: 

•  Hypothalamus: The hypothalamus secretes  hormones that stimulate or suppress the  release of hormones in the pituitary gland,  in addition to controlling water balance,  sleep, temperature, appetite, and blood  pressure. 

•  Pineal body, or pineal gland: It produces  the hormone melatonin, which helps the  body know when it’s time to sleep. 

•  Pituitary gland: This gland controls many  functions of the other endocrine glands. 

•  Thyroid and parathyroid glands: The  thyroid plays an important role in the  body’s metabolism, and the parathyroid,  in the regulation of the body’s calcium  balance. 

•  Thymus: The thymus produces white  blood cells that fight infections and destroy  abnormal cells. 

•  Adrenal glands: The adrenal glands  make and release corticosteroid hormones  and epinephrine, which maintain blood  pressure and regulate metabolism. 

•  Pancreas: The pancreas plays a role in  digestion as well as hormone production.  Hormones produced by the pancreas  include insulin and glucagon, which  regulate blood sugar levels. 

•  Ovaries: A woman’s ovaries, in addition  to containing the egg cells necessary for  reproduction, also produce oestrogen and  progesterone, hormones that are important  for sexual and reproductive development in  women. 

•  Testes: A man’s testes produce testosterone,  the male sex hormone that is important  for normal male sexual development and  functions, and sperm, the male reproductive  cell. 

Being a very sensitive system, the endocrine  system can easily be affected even by mood  fluctuations, which is not so unthinkable, given  today’s complex life. We need to balance it to  be healthy, and the following mudras will help  you do so: 

Mudras 63

Surabhi Mudra  

Connect the tips of your fingers in the following way: The right pinky  

to the left ring finger and vice versa. The right middle finger to the left  

index finger and vice versa.  

Place your palms on the thighs, fingers pointing downwards, thumbs  straight and free.  

Start with 5 minutes on the first attempt and then extend the practice  

up to 16 minutes by adding 2 minutes each time.  

Jnaan Mudra  

Connect the tips of the index finger and the thumb. Keep the remaining  

three fingers comfortably straight.  

Practise for 16 minutes, twice or thrice a day.  

Shankh Mudra  

Place the tip of the right thumb on the hill under the left thumb. Wrap  

all four fingers of the left palm around the right thumb. Touch the tip  

of the right index finger to the tip of the left thumb. Rest the remaining  

three fingers of the right palm on the back of the left palm. (One can  

sweep the hands.)  

Practise for 16 minutes, twice a day.  

Praan Mudra  

Touch the tips of the ring finger and the little finger to the tip of the  

thumb. Keep the remaining two fingers comfortably straight and place  

your palms on the thighs.  

Practise for 16 minutes, twice a day.  

Start practising this combination of mudras today, and let me know how you feel after a month.  

Abhay Kumar Shah is a mechanical engineer, who has learnt Mudra Shastra from experts and established his own  method of using this science correctly, and in the modern context. He can be reached at: abhayshah.kd@gmail.com 

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